Adjustment Aid is legalized aid hoarding. Adjustment Aid is aid that a district would get if SFRA's aid formulas indicate that it needs less money than it was getting before SFRA became law. The way Adjustment Aid works is that if SFRA's formulas indicate that the district should get $30 million but it was getting $40 million pre-SFRA, it would still get $40 million total, with $30 million coming in regular formula aid and then $10 million in Adjustment Aid.
Adjustment Aid "hold harmless" aid that holds its recipients harmless, but certainly harms non-recipient districts that are more underaided than they would be otherwise if Adjustment Aid were fed into Equalization Aid.
There are several problems in the Education Law Center's, but one of the biggest is the conflation of low-DFG status with being "low wealth."
Table 4 presents the distribution of adjustment aid if the formula were fully funded and used a base year of 2014-15. [See Appendix A for district level data.] The total adjustment aid amount is $578 million. The aid is distributed across all types of districts: $216 million would be allocated to 14 former Abbott districts, and $362 million would be provided to 183 non-Abbotts; $237 million would be provided to 33 low wealth districts, $275 million to 120 middle wealth districts, and $45 million to 20 high wealth districts; $300 million would be allocated to 138 over adequacy districts, and $275 million to 50 below adequacy districts.
The huge mistake here is that a low-DFG district isn't necessarily low wealth. The DFGs are badly out of date anyway, but they were socioeconomic classifications, not economic classifications. Thus, a district can be in a low DFG but still have an average or high tax base and in fact, Adjustment Aid districts are more likely than not to be relatively wealthier in tax base than they are demographically.
The Education Law Center considers any district in DFG A or B to be "low wealth," but of the 33 DFG A and B districts getting Adjustment Aid in the Education Law Center's report, only a handful actually have low tax bases.
| DFG A and B Districts Getting Adjustment Aid | ||||||
| District | County | Local Fair Share | Total Number of Students | Local Fair Share per Student | Amount of Adjustment Aid in ELC's Alternative Calculations (assumes full SFRA funding, uses 2014-15 as base year) | Actual Amount of Adjustment Aid in State Aid Summaries |
| SEA ISLE CITY | CAPE MAY | $34,151,452 | 88 | $388,085 | $23,845 | $44,536 |
| WILDWOOD CREST BORO | CAPE MAY | $18,478,211 | 250 | $73,913 | $175,300 | $250,091 |
| NORTH WILDWOOD CITY | CAPE MAY | $21,201,289 | 328 | $64,638 | $285,751 | $396,411 |
| WASHINGTON TWP | BURLINGTON | $1,856,017 | 42 | $44,191 | $363,712 | $283,400 |
| VENTNOR CITY | ATLANTIC | $24,635,268 | 817 | $30,153 | $629,687 | $700,622 |
| LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL | CAPE MAY | $25,743,135 | 1,442 | $17,852 | $6,373,640 | $6,528,185 |
| WILDWOOD CITY | CAPE MAY | $12,431,746 | 738 | $16,845 | $1,977,300 | $3,567,304 |
| MANCHESTER TWP | OCEAN | $48,500,908 | 2,933 | $16,536 | $924,758 | $1,531,444 |
| SEASIDE HEIGHTS BORO | OCEAN | $3,525,198 | 226 | $15,598 | $188,824 | $410,159 |
| MONTAGUE TWP | SUSSEX | $4,688,921 | 301 | $15,578 | $480,230 | $26,780 |
| WEYMOUTH TWP | ATLANTIC | $2,633,754 | 200 | $13,169 | $920,135 | $241,451 |
| MIDDLE TWP | CAPE MAY | $30,809,261 | 2,521 | $12,221 | $5,773,351 | $3,724,488 |
| LOWER TWP | CAPE MAY | $21,889,710 | 1,819 | $12,034 | $2,820,314 | $2,030,412 |
| PINELANDS REGIONAL | OCEAN | $18,417,725 | 1,578 | $11,672 | $1,825,067 | $784,462 |
| EAGLESWOOD TWP | OCEAN | $1,646,196 | 145 | $11,353 | $410,558 | $58,181 |
| CHESILHURST | CAMDEN | $1,333,976 | 118 | $11,305 | $910,892 | $691,027 |
| JERSEY CITY | HUDSON | $335,745,966 | 33,717 | $9,958 | $111,080,898 | $114,452,158 |
| LITTLE EGG HARBOR TWP | OCEAN | $15,957,145 | 1,777 | $8,980 | $2,909,076 | $1,427,520 |
| WOODBINE BORO | CAPE MAY | $1,984,654 | 232 | $8,555 | $968,892 | $761,240 |
| ELK TWP | GLOUCESTER | $2,997,553 | 351 | $8,540 | $438,143 | $38,757 |
| ASBURY PARK CITY | MONMOUTH | $16,502,549 | 2,337 | $7,061 | $23,420,836 | $24,422,872 |
| VINELAND CITY | CUMBERLAND | $63,736,430 | 9,885 | $6,448 | $10,817,844 | $34,392,237 |
| LAKEHURST BORO | OCEAN | $2,434,311 | 396 | $6,147 | $62,970 | $28,730 |
| KEANSBURG BORO | MONMOUTH | $8,204,527 | 1,547 | $5,304 | $9,303,939 | $8,642,285 |
| PEMBERTON TWP | BURLINGTON | $23,198,586 | 5,227 | $4,438 | $25,620,081 | $32,419,492 |
| MILLVILLE CITY | CUMBERLAND | $26,258,781 | 6,021 | $4,361 | $2,221,917 | $12,565,599 |
| EAST ORANGE | ESSEX | $44,660,845 | 10,474 | $4,264 | $13,280,296 | $32,420,739 |
| GLOUCESTER CITY | CAMDEN | $8,751,000 | 2,074 | $4,219 | $3,745,077 | $9,360,582 |
| BURLINGTON CITY | BURLINGTON | $9,741,821 | 2,568 | $3,794 | $1,197,249 | $1,394,126 |
| PLEASANTVILLE CITY | ATLANTIC | $13,079,411 | 3,978 | $3,288 | $4,607,944 | $14,090,235 |
| PHILLIPSBURG TOWN | WARREN | $12,550,417 | 3,911 | $3,209 | $2,542,230 | $9,997,105 |
| SALEM CITY | SALEM | $2,904,245 | 1,179 | $2,463 | $293,110 | $2,171,621 |
| Total | $236,593,866 | $319,854,251 | ||||
The statewide average for Local Fair Share per student is about $10,000 per student.
As you can see, most of the DFG A and B recipients of Adjustment Aid are thus not truly "low wealth" at all.
In terms of tax base, they are medium wealth, high-wealth, and even ultra-high wealth. Salem City, Phillipsburg, Pleasantville, Burlington City, Gloucester City, East Orange, Millville, Pemberton, Keansburg, Lakehurst, and Vineland are unequivocally "low wealth" but the other districts are medium wealth, high wealth, and ultra-high wealth.
So, of the $237 million that the ELC asserts would be "provided to 33 low wealth districts," only $73 million-$100 million goes to genuinely low-resource districts. The other DFG A and B getting Adjustment Aid are not low-wealth in an economic sense.
Taken as a whole, Adjustment Aid is one of the most regressive streams of aid in the NJ aid distribution. It goes to truly low-wealth districts less often than the ELC admits.
As you can see, most of the DFG A and B recipients of Adjustment Aid are thus not truly "low wealth" at all.
In terms of tax base, they are medium wealth, high-wealth, and even ultra-high wealth. Salem City, Phillipsburg, Pleasantville, Burlington City, Gloucester City, East Orange, Millville, Pemberton, Keansburg, Lakehurst, and Vineland are unequivocally "low wealth" but the other districts are medium wealth, high wealth, and ultra-high wealth.
So, of the $237 million that the ELC asserts would be "provided to 33 low wealth districts," only $73 million-$100 million goes to genuinely low-resource districts. The other DFG A and B getting Adjustment Aid are not low-wealth in an economic sense.
Taken as a whole, Adjustment Aid is one of the most regressive streams of aid in the NJ aid distribution. It goes to truly low-wealth districts less often than the ELC admits.
It's notable that Washington Township, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and Sea Isle City in fact have more Local Fair Share per student than Millburn and Princeton. In light of NJ's terrible budget picture, for these districts the question should be "should they receive any aid at all?" not "should they get Adjustment Aid?"
The ultra high wealth districts getting Adjustment Aid should, arguably, not be independent districts at all and should be merged with their neighbors.
It is worth pointing out that half of NJ's ultra-high wealth districts would get Adjustment Aid (which exceeds the state average of one-third of districts receiving Adjustment Aid). This means that the richest districts in New Jersey are more likely to get Adjustment Aid than the poorest ones.
The ultra high wealth districts getting Adjustment Aid should, arguably, not be independent districts at all and should be merged with their neighbors.
It is worth pointing out that half of NJ's ultra-high wealth districts would get Adjustment Aid (which exceeds the state average of one-third of districts receiving Adjustment Aid). This means that the richest districts in New Jersey are more likely to get Adjustment Aid than the poorest ones.
| Ultra High Resource Districts and Adjustment Aid | |||||||
| District Name | County | DFG | Local Fair Share | Student Pop. | Local Fair Share Per Student | Amount of Adjustment Aid in ELC's Alternative Calculations (assumes full SFRA funding, uses 2014-15 as base year) | Actual Amount of Adjustment Aid Given in the State Aid Summaries (Does not count "Additional Adjustment Aid") |
| CAPE MAY POINT | CAPE MAY | $3,831,214 | 3 | $1,277,071 | $20,442 | $20,226 | |
| ALLENHURST | MONMOUTH | $4,770,971 | 4 | $1,192,743 | $21,873 | $27,815 | |
| AVALON BORO | CAPE MAY | FG | $59,473,862 | 63 | $944,030 | $12,254 | $0 |
| SEA ISLE CITY | CAPE MAY | B | $34,151,452 | 88 | $388,085 | $23,845 | $44,536 |
| STONE HARBOR BORO | CAPE MAY | FG | $30,768,648 | 82 | $375,227 | $0 | $3,705 |
| LONGPORT | ATLANTIC | $15,252,421 | 41 | $372,010 | $30,807 | $32,446 | |
| SADDLE RIVER BORO | BERGEN | J | $48,204,780 | 193 | $249,766 | $0 | $0 |
| ALPINE BORO | BERGEN | J | $33,818,844 | 168 | $201,303 | $0 | $0 |
| LONG BEACH ISLAND | OCEAN | FG | $44,619,512 | 250 | $178,478 | $0 | $0 |
| SEASIDE PARK BORO | OCEAN | DE | $5,951,882 | 33 | $165,330 | $107,895 | $110,734 |
| SPRING LAKE BORO | MONMOUTH | I | $33,994,524 | 271 | $125,441 | $0 | $0 |
| SEA GIRT BORO | MONMOUTH | I | $21,363,869 | 178 | $120,022 | $0 | $0 |
| LAVALLETTE BORO | OCEAN | DE | $16,792,324 | 151 | $111,207 | $5,856 | $4,798 |
| DEAL BORO | MONMOUTH | $17,212,918 | 161 | $106,913 | $0 | $138,303 | |
| BEACH HAVEN BORO | OCEAN | FG | $8,104,904 | 80 | $101,311 | $0 | $0 |
| BAY HEAD BORO | OCEAN | I | $13,493,324 | 135 | $99,951 | $0 | $0 |
| CAPE MAY CITY | CAPE MAY | CD | $15,801,869 | 163 | $96,944 | $146,382 | $276,347 |
| INTERLAKEN | MONMOUTH | $3,396,057 | 37 | $91,785 | $0 | $17,431 | |
| HARDING TOWNSHIP | MORRIS | J | $31,097,756 | 362 | $85,905 | $0 | $0 |
| ROCKLEIGH | BERGEN | $2,594,637 | 31 | $83,698 | $0 | $0 | |
| MARGATE CITY | ATLANTIC | DE | $36,139,003 | 459 | $78,734 | $0 | $45,463 |
| WILDWOOD CREST BORO | CAPE MAY | B | $18,478,211 | 250 | $73,913 | $175,300 | $250,091 |
| HOBOKEN CITY | HUDSON | FG | $187,075,236 | 2,639 | $70,889 | $3,808,821 | 5,392,689 |
| ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS BORO | BERGEN | I | $37,969,466 | 553 | $68,661 | $0 | $0 |
| NORTH WILDWOOD CITY | CAPE MAY | A | $21,201,289 | 328 | $64,638 | $285,751 | $396,411 |
| BEDMINSTER TWP | SOMERSET | I | $34,791,462 | 546 | $63,721 | $0 | $0 |
| AVON BORO | MONMOUTH | I | $9,927,073 | 159 | $62,434 | $0 | $0 |
| OCEAN CITY | CAPE MAY | DE | $96,496,993 | 2,095 | $46,061 | $0 | $0 |
| BRIGANTINE CITY | ATLANTIC | CD | $32,792,678 | 732 | $44,799 | $976,292 | $1,059,602 |
| WASHINGTON TWP | BURLINGTON | A | $1,856,017 | 42 | $44,191 | $363,712 | 283,400 |
| MONMOUTH BEACH BORO | MONMOUTH | I | $12,713,019 | 295 | $43,095 | $0 | $1,986 |
| EDGEWATER BORO | BERGEN | GH | $38,679,063 | 938 | $41,236 | $0 | $0 |
| FRANKLIN LAKES BORO | BERGEN | I | $51,923,715 | 1,324 | $39,217 | $0 | $0 |
| BOONTON TWP | MORRIS | I | $18,282,473 | 477 | $38,328 | $0 | $0 |
| BRADLEY BEACH BORO | MONMOUTH | CD | $11,545,746 | 306 | $37,731 | $550,106 | $674,206 |
| SPRING LAKE HEIGHTS BORO | MONMOUTH | FG | $13,088,499 | 348 | $37,611 | $0 | $0 |
| RUMSON BORO | MONMOUTH | J | $36,852,943 | 989 | $37,263 | $0 | $0 |
| MILLBURN TWP | ESSEX | J | $181,130,096 | 4,881 | $37,109 | $0 | $0 |
| Total | $6,529,336 | $8,780,189 | |||||
The ELC intentionally omits this but, the majority of New Jersey's lowest-wealth districts would not get a cent of Adjustment Aid in the ELC's alternative calculations, including the very poorest districts of Bridgeton City, Camden City, North Hanover Township, Passaic, Trenton, Woodlynne, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Prospect Park, Elizabeth, and Newark.
Adjustment Aid is Privilege, Not Equity
Adjustment Aid is the biggest problem in the New Jersey education aid landscape. It allows districts that have become wealthier and/or lost student population to cling to the aid they merited back when they were poor and/or larger.
Adjustment Aid is Privilege, Not Equity
Adjustment Aid is the biggest problem in the New Jersey education aid landscape. It allows districts that have become wealthier and/or lost student population to cling to the aid they merited back when they were poor and/or larger.
Alas, the Education Law Center knows that hundreds of NJ districts are underaided and suffering, but its solution is hopelessly unrealistic. “It’s time to focus on the key task at hand – getting back on track to full funding of the SFRA to make sure all students receive the resources they need and a meaningful opportunity to succeed in school.”
I'm sorry, but full funding of SFRA ain't gonna happen. The only hope for NJ's most underaided and underfunded districts to free up money that is tied up in Adjustment Aid and going to districts that don't demographically or economically merit that money.
Again, contrary to the ELC's claims, very few truely low-wealth districts get Adjustment Aid. In the era of the Pension Crisis and stagnant state aid, Adjustment Aid cannot be justified.
---
See Also:
Adjustment Aid Has No Statutory Sunset
No comments:
Post a Comment