In April 2023, the NJ legislature almost unanimously passed and Phil Murphy quickly signed a bill that would give $102 million to districts who had just lost Adjustment Aid in the 2023-24 school year. The $102,991,919 is equivalent to 66% of the money these districts were originally slated to lose, and was given without any sensitivity to a district being above or below Adequacy, strong in tax base or weak in tax base.
The re-appropriation of $102 million to these 160 school districts brings NJ's state aid surplus/deficit to a surplus of $266 million for the overaided districts, while continuing the underaided districts' deficit at -$277 million.
As usual, I have posted all the data online:
In any case, this is a look at the aid restorations, in terms of how overaided the recipient districts are and how much districts are getting per student.
Of the $102,991,919, just four districts, Jersey City, Toms River, Asbury Park, and Freehold Regional are getting half, with Jersey City's $33,701,019 being by far the biggest appropriation.
Most of the money is not going to wealthy districts, but some of it is ending up in districts that are so rich that they have no need for state aid at all. Mantoloking, whose Local Fair Share is $15 million for those eight students, or $1.9 million per student.
Senator Sarlo also had a good exchange with Supt J. Kenyon Kummings of Wildwood, where Sarlo said:
"Wildwood is unique, some of your Shore communities are unique because there large ratable base with people with Shore homes but your student body is from a smaller population and from a different demographic base, " which I appreciated because it shows that Sarlo understands that a district with poor students doesn't necessarily have a poor tax base, and Shore districts frequently have poor students and enormous tax bases. (See "Help for the Needless: NJ's Richest Districts and Their State Aid")
The $102 million was a mathematically simple 66% restoration of money lost according to S2, funded out of New Jersey's expected $10 billion surplus for FY2024, but it was accompanied by signals from some legislators, like Sens. Paul Sarlo and Andrew Zwicker, that more comprehensive changes would occur, including to the tax cap. As Sen. Sarlo said:
Many of the school districts that you're seeing here today that are getting additional money have seen an increase in their ratable base - a large increase in their ratable base. - and some of them have seen a decrease in their overall enrollment. Part of the problem is the cap. We're going to need to look at that in the future. because they [ie, aid losing districts] can't take advantage of the additional ratable base... this is a one time extraordinary appropriation." Sen. Sarlo also challenged Sen. O'Scanlon for lamenting the budgetary impact of state aid cuts, while opposing tax cap liberalization.
See 23:00 mark)
In any case, this is a look at the aid restorations, in terms of how overaided the recipient districts are and how much districts are getting per student.
Of the $102,991,919, just four districts, Jersey City, Toms River, Asbury Park, and Freehold Regional are getting half, with Jersey City's $33,701,019 being by far the biggest appropriation.
The $102 million averages out to $385 per student, with a MASSIVE variation in what districts are getting per student. In dollars per student, the following districts are getting the most:
Mantoloking, whose students attend Point Pleasant Beach through a Send-Receive relationship, is getting $168,202 for only eight students, or $21,025 per student!Cape May Point is getting $2,730 for a single student!
Mantoloking's haul is extreme, but Asbury Park, Pembeton Boro, and Cape May Point are getting more than $2,000 per pupil. Wildwood City, Ocean Gate, Branchville, Jersey City, and Somers Point are getting over $1,000 per pupil.
Another thirty-three districts got between $500 and $1,000 per student.
At the other hand, 24 districts are getting less than $50 per student. For Point Pleasant Beach, Buena Regional, Harmony Township, Oceanport Boro, and Margate City the amounts are less than $10 per student.
Most of the money is not going to wealthy districts, but some of it is ending up in districts that are so rich that they have no need for state aid at all. Mantoloking, whose Local Fair Share is $15 million for those eight students, or $1.9 million per student.
Most of the Shore districts have very high tax bases per student.
Cape May Point = $4,808,299 in Local Fair Share pp. (officially, Cape May Point is estimated to have only a single student next year)
Here are more Shore districts and their Local Fair Shares per pupil:
- Margate City has $136,609 in Local Fair Share per student.
- Brigantine City has $105,627 per student.
- Ventnor City has $41,813 per student.
- Cape May City has $169,157 per student.
- Lower Cape May Regional has $30,158 per student.
- North Wildwood City has $167,725 per student.
- Sea Isle City has $687,318 per student.
And of course Hoboken was a gainer too, with +$142,215 (+$43 pp), despite its massive $233 million Local Fair Share for 3,292 students ($70,798 pp).
Jersey City is still not a rich district exactly, but it has a Local Fair Share of $574 million for 29,439 students, or $19,499 per student, which is the same as affluent suburbs like Closter, Parsippany, Saddle Brook, and Cranford.
The state aid restorations also reorders the ranking of the most overaided districts. Originally the most overaided district was going to be East Orange with a surplus of $3,169 per student, but Asbury Park's additional $5.7 million is $2,943 per student, which when added to its original surplus, means Asbury Park is back at #1 for most overaided, at $4,351 per student.
-----
It's frustrating to me that the legislature and governor have acted to defer state aid equality for another year and even more frustrating that the reappropriations were made without sensitivity to a district's existing spending or tax base, but several of these districts faced unacceptable budget cuts. It is encouraging that the legislature will try again to adjust the tax cap so that these districts can tap their tax bases
Senator Sarlo said several things at the hearing which showed confidence in S2 and awareness of state aid facts which I rarely hear from elected officials.
After Sen. Declan O'Scanlon objected to any cuts, saying "we're going to kill these districts," and argued for an additional $52 million to bring all these districts up to their 2022-23 state aid levels, Senator Sarlo said "Before we go down that route... If we go town by town here, a lot of these towns have had increased ratable bases and loss of enrollment, that has to be considered."
To which O'Scanlon responded, "throw in the fact that you have the tax cap, which is a blunt instrument"
Sarlo
"Which we're gonna do."
O'Scanlon then presented body language showing opposition to changing the tax cap, Senator Sarlo said, "There you go, you don't want to touch it right?" which to me shows Sarlo's determination to change the tax cap.
"Wildwood is unique, some of your Shore communities are unique because there large ratable base with people with Shore homes but your student body is from a smaller population and from a different demographic base, " which I appreciated because it shows that Sarlo understands that a district with poor students doesn't necessarily have a poor tax base, and Shore districts frequently have poor students and enormous tax bases. (See "Help for the Needless: NJ's Richest Districts and Their State Aid")
The historical problem here is that S2 did not provide any tax cap relief for non-Abbotts and Phil Murphy vetoed tax cap relief in 2020. Most of these districts made truly unnecessary cuts in the last few years that should have been prevented. (See "More Information on Steve Sweeney's Proposal to Amend the Tax Cap")
In conclusion, the necessity of state aid restorations and the shape of them is disappointing, but since Murphy vetoed tax cap relief they are justified now. I am glad to see the legislature is ready to try again to amend the tax cap.
---------
- New Jersey's 2022-23 State Aid
- 2021-22 Brings $1.7 Billion to Education, More State Aid Equity
- 2020-21 State Aid Closer to Equality
- 2019-20 State Aid Gets Fairer, but the Deficit Grows
- 2018-19 Disparities Narrow, but Remain Stark
- Updated State Aid Disparities for 2017-18
