Adjustment Aid Restorations for 2023-24

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:

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.

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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.  

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 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.

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• 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

2023-24 New Jersey State Aid

PLEASE NOTE: This post was written prior to the April 2023 restoration of 66% of state aid ($102 million) to aid-losing districts.  The sections of this post about the overaided districts are no longer accurate.  A post based on Updated Information is here.

 The 2023-24 state aid numbers are available.  Although there are some losers in state aid this year who are in budget stress or crisis due to the rigidity of the tax cap, this is the best year for state aid fairness we've had since the start of the SFRA era in 2008-09, perhaps since the inception of major state aid in 1976.

For 2023-24 Phil Murphy proposes to increase overall K-12 formula aid by $832 million and redistribute $157 million from overaided districts.  This means +$991 million for underaided districts and enormously greater state aid equality than even 2022-23, when underaided districts still had a deficit of $618 million.

The most important numbers are the following:

1. There are 192 overaided districts (including vo-techs and non-operating districts) with a $165 million surplus.  This is a huge drop in total state aid excess in the mid-2010s, when the state aid excess was $618 million.  
   
   
2. There are 401 underaided districts (including vo-techs and non-operating districts) with a $277 million deficit. This is also a huge decrease from a few years ago, when the deficit against Uncapped Aid was $2 billion.

As usual, I've put all the 2023-24 State Aid Disparities and Local Fair Share disparities online.

The Underaided

Former "poster children" for underaiding are now doing well.

1. Chesterfield, which only got 9% (-$4798 pp) of its uncapped aid in 2016-17 ($420k for 801 students) is now slightly overaided, at $3.5 million for only 684 students (101%, or +$44 per student).  
   
   
2. Red Bank Boro, whose deficit was -$4973 per student in 2016-17, also became overaided and actually lost -$545,705 in state aid (-5.9%, or -$431 pp).  Like many overaided districts, Red Bank Boro's excess is due to enrollment loss.  For 2023-24 Red Bank Boro is only projected to have 1,267 students, compared to 1,371 in 2022-23 and over 1,400 a few years ago.
   
   
3. Freehold Boro, which was underaided by $14 million for 1,700 students (-$8,243 per student) and "where students were packed on top of each other"  now only has a deficit of -$991,388 for 1,557 students (-$637 per student).  
   
   
4. Bound Brook, whose deficit was the largest in per student terms -$17,154,750 for 1,744 students (-$9,836 pp), now only has a deficit of -$1,740,085 for 1,839 students (-$946 per student).
   
   
5. Newark's state aid deficit has long been the largest in total dollars in NJ, at -$133.5 million in 2016-17 (-$2635 pp).  Since 2016-17 Newark has gained $408 million, but since its Adequacy Budget has grown, it still has a deficit of $36 million (-$660 per student).  
   
   Newark has continued to gain students.  Its 2023-24 enrollment will be 54,555.

There are only 64 districts with deficits over $500 per student.  The most underaided district in dollars-per-student is now Lindenwold, with a deficit of -$3,356,389, or -$1,096 per student, which is only tenth of what Bound Brook's deficit was in its worst year.

The most underaided district in percentage terms is Woodland Park, but it still gets $2,747,157 out of $3,099,440, or 89%, which is only a ninth of what Chesterfield's was in its worst year.  All other districts get at least 90%.

The Overaided

The Update is Here.

The districts I highlighted as examples of Adjustment Aid excess no longer have large surpluses anymore, and in the case of non-Abbotts which are constrained by the 2% tax cap, I am worried about them budgetarily.

• Jersey City is losing $51 million (-$1,730 pp), bringing its state aid surplus down from $1,903 pp in 2022-23 to $552 pp in 2023-24.  Factoring in the tax increase necessary to compensate for inflation and to compensate for the lost $51 million, Jersey City should have to raise taxes by $70 million, bringing their levy up to $500 million.  However, on an Equalized Valuation of $49.4 billion, we need not be concerned about Jersey City being overtaxed.  A $500 million levy is still a 1% school tax rate.
  
  Jersey City's Equalization Aid is still $68 million and its state aid excess is $16.3 million.  It should lose a few tens of millions in state aid for 2024-25, but thereafter gain state aids through growth in the categorical aids.

• For years, Asbury Park was NJ's highest spending district, exceeding $30,000 per student (not even counting pensions), over which as much as $24,000 per student came from state aid.  It was even the highest spending district in the United States.  Since Asbury Park was one of its lowest performing districts in NJ, it was used frequently as an example of Abbott vs Burke excess and the ineffectiveness of megaspending.
  
  Asbury Park's academic performance is still very low, but in 2023-24, Asbury won't work as an example of excessive spending anymore. Asbury Park's state aid will be $20,702,767 for 1,926 students, or $10,749 pp.
  
  Asbury Park's state aid excess is now only $2,711,765, or $1,408 pp.  That's still the seventh most in New Jersey, but nothing compared to when Asbury Park's state aid excess was $11,000 per student.
  
  
• Hoboken's state aid surplus was never as large as Jersey City or Asbury Park's, but since Hoboken was NJ's richest K-12 district by far, any aid surplus was unacceptable.  Now, however, Hoboken is only overaided by $68,045 total, or $21 per student.  (not counting Hoboken's $2.7 million in Interdistrict Choice Aid)
  

The most overaided district in 2023-24 will be East Orange, getting $175,087,372 when SFRA's core formulas say it only should have $144,910,078, which is a $30.2 million surplus for 9,522 students, or +$3,169 per student.

East Orange's Adjustment Aid is protected by East Orange having exceptionally high taxes, with an effective all-in tax rate of 3.449.  The protection comes from S2.

 (1) An SDA district that is located in a municipality in which the equalized total tax rate is greater than the Statewide average equalized total tax rate for the most recent available calendar year and is spending below adequacy as calculated pursuant to section 1 of P.L.    , c.   (C. ) shall not be subject to a reduction in State aid pursuant to subsection b. of this section.

Toms River, Lakewood and Others Show the Clear Need for Tax Cap Liberalization

As some aid-losing districts fall deeper under Adequacy, the more undeniable their mistake was to not ask for tax cap relief, and Phil Murphy's veto of a 2020 bill that would have done exactly that.

• Toms River is losing $14.4 million ($1,121 per student), which is much larger than their $3.5 million surplus it had in 2022-23.  The reason Toms River lost much more than anticipated is that their Local Fair Share grew, from $219 million to $251 million (+20%), while Toms River's Adequacy Budget only grew from $238 million to $252 million, meaning that Toms River is nearly ineligible for Equalization Aid.  
  
  Toms River's Local Fair Share grew so much because of 20% growth in its Equalized Valuation (compared to +11% statewide), although Aggregate Income fell by 2% (which is a statewide effect presumably due to the Covid disruption of 2020).
  
  

  	Equalized Valuation (2022)	Aggregate Income (2020)	Local Fair Share
  Toms River 2022-23	$19,518,711,982	$4,007,942,878	$219,146,610
  Toms River 2023-24	$23,423,170,202	$3,951,760,462	$250,875,466

  
  Most of TR's aid loss comes from the growing Equalized Valuation, but 2023-24 will mark another year in its long trend of enrollment loss.  In 2003-04 Toms River had 18,192 students.  Next year's enrollment is projected at 14,000 exactly, down from 14,095 in 2022-23.
  
  
• Freehold Regional has also been a prominent opponent of Adjustment Aid redistribution but said very little about liberalizing the tax cap.
  
  Freehold Regional taxes were $22 million below LFS for 2022-23. IE, despite having a LFS of $168,740,593 for 2022-23, the local tax levy is only $146,050,632.  
  
  In 2023-24 Freehold Regional's Local Fair Share will be $184,622,567 and it will lose $6.8 million in state aid.  Even a full 2% tax increase will only be +$2.8 million, which is far inadequate to compensate for its $6.8 million state aid loss.
  
  
• Lakewood is a very complex district budgetarily due to its high OOD and transportation spending.  I agree that the SFRA formula does not work for Lakewood, but Lakewood's budget is also badly hurt by the rigidity of the tax cap.
  
  For 2023-24 Lakewood's Local Fair Share will rise from $137 million to $160 million, but due to how the tax cap is just 2% and is based on the 2022-23 tax levy of $109.5 million, the tax levy can only rise +2%, or $2.1 million.
  
  

In 2016, when Lakewood was nearly at its full Local Fair Share, I wrote about how SFRA didn't work for Lakewood, but if it were to update that article I would have to write equally much about the tax cap.  

These districts would probably say that the real problem is state aid loss at all, 

Equalization Aid Eligibility Increases; Local Fair Share Rate Decreases

There will be 309 districts eligible for Equalization Aid, which is an increase from a few years ago, when as few as 270 districts were eligible.  Their Local Fair Share works out to a 1.36% median tax rate, which is slightly lower than 1.38% in 2022-23, but significantly lower than 2018-19 when it was as high as 1.52%.  

The reason Local Fair Share decreased is the big increase in Equalization Aid, which lowers the Local Fair Share multipliers relative to tax base growth (which was +11% for this year due to the real estate boom.)

The 2023-24 Local Fair Share formula is 

(Equalized Valuation x 0.012805233) + (Aggregate Income x 0.051068829) / 2

which is a reduction in the Equalized Valuation multiplier and an increase in the Aggregate Income multiplier.  NJ's Equalized Valuation had been way up in 2021-22, while in 2021 there were Covid-related reductions in income (about -2%)

Despite the decrease in Local Fair Share rate, since NJ's Equalized Valuation grew so much, the total, statewide Local Fair Share for Equalization Aid eligible districts grew from $8.7 billion to $9.4 billion.  That effect is part of the reason the state aid deficit fell, as well as increased education spending.

Local Fair Share Disparities

Very few people recognize how unequal New Jersey's Local Fair Share is.  Although the state median is 1.36%, Local Fair Share ranges from only 0.94% for Long Branch City up to 1.81% for Woodlynne. This actually a narrower gap than a few years ago, when Local Fair Share range went from 0.8% for Wildwood City to 2.1% for Woodlynne.

The reason New Jersey's Local "Fair" Share varies so much is that New Jersey uses Aggregate Income as well as Equalized Valuation to calculate it.  This means that the lower the ratio of Aggregate Income to taxable property there is, the lower the tax rate and the higher the ratio of Aggregate Income to taxable property there is, the higher the tax rate.

The logic "make higher earning people pay more" breaks down because NJ uses Aggregate Income, not median income, so that ultra high-income outliers and residents living in PILOTed or tax exempt property have their incomes added to Aggregate Income, even though high-income outliers pay little property taxes relative to income and residents of PILOTed and tax exempt property pay no regular property taxes at all.

Furthermore, the use of Aggregate Income introduces a bias in favor of non-residential property and vacation homes, since neither non-residential property nor vacation homes has any income attached to it.

Using Aggregate Income also penalizes people who have chosen to live within their means, in houses that are inexpensive relative to their income.

The following districts have the highest Local Fair Shares:

WOODLYNNE BORO	1.81%
LAUREL SPRINGS BORO	1.79%
LINDENWOLD BORO	1.72%
HARRISON TWP	1.72%
STRATFORD BORO	1.71%
BRIDGETON CITY	1.70%
LINWOOD CITY	1.70%
PITMAN BORO	1.70%
HADDON HEIGHTS BORO	1.69%
PITTSGROVE TWP	1.69%
HI NELLA	1.65%
MERCHANTVILLE BORO	1.64%
DEERFIELD TWP	1.63%

It's not a coincidence that the highest LFSs are in South Jersey, particularly the Philly suburbs, since it was the original intention of the law back in 1990.  NJ's LFS formula penalizes districts where people live within their means. 

Although there are some districts in northeastern New Jersey that also have high Local Fair Shares 2023-24 also continues the anti-rural, anti-South Jersey bias of the Local Fair Share formula.  The northeastern NJ district with the highest Local Fair Share is West Orange, but it is only 1.55%, which is #38 in the state.

Some wealthy districts in northern NJ have theoretically high Local Fair Shares, including Mendham Township at 2.13%, but for a district like Mendham the official LFS has no meaning since it's far in excess of what the district would ever need.

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• 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