It's good news for Central Jersey school districts hit hard by state aid cuts

There is hope for the 140 New Jersey districts, many in Central Jersey, impacted by a reduction in state aid for the upcoming school year.

Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law a bill that restores a portion of the school aid cuts and allows property tax levy cap flexibility for districts that have seen an overall decline in state aid in recent years.

Murphy also signed legislation to allow school districts to finalize budgets after the legislature approves the new state budget.

That's good news for Central Jersey school districts which have been struggling to draft budgets because of the state aid cuts.

South Brunswick Superintendent of Schools Scott Feder said the districts are now "able to put the focus back on teaching and learning and not on cuts and fees."

In Central Jersey schools, the state cut $2.7 million in aid to Hillsborough schools, $1.4 million to South Brunswick schools, $2.5 million to Old Bridge schools, and $1.32 million to East Brunswick schools. The biggest cut was in South Plainfield which saw a loss of nearly 3.6 million.

For South Brunswick, Feder said the bill will allow the district to "plan strategically and focus on improvement, not survival."

"We moved away from thinking about doing the same with less, to thinking about how to imagine what is possible," he said. "This is key and one of the most important elements of the bill. When you look at the impact of S2 combined with a 2% cap while trying to manage 7% inflation, the outcome has been a disaster for said school districts. SBSD has been treading water for a while now and this year was the tipping point."

Feder said his district may be able to rescind many of the cuts that were proposed. Some reductions were related to enrollment declines, but many were related to budget loss, he said.

More than 60 positions in South Brunswick were going to be axed because of the loss in state aid and other budget issues. Now, the superintendent, a "good deal of the staffing impact can be reversed" and much of the proposed fee increases will not occur, with the exception of subscription busing for parents who no longer have courtesy busing.

"Our ultimate goal is to maintain reasonable class sizes, offer outstanding programs and ensure that everything we do is sustainable," Feder said. "Sustainability is one of the biggest positives with this bill. We cannot continue down the path we were on every year figuring out what is going to be cut next."

In Hillsborough, the Board of Education had approved a $145.6 million budget that called for several cuts, including the elimination of middle school sports and some teaching positions.

Superintendent of Schools Michael Volpe said the district was caught in "financial shackles" that causes "devastation" and prompted "draconian cuts."

Now Volpe said he is "happy" to see that 45% of the district's state aid cut is being restored as a one-time grant.

"This will save staffing cuts that were included as a part of our final budget," Volpe said. "Additionally, the ability to not be restricted by the 2% cap is something that our Board of Education will be carefully considering. Hillsborough has lost significant money over the past several years and I want us on the same level as all other schools in Somerset County. All of Hillsborough's students deserve the outstanding education my four children received from this school district. I'm not just a Superintendent in Hillsborough. I am a resident, a taxpayer, and a parent. This town means a lot to me and our kids deserve the best."

Like many school districts impacts by years of aid reductions, Old Bridge continued its fight this year to reverse state aid funding cuts. In the original budget unveiled by Murphy in February, Old Bridge schools saw a 9.41% decrease in state aid for the 2024-2025 school year, the seventh consecutive year of cuts for the district.

Old Bridge Superintendent of Schools David Cittadino said the board will take the opportunity provided by new legislation to re-examine budgetary options for the 2024-2025 school year.

"It is never optimal to increase taxes," Cittadino said. "However, reductions in state aid, increases in transportation costs, healthcare costs, inflation, and the discontinuation of grants make exploring these options a necessity if our shared hope is to save our schools from catastrophic cuts to programming and staffing as a result of a broken state school funding formula.""Over 140 districts are experiencing drastic state aid reductions that would require them to make rash cuts to student programs and jobs," said state Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-District 16), one of the legislation's sponsors. "Our public schools are the best in the nation. We cannot let them fall into disarray by asking districts to scale back spending year after year. This program is a stopgap that will provide relief to districts for the upcoming school year as we continue to work to find a stable long-term school funding solution.""We know that even in the midst of unprecedented school aid and investment in education, many districts are losing state aid," said Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D-District 16), a Hillsborough resident who co-sponsored the bills. "This bill recognizes the need to act swiftly, as some school districts are already working on budgetary decisions. Delays in our response could result in devastating staff cuts being implemented that could otherwise be avoided."The legislation provides grants equal to 45% of a school district’s state school aid reduction for the 2024-2025 school year. The bill gives $44.7 million in grants to certain school districts facing nearly $106 in combined cuts and allows them to seek property tax increases above the state’s 2% cap on such hikes.

email: cmakin@gannettnj.com

Cheryl Makin is an award-winning features and education reporter forMyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. Contact: Cmakin@gannettnj.com or@CherylMakin. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.