Murphy to pitch $50M in one-time aid for hardest-hit school districts; Shore could gain

TRENTON - Gov. Phil Murphy plans to announce $50 million in “one-time” additional "stabilization aid" to school districts hit hard by ongoing state funding cutbacks during his annual budget announcement Tuesday.

Prospective beneficiaries of the extra aid weren't disclosed, but many Shore districts stand to gain. They were among those hardest hit by a new school-funding formula that redistributed millions of dollars in state assistance from districts with declining enrollments to those boosting their numbers.

“As we properly fund the school funding formula, some districts continue to face challenges," Murphy’s speech will say, according to an excerpt from his budget address made available to the Asbury Park Press. "So, our budget also includes funding to stabilize their finances without cutting vital student programs."

The address continues: "School taxes make up more than half of the average property tax bill in New Jersey, so there is urgency in our action. And, as we make up for the years of aid cuts and flat funding that preceded us, taxes in more than 250 school districts are stabilizing. And, as we continue to reinvest, that number will grow.”

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No details on which districts would receive the aid, or how much would be involved for specific schools, was provided. But a spokesperson for the administration described it as “one-time assistance for districts facing fiscal challenges since the Governor worked with the Legislature to enact S2.”

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S2, or Senate Bill 2, is the education overhaul legislation passed in 2018 that resulted in major shifts in public education for hundreds of districts statewide beginning in 2019.

While many school districts received the same or more state aid as a result of S2, dozens of Monmouth and Ocean county communities lost millions of dollars in funding. And most received word that the cuts would continue.

As a result, Toms River school officials threatened to cut sports teams and clubs, while Asbury Park chose to close a school and consolidate more grades into the high school. Middletown schools, meanwhile, have increased class sizes to their largest ever. Protesters there Monday opposed the planned closing of a school building.

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Even as dozens of school districts hit hard by the state-aid cuts sought new ways to close budget gaps, many have continued to plead with Trenton and the courts to reconsider the millions of dollars in reductions.

Officials from Toms River Regional Schools to the Freehold Regional High School District called on parents to press Trenton for more money, urging their participation in protests at the Statehouse and letter-writing campaigns.  

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Soon after S2 went into effect, a group of nine local districts filed a lawsuit against the state challenging the cutbacks. Those included Brick, Jackson, Manalapan-Englishtown, Toms River Regional, Lacey, Freehold Regional, Weymouth, and Ocean Township.

Toms River launched protests after the state informed the district it would lose $2.8 million in aid this year and $4.3 million next year, with more cuts to follow. Toms River, which cut 77 positions this year, had also lost $2.3 million in aid last year.

In Monmouth and Ocean counties, the state aid issue was further impacted by an enrollment decline that has been occurring for several years. Many of the state aid cuts are based on enrollment and when it’s reduced, state officials assume a lesser need for aid.

State data indicates Monmouth County public school enrollment dropped from 103,965 to 95,498 since 2011, while Ocean County has decreased from 74,964 to 68,403 in that same time span.

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Asbury Park Schools were among the first to make some hard decisions following the state aid cutback announcement last spring. The cuts mean losing $3.4 million this year and $24 million over the next six years.

The Freehold Regional High School District, which oversees six high schools serving eight communities in Monmouth County, sent letters to parents, residents and local business owners this fall urging them to pressure Trenton for more funding.

The district lost $3.8 million this year and learned it would lose more than $30 million during the next four years. The cutbacks are occurring as voters rejected two major referendums in 2018 and 2019 that would have provided $39 million and $42 million, respectively, to the Freehold Regional district.

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Jackson Schools lost $1.35 million in state aid in 2018, $2.3 million this year and is expected to see a total decrease of $18.5 million by 2024-2025, he said. The district has already cut its budget by $790,000 and lost 13 staffers through attrition.

In Lakewood, meanwhile, state funding has been an issue for years and prompted a $36 million state loan in 2019 to keep schools open after a $30 million funding boost was cut by the state Senate. 

Two Jersey Shore school districts received small increases in state aid under the Department of Education (DOE) emergency assistance grants in December, but three others were denied such requests.

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The Toms River Regional Board of Education in August had made a request seeking $4.4 million, saying the funds were needed to restore 62 jobs that had been cut earlier this year. But the district received just $854,364 in the new funding.

Along with Toms River, Lakehurst schools received an additional $651,122 after requesting $722,754 more. Other area school districts that had requested more aid but were denied include; Brick, seeking $2.7 million more; Lacey, requesting $623,156; and Point Pleasant, which sought another $327,367.

The only Monmouth County district to request additional emergency aid was the Freehold Regional High School District, which had asked for another $3.7 million. That was rejected as well.

The governor’s office declined to offer more specifics on Murphy’s school aid announcement, but in another excerpt of his speech, Murphy is expected to say, “It bears repeating — school funding is property tax relief. It is the most aggressive way we can attack the single-largest root-cause of our high property taxes.”

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and Monmouth County for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of two books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-643-4277. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp