The NJ School Funding Reform Act of 2008

On January 13, 2008 Governor Corzine signed into law the School Funding Reform Act of 2008.  This legislation was born out of years of discussions about how to restructure the allocation of state tax dollars to the schools throughout New Jersey.  The full impact of the new funding formula will not be known until the law goes into effect over the next few years.  To help gain a better understanding of this legislation, the Dutch Neck PTA Board interviewed Deborah Yaffe, a West Windsor-Plainsboro parent and author of Other People’s Children: The Battle for Justice and Equality in New Jersey’s Schools, which tells the story of the state’s 38-year struggle over school funding.  Her insights contributed to the following summary.

The state has determined that the cost of providing an “adequate” education for a basic elementary school child is $9,649.  This is known as the “adequacy amount,” and it is the base from which the state calculates the cost of providing education to children that require a more expensive education; for instance, middle school and high school students, “at risk” students, students with special education needs, etc.  The state then calculates the “adequacy budget” for each district based upon its individual profile.  Essentially, the state adds up the number of children in each category, multiplies that number by the weight associated with the category, multiplies all those totals by the adequacy amount, and calculates the grand total.

The state will calculate the “fair share” of the adequacy amount that each district will be required to fund through local property taxes.  The fair share calculation is based upon two factors: property values and income, which means that richer districts have higher fair share requirements and therefore qualify for less basic state aid.  This basic aid, which is distributed based on district wealth, is known as “equalization aid.”  There are other kinds of state aid, however, that are not linked to district wealth which help fund extra services, including part of the district's special ed costs.

Many middle class and some affluent districts throughout the state will see big percentage jumps in their aid under the new formula because they haven’t been fully funded according to the old formula for years.  These districts have seen increases in such areas as enrollment, and therefore the big new aid increases represent, in some cases, a way of catching up with years of costs that local taxpayers have shouldered without state help.  Districts that are taxing above their local fair share and spending above their adequacy budgets—in other words, using local money to pay for a more expensive school budget than the state claims they need—will not be allowed to use all of their additional state aid to increase school spending.  They will instead be required to use a chunk of the new aid to reduce the local tax levy.

Increases in aid under the new formula will be capped at 20% for districts currently spending below adequacy level.  For districts spending above adequacy, the increases will be capped at 10%.  The state will not decrease any district’s aid for the first three years of the new formula, and all districts will get at least a 2% increase in state aid for FY2009.

What does this mean for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District?

· For FY2009, our district will receive roughly $1,050,000 more state funding than we received the previous year.

· Our school aid increase was capped at 10%.

 

The impact on the state budget?

· The proposed FY2009 state budget includes a $614.1 million increase in school aid, a 6% increase over FY2008.

· About 1/3 of New Jersey’s total $33B budget for FY2009 is represented by the $11.5B slated for school aid.

· New Jersey is confronting a $2.5B budget deficit, so there are questions about whether the state will be able to fully fund the new formula. 

Smart Television Alliance

Last fall, leading nonprofit organizations representing millions of American parents, teachers, nurses and children announced the formation of the Smart Television Alliance (STA) to promote quality television content for children. STA is being created under the combined leadership of the National Education Association, National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO).

STA will encourage families to use information from trusted sources to identify shows that inform and educate children and to utilize technology to control what is on television and when it is watched. NEA members also will contribute information, as well as offering specific tips from educators on how parents can use television as a learning opportunity.

Children’s television programming recommendations will come from nonprofit experts including Parent’s Choice Foundation, Common Sense Media, Parent’s Television Council, member organizations, as well as from parents and caregivers by means of an interactive Web site and Smart News, STA’s twice monthly free newsletter. For more information on STA and to receive Smart News, please visit: www.smarttelevisionalliance.org.                           (Source: www.pta.org)

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