Today in Trenton: School Funding Formula Part Deux

The legislature is holding a rare holiday-week session today so the General Assembly can hear and debate details of the Governor's proposed $7.8 billion school funding formula. School funding consumes the largest share of the state budget and a new formula to replace the ad hoc and disjointed system currently in place offers the greatest opportunity for property tax reform.

Since the Senate hearing, formal legislation has finally been introduced. To our pleasant surprise, the property tax relief contained within the proposal is more substantial than expected. It requires towns spending more than the state definition of adequate who also receive more than the minimum 2% in state aid to return money above the 'adequacy' marker directly to the taxpayers. The baseline (before children are defined as special needs, at risk etc and before they reach high school age) in the formula is more than $9,600 per student. Under the new proposal, more than 100 towns would be required to return money to taxpayers.

While accountability in the formula is still lacking in that there is no correlation between funding levels and results, the changes do offer much of what CIANJ has long-stood for. Our testimony before the Senate is available here. A district-by-district breakdown of who would get how much from Trenton is also available. 

The Administration seeks to have the proposal pass the legislature during the current session, which means it would need to pass by January 7th.