Star Ledger--N.J. Dems visit Edison to promote school funding reform
EDISON — While some school districts in New Jersey receive as much as 150 percent in school formula aid, others — like New Brunswick, Woodbridge and Edison — only receive 85 percent, according to state Senate Democrats.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) doesn't believe the current formula is fair to all school districts and he is pushing for reform.
Sweeney and fellow Senate Democrats gathered at Middlesex County College on Wednesday as part of their continuing statewide tour to promote their school funding formula plan that would seek to bring all school districts statewide to 100 percent funding.
Spencer Kent | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com| July 06, 2016 at 6:34 PM
The Record--Christie to resume push for new school funding plan in Fair Lawn
Governor Christie plans to resume his push for a new school funding formula with a forum in Fair Lawn on Monday.
The event will be at the Fair Lawn Senior Center at 11-05 Gardiner Road at 11 a.m. where doors will open at 10 a.m., Christie’s office announced Wednesday.
Christie last month began touting a plan to replace New Jersey’s formula for funding public education. The funding method, subject to a series of landmark Supreme Court rulings, has been in place for decades. Since 2008, the state has not fully funded the current formula.
Christie contends that method is broken and that suburban communities like Fair Lawn have been paying a disproportion amount of the property taxes used to support public education. He is seeking to amend the state constitution and allow the state to pay $6,599 per pupil by dividing up the $9.1 billion currently spent on K-12 education. The new aid formula would discard the current system of weighting state aid according to student needs and district demographics.
Christie, a term-limited Republican, and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat likely to make his own bid for governor in 2017, have been crisscrossing the state touting their rival school aide plans.
JOHN C. ENSSLIN| STATE HOUSE BUREAU | The Record| July 7, 2016