Governor Chris Christie Announces Education Allocation Plan Which Increases School Funding for Every District in New Jersey
State Aid Increased to School Districts by $850 Million Over Last Year
For Immediate Release Contact: Michael Drewniak
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Kevin Roberts 609-777-2600
Trenton, NJ - Furthering Governor Christie's commitment to providing the resources and reform to improve education for every New Jersey child, the Christie Administration announced today the allocation plan for $850million in new aid authorized for New Jersey schools in the Fiscal Year 2012Budget. This commitment to education includes the Governor’s initial $250million increase for all school districts, as well as an additional $450million for the Abbott districts, and an additional $150 million for non-Abbott districts. With this new funding, total state aid to education will be higher in Fiscal Year 2012 than it was when Governor Christie took office.
“This year, New Jersey increased state aid to school districts by $850 million over last year, restoring every dollar of the cuts we were forced to make last year and increasing aid by an additional $30 million. We are keeping faith with our commitment to New Jersey’s children and families, spending more money per pupil on New Jersey’s students than almost any other state in the country,” said Governor Christie. “Now is the time to complement the dollars spent with real education reform to bring a focus on student learning, accountability and results.”
Today’s funding includes an additional $450 million for the 31 Abbott districts, which fully funds them under the School Funding Reform Act formula, and an additional $150 million for non-Abbott districts, doubling the increase that the Governor had already approved in February as part of his Fiscal Year2012 Budget. This increase in education aid will provide important property tax relief to New Jerseyans as the state increases its support for local schools.
"Being able to provide additional education funding to districts this year further affirms this Administration’s commitment to ensuring each and every child in New Jersey receives a quality education," said Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. "It is now time to focus on aggressive education reform, concentrating on improving standards, assessments, and curriculum; strengthening the use of performance and accountability data; improving educator effectiveness; and investing in innovative models of educational delivery."
Governor Christie is committed to making 2011 the year of education reform. He has put forward a Reform Agenda that brings necessary and long overdue changes to the public education system that focuses on accountability, makes teacher effectiveness and student achievement the driving forces behind public policies and practices, empowers parents with greater school choice, and expands high quality public charter schools in New Jersey to ensure that every child in our state has access to a quality education and achieves the results they deserve.
The county and school district allocation lists can be viewed at: http://www.state.nj.us/education/stateaid/1112/
Politickerknj.com-State Street Wire - Christie releases school aid breakdown; Elizabeth wins big
By Darryl R. Isherwood | July 12th, 2011 - 2:08pm
Elizabeth is the big winner in the school aid sweepstakes this year, securing an additional $85 million in aid over last year’s total, according to figures released by the Christie Administration Tuesday.
The total of $356 million awarded to the city school district this year amounts to a 31 percent increase over the total awarded Elizabeth in Fiscal Year 2011. The Passaic School District, which like Elizabeth is one of the state’s 25 so-called Abbott Districts that receive additional state aid, received the next highest bump over FY2011 at $52 million. That represents a 30 percent increase over last year’s total of $174 million in aid.
The figures were part of the breakdown of how more than $7.6 billion in state aid will be doled out this year, released by the governor Tuesday. According to the figures, every district in the state will receive a bump over Fiscal Year 2011 funding, with the increases ranging from $1,192 in tiny Cape May Point to Elizabeth’s $85 million.
Overall, Newark received the largest chunk of state education aid at nearly $715 million, followed by Jersey City at $417 million and Paterson at $398 million.
“This year, New Jersey increased state aid to school districts by $850 million over last year, restoring every dollar of the cuts we were forced to make last year and increasing aid by an additional $30 million,” said Gov. Chris Christie in a statement. “We are keeping faith with our commitment to New Jersey’s children and families, spending more money per pupil on New Jersey’s students than almost any other state in the country,” Christie said. “Now is the time to complement the dollars spent with real education reform to bring a focus on student learning, accountability and results.”
The state was forced to fund an additional $450 million for Abbott Districts after the Supreme Court ruled last month that the aid to the districts did not fulfill the state’s obligation.
Christie also boosted aid by an additional $150 million over the budget he presented in March as part of his line item veto of a budget passed by legislative Democrats. The total increase over FY2011 amounts to $838 million, according to the figures released Tuesday.
Attached is a spread sheet containing a district by district breakdown of state aid.