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It's wait-and-see on school aid plan Many want more data before passing judgment on $532 million proposal Friday, December 14, 2007 BY DUNSTAN McNICHOL AND JOHN MOONEY Star-Ledger Staff Whether they praised Gov. Jon Corzine's new school funding plan or decried it, almost everyone who spoke at a public hearing on the proposal yesterday said they don't have enough information to fully judge it. "Last week I was saying, 'Show me the money,'" said Tom Dunn, former superintendent of Elizabeth schools and now a lobbyist for the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. "Today I say, 'Show me the formula.'" Yesterday's five-hour hearing before the Senate budget and education committees followed Wednesday's unveiling of a school aid formula that Corzine calls "A New Formula For Success: All Children, All Communities." The new plan would change the way New Jersey hands out $7.8 billion to public schools, boosting overall state aid by $532 million next year. It would steer hefty increases to some of the state's older suburbs and its fastest-growing towns by attempting to tie state aid to actual student needs. But the distribution plan unveiled Wednesday blunts the effect of the formula by capping any community's aid increase at 20 percent, and by including about $860 million in extra funding to ensure that communities that would lose state aid under the new formula get a 2 percent increase. "What you're seeing now is a series of calculations that are designed to mask the full effect of the funding formula," said Richard Shapiro, an attorney who has represented Elizabeth and other school districts in funding lawsuits. Corzine said that without the cap on increases, the new formula could have required up to $1.5 billion in new state funds, triple the amount his plan calls for and currently too costly. "We may be magic, but we're not magic enough to do $1.5 billion right away," he said during an appearance in Carteret, which would get a $4.2 million increase under the new plan. "I see the $4.2 million, but two years ago, we had to cut $4 million," said Superintendent Kevin W. Ahearn, whose district's voters have rejected all but two of the last 38 school budget proposals. "Hopefully when it all shakes out and the politicians are done with it, there will be a nice piece of money for us." He said it will take cuts elsewhere in the state budget to come up with the additional $532 million. State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy spent the day defending the new school aid plan before the Senate committees and across the state. During two hours of testimony in Trenton, Davy at least three times defended the plan as "fair and equitable." Yesterday's Senate hearing in Trenton was unusual in that witnesses had to testify on a complicated piece of legislation that has not yet been drafted. Instead, comments were based on a set of spreadsheets listing the dollar amounts and percentage aid increases each of the state's 618 school districts can expect under the new plan. Of the 10 senators present when the hearing began, five will leave office when the current legislative session expires Jan. 8. That deadline left many observers concerned lawmakers will rush the formula through without adequate review, leaving school districts facing a flawed and underfunded school aid system for years to come. "Does this process lead to good legislation? No," said David Humer, a Maplewood Township Committee member who assailed the proposed state aid plan. David Sciarra, lead attorney in the long-running Abbott v. Burke school funding lawsuit that has steered billions of dollars in special state aid to 31 communities found to be incapable of supporting their public schools, was blunt in his assessment of Corzine's proposal. "He is asking you to adopt a school aid budget, one part consisting of aid driven by so-called 'adequacy budgets' manipulated by the DOE behind closed doors, and the other part consisting of a substantial amount of 'hold harmless' aid larded on top to secure your votes," Sciarra said. Under Corzine's plan 22 of the 31 Abbott districts, which currently receive better than half the state aid delivered by the state, would be held to the minimum 2 percent increase allowed under the plan, an outcome that will choke ongoing reforms in those communities, advocates for the Abbot districts testified. Democratic lawmakers, making their first public comments on the proposal, were generally supportive. "It's a good start," said Sen. Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester). "We are not going to solve the problems we have in this state in one year, but this is a very good start." But a potential roadblock to speedy passage emerged when Sen. Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) took issue with provisions in the new formula that would adjust school aid to reflect lower labor costs in certain counties. "That's a very, very dangerous concept," said Bryant, who was chairman of the Budget Committee until a federal investigation that led to his indictment on corruption charges surfaced last year. "I think that may affect folks' view whether they want to vote for this or not." Dunstan McNichol may be reached at dmcnichol@starledger.com or (609) 989-0341. |
Asbury Park Press/Gannett December 14, 2007
Local schools won't see much cash, some say
Corzine's new school-funding plan has its skeptics at the Shore
By ALAN GUENTHER
STAFF WRITER
As they studied emerging details about the governor's new plan to pay for public education, officials in Ocean and Monmouth counties complained Thursday that most of their local schools won't get much new money.
In Ocean County, 24 of the 30 school districts — or 80 percent — will receive no more than the bare minimum 2 percent increase proposed by Gov. Corzine.
In Monmouth County, the numbers are only slightly better. Of the county's 55 school districts, 37 — or 67.3 percent — will get the smallest amount of aid the governor is offering.
This led Assemblyman Joseph Malone, a Republican representing Ocean and Burlington counties, to say that the new school-funding formula does nothing to balance the scales between rich and poor districts.
"Nothing has changed," said Malone, the top-ranking Republican on the Assembly Budget Committee. "We don't change the culture of failure in urban education. The same dismal failures we've had over the last 20 years are going to continue."
Most suburban and rural districts "continue to be frozen in time," Malone said, while "huge amounts of money" will continue to go to urban schools "with little accountability."
State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy said the state is attempting to fix long-standing inequities in funding between school districts.
"This is a step in the right direction," she said. "We didn't get here overnight and we're not going to fix it overnight." She dismissed complaints from critics that the funding plan is being pushed through before the current legislative session ends at noon on Jan. 8.
"The Legislature in session has been working on this school-funding issue — since the summer of 2006," she said. School boards need final figures by mid-February, she said, to prepare their budgets to be approved by voters during the April elections.
Not all Monmouth and Ocean county legislators were critical of the new funding plan. Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, R-Monmouth, said schools in her districts fared well.
Her hometown of Red Bank, for example, would receive an 18 percent jump in aid if the new plan is approved. Freehold Borough would get a 20 percent increase. Freehold Township's aid would go up 10 percent.
"My legislative district actually made out fairly well," she said. "So my initial reaction is a positive one. But we haven't seen the legislation yet. I need to know the next level of detail about how special education is structured. The devil is in the details."
Davy promised legislation would be ready for lawmakers to review on Monday.
Assemblyman Christopher Connors, R-Ocean, said that while some schools in his area got more money, most did not.
"For the most part, most of the suburban and rural districts continue to be shortchanged," Connors said. The new formula "doesn't recognize student enrollment growth."
The Lacey school district did well, he said. But Manchester, Southern Regional and Pinelands did not. Barnegat is a growing district, Connors said. But like most of the other middle-class schools, the governor proposed only 2 percent more in funding.
Barnegat School Superintendent Thomas C. McMahon said he is not sure how the state arrived at the 2 percent aid increase for his rapidly growing school population.
On the one hand, the state has said Barnegat's residents are not wealthy, McMahon said.
"We're classified as being in the lowest 30 percent," said McMahon, according to residents' income. He points out that about one-third of all the students attending Dunfee Elementary School qualify for the federal free-lunch program, which assists low-income families.
Yet when the new funding formula came out, Barnegat, which saw a 28 percent school tax increase last year, saw only a 2 percent increase in state funding.
McMahon said the state's funding formula "raises many questions," and he said he wanted to learn more about how the state decided what amount of money was fair for his local schools.
Gannett: Advocates dislike new school formula
By JONATHAN TAMARI GANNETT STATE BUREAU 12-14--07
Advocates for special education students and some poor, urban school districts took sharp aim at Gov. Jon S. Corzine's school funding plan Thursday and urged lawmakers to delay its approval.
Attorneys who have helped the 31 historically poor, urban "Abbott" districts win Supreme Court cases that boosted their funding warned that Corzine's proposal, if fully implemented, could cost those schools hundreds of millions of dollars and set back their recent educational gains.
Corzine has included $860 million in "hold harmless" funding to ensure that no school districts lose money for at least the first three years of his new plan, but Abbott advocates said that if the formula is followed and that money scaled back, the effect would be drastic.
"What you're seeing now is a series of state aid figures and adjustments that are designed to mask the true impact of the funding formula," said Richard Shapiro, an attorney who represents 11 Abbott districts.
David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, said the 2 percent aid increases set for most Abbott districts this year won't keep up with growing costs.
Between fiscal years 2002 and 2007, the 31 Abbott schools received an average 6 percent annual aid increase, compared to a 1 percent average bump in New Jersey's 585 other districts, according to data from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.
Corzine and Education Commissioner Lucille Davy have said the new formula is intended to restore balance to the funding system and help students who live in districts where aid has been limited. Davy said Abbott schools won't lose money unless their enrollment or demographics change.
"There is absolutely no intention to undermine the progress we have made in Abbott districts," Davy said.
In Thursday's nearly five-hour hearing, the first on Corzine's long-awaited funding plan, most education advocates were cautiously optimistic. They praised Corzine for attempting to unify a divided funding system and recognizing the plight of middle-class districts whose aid was long locked in at 2001-2002 levels, despite changes in enrollment and influxes of needy students.
"This formula, although not perfect, represents long overdue progress toward fair and equitable funding of our schools," said Sen. Barbara Buono, D-Middlesex.
More than 50 people signed up to testify before the joint meeting of the Senate budget and education committees, an indication of the far-reaching impacts the plan could have on education and property taxes throughout the state.
Many advocates tempered their praise with the caveat that they still need to see more details. A formal bill has not yet been introduced.
"As a teacher I need to see not only the answers, but I need to see the work," said Joyce Powell, president of the New Jersey Education Association, the teachers' union.
Despite calls for slowing the process, Senate Democrats expect to hold a committee vote on the funding plan Jan. 3. A full floor vote would follow on Jan. 7, the last day of the current legislative session.
Corzine's formula includes a $532 million in new formula aid, a 7 percent increase. Schools received a 5 percent increase in similar aid ($336 million) last year. That represented the largest boost since 2000, according to the Department of Education.
The biggest winners in the plan appear to be solidly middle-class districts that have seen growing enrollment, including increases in poor students or those with limited English skills, but have had to pay for the additional costs with local property tax dollars.
On the other end of the spectrum, schools that have traditionally received the most state aid and spent above what the state deems necessary, including most Abbott districts, will receive far smaller increases, many as small as 2 percent. Abbott districts will still receive more than half of all state aid.
December 14, 2007
Political Memo
Reaction to Corzine Plan Better Than Anticipated
By DAVID W. CHEN and WINNIE HU
TRENTON — It could have been a lot worse.
For decades, education financing — one of New Jersey’s most intractable issues — has tripped up many a governor, thanks to court decisions that required the state to spend the bulk of its education funds on students in historically poor urban districts.
So when Gov. Jon S. Corzine began tackling a new financing formula after taking office in January 2006, the odds were against him. And early on, the signs were discouraging, as one delay begat another, and people in Trenton began to whisper that a new formula might never emerge because of the combustible mix of schools, money and politics.
Then, as word circulated in recent weeks that the financing plan promised a year ago was ready, Mr. Corzine seemed to lose control of the issue. Parts of the plan dribbled out to the press, but the administration delayed releasing specific numbers. Educators and legislators filled the vacuum by complaining about the formula’s general tenets. Republicans criticized the timing of the formula, which came near the end of a legislative session.
But when Mr. Corzine finally released his plan on Wednesday, the reaction was, with some notable exceptions, not as poisonous as anticipated.
A group of Republicans set to join the State Senate next month met on Thursday morning with Mr. Corzine, and actually said that they were encouraged. And though they cautioned that they had concerns about the fate of special education under the plan, and that they needed to see an actual bill elaborating on the formula, the governor had been fair and inclusive in devising the proposal, they said.
“I think the process that the governor and his team have got has been very different from previous governors in both parties,” said Assemblyman Bill Baroni, a Republican from Mercer County who sits on the education committee. “We may not always agree, but they’re listening and they’re talking, and that is a fundamental change from what has happened in the past.”
The proposal, “A New Formula for Success: All Children, All Communities,” the proposal would steer more state money to poor and disadvantaged children who live outside the so-called Abbott districts, which now receive more than half of all state aid. The new approach, which would increase overall spending by $532.8 million in the first year, would apportion money to schools based on the characteristics of the students, including income, language ability and special academic needs.
Some education advocates contend that if the formula were applied in full during the next school year, the state would have actually cut its spending by more than $300 million. But by pumping more money into education to come out $532.8 million in the black, and promising that no district would see a reduction in aid for three years, Mr. Corzine may have quelled some dissent.
As the formula makes its way through the State Legislature, of course, changes will be inevitable. About two dozen mayors, for instance, released a report on Thursday recommending alterations, like keeping the system of allocating special education aid to districts without regard to community wealth.
“Multiple governors have struggled with this issue, and no funding formula has been deemed to be both constitutional and sustainable,” said Jun Choi, the mayor of Edison and a former state education official. “The fact that we are still struggling with this is an indication of how challenging and complex the problem is.”
Perhaps the most vocal critics of the Corzine proposal have been advocates for the Abbott districts, despite the fact that those districts tend to be heavily Democratic.
“There seems to be a lot of discomfort and uncertainty about aspects of the plan,” said Jerome C. Harris, chairman of the New Jersey Black Issues Convention, a coalition of 35 African-American groups. “Not having access to the details, and not being able to evaluate it whole cloth, has left people who might have been supporters voicing cautious optimism, and in some cases, skepticism.”
Yet, if nothing else, Mr. Corzine clearly cares about the issue. At briefings on Wednesday with legislators at Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion, he was very much on top of the specifics of the plan, and passionate about his goals, according to Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, a Republican from Red Bank.
Mr. Corzine is so determined that the formula be enacted before the end of the legislative session on Jan. 7 that he unveiled the plan on two consecutive days in different districts — on Wednesday in Burlington Township and on Thursday in Carteret. His education commissioner, Lucille E. Davy, attended both events, and testified on Thursday for an hour at a hearing of the Senate budget and education committees.
Some legislators have criticized what they say is the haste with which the administration is pushing the formula.
But Mr. Corzine, in Carteret, said: “Quite frankly, this concept has been debated since 2002 — since we’ve stopped using formulas altogether. This has been the slowest-moving train I can ever imagine. When people say we are going too fast, I think they are failing to look at the history of how long this kind of discussion has been happening.”
Mr. Corzine acknowledged that some people had complained about the delay in the release of the details, but he said that the administration was waiting for some population statistics to incorporate into the formula.
Even supporters of the formula, however, noted that the governor could, by handling the plan’s unveiling more deftly, have gained a bit more political capital.
“Over all, I’m pleased with the way he’s handled it, because anyone can be a Monday morning quarterback, and you’re never going to please everybody with a school funding formula,” said the Senate president, Richard J. Codey, who is, like Mr. Corzine, a Democrat.
“I only wish that he had announced the formula earlier,” Mr. Codey said. “He could’ve done that lobbying maybe six months ago, and said, in general terms, this is what it probably will look like, and try to work out those kinks ahead of time.”
Jonathan Miller contributed reporting from Carteret, N.J.
Corzine's school formula shifts aid
Some suburban districts would get biggest hikes.
By Craig R. McCoy, Rita Giordano and Melanie Burney
12-13-07 Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writers
TRENTON - Many suburban school districts were the winners yesterday as Gov. Corzine released his long-awaited figures for proposed state education aid.
Florence Township in Burlington County, Pennsauken in Camden County, and West Deptford in Gloucester County would be among about 150 districts statewide getting a 20 percent increase, the maximum available under the plan.
But the governor's plan would be less generous to many more-affluent districts - as well as to Camden and other big-city school systems.
Corzine wants just a 2 percent hike for Camden, Newark and 22 other big urban districts targeted for billions of dollars in extra state aid in past years under what is known as the "Abbott" school-funding decision.
In fact, all districts in the state were guaranteed a minimum 2 percent bump under Corzine's proposal - including many that otherwise would have seen a cut under his new funding formula.
David Sciarra, the lawyer who is the chief advocate for the urban schools, denounced Corzine's proposal yesterday.
"This is a march back toward inequality," said Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center in Newark, the organization that won the Abbott ruling in 1990 and has fiercely protected it in court ever since.
Corzine, in a speech at a Burlington County elementary school, released proposed district-by-district figures for the coming school year. To a certain extent, the figures fleshed out Corzine's bold attempt to overhaul the formula by which the state gives out education money, the first new formula in a decade.
But the governor's disclosure masked and delayed the full impact of his proposal on all 616 New Jersey public school districts.
He put in place the minimum 2 percent hike for all districts and recommended, further, that no cuts take place for any district for at least three years - regardless of what his formula dictates.
To "hold harmless" all districts, in Corzine's phrase, his plan calls for spending $850 million beyond what is called for by his own formula. In all, about 250 districts would get the 2 percent hike.
While the full scope of his plan remains unclear, Corzine did reveal much more yesterday about his education agenda.
Its centerpiece is a formula he hopes to push through the Legislature in the next few weeks during its lame-duck session. He proposed:
That the state give local districts a total of $7.8 billion in aid in the forthcoming school year, an increase of $530 million, or 7 percent. While the Corzine education department could not provide comparative figures yesterday, that appears to be twice the increase Corzine and the Legislature managed last year.
That the state no longer treat the 31 "Abbott districts" as a special group for funding purposes. They have been dubbed the Abbott districts from the name of the lawsuit that prompted the sweeping court ruling. Under the ruling, New Jersey was ordered to guarantee that the districts spend at least as much per student as is spent in the richest 128 suburban districts in the state. If the New Jersey Supreme Court agrees, Corzine wants them to compete for aid with other districts under one formula.
That the state dramatically revamp the millions of dollars it provides for special education. The state pays out the same for every special-education student, regardless of the wealth or poverty of his home district. Under Corzine's new plan, richer suburban communities will get less.
Wearing his trademark blue vest under a sport coat, Corzine staged his announcement before youngsters sitting cross-legged on the gym floor at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington Township.
Unsurprising, he picked a district for his presentation that would do well under his plan - Burlington Township public schools would get the maximum 20 percent hike.
While his words were literally above their heads, he said his formula would provide a more equitable funding system.
He noted that half of all low-income students in New Jersey were attending districts other than the Abbott districts, sometimes also called "special-needs" districts.
His formula would weigh the numbers of impoverished or immigrant children in all districts in allocating money - regardless of "whether they happen to live in a special-needs district or in Burlington Township or any other district," Corzine said.
While Corzine and his fellow Democrats - in the majority in both chambers of the Legislature - want to get the new formula enacted in the next few weeks, some potent interest groups have been trying to put the brakes on it.
This has made for some unusual political bedfellows.
Advocates for the Abbott schools and a lobbying organization for the richest suburban schools have both urged the state to slow down and deal with the formula in the next legislative session.
Said Sciarra: "The Legislature has got to put up the stop sign and say, 'Hold on here.' "
Statewide, the 31 Abbott schools as a group would get a 3 percent hike in aid. By contrast, all other districts would see an average 12 percent increase.
In South Jersey, the non-Abbott schools would see an average hike of 12 percent. But the four Abbott districts in South Jersey - Burlington City, Camden, Gloucester City and Pemberton Township - get a hike of just the minimum 2 percent each.
In Camden, Sciarra said, the 2 percent increase would not keep the district even with inflation.
According to Sciarra, the formula would actually have cut Camden by $48 million - except for the "hold-harmless" money added back to boost the overall aid up to a 2 percent hike.
If Camden were to be cut $48 million, he said, "that would be cataclysmic. They would plunge Camden into educational chaos."
While advocates for the Abbott districts denounced Corzine's plan, others said they were still trying to assess the complex proposal.
In Cherry Hill, a district spokeswoman said it was "good news" that it was to get a 10 percent hike. "However, we still have questions," said Susan Bastnagel.
Among other issues, Bastnagel said the district was concerned about the move to take a community's relative wealth into account in providing special-education money. She said the district's special-ed students, at 15 percent of the student body, exceed the statewide average.
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Contact staff writer Craig R. McCoy at 609-989-9016 or cmccoy@phillynews.com.
Inquirer staff writer John Duchneskie contributed to this article.
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School aid stands to rise by 10%
Most North Jersey school districts would receive at least 10 percent more in state aid next year under Governor Corzine's proposed school funding formula, according to figures released Wednesday. State lawmakers have been working on a new funding formula for more than a year, in search of a more equitable system that also addresses the state's property taxes, the highest in the nation. Paying for public schools accounts for the overwhelming majority of property taxes. "Today we unveil a new school funding formula that gives all of our children in all of our communities the opportunity to succeed," Corzine said to a crowd of students, teachers and parents at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington. "It is balanced, unified and equitable and it provides significant relief to local property tax payers, who for decades have shouldered the important yet growing cost of education."
Corzine says his proposal would allow state aid to follow the neediest students, including those from poor families, those with limited English-language skills and those with special education needs. The plan would increase total state aid to schools next year by $533 million, or 7 percent, to $7.8 billion. Every school district would receive an increase in state aid of at least 2 percent next year and there would be no decreases in aid in the following two years. After that, state aid could increase or decrease depending on factors including the number of students enrolled in a district. Corzine and leading Democratic lawmakers hope to have the legislature approve the funding formula before the end of the legislative session on Jan. 8. The administration released an outline of the proposal earlier this month; Wednesday was the first time specific dollar amounts were revealed. Some critics worry the pace of the deliberations is too fast, although supporters of the new formula say lawmakers and administration officials have been working on the proposal for a long time. One critical question that remains to be answered is how the state will pay for the increase in school aid, in a year when the governor has already asked departments to trim their spending to meet a budget shortfall. "It is a lot of money, but we have to do it," said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, co-chairman of the joint legislative committee on public school funding reform. Before Corzine increased funding by $303 million last year, state aid for most schools in New Jersey was flat since 2000. News of the proposed increase for next year, however small, was welcomed by many North Jersey educators. Bergenfield schools Superintendent Michael Kuchar said receiving a 10 percent, or roughly $1.2 million, increase in state aid this year would mean that the district may be able to implement programs like full-day kindergarten, or upgrade facilities. "It means the state is looking at the data of schools that have been historically underfunded," Kuchar said. "Ten percent is a holiday miracle." Suburban districts that would receive a 2 percent increase, such as Teaneck, were not quite as happy. Teaneck Superintendent John Czeterko said he calculated that Teaneck taxpayers pay about 93 percent of student expenses, while state aid accounts for just 7 percent. "We're happy to get an increase [in aid], but we're disappointed that it will be on the backs of the Teaneck taxpayers," Czeterko said. "We bear a disproportionate amount of the burden." The proposed funding formula takes direct aim at the state's long-standing practice of allocating a significant portion of state aid to the 31 poorest districts statewide. Those districts are known as "Abbott" districts after the state Supreme Court case that attempted to make the educations offered in rich and poor communities more equitable. The Abbott districts serve only 22 percent of the students in the state but receive about 55 percent of state aid. Critics say that imbalance has placed a disproportionate burden on all the other districts, but particularly those in middle-income communities that cannot afford to simply hike property taxes to make up the difference. North Jersey Abbott districts include Garfield, Paterson and Passaic schools. Because of the Abbott ruling, the courts would have to approve any new school funding formula. Corzine acknowledged that his proposal would aim to eventually eliminate the concept of an Abbott district altogether, instead directing funding to where it is most needed. Henry Lee, the business administrator for the Passaic school district, is among the Abbott school officials worried about eventually losing the classification and, along with it, funding. "We have to instruct our children," Lee said. "We need resources to do it. With insufficient resources, something is going to be reduced. I think we have been, during the last three years, have been heading back to pre-Abbott." Corzine pointed out Wednesday that nearly half of the state's poorest students live outside of Abbott districts, which means they do not currently receive the additional aid intended to help the neediest students. The proposed formula establishes an "adequacy" figure per pupil, which represents what the state believes a district should spend on each student to attain the state's educational standards. The figure is adjusted for students who are poor, have a limited proficiency in English or require special education. A high concentration of poor students in one district would also increase the amount of state aid. The proposal also changes the way the state would pay for special education and increases state funding for those services. Two-thirds of the state's special education contribution would be based on the number of students requiring services; one-third would be weighted according to a community's ability to pay, with wealthier districts receiving less money. The proposal also includes a major expansion of state-funded preschool programs. Staff Writers Jan Barry and Danielle Shapiro contributed to this article. E-mail: lu@northjersey.com * * * Top 5 Area districts with greatest aid per pupil: Paterson $15,545 Passaic $14,539 Garfield $9,138 Prospect Park $7,378 North Bergen $6,322 * * * By the numbers • Eight of 104 school districts in The Record's coverage area would receive an increase of at least 10 percent in state aid, according to the proposed formula. • Twenty-six districts would receive increases of at least 20 percent in state aid. • The smallest increases would go to Moonachie, Woodcliff Lake, Rochelle Park and Norwood school districts. • Eighty-five percent of state aid to schools in North Jersey goes to Passaic and Paterson school districts. |
