Murphy Praises NJ's Top Ranked School System On Campaign Trail

NEW JERSEY — Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report named New Jersey as the top education system in America for Grades pre-K through 12. It’s a ranking Gov. Phil Murphy has touted, particularly as he campaigns for re-election against Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the run-up to the Nov. 2 elections.

Some things Murphy points to are the expansion of universal pre-K under his administration, as well as historic investments in public schools. In 2018, Murphy signed legislation that changed the way aid was distributed to schools in New Jersey, eliminating adjustment aid and state aid growth caps and adjusting tax growth limitations for certain school districts that had previously gone underfunded.

Ciattarelli has proposed changing that formula, something Murphy says would have a disproportionately negative impact on Black communities.

“Progress has been made in the districts which have had a disproportionate funding formula from the state,” Murphy recently said on The Brian Lehrer Show. “Why would we got off the journey when we finally stopped kicking those cans down the road, and we’re finally getting these communities on their feet. It’s pulling the rug out from under them.”

Murphy said there are ways to help school districts that previously went underfunded without raising taxes too much on everyone else.

“It’s a work in progress, without question, but when 53 percent of your property tax bill is for public education, and the Christie Administration underfunding schools by $9.2 billion, we have turned that ship around,” Murphy said. “We’re finally funding public education at the levels it needs to be funded, and we’re getting the results you would hope for.”

As it relates to the coronavirus pandemic, schools closed and went full remote from March 2020 through the end of the school year.

Schools were permitted to have hybrid and full-remote learning options for the 2020-21 school year, but Murphy said districts must implement full in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year.

Murphy touts his administration’s $150 million investment to safely reopen schools and close the digital divide for all 231,000 students statewide. He also points to money that was set aside for tutoring, after school programs, and summer programs, as well as for additional mental health resources for children as they transition back to school in-person.

This year’s budget included a proposed $18.1 billion in state funding for pre-K through 12 schools. It's $578 million more than last year, and included and nearly $50 million in additional preschool funding. Other initiatives Murphy touts include:

• Launching the “Computer Science for All” initiative and adopting a Computer Science State Plan;
• Increasing preschool funding by nearly $200 million and making it accessible to more families;
• Making New Jersey the first state in the country to have access to arts education in all public schools;
• Requiring climate change curriculum in K-12 schools, the first state in the country to do so; and
• Strengthening the Amistad Commission to bolster the K-12 curriculum around slavery and the contributions of African Americans to the nation.

“We teach our kids the whole truth, nothing but the truth,” Murphy said of teaching climate change and strengthening the Amistad Commission during the first gubernatorial debate in Newark. “I’m proud of the fact that LGBTQ+, the real history, is being taught. We’re not perfect, and we have to acknowledge the entire truth of our history.”

In an effort to tackle student debt in higher education, Murphy signed legislation that permits eligible students to attend any New Jersey community college without tuition or educational fees. He is also working to provide eligible low-income students with two years of free tuition at a public college or university in New Jersey.