State Aid To Holmdel School District Grows By 15 Percent

HOLMDEL, NJ — When state aid figures to schools were released last week, Holmdel again benefitted from equalization measures with a 15.15 percent increase, the district confirmed.

The district this year will receive a total of $4,725,189 in state funding, or a 15.15 percent increase over last year's allocation of $4,103,461, according to state figures.

For Superintendent Dr. Scott Cascone, the $621,728 in extra funding was welcome news.

"It's a huge benefit to the district," he said Wednesday. "We are very fortunate."

What is referred to as "S2," a 2018 state aid equalization law, determined which districts were underfunded or overfunded with state aid.

The district had been underfunded by the state, so this is the third year of the boost, he said.

For two years, the extra aid helped the district achieve a "negative tax impact," he said.

That won't be feasible this year, he said, because of increased costs in transportation and health insurance that far outweigh the extra funds.

Health insurance alone went up 15 percent and $1.9 million in transportation costs reflect increased costs in personnel, gasoline and other operating costs, he said.

But there is no doubt the extra funding helps, Cascone said.

Plus, he said, the district has been able to save approximately $2 million in a "bank cap" when the district was below the 2 percent budget cap in previous budgets. So that can be used to at least partially offset some extra costs.

Gov. Phil Murphy and Acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan last week unveiled the $20.5 billion budget for education.

According to the Governor's Office, the proposed budget will provide "historic levels of school aid, with an increase in $1 billion over the prior year for a total of $20.5 billion in school funding."

This amount includes pre-K funding, pension and benefits funding for school staff, and an increase in $832 million in total K-12 formula aid, the Governor's Office said in a news release.

You can see all allocations of state aid on the DOE’s School Finance webpage. Go to the 2023-2024 Total K-12 State Aid by School District heading to see a PDF of the aid in all state districts organized by county.

In Monmouth County, however, not all districts gained funds.

All of Monmouth County schools are facing a net funding loss of nearly $20 million, Assemblywomen Kim Eulner and Marilyn Piperno, R-District 11, said in a statement this week.

In their legislative district, 84 percent of school districts are facing cuts, the lawmakers said.