State Aid Increase In Store For Lacey Schools In 2025-26

LACEY, NJ — The Lacey Township School District will see a slight bump in state aid in the upcoming school year, according to numbers released Thursday.

The 6 percent increase means that the district will likely be able to avoid some of the most "devastating" cuts as they had to make in the past school year, where they received a 30.62 percent decrease in funding.

But in this school year, they will not see another $3.2 million cut. Instead, they'll receive $7.7 million in aid for kindergarten through 12th grade, and an additional $4.76 million for their preschool program.

Aid cuts and increases are smaller this year than previously. That's because Gov. Phil Murphy, in his latest budget address, promised changes to New Jersey's school funding to eliminate wild swings in state aid to the state's nearly 600 school districts. Read more: See Which NJ Schools Will Get More State Aid For 2025-26

The controversial S2 funding formula has not been kind to Lacey in the years since its implementation - 2018, Murphy's first year in office. The district has had to make severe cuts to staff, programming and more, resulting in a one-time 9.9 percent tax levy in last year's budget to make up some of the difference.

This article contains additional reporting by Karen Wall.