Small State Aid Cut Set For Washington Township Schools For 2023-24

LONG VALLEY, NJ — The Washington Township School District is set to lose a sliver of the state aid under figures for the 2023-24 school year announced by the New Jersey Department of Education on Thursday.

The Washington Township School District received $4,153,173 in the 2022-23 school year, and are slated to receive $3,685,673 for 2023-24, a decrease of $467,500 or 11.26 percent.

The cut comes as Gov. Phil Murphy touted a $1 billion increase in overall school funding in his 2024 budget address on Tuesday. Much of that funding has been directed at what Murphy said are underfunded school districts.

Read more: NJ School Aid 2023: Who's Getting More, Who's Getting Less

Since the 2020-21 school year, the state has determined its annual distribution of education aid through S2, a contentious funding formula passed during Murphy's first year in office in 2018.

The governor has defended S2, claiming that the funding formula needed to be changed in order to address inequities within the state. However, critics have pointed to losses in state aid among many school districts, resulting in cuts while other districts receive increases.

State Republicans unveiled their own plan to fully fund schools, which they also say will lower property taxes around the state, last week. This plan uses the state’s $6.5 billion surplus and requires local governments to lower property taxes dollar for dollar, GOP legislators said. Read more about that proposal here.

Property taxes in New Jersey are made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here’s how that played out in Long Valley last year:

• School – 72.4%
• Municipal – 17.7%
• County – 9.9%

The aid is an influential factor in a school district's share of property taxes. Many districts say that cuts, or even flat spending, force them to raise taxes for local homeowners.

While Murphy's budget is merely a proposal, the state-aid figures provide school districts with a roadmap for developing their 2023-24 school year budgets.

Seeing the biggest increases are Newark ($114 million, or an 11 percent increase), Elizabeth ($46.2 million, or a 9.5 percent increase), and Paterson ($34 million, or a 6.9 percent increase).

Losing the most are Jersey City ($51 million, or 27.65 percent), Toms River Regional ($14 million, or 31.77 percent), and Asbury Park City ($8.5 million, or 29.32 percent).