Small State Aid Increase In Store For Ocean City Schools In 2025-26

OCEAN CITY, NJ — The Ocean City School District will see a slight bump in state aid in the upcoming school year, according to numbers released Thursday.

The increase is smaller than what other districts will receive. Ocean City will see an increase of 2.96 percent, receiving $4,901,410 in state aid for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Additionally, the district will receive $934,333 in preschool aid.

Most districts in the state only saw an increase of 6 percent or, if they were getting funding cut, a decrease of 3 percent.

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

This is the second year that the state has fully funded the K-12 school funding formula as established under the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 and modified in 2017 by S2, the legislation passed that cut so-called "adjustment aid" from some districts around the state while increasing aid to others that had been underfunded.

This article contains additional reporting by Karen Wall.