'Volatile' School Funding Formula Hurts Red Bank, Senator Says

RED BANK, NJ — State and local officials are calling for a change in the state school funding formula that they say has created a fiscal crisis for "the most underserved communities" in Monmouth County, including Red Bank.

State Sen. Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, met this week New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer regarding the state aid funding cuts in the Red Bank, Long Branch, Asbury Park and Neptune districts. Gopal is the Senate Education Committee Chair.

School districts in his Legislative District 11 are scheduled to lose more than $16 million in state aid in the coming fiscal year based on the state funding formula’s latest calculations, Gopal said.

“As it exists, the school funding formula is deeply flawed,” said Gopal. “It denies too many districts the time and consistency they need to best serve their students."

Gopal is seeking not only long-term change but immediate assistance for those districts that saw the reductions in state aid this year.

And Red Bank Mayor William Portman said that after several years of funding uncertainty, his district is struggling to maintain services that local residents have come to count on.

“Red Bank Borough lost 19.6 percent in funding compared to the previous year. The volatility of the school funding formula is unacceptable,” Portman said.

The district is grappling with an unexpected loss in state aid this year, according to proposed figures released recently by the state Department of Education.

The proposed state aid figure for Red Bank for 2025 is $7,057,307, a cut of $1,719,294 from last year - or a 19.59 percent cut from last year's funding of $8,776,601.

District Superintendent Dr. Jared J. Rumage said the reduction "will certainly impact the design" of the budget.

Gopal said he has been a critic of the state’s school funding formula and has made many efforts to restore funding to districts that have faced sharp cuts under the formula in recent years. The Freehold Regional High School District was able to avert a transportation shortfall last year when aid was restored, for example.

Assemblywomen Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul, also representing the 11th District, joined Gopal in calling for change - and for the need for immediate aid restoration:

“We need supplemental funding and changes to the formula. Asbury Park, Long Branch, Neptune Township, and Red Bank are the towns hit hardest by the cuts to funding, all of which have racially and soci-econmoically diverse communities,” said Peterpaul.

“These Monmouth County communities who need the most support from us will suffer because of these reductions. We need to do everything we can to not only restore funding to our schools, but also approach changes to the formula with the hindsight of the current funding crisis," said Donlon.

The lawmakers said they are pushing for revisions to the method the formula uses to calculate a district’s wealth.

The formula uses a district’s property values and the incomes of district residents to calculate how much funding the district is expected to raise through local property taxes, the lawmakers said.

When property values and incomes in a district rise, the formula assumes the district can raise more through taxes and cuts the level of state aid provided to the district proportionately, Gopal said.

All four districts saw their local tax obligations rise due to spikes in those wealth indicators, but leaders from the districts stress those metrics have some glaring flaws that cause the formula to overestimate how much their district’s can raise through local taxes.

"I appreciate Commissioner Dehmer taking the time to discuss how we can help districts navigate these cuts and take steps to address the funding formula’s shortcomings going forward," Gopal said.

But he said the projected numbers this year are "indicative of the unreliability and volatility of the formula, which needs to be addressed."

“The formula clearly is not calibrated to assess the needs of these communities. As the state is poised to make an historic investment in New Jersey’s schools, these districts, which serve communities that need our support, are facing devastating cuts,” Gopal said.

While revising the formula remains the ultimate goal, the latest round of funding cuts has led community leaders to call for a more immediate solution, as well.

Gopal has been collaborating with leaders from local towns that have been hit hard by the formula to both "strategize on solutions and emphasize the severity of their situation to the state," Gopal's office said.