Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman MARILYN PIPERNO
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblywoman KIM EULNER
District 11 (Monmouth)
Assemblyman BRANDON E. UMBA
District 8 (Atlantic, Burlington and Camden)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblymen Catalano, McGuckin and Assemblywoman Dunn
SYNOPSIS
Makes supplemental appropriation to provide additional State school aid to certain school districts that have experienced reductions in aid.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning State school aid to certain school districts.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There are appropriated from the Property Tax Relief Fund to the Department of Education such amounts as are necessary to ensure that a school district that meets the criteria set forth in subsection b. of this section shall receive an additional amount of State school aid in the 2022-2023 school year that is equal to the total amount of reductions experienced by the district in any of the school years 2018-2019 through 2021-2022.
b. The provisions of this section shall apply to any school district that experienced a State aid reduction during any of the school years 2018-2019 through 2021-2022 because:
(1) it had a State aid ratio in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years greater than 1.00, as determined in accordance with the provisions of the fiscal year 2019 appropriations act;
(2) it had a State aid ratio for the 2017-2018 school year that was less than 1.00 and a State aid ratio for the 2018-2019 school year that was greater than 1.00, as determined in accordance with the provisions of the fiscal year 2019 appropriations act; or
(3) it had a State aid differential, as that term is defined pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2018, c.67 (C.18A:7F-67), that was positive in any of the school years 2019-2020 through 2021-2022.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that a school district would receive additional State school aid in the 2022-2023 school year if that district experienced a reduction in aid in any school year pursuant to P.L.2018, c.67 (commonly referred to “S2”) or provisions similar to those of S2 that were included in the fiscal year (FY) 2019 appropriations act. The amount of additional aid would be equal to the total amount of reductions experienced by the district in any of the school years 2018-2019 through 2021-2022.
Currently, State school aid is primarily distributed pursuant to S2, which provides a mechanism for the allocation of State school aid from the 2019-2020 through 2024-2025 school years. Under the law, certain school districts are subject to a State aid reduction if they have a positive State aid differential. A State aid differential is calculated for each school district as the amount that the school district received in the prior school year, not including educational adequacy aid and school choice aid, minus the sum of equalization aid, special education categorical aid, security categorical aid, and transportation aid as calculated under the provisions of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008. In the case of a school district in which the State aid differential is positive, the differential is reduced by a certain percentage each school year. School districts in which the State aid differential is negative receive an increase in State aid. This bill would return any reductions experienced by a school district in any year since the 2018-2019 school year, pursuant to S2 and similar provisions that were included in the FY 2019 appropriations act prior to the enactment of S2.