TRENTON — The state will soon reissue school aid notices to local districts after criticism from funding advocates that 2018 property tax data was used in the calculations.
Education Commissioner Lamont O. Repollet made the announcement at Wednesday’s State Board of Education meeting in Trenton but said only one district — Pemberton Township in Burlington County — will see an impact.
“As many of you might know, amendments to the (School Funding Reform Act) include exemptions from the state aid reductions for districts based on each district’s equalized total tax rate compared to the statewide average,” Repollet said, noting the law requires that the state use the most recent available data. “Determining whether a district is eligible for these exemptions is the only effect that local tax effort has on a district’s proposed state aid allocation under SFRA.”
According to reports, the flaw in the calculations was pointed out by Pemberton Township, a former Abbott district that qualifies for some of the exemptions built into the new school funding law to minimize the burden of aid cuts on financially stressed districts. Pemberton Superintendent Tony Trongone told Politico earlier this week the district last year raised its tax rate and should have only lost about $2.4 million but instead was cut $4.4 million in aid.
Repollet said Wednesday the 2018 data were the latest available when the governor delivered his budget message late last month, so those were the data that were used. He said because the 2019 tax rate data are now finalized, the Department of Education will reissue aid notices to all districts using those data.
“Utilizing the 2019 tax data, Pemberton Township School District will rise above the exemption threshold set forth in the SFRA. Again, Pemberton is the only school district in the state that will be impacted by the updated tax data,” Repollet said.
Proponents of the school funding reform law said the issue that occurred this year is not symptomatic of an overall problem.
“This is not a significant widespread formulaic issue. This is an unfortunate human error. It really only affects a very, very small number of districts,” said Jennifer Cavallaro-Fromm, founder and co-chairwoman of the Fair Funding Action Committee.
Cavallaro-Fromm said the funding formula is constitutionally sound, progressive and modernized to include all the needs of a district, as well as fluctuations in student population.
