N.J. lawmakers are scrambling to save 140 school districts as massive budget cuts loom

New Jersey lawmakers are scrambling to introduce bills that aim to help bail out school districts facing cuts in state aid for the 2024-2025 school year.

They want to rescue 140 districts around the state that would lose aid under the spending plan proposed by Gov. Phil Murphy and enable them to avoid program cuts and layoffs.

A bill introduced in the Assembly on Monday by a trio of Democrats would appropriate a onetime grant of $71 million so eligible districts could apply for grants that would fill in gaps left by lost state aid.

» READ MORE: How much is your South Jersey school district slated to lose in Gov. Murphy’s proposed budget?

“We know that even in the midst of unprecedented school aid and investment in education, some districts are losing state aid,” Assemblyman Roy Freiman (D., Somerset), one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement.

Another bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D., Camden), would allow districts additional time to revise their preliminary budgets based on the changes in state aid.

In his budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, Murphy proposed a historic $11.7 schools budget that would fully restore its funding formula for the first time. But it didn’t include an increase for all of New Jersey’s more than 600 public school districts.

South Jersey districts, including Cherry Hill, Collingswood and Lenape Regional, began sounding an alarm in February after the state released preliminary aid figures. They warned that property tax increases, program cuts and layoffs could be possible. Cherry Hill alone will get $6.9 million less in the coming school year.

A supplemental funding allotment may hold off drastic local budget cuts — for some districts, said Millville School Superintendent Tony Trongone. But it likely would not cover increased transportation, special education and other costs, he said.

“There are so many bills in play that it’s absurd,” said Trongone, former president of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators. His Cumberland County school system is not among the districts that would see less funding.

» READ MORE: Phil Murphy wants a $55.9B New Jersey budget with increases for education and a business tax to fund transit

Trongone said he opposes the Assembly bill that offers the $71 million grant because it would prohibit districts that receive the additional funding from making any staff cuts. Some reductions may be needed because the aid covers only two-thirds of the reductions, he said.

“It’s not a good solution,” Trongone said. “It puts on too many restrictions to get what you need.”

That bill, which would allow districts to exceed the 2% property tax cap to make up one-third of the state aid not covered, was endorsed by the New Jersey School Boards Association. School officials were carefully scrutinizing the proposed pieces of legislation and the potential impact locally.

Another bill introduced Monday in the state Senate, by Anthony Bucco (R., Morris) and Declan O’Scanlon (R., Monmouth), would restore the state aid that districts are slated to lose in the proposed budget. It would funnel about $200 million from other state resources.

A Republican delegation from Ocean County introduced companion bills in both Houses on Tuesday that would limit any cut in state aid to no more than 1% of the amount received the previous year. The lawmakers said districts in their area, including Toms River, will lose $10 million in aid.

Democrats control both houses of the Legislature so the Republican bills face a tough road. Last year, Murphy reached a compromise with Democratic lawmakers to provide supplemental funding to offset reductions under the S-2 funding formula, which changed how the state calculates aid through the 2024-2025 school year.

If signed into law, the supplemental funding would be a stop-gap to address a bigger problem that lawmakers must also tackle: how to fix the formula used to determine how to fund public education in New Jersey.

» READ MORE: New funding will help rescue some N.J. school districts facing budget cuts — for now

Lumberton School Superintendent Colleen Murray said her Burlington County school system has “routed out every efficiency” after years of cuts under the S-2 formula.

“Still, we have hit the fiscal cliff, which means that if we do not get help, we will have no choice but to cut staff,” Murray said Tuesday. “We need relief from the oversized cuts we received so that we can keep our excellent programs in place.”