Our landmark legislation that recently passed both houses will prevent the state from reducing aid to districts that have lowered costs and saved taxpayer dollars through regionalization. We also must recognize the school districts that have successfully regionalized to reduce costs by exempting them from future budget cuts. We are hopeful the Assembly will take action on the bill soon. The Senate has unanimously passed our legislation to create a School Funding Task Force to evaluate New Jersey’s school funding formula and make changes that result in fairer funding for all school districts and their property taxpayers.

While the supplemental aid will help, we need to find a more permanent solution. In Monmouth County 28 school districts will benefit, including LD11 school districts in Asbury Park, Bradley Beach, Eatontown, Freehold Regional, Loch Arbour, Neptune City, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank, and Tinton Falls.

School districts will receive the stabilization aid in the 2023-2024 school year equal to 66 percent of the difference from the amount of aid received in the 2022-2023 school year. Our bill that has been signed into law provides more than $100 million in additional Supplemental Stabilization Aid to impacted districts. Recognizing that districts throughout the state are dealing with rising costs driven by a range of issues – including inflation, a rising demand for student mental health services, and severe transportation shortages – we introduced legislation that restored a majority of those cuts to the affected districts. Many school districts that have seen their enrollment decline in recent years were scheduled to receive larger-than-expected cuts through New Jersey’s school funding formula this year. Here’s a look at some of those bills and their impact on towns in Legislative District 11. Much of our legislation to assist school districts that face cuts in state aid has been signed into law or moved through both houses of the State Legislature this year. An Update on Legislative Support for Schools, by Vin Gopal

Freehold township school district