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Chris Christie’s budget has set municipalities and school districts into a frenzy, especially in Bergen County which was the hardest hit.
The State uses a variety of formulas to determine how much a school district receives. The State accounts for some funds used to aid in the cost of FICA (The Federal Insurance Contributions Act), TPAF (Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund), 2010 Extraordinary Aid, and 2011 Debt Service. This aid is bundled under the heading “OTHER AID”. Then there is the distribution of what is called “FORMULA AID”, where the major cuts were recently enacted. In Wyckoff and Oakland, this amounted to %100 and 97% in Franklin Lakes. In actual dollars this translates to:
Oakland: $1,052,166
Wyckoff: $1,452,374
Franklin Lakes: $1,301,014
The accompanying PDF file lists by county and town the cuts in state aid. The formula does not explain why some towns such as Teaneck get dramatically more aid than towns such as Oakland which spends approximately $5000 less per pupil than Teaneck- while housing a population earning less per capita.
Muncipal budgets, which are independent of school budgets, will also feel the impact of state aid cuts.
Wyckoff Township received $1,466,634 in 2009 and will get $1,093,271 in 2010: a cut of $373,363.
Oakland Borough received $1,651,152 in 2009 and will get $1,313,832 in 2010: a cut of $337,320.
Franklin Lakes received $1,941,189 in 2009 and will get $1,775,732 in 2010: a cut of $165,457.
With the elimination of property tax rebates to about 1 million homeowners, averaging between $670 and $1,300, some residents can expect to see major increases in their property taxes.
Many critics of the cuts in school aid are calling on Governor Christie to back down on his proposition to eliminate a tax surcharge on residents earning $400,000 or more per year. This tax which expired in 2009 is estimated to bring approximately 1 billion dollars which covers the cuts in state aid to school districts.
While all of these facts and figures are true, I would like to point out that Oakland and the Ramapo-Indian Hills districts lost 100% of funding is because they had a surplus of funds this school year. With a surplus of funds, it is “not necessary” to provide them with aid.