Politics & Government
NJ Spotlight's Interactive Map: State Aid to NJ Public Schools
Most communities are still working with less than they were budgeted for in 2009-2010.
The proposed New Jersey budget for the new fiscal year holds a modest, but welcome, increase in state aid to school districts. But it’s still not enough to make up for the large cuts made shortly after Gov. Chris Christie took office.
The NJ Spotlight's latest interactive map shows the change in state allocations to schools -- equalization aid, adequacy aid, transportation aid, special education aid, security aid, adjustment aid, and choice aid. Communities in green are slated to get more aid in the school year that begins July 1 than was originally proposed in 2009-2010 by Gov. Jon Corzine. All other communities will still be getting less.
When Christie took office, he quickly declared a state of fiscal emergency and withheld from schools an average of 5.2 percent, or $450 million, of the aid Corzine had budgeted for them. He cut an additional 8 percent in 2010-2011.
Find out what's happening in Montclairwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
This year, districts saw a 3 percent increase; Christie has proposed a 1.7 percent hike for next year.
For the sake of more easily mapping the data, school aid was apportioned by municipality. Click on a municipality to find the amount of aid scheduled and the percent change since 2009-2010.
Find out what's happening in Montclairwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Montclair has seen its share of school aid drop 27.1 percent under Christie.
The largest dollar loss would be in Newark, which is to get $82.6 million less next year than was budgeted in 2009-2010.
Source: NJ Spotlight analysis of N.J. Department of Education data. See the map here.
NJ Spotlight is an online news service providing insight and information on issues critical to New Jersey.
