State shortchanges Clifton schools, say BOE trustees

CLIFTON - In preparation for the upcoming budget season, City Board of Education trustees attacked the state's school aid distribution system, contending the district has been shortchanged $50 million per year since the funding formula was reformed in 2008.

Commissioner Jim Daley, head of the school board's finance committee, criticized Gov. Chris Christie and the New Jersey Department of Education for not allocating the state aid the district is “entitled to” receive.

During its last eight budgets, Daley said the district has put forth financial plans with tax increases of 2 percent or less, though the school system is permitted to seek a waiver for a higher tax levy.

On average, the district received about $25 million in state aid in each of the last nine years or nearly half the funding Garfield, an Abbott district servicing 6,000 fewer students, received on average during the same period, Daley said.

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The district’s current budget, Daley said, required the administration to cut 24 certificated positions in order to meet the cap requirements.

“We can no longer continue to sustain such cuts in personnel and maintain our educational standards. But it’s also unfair to have the taxpayers of Clifton bare a greater financial burden then what they already carry,” Daley said. “The source of this crisis lays squarely at the feet of the state legislature and the governor. And it needs to be addressed.”

According to data compiled by the Education Law Center, Clifton receives about 35 percent of its uncapped aid, $48 million less than the city’s full entitlement this school year. Of that money, Daley estimated about $40 million would go back into the pockets of taxpayers.

The running total of School Funding Reform Act underfunding since 2010 will top $8 billion under Christie's FY17 budget, according to the Newark education advocate.

However, state education officials disagree with the characterization of Christie as an absentee governor in relation to the school funding process.

“For six consecutive years, the Christie Administration has provided the greatest levels of state aid supporting Pre-K to Grade 12 education in New Jersey's history,” said David Saenz, a DOE spokesman.

DOE officials declined to respond to Daley’s remarks or answer additional questions regarding the way in which New Jersey school funding is distributed.

“All Clifton is asking for is to be equitably funded, which has not been done in the last nine years,” Superintendent Richard Tardalo said. “If they did, we could do a lot more [for the district].”

School board president Gary Passenti pointed to an unfair landscape. Last year, Clifton, a city of 86,000 residents put forth a school tax levy of $128 million while Jersey City, three times its size, submitted a tax levy of $115 million.

The issues reach far and wide, speaking to an “inconsistent, uneven” execution of the school funding formula, one city school official said.

According to the ELC, about 200 of the 600 school districts in New Jersey receive 100 percent or more of their uncapped aid. And, of the 392 underaided districts, about 141 receive less than half of their full entitlement.

In Middlesex County, Woodbridge received 30 percent, or $60 million less than its full allotment this school year, according to the ELC.  Bayonne in Hudson County received 50 percent, or $50 million less than full entitlement. Atlantic City was allotted 36 percent or underaided by $32 million and Linden received about 41 percent or $30 million less than full entitlement.

On Jan. 27, the Senate Select Committee on School Funding Fairness held its first public hearing at Kingsway Regional High School.

The Gloucester County district submitted court papers this week asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to mandate that state aid be distributed within the parameters of the School Funding Reform Act enacted in 2008.

Christopher Jones, a member of the New Jersey School Boards Association governmental relations staff, testified that, due to “legislative tinkering” and the 2009 financial crisis, the School Funding Reform Act was only fully funded in its first year.

The Assembly Education Committee (AEC) met on Wednesday at the Bergen County Administration Building in Hackensack. Daley read a prepared statement at the meeting, urging for reforms to the state’s funding process.

Clifton school officials urged city residents to “bombard” state legislators with phone calls, letters and emails that draw attention to the issue.

“We’re trying our best but now it’s time for the citizens to help us out,” Passenti said. “Phone calls, emails, anything you could do.”

Tardalo said the names and contact information of elected representatives would be posted on the district’s website. The head of schools also suggested that the board of education convene a meeting of the municipal alliance to request the City Council’s assistance.

Email: Gicas@northjersey.com