Gov. James E. McGreevey’s announcement last week that school districts would receive a 3 percent increase in state aid this year was unexpected by some school administrators.
"I was pleasantly surprised because we’ve been flat funded for a while," Keyport Superintendent of Schools John Dumford said. "Any penny helps, and it’s good for the taxpayers."
But the 3 percent increase McGreevey has promised school districts is little compared to the four previous years of zero state aid increases to the school districts.
The standard annual cost of living increase equals 3 percent. With four years of flat state funding, school districts are at least 12 percent behind in aid.
Holmdel school district Business Administrator Dominic Carrea said although the increase was unanticipated, there should have been state aid increase over the past four years.
In addition, McGreevey’s decision to hold back one of the 20 state aid payments to all school districts last year took more money away from education. The 20th state aid payment lost during 2002-03 was counted as the first payment for the 2003-04 school year. That payment amounted to 5 percent of the state aid paid to districts.
In reality, school districts suffered a 5 percent decrease in state aid last year.
At the time, McGreevey said the payment would be returned to the districts when the economy turned around. What happened to that payment?
So, school districts have had to suffer through flat aid increases, and even one decrease, totaling a loss of about 17 percent in state aid.
And it’s local taxpayers who have to make up for the state’s under funding of education.
It’s not surprising that Dumford was happy with a 3 percent increase in aid from the state. School districts, administrations and taxpayers have been so deprived of school state aid in the past four years that they are grateful to get any crumb of funding the state offers.
It doesn’t matter that the state has shortchanged funding to school districts, because the burden of making up for the lack of state aid always falls unjustly on taxpayers.
McGreevey’s 3 percent in-crease is unrealistic and an insult to taxpayers.