State aid will increase more than 11 percent year-over-year for the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.
The action is a part of Gov. Murphy’s initiative to reduce pressure on property taxes by restoring full funding of state aid for schools, according to ?????
“This is a big win for everyone in Hopewell Valley and I am glad to see this second year of increased state aid for our public schools,” Hopewell Township Mayor Kristin McLaughlin said. “We’ve been working hard to bring more grant monies to Hopewell Valley, and this is another big step in the right direction. This aid is particularly helpful in the face of the double-digit enrollment declines in our district schools [over the past 10 years], and I am hopeful it will help keep spending in check.”
In the past two years, the Hopewell Valley Regional schools have seen a cumulative increase of 21 percent in state aid for its public schools, resulting in more than a half a million dollars in incremental funding.
“School funding represents the greatest percentage of residents’ property tax bills in Hopewell Valley and higher state aid should help reduce the upward pressure on property taxes,” Pennington Borough Mayor Joe Lawver said.
Over the past 10 years, Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough and Pennington Borough, which are the three municipalities that send students to the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, and and the school district itself have worked together on a number of joint initiatives.
In 2016, the three municipalities supported the school district’s referendum, enabling much-needed facilities work across all six public schools and a 40 percent state grant towards the overall cost of these upgrades $35 million, which reduced the net cost for residents.
More recently, the school district worked with Hopewell Township to change the timing of its August School payment, which delivered $2 million in savings and enabled the direct purchase of capital items in 2017, helping reduce Hopewell Township’s debt levels and the associated interest costs.
Prior to this, Hopewell Township contributed $600,000 from PILOT revenues from the Capital Health expansion to the school district, to move its baseball field which helped enable the building of the new artificial turf field at Hopewell Valley Regional High School.
“Our public schools are one of the Valley’s strongest assets, and it’s great to see more financial support coming to the district from the state,” Hopewell Borough Mayor Paul Anzano said. “We have a strong partnership with the District Administration and are focused on opportunities like these to bring more dollars back to Valley residents.”