17 Shore school districts would share $20 million in returned state aid

Seventeen Shore school districts are due to receive more than $20 million in previously reduced state aid under a federal directive ordering the payments if New Jersey is to remain eligible for billions in COVID relief.

Asbury Park Schools would receive more than $12 million in previously cut state aid and Neptune Township Schools would see a $3.5 million reimbursement under the U.S. Department of Education order.

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"We anxiously await a determination by the NJ Department of Education as to how they will proceed with rescinding the cuts," Asbury Park Schools Superintendent RaShawn M. Adams said via email. "Any funds restored would be a true blessing to our students and families."

Other local districts slated to receive the state aid, according to Education Law Center estimates include:

Ocean Township in Ocean County, $1,261,369; Keansburg, $1,025,405; Union Beach, $822,271; Keyport, $344,685; Stafford, $344,366; Neptune City, $244,828; and Bradley Beach, $144,177.

Also Ocean Gate, $90,063; Lake Como, $86,576; Eagleswood, $48,807; Deal, $47,192; Highlands, $12,520; Allenhurst, $10,471; Belmar, $4,712; and Seaside Park, $3,393.

One charter school, Hope Academy Charter School in Asbury Park, was on the local list and is estimated to receive $32,078.

“It’s about time the state does the right thing and returns aid to schools that never should be facing cuts in the first place,” Assemblyman Greg McGuckin, R-Ocean, said in a statement.

How we got here

The federal government directed New Jersey to reinstate the aid to 81 districts, including some of the state’s poorest, to remain eligible for $2.5 billion in federal American Rescue Plan COVID relief funding for its schools.

New Jersey must ensure that its highest-poverty school districts (including some charter schools) receive at least the same amount of funding in financial years 2022 and 2023 as was provided in 2019, Ian Rosenblum, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S Department of Education, said in a letter to Angelica Allen-McMillan, acting commissioner of the state Department of Education.

The $2.5 billion in federal emergency COVID relief funding New Jersey is entitled to depends on it being compliant with "maintenance of equity” provisions established by the federal government. 

One of the "maintenance of equity" provisions was that states could not disproportionately reduce state aid in impoverished school districts while receiving COVID relief funds through the American Rescue Plan.

Advocacy organizations New Jersey Together and the Education Law Center, which championed reinstating this aid to the districts, said they alerted the legislature and governor’s office about this earlier this year.

The order from the federal government came after several months of advocacy by New Jersey Together and the Education Law Center, including a letter from New Jersey Together to the U.S Department of Education in which it highlighted the Jersey City school district as historically underfunded and suffering from poor infrastructure.

A buffer

The restored aid will act as a buffer for these school districts while they dispense the American Rescue Plan funds to address COVID-related learning loss and capital improvements, among other priorities that grew out of the pandemic.

New Jersey was in the middle of a five-year process of phasing out aid to these school districts when the American Rescue Plan was passed. The cuts were part of a plan to have state aid reduced to a few hundred districts across the state, under Senate Bill 2 — a 2018 amendment in New Jersey’s school funding formula, according to Danielle Farrie, research director at the Education Law Center.

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Frank MacMillan, New Jersey Together lead organizer, said “last-minute additions” were made to the budget allowing the state to allocate money toward maintenance of equity provisions without having to return to the Legislature for a vote. MacMillan said the additions were made after pressure by his organization and the Education Law Center.

New Jersey Together met virtually with U.S Department of Education staff in the summer to discuss the state's violation of the American Rescue Plan.

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, said that his organization expects Governor Phil Murphy and the Legislature to "immediately rescind the cuts and provide the funding owed to more than 80 districts.”

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of three books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp