East Windsor Schools To See 6M Increase In State Aid

EAST WINDSOR, NJ — Last week Gov. Phil Murphy unveiled his proposed $44.8 billion spending plan.

The new budget contains increases in state aid to many schools. The East Windsor Regional School District is looking at a increase of 6,165,345 for the 2021-22 school year.

Gov. Phil Murphy's administration released a proposed $18.1 billion pre-K-through-12 state school aid funding plan for the 2021-22 school year. Nearly 200 school districts would have a decrease under his school funding plan, while more than 300 would gain.

Many districts are facing cuts as part of the ongoing reduction in aid to the district under S2, the law that enforced cuts in so-called adjustment aid to districts that have been deemed to not be paying their local fair share of property taxes.

On the whole, statewide aid would increase 6.6 percent over the 2020-21 school year under a plan that requires approval from the state Legislature. That number would be larger than the 3.8 percent increase Murphy proposed last year.

East Windsor will see an increase in aid by 22.29 percent. It will receive $33,829,672 in state aid, up from the $27,664, 327 it received last year.

The state aid was part of Murphy's 2021-22 budget proposal, which was released Tuesday. Read more: No New Tax Increases, Fees For NJ Amid COVID, Gov. Murphy Says

Here's how much Mercer County schools will receive in aid for the 2021-22 school year.

• East Windsor Regional $33,829,672
• Ewing Twp $15,670,925
• Hamilton Twp $82,336,986
• Hopewell Valley Regional $4,363,685
• Lawrence Twp $4,991,728
• Mercer County Vocational $3,660,709
• Princeton $4,520,472
• Trenton City $288,348,694
• Robbinsville Twp $8,474,374
• W Windsor-Plainsboro Reg $11,298,346

Statewide, the proposal calls for $578 million in additional K-12 school aid and nearly $50 million in additional preschool funding. School districts will be able to use the state funding in conjunction with federal aid to address COVID-19-related learning loss, stand up mental health programs, train educators, and remediate buildings, among other uses, according to the administration.

The 2021-22 budget proposal plans to continue the seven-year phase-in to fully fund New Jersey's school funding formula. By adding $578 million in K-12 formula aid, the Murphy administration proposes to make the full scheduled phase-in for the upcoming school year and make up for the pause in the phase-in from last year's budget.

The proposal also includes $50 million in stabilization aid to help districts adjust to the phase-in of the school funding formula and an additional $25 million for Extraordinary Special Education aid.

"After years of chronic underfunding of our classrooms, we're getting back where we need to be," Murphy said. "This is good for our students, this is good for our educators, this is good for our district and school leaders, and this is good for our educational communities."

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