Sussex County Commissioners Decry 'Dramatic' School Funding Cuts

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ - With many New Jersey public schools not fully reopened and many students and teachers still operating on remote schedules, members of Sussex County’s Board of County Commissioners were outraged to learn of the recent hit that Sussex County public schools took in state aid, with only two of the 25 Sussex County public school districts, Franklin Borough and Newton, receiving an aid increase.

Hopatcong Borough Schools experienced the deepest cut of all, with Gov. Phil Murphy reducing that district’s state aid by more than 27 percent, though the state has imposed greater mandates on public school districts to retrofit school buildings, to accommodate the pandemic conditions.

"Even with the most bloated budget in state history, in a state where public education is one of our top assets, student achievement in Sussex County didn't make it on the governor's list of priorities,” said Deputy Director Anthony Fasano, who had previously served before his
tenure on the Board of County Commissioners, as Board of Education President to the
Hopatcong Borough Schools. “How in the world can we maintain quality schools and enhance student opportunities with such dramatic funding cuts?”

Fasano said that there is nothing fair about cutting away millions in state funding from schools in Sussex County.

“It's wrong for our students, wrong for our educators and wrong for our taxpayers." he said. "It's a total disgrace."

Director Dawn Fantasia, who is employed by the Bergen Arts and Science Charter School in Garfield as a Middle School principal, said the governor continues to support the underlying problem - the flawed New Jersey school funding formula - which results in a child's zip code determining the resources available to support their education.

“In typical fashion, the Murphy Administration has again repeated the shameful pattern of ignoring the needs of rural school districts," she said. "The massive state budget is packed with Murphy's wish list, but again, our kids don't make the cut. It's crystal clear where the governor's priorities lie, and it isn't Northwest New Jersey.”

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