Long Branch Schools State Aid Funding About Flat From 2019

LONG BRANCH, NJ — Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy released his revised state aid figures, and the level of school funding Long Branch will receive from the state has remained about the same as last year.

For the upcoming 20-21 school year, Long Branch public schools will receive $48 million from the state, a slight increase from the $47 million the district received for the 2019-20 school year.

Of course, this is also a slight drop from the $49 million Gov. Murphy promised Woodbridge schools in February, right before the COVID pandemic began.

Murphy said the pandemic "has created an unprecedented challenge for our schools."

As Patch reported, Long Branch public schools had planned to start the year with a hybrid model, but then the district said it received requests from nearly 275 teachers, asking for paid leave.

And so the district was "forced to pivot," said superintendent Michael Salvatore.

After Gov. Murphy made the surprise announcement in August that schools could do an all-virtual option "our requests for remote learning, for accommodations, for work leaves (from teachers) have absolutely skyrocketed," said Salvatore.

Read: Long Branch Schools Will Start Year All Remote (Aug. 18)

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