KARCHER ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL SCHOOL FUNDING FOR FREEHOLD

Budget Language Necessary to Ensure Thorough and Efficient Education

FREEHOLD - Senator Ellen Karcher announced an agreement today which would ensure that Freehold Borough schools will receive additional State aid to provide quality education without further burdening the taxpayers of the Borough.

"Under the Governor's original budget proposal, Freehold Borough wasn't afforded the resources to meet the mandate of quality schools for New Jersey's residents," said Senator Karcher, D-Marlboro. "The Borough has been spending less per pupil than the State requires, but administrators couldn't make up the balance on the backs of already-hard-hit taxpayers. I was able to work with the Senate Democratic leadership and the Administration to broker a deal which would mean a needed injection of funds into the Borough's educational coffers."

Senator Karcher noted that the budget agreement she reached with the Governor's Office and Senate leadership would provide $2.9 million for nine underperforming school districts in New Jersey which have not met the State's threshold of per-pupil spending to provide a Thorough and Efficient Education, as outlined by the State School Funding Formula. The districts receiving the additional funds have also not met the national performance standards of the No Child Left Behind law. Senator Karcher successfully argued that without additional State aid, these school districts would have to increase taxes substantially to provide basic education.

"These are districts where taxpayers are, for the most part, already paying more than the State average in property taxes," said Senator Karcher. "In many cases, the tax base just cannot support the needed educational infrastructure, and students are suffering because of that. We needed the State to step in to help meet basic educational costs for these districts."

Senator Karcher's original resolution would have funded the total $5.8 million budget gap, bringing the nine school districts in question up to the Thorough and Efficient spending threshold. Despite constraints on this year's State budget, she was able to reach a compromise with the Administration to provide half of the needed amount, so that the school districts would experience some increase in State aid. As a result, Freehold Borough would receive nearly half a million dollars to improve education in the district.

"I wish we could have done more," said Senator Karcher. "The fact is that much of the State budget is already guaranteed for property tax relief and other worthy State programs, and we didn't have a lot of room to increase spending. However, this compromise represents our best first step in making many of the underperforming, underfunded school districts in the State whole."

Senator Karcher said that Freehold Borough's situation is particularly unique, in that, as the county seat, the Borough has a disproportionate percentage of non-taxable county land. The Borough has also struggled under the State-imposed caps on local tax increases, which would have prohibited it from raising the funds needed to meet the spending minimum.

"Freehold Borough is caught in a double-bind, because we've limited their spending increases and asked them to shoulder the loss of taxable land that hosting county government carries," said Senator Karcher. "It would have been simply unfair of the State to turn a blind eye towards the educational crisis in the Borough."

Senator Karcher added that she will continue working to increase State support of suburban school districts, and noted that a new State school spending formula needs to do more to address inequities between urban and suburban schools.

"Without a revamped State spending formula, we cannot take the necessary steps to ensure quality education for students everywhere in New Jersey into the future," said Senator Karcher. "This budget resolution is a stop-gap approach to a chronic funding shortfall for many of our suburban districts. We need a more equitable way to fund our schools, where New Jersey meets its obligation to students for a thorough education, and where students are guaranteed the resources they need to succeed, wherever they might live."