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There's waste in every NJ school district, but for FB and numerous other poor districts whatever waste there is is overwhelmed by the limitations of the tax base.

Why should anyone help Freehold Boro when their own fiscal mismanagement is to blame? Talk to anyone that lives there and follows how the city is managed.

FYI:
Very moving.

http://www.app.com/videos/news/education/2016/04/12/82967878/

http://www.app.com/story/news/educati ... udget-committee/82912336/

The whole funding system is a farce. Freehold is one of many comunities that pulled the short straw. In my opinion, fuck em. There are way too many school boards in NJ, and the state should strong-arm them all into countywide consolidation as a condition of state school aid funding.

Have said that, I have the utmost respect for stateaidguy and all his posts have been extremely fascinating and educational in exposing the flaws in NJ's state aid system.

I disagree with a special case being made to accommodate freeholdm . Nothing short of burning the whole system down and rebuilding if it's ever going to be fair and equitable. Until then, abate away Mr. Fulop at PILOT payments $1 less than what they normally would be but with 100%, instead of a third, going toward the city. The state keeps giving us aid under current laws. Might as well exploit it until the system is reformed.

"Progressive", that's what conservatives are calling themselves now?

That's funny.

Robin.

Stateaidguy, "aka" Monroe.

No offense, but are you kidding me? I don't even feel like responding to anything as contextually and economically ignorant as what you just wrote, but Freehold Boro is not a "suburb." It's an old town but with a new and rapidly growing Latino population. Freehold Boro is demographically poorer than Jersey City. Its ELL population is 14%. Jersey City's is 5%. (which is the state average). Freehold Boro's FRL-eligibility (in 2013-14) is 77%. Jersey City's is 71%. Yeah, it costs more to rent space in JC than Freehold Boro, but SFRA takes that into account with the Geographic Cost Adjustment which increases Jersey City's Adequacy Budget. Also, the underlying reason it costs more to rent in JC is because JC is RICHER. SFRA accounts for demographics in how it calculates Adequacy Budget. A kid who is FRL-eligible has the same budgetary weight as ~1.5 kids who are not FRL-eligible. But demographics are only half of the story because what I am really talking about here is tax base and Freehold Boro's tax base is inadequate whereas Jersey City's is average. Freehold Boro can't economically pay more in taxes. Jersey City can. If Jersey Cityans themselves admit this it will be much easier to redistribute aid to the places where it is needed. "Jersey city kids, by no means, are living in the lap of luxury in their "overfunded" schools." Umm, Jersey City's schools are a HELL OF A LOT better funded than all poor non-Abbotts. JC's per student spending is $17,500 per student. Freehold Boro's per student spending is $11,800. If someone from Freehold Boro heard what you just said they would be absolutely livid at your ignorance and selfishness. If JC's schools don't have all they need blame the state administration, blame your BOE, blame your own administrators, and blame yourselves for not paying anything remotely close to your Local Fair Share. Jersey City's tax levy is lower than West Orange's, Clifton's, Parsippany's and 15 other districts with drastically smaller tax bases. But I didn't say that JC's schools were "overfunded." I said "overaided" and there is a difference because the lack of funds is due to Jersey City's refusal to increase its school taxes by more than $2-3 million a year despite a ~$20 billion Equalized Valuation. Children in jersey city hardly have it so great. We have a lead contamination problem in the faucets and fountains ( due to old parts and pipes in the schools) across the district that has been known about since at least 2003 and the city/state/ feds still have not fixed the problem. Why? Nobody wants to spend the money despite the fact that we know that lead poisons children. Shameful! One faucet tested at over 800 times the epa limit. We have school buildings that are literally crumbling - water pouring in through the ceiling when it rains. We have schools with no outdoor space whatsoever for the kids to play. Just recently, a school playground (only playspace for the entire school) was just shut for the indefinite future because the state run new jersey turnpike overpass is throwing off lead paint chips into the playground, contaminating it. These are problems that only seem to happen in old urban nj schools and nobody seems to care enough to fix them. So i really don't want to hear about how you think the suburbs have it so bad. alone - it costs much less to rent or purchase space in freehold, for example, than it does in jersey city. We have many more english as second language students that require additional programs. Jersey city kids, by no means, are living in the lap of luxury in their "overfunded" schools.

Jersey city requires additional aid because costs are higher here than in more suburban areas - just think of the cost of space alone - it costs much less to rent or purchase space in freehold, for example, than it does in jersey city. We have many more english as second language students that require additional programs. Jersey city kids, by no means, are living in the lap of luxury in their "overfunded" schools.


Children in jersey city hardly have it so great. We have a lead contamination problem in the faucets and fountains ( due to old parts and pipes in the schools) across the district that has been known about since at least 2003 and the city/state/ feds still have not fixed the problem. Why? Nobody wants to spend the money despite the fact that we know that lead poisons children. Shameful! One faucet tested at over 800 times the epa limit. We have school buildings that are literally crumbling - water pouring in through the ceiling when it rains. We have schools with no outdoor space whatsoever for the kids to play. Just recently, a school playground (only playspace for the entire school) was just shut for the indefinite future because the state run new jersey turnpike overpass is throwing off lead paint chips into the playground, contaminating it. These are problems that only seem to happen in old urban nj schools and nobody seems to care enough to fix them. So i really don't want to hear about how you think the suburbs have it so bad.

No, I don't live anywhere near Freehold Boro and my (suburban) district isn't as underaided.

I am just a pragmatic progressive who wants to shed light on an unknown problem in New Jersey and work to fix it.

But even if I did live in Freehold Boro my points would be just as valid.

My blog is njeducationaid.blogspot.com.

Do you live in Freehold? Seems a bit random that you are being altruistic and looking out for them.

Yes, Freehold Boro's voters have twice voted against referenda to bond $33 million to expand the schools there. This might superficially look like Freehold Boro's voters would rather have low taxes than decent schools, but Freehold Boro's taxes are already significantly above Local Fair Share and Freehold Boro's municipal taxes are pretty bad relative to income. FB's all-in effective tax rate is 2.8. (Many of FB's residents and school families are non-citizens, but that's a separate discussion.) However, using the rejected school referenda as an argument against giving FB more state aid is a red herring because even if FB built the expansion it would still not be able to adequately staff and equip the schools. Local Fair Share is a measurement of a district's ability to pay taxes. It is a hybrid calculation that depends on Equalized Valuation (ie, market value of a town's taxable real estate) and on Aggregate Income. The formula for Local Fair Share for 2016-17 is: (Equalized Valuation x 0.013156218 + Aggregate Income x 0.046185507)/2 Where Equalized Valuation is from 2015 (for FY2016) and Aggregate Income is from 2013. The formula for Local Fair Share might look wild, but all it says is that a district's fair share of taxes equals 0.65% of Equalized Valuation (1.3% / 2) plus 2.3% of income (4.6% /2 ). So, for Jersey City, LFS = ($21,661,162,459 x 0.013156218 + $7,454,497,639 x 0.046185507)/2 = $314 million. (the formula for LFS changes a little year to year.) "the state aid report notes there is a surplus in terms of aid per student. How does this factor in?" Believe me, Freehold Boro does not have any surplus, but there are about 200 districts in NJ that have surpluses of state aid. Usually the causes are a shrinking of the student population and/or an increase in wealth while state aid is constant or grows slightly. The districts getting more than they economically and demographically need get $567 million in excess aid. Jersey City gets about a fifth of that.

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What Freehold needs to do is elect better representatives who can present their case in Trenton for a bigger piece of the school state aid budget.

Admittedly, I'm challenged by the complexity of school funding, budgets, etc., but a few things confuse me here:
- the lead story (link) indicates that residents voted down the additional funding needed by the school district. What does this mean? It's not clarified in the article.
- the state aid report notes there is a surplus in terms of aid per student. How does this factor in?

Finally, what is "local fair share"? I Googled it, but could find no authoritative references, only references in 1 or 2 on-line newsletters with a decided anti-pension slant.

Sign me,

A Fair-minded Progressive

I am afraid this post will fall on deaf ears. If you ask any JC homeowner if they feel they are under-taxed and should be paying more in property taxes, I am pretty certain 99% of them would laugh in your face.

I ask anyone living in Jersey City who purports to be a progressive, tax sensitive conservative, and who has his/her eyes open to NJ's pension crisis, please read this article and watch this video on Freehold Boro, NJ's most budgetarily desperate school district.

http://www.app.com/story/news/educati ... iefs-beg-nj-aid/81865994/

Freehold Boro struggles to educate 1,700 kids in buildings whose maximum capacity is 1,100.

Freehold Boro has already lost its auditorium and cafeteria in order to convert them into classrooms.

Freehold Boro taxes itself above its Local Fair Share, so it is not reasonable for them to tax themselves even higher to build more school space. Even if Freehold Boro did bond money to expand school capacity, it would not have the resources for proper staffing.

76% Freehold Boro's students are FRL-eligible and 14% are English Language Learners.

Despite these tough demographics, Freehold Boro only gets $5,700 per student in state aid (Jersey CIty gets $13,600 per student) According to NJ's school aid law, SFRA, Freehold Boro should be getting about $13,300 per student. The $7500 per student aid gap is one of NJ's five worst.

In absolute terms, Freehold Boro shoudl get $22 million in state aid, but they only get $10 million.

Jersey City, you are in a position to help Freehold Boro since you are NJ's most overaided district! Whereas Freehold Boro is underaided by $12 million, Jersey City is overaided by $130 million!

Freehold Boro pays 120% of Local Fair Share in school taxes. Jersey City pays 33% of Local Fair Share.

If you purport to be a progressive (or a conservative that doesn't want see a town strangled by taxes), I urge you to write to your elected officials and tell them that you support aid redistribution as long as the money goes to the neediest places like Freehold Boro!

For Facts on the State Aid Distribution See the Following:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d ... dA_3CEPAsiEpUI/edit#gid=0