Tiver, Torrissi join Evesham Schools in calls for school funding reform

The legislators and Evesham Schools argue against 6-percent funding cap on certain districts

TRENTON - Senator Latham Tiver (R-08) and Assemblyman Michael Torrissi Jr. (R-08) were joined by Evesham School District leadership on Wednesday to advocate for fairer state funding for schools that will be receiving less than what they’re projected to receive under New Jersey’s School Funding Formula.

More specifically, they called on lifting a six-percent funding cap for school districts that have lost state aid each year under the S2 funding schedule, a legislative initiative that was passed in 2018 that required funding to shift out of some schools and into others over the course of seven years. 

“School districts like Evesham had to withstand seven years of debilitating cuts under S2. Now that S2 is over, they’re being told their funding is capped, even though they deserve more under the School Funding Formula. Where was this cap when their funding was being slashed by 50 percent?”

“I’m calling on the Governor and Department of Education to lift the six-percent funding cap for any school district that saw funding cuts for the entirety of S2,” Senator Tiver declared.

A six-percent increase cap and three-percent decrease cap were created by the Department of Education this year to help stop the wild swings in state aid that were seen throughout S2. However, it has hamstrung several school districts that lost most of their state aid and were due to gain some of it back with S2 ending. 

“The Evesham School District faces severe and unsustainable reductions, including the elimination of 10 percent of our total staff, impacting educational quality, staff retention, student outcomes, and more. Under the current cap, Evesham will not receive its full aid entitlement until 2028-29. By that time, inflationary pressures and expenditure growth will outpace any incremental aid increases, keeping the district in a permanent funding deficit cycle. If the School Funding Formula aims to fund districts based on need, then Evesham must be granted the full $8,467,806 it is entitled to under the State’s own formula,” said Evesham Superintendent Justin Smith.

Superintendent Smith, along with representation from the Evesham Board of Education and union leadership, attended the Assembly Budget Committee and Senate Budget hearings to plead the district’s case for fairer funding. 

Assemblyman Torrissi supported districts like Evesham receiving their full allotment of state funding, but took it a step further and called for the entire school funding formula to be redone. 

“The schools in my legislative district are scratching and clawing for scraps while districts like Newark Public Schools receive $1.3 billion in state aid on a $1.5 billion budget, leaving only $200 million to be raised by taxes.” 

“The funding formula is broken. I have regional high schools that raise as much in taxes as these cities. You can’t tell me the taxpayers of Lenape Regional High School District should have to raise the same amount of property taxes as a giant, corporate city like Newark,” Torrissi said.