No Surprises In Final District State Aid Figures For 2018-19 School Year

There were no surprises for district school officials July 13 when the state released the final aid numbers for the 2018-19 school year.

The district will receive $13,966,339 in state aid for teh coming school year, according to information release by the state Department of Education.

That represents a $477,486 – or 3.5 percent – increase over the state aid for the 2017-18 school year, according to the figures. In 2017-18, the district received $13,488,853, according to the figures.

Schools Superintendent John Ravally said the aid number released July 14 is what the district counted on getting when it created the budget for the next school year.

“That is the same number we got back in April,” he said.

Ravally said the increases came in pre-school aid – $3,441,152 is allocated – and the $1,634,154 in transportation aid.

“Both were used to offset increases in expenses,” he said.

The state aid total also includes $5,706,043 in equalization aid, $5,044,698 in special education aid and $1,581,446 in security aid.

The security aid amount is the largest awarded to any district in Somerset County, according to the figures.

Overall, Somerset County school districts received $128,681,795 in state aid for the coming school year, according to the state figures. That represents an 11 percent increase over the school year just ended, which is second-largest percentage increase in the state behind Bergen County.

“A stronger, fairer New Jersey means making sure that New Jersey’s schools are receiving the funds they need to advance academic excellence for our students,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a press release announcing the state aid figures. “After years of neglect, we are turning the page to bring a balanced approach to school aid by removing the growth cap on funding increases and finally beginning the process of fully implementing the state’s school funding formula established in 2008.”

“By providing additional resources to districts that have been significantly underfunded, this budget starts a path toward the Governor’s goal of a stronger and fairer school funding structure,” Education Commissioner Lamont O. Repollet said in the release.

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