New Jersey Department of Education

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School Finance

2015-16 State Aid Summaries

2015-16 State Aid Summaries

School Funding – FY2016

During this budget season, the Department anticipates inquiries from school leaders, legislators, and education organizations seeking additional information school funding.  To assist in informing that conversation and for informational purposes only, the Department is making available an additional funding scenario.  Below is a detailed description of the Governor's funding proposal and the additional model.

Spreadsheet with District level detail of funding scenarios.

Governor's Proposed Funding for FY2016

In February 2015, the Governor released his FY2016 budget proposal that outlines the level of funding to all school districts in the state.  In this proposal, each school district would receive the same amount of funding as the prior year (FY2015). Choice districts and districts with preschool enrollment growth may have received an increase if is anticipated they will educate additional students.  In total, the Governor's proposal increases statewide support for education, and ensures that no district will receive less state aid than the amount received for FY2015.

Legislature's SFRA Model

The calculations under this model result in an estimate of what funding would look like for each district, if the SFRA model requested by the Legislature were fully funded.  This model is determined using the base amount, weights, and all other adjustments to the SFRA included in the Educational Adequacy Report (inflated by CPI, where applicable), and the weights for at-risk, limited English proficiency (LEP), and combination at-risk and LEP, as requested by the Legislature.  Further, the attendance adjustment that was used in earlier years was not applied under this model.  This scenario would require more than $1 billion dollars in additional state funding compared to the Governor's proposed FY2016 state aid figures.