New Jersey’s School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) at 10 Years

For Immediate Release

TRENTON, NJ (March 13, 2019) – School funding matters for education outcomes, according to a new report released today by New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP).

The report, New Jersey’s School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) at 10 Years, was authored by Rutgers University professor Bruce D. Baker, Ed.D. and Mark Weber, Ph.D and measures the impact of the SFRA on school funding and test outcomes. The report also compares New Jersey’s education funding and outcomes in affluent and high-poverty districts to those in other states.

“Equitable and adequate financing is a prerequisite condition for a thorough and efficient school system,” said report author and Rutgers University professor Dr. Bruce D. Baker. “The state has in place a reasonable, well thought out, flexible structure for financing its schools. However, SFRA was designed to meet outcome standards that are more than a decade old, based on schooling conditions and costs of that same period. It needs updating, but the basic structure is there. First, fund the formula. Then recalibrate to meet current demands.”

The report concludes with policy recommendations, both short- and long-term, for improving school funding in New Jersey. The policy recommendations include: fully funding the SFRA formula to meet its adequacy targets; requiring districts to fully fund their local fair share if they fall below adequacy targets; returning special education funding to a system based on tiers of student need, with appropriately differentiated funding based on actual distributions of children with disabilities; recalibrating funding targets and cost adjustments tied to current outcome goals, and; reintegrating pre-K funding into the SFRA model.

“This report goes to great lengths to show the critical importance of New Jersey fulling funding the school funding formula,” said Brandon McKoy, President of NJPP. “Just like the rest of our assets, New Jersey’s education system works better for everyone when we invest in it. By investing in our schools we are investing in our children and our future.”

For the report summary, click here.

For the full report, click here.

###