Sarlo Welcomes Responsiveness of Acting Education Commissioner on School Funding

Trenton – Senator Paul Sarlo, the chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement today welcoming the responsiveness of Acting Education Commissioner Dr. Lamont Repollet on the importance of bringing reforms to the allocation of state aid to New Jersey’s school district in a timely manner. The top education official in the Murphy administration went before the budget committee to discuss the spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, including the distribution of state school aid:

“I welcome Acting Commissioner Repollet’s stated willingness to work together with the legislative leaders on a plan to allocate state school aid in a fair and effective way that works towards full funding and that makes the reforms needed to fully realize the effectiveness of the funding formula.

“I was glad to hear the acting commissioner acknowledge the need to address the ‘enrollment cap’ and ‘adjustment aid’ and to work to get it done for the FY19 budget we are now working on. It is important that we correct those flaws in the way state aid is distributed and that we include the reforms in the upcoming budget. We made the first real steps in this process in the current FY18 budget at the same time we made the first substantial increase in school funding in years. We need to continue to build upon this success so that we can achieve full and fair funding and realize the promise of the school aid formula that has been universally praised, but never funded in full.

“I look forward to following through on the responsive attitude expressed by the acting commissioner today by working with my colleagues on the budget committee, the administration, legislative leaders  and educators to get this done during the current budget process.”

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