Stanfield, Peters join school districts in urging Murphy for a pause in school funding cuts for 2022 budget

Legislators ask Governor to use part of massive $10 billion in stimulus funds to offset school cuts

TRENTON – Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield and Assemblyman Ryan Peters joined their local school districts in imploring Governor Phil Murphy to pause S2 school funding cuts in his 2022 budget.

“With more than $10 billion headed to New Jersey through the federal stimulus, there is no excuse to cut millions from school district budgets. Governor Murphy needs to prioritize getting schools funded and opened with this stimulus money,” Stanfield said. “While schools in my district will be receiving aid in the stimulus package, the scheduled funding cuts offset that, leaving no dollars for the schools to safely open up.”

“I know the schools in my district are doing everything they can to achieve in-person learning while abiding by the state’s guidelines. Cutting their funding will make that task even harder and hurt the students in the long run,” she continued.

“Districts rely on state school funding for basic operational needs. The one-time injection of stimulus money provided to districts is not a substitute for the millions of dollars of state school funding being stripped away by S2, rather it is to enable districts to provide for the safety, academic and social emotional needs of our students,” said Lenape Regional High School District Superintendent Carol Birnbohm.

“Taking away state aid and providing stimulus money leaves districts without the much needed funding the stimulus is to provide for purchases related to closing the digital divide, disinfecting school classrooms, improving ventilation, extra personnel costs, closing achievement gaps and many more other unplanned expenses brought on by operating a school in a pandemic,” she continued.

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan was signed into law Thursday, and the State of New Jersey, its counties and municipalities will be receiving more than $10 billion in funding. The state itself will receive a majority of the funding, nearly $6.5 billion.

Although the state is prepared to receive a huge influx of money, Governor Murphy’s proposed 2022 budget will cut millions of dollars from about a third of school districts. The cuts are a part of S2, legislation passed in 2018. S2 phases out funding for certain schools while providing money for others over a seven-year period.

“We are asking for a one-year pause of all funding cuts. Schools should not be deterred from budgeting to get back up and running, but unfortunately, that’s an expensive task. Cutting their funding on top of it makes it nearly impossible without substantial negative impacts to the schools, their teachers and students,” Peters said.

“The pandemic has thrown a wrench in a lot of plans. We can’t pretend like it’s business as usual and expect a large portion of the state’s school districts to survive with less funding than last year,” he continued.

“Assemblywoman Stanfield and Assemblyman Peters have developed a practical approach to addressing the funding issues caused by the pandemic. His solution should garner bipartisan support.  The Lumberton School District will be better able to put in place a tiered system of supports for struggling students as a result of their initiative,” said Lumberton Superintendent Joseph Langowski.

Stanfield and Peters are not requesting school districts with funding increases to be paused. The legislators plan to introduce a bill directing Governor Murphy to pause school funding cuts under S2 for the 2022 budget.