A5328

An Act concerning the provision of State school aid for certain school districts and making an appropriation.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of P.L.2018, c.67 (C.18A:7F-67 et al.) or any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, a school district for which the State aid differential, as defined in section 3 of P.L.2018, c.67 (C.18A:7F-67), is positive in the 2023-2024 school year and that is subject to a State school aid reduction pursuant to the provisions of section 4 of P.L.2018, c.67 (C.18A:7F-68) shall receive an amount of State school aid, in addition to the amount proposed in the State aid notice for the 2023-2024 school year distributed to school districts in March 2023, equal to 66 percent of the difference between the amount of aid received for the 2022-2023 school year and the amount of aid proposed for the 2023-2024 school year. To receive the amounts provided pursuant to this section, a school district shall submit to the Commissioner of Education, in a manner and form to be prescribed by the commissioner, a written plan explaining how the district intends to fund operations in future school years in which the district does not receive Stabilization Aid or similar supplemental State school aid.

b. In addition to the amounts proposed in the State aid notices for the 2023-2024 school year distributed to school districts in March 2023, there is appropriated the sum of $102,784,455 from the Property Tax Relief Fund to the Department of Education to effectuate the provisions of this act. The aid shall be distributed to school districts in the amounts as follows:

District	County	Amount
Brigantine City	Atlantic	$ 179,930
Buena Regional	Atlantic	$ 8,399
Corbin City	Atlantic	$ 14,276
Estell Manor City	Atlantic	$ 120,028
Folsom Boro	Atlantic	$ 59,834
Mainland Regional	Atlantic	$ 48,907
Margate City	Atlantic	$ 678
Mullica Twp	Atlantic	$ 150,361
Somers Point City	Atlantic	$ 728,519
Ventnor City	Atlantic	$ 113,804
Weymouth Twp	Atlantic	$ 96,798
New Milford Boro	Bergen	$ 397,496
Rockleigh	Bergen	$ 1,379
Waldwick Boro	Bergen	$ 137,612
Bordentown Regional	Burlington	$ 427,888
Chesterfield Twp	Burlington	$ 62,457
Evesham Twp	Burlington	$ 486,787
Hainesport Twp	Burlington	$ 51,947
Lenape Regional	Burlington	$ 775,551
Lumberton Twp	Burlington	$ 88,800
Medford Lakes Boro	Burlington	$ 277,811
Pemberton Twp	Burlington	$ 214,577
Riverton	Burlington	$ 266,077
Shamong Twp	Burlington	$ 176,013
Southampton Twp	Burlington	$ 36,053
Tabernacle Twp	Burlington	$ 276,473
Washington Twp	Burlington	$ 36,932
Woodland Twp	Burlington	$ 41,069
Hi Nella	Camden	$ 87,368
Somerdale Boro	Camden	$ 138,435
Cape May City	Cape May	$ 3,874
Cape May Point	Cape May	$ 2,730
Dennis Twp	Cape May	$ 365,234
Lower Cape May Regional	Cape May	$ 549,982
Lower Twp	Cape May	$ 658,502
North Wildwood City	Cape May	$ 37,322
Sea Isle City	Cape May	$ 10,826
Upper Twp	Cape May	$ 937,275
Wildwood City	Cape May	$ 1,412,376
Wildwood Crest Boro	Cape May	$ 20,351
Commercial Twp	Cumberland	$ 42,020
Downe Twp	Cumberland	$ 74,976
Stow Creek Twp	Cumberland	$ 31,638
Clearview Regional	Gloucester	$ 689,415
Franklin Twp	Gloucester	$ 168,866
Logan Twp	Gloucester	$ 338,215
Mantua Twp	Gloucester	$ 372,458
Newfield Boro	Gloucester	$ 140,045
Pitman Boro	Gloucester	$ 973,152
Washington Twp	Gloucester	$ 996,411
Wenonah Boro	Gloucester	$ 23,466
Hoboken City	Hudson	$ 142,215
Hudson County Vocational	Hudson	$ 297,779
Jersey City	Hudson	$ 33,701,019
North Bergen Twp	Hudson	$ 780,065
Weehawken Twp	Hudson	$ 38,065
Alexandria Twp	Hunterdon	$ 60,181
Bethlehem Twp	Hunterdon	$ 50,805
Califon Boro	Hunterdon	$ 11,781
Clinton Town	Hunterdon	$ 4,043
Delaware Valley Regional	Hunterdon	$ 278,960
Flemington-Raritan Reg	Hunterdon	$ 107,069
Frenchtown Boro	Hunterdon	$ 49,840
High Bridge Boro	Hunterdon	$ 228,823
Holland Twp	Hunterdon	$ 140,779
Hunterdon Central Reg	Hunterdon	$ 61,737
Kingwood Twp	Hunterdon	$ 61,303
Lebanon Twp	Hunterdon	$ 71,563
Milford Boro	Hunterdon	$ 44,594
N Hunt/Voorhees Regional	Hunterdon	$ 207,983
Old Bridge Twp	Middlesex	$ 1,325,330
Piscataway Twp	Middlesex	$ 350,077
South Brunswick Twp	Middlesex	$ 2,681,738
Asbury Park City	Monmouth	$ 5,667,589
Avon Boro	Monmouth	$ 8,476
Belmar Boro	Monmouth	$ 25,374
Bradley Beach Boro	Monmouth	$ 79,228
Eatontown Boro	Monmouth	$ 96,348
Farmingdale Boro	Monmouth	$ 52,322
Freehold Regional	Monmouth	$ 4,464,057
Hazlet Twp	Monmouth	$ 1,066,791
Henry Hudson Regional	Monmouth	$ 38,338
Highlands Boro	Monmouth	$ 41,796
Howell Twp	Monmouth	$ 1,149,009
Keansburg Boro	Monmouth	$ 403,195
Keyport Boro	Monmouth	$ 96,664
Lake Como	Monmouth	$ 38,632
Loch Arbour	Monmouth	$ 807
Manalapan-Englishtown Reg	Monmouth	$ 797,983
Marlboro Twp	Monmouth	$ 141,479
Middletown Twp	Monmouth	$ 217,769
Millstone Twp	Monmouth	$ 80,399
Monmouth Regional	Monmouth	$ 67,232
Neptune City	Monmouth	$ 94,305
Neptune Twp	Monmouth	$ 2,787,119
Ocean Twp	Monmouth	$ 32,861
Red Bank Boro	Monmouth	$ 360,165
Tinton Falls	Monmouth	$ 50,776
Upper Freehold Regional	Monmouth	$ 232,290
Jefferson Twp	Morris	$ 1,007,260
Randolph Twp	Morris	$ 410,721
Roxbury Twp	Morris	$ 488,799
Washington Twp	Morris	$ 308,550
West Morris Regional	Morris	$ 47,606
Brick Twp	Ocean	$ 1,677,892
Eagleswood Twp	Ocean	$ 8,055
Jackson Twp	Ocean	$ 4,149,911
Lacey Twp	Ocean	$ 2,619,533
Lavallette Boro	Ocean	$ 4,019
Little Egg Harbor Twp	Ocean	$ 283,441
Ocean Gate Boro	Ocean	$ 155,454
Ocean Twp	Ocean	$ 419,134
Plumsted Twp	Ocean	$ 627,931
Point Pleasant Beach	Ocean	$ 2,235
Point Pleasant Boro	Ocean	$ 168,202
Seaside Heights Boro	Ocean	$ 147,948
Seaside Park Boro	Ocean	$ 2,493
Stafford Twp	Ocean	$ 1,566,594
Toms River Regional	Ocean	$ 9,518,422
Tuckerton Boro	Ocean	$ 103,413
Bloomingdale Boro	Passaic	$ 23,795
Lakeland Regional	Passaic	$ 427,002
Ringwood Boro	Passaic	$ 97,495
Wanaque Boro	Passaic	$ 57,530
West Milford Twp	Passaic	$ 788,110
Alloway Twp	Salem	$ 338,012
Lower Alloways Creek	Salem	$ 35,967
Mannington Twp	Salem	$ 27,548
Quinton Twp	Salem	$ 4,642
Upper Pittsgrove Twp	Salem	$ 18,982
Hillsborough Twp	Somerset	$ 602,650
Andover Reg	Sussex	$ 48,494
Byram Twp	Sussex	$ 16,292
Frankford Twp	Sussex	$ 84,213
Fredon Twp	Sussex	$ 18,984
Green Twp	Sussex	$ 427,010
Hampton Twp	Sussex	$ 31,660
Hardyston Twp	Sussex	$ 50,044
High Point Regional	Sussex	$ 33,680
Hopatcong	Sussex	$ 712,854
Kittatinny Regional	Sussex	$ 441,514
Stillwater Twp	Sussex	$ 97,148
Vernon Twp	Sussex	$ 211,766
Wallkill Valley Regional	Sussex	$ 69,619
Kenilworth Boro	Union	$ 66,628
Winfield Twp	Union	$ 11,836
Belvidere Town	Warren	$ 92,227
Blairstown Twp	Warren	$ 47,583
Franklin Twp	Warren	$ 36,568
Frelinghuysen Twp	Warren	$ 38,394
Great Meadows Regional	Warren	$ 292,800
Harmony Twp	Warren	$ 640
Hope Twp	Warren	$ 52,533
Knowlton Twp	Warren	$ 102,958
Mansfield Twp	Warren	$ 124,277
North Warren Regional	Warren	$ 377,929
Oxford Twp	Warren	$ 59,327
Warren County Vocational	Warren	$ 93,196
Warren Hills Regional	Warren	$ 553,212
Washington Twp	Warren	$ 224,213
White Twp	Warren	$ 89,369

c. The amounts provided to each school district pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall be distributed as additional equalization aid, special education categorical aid, security aid, transportation aid, and adjustment aid, to ensure that each district receives amounts equal to 66 percent of the difference between the amounts calculated and provided to the district for the 2022-2023 school year and the amounts calculated and proposed for the 2023-2024 school year.

2. This act shall take effect immediately but shall remain inoperative until the enactment into law of the fiscal year 2024 appropriations act.

STATEMENT

This bill provides that a school district that is subject to a reduction in State school aid under P.L.2018, c.67 (commonly referred to as “S2”) for the 2023-2024 school year will receive an additional amount of State school aid in the 2023-2024 school year that is equal to 66 percent of the difference between the amount of aid of received in the 2022-2023 school year and the amount of aid proposed for the 2023-2024 school year. To receive the aid provided under the bill, a school district is required to submit to the Commissioner of Education, in a manner and form to be prescribed by the commissioner, a written plan explaining how the district intends to fund operations in future school years in which the district does not receive Stabilization Aid or similar supplemental State school aid.

The bill also stipulates that the additional aid provided to each district under the bill is to be distributed as equalization aid, special education categorical aid, security aid, transportation aid, and adjustment aid to ensure that each district receives amounts equal to 66 percent of the difference between the amounts calculated and provided to the district for the 2022-2023 school year and the amounts calculated and proposed for the 2023-2024 school year.

Finally, the bill appropriates a sum from the Property Tax Relief Fund to the Department of Education and provides a list of school districts eligible to receive additional aid under the bill as well as the amount of additional aid to be provided to each district. A total of 161 districts are eligible under the bill to receive a share of $102.8 million in additional aid.