New Jersey proposes increase of funding by $1B to public schools

PLAINFIELD, N.J. – Governor Phil Murphy visited Charles and Anna Booker Elementary School in Plainfield Thursday to tout a massive amount of funding for the State’s public schools, making up about a quarter of his proposed $56 billion budget.

“With this funding we’re going to ensure that every one of our precious students in Plainfield and across the Garden State can access the resources they need to chase their wildest dreams,” said Murphy.

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The Governor’s proposing $11.7 billion for K-12 public education, an increase of nearly $1 billion from the previous year. More than 400 school districts would receive a boost in funding from the previous year, including Plainfield Public Schools, which would see around $30 million.

“There is nothing more sacred than investing in the success and well-being of our State’s students and children,” said Murphy.

While the Governor says this would be the largest investment in public schools in the State’s history, some lawmakers say not every school district would come out of this a winner.

“The administration is just grossly disconnected on what’s actually going on with education in the State,” said Assemblyman Alex Sauickie (R – NJ 12^th District), says the Jackson School District, in one example, would see a cut of about $4.5 million in this budget, saying they’ve had to cut positions and sports teams, which has hurt students, teachers, and administrators.

“Those people are working their butts off to try to make this work,” said Sauickie.

In total in this budget, around 140 school districts would see funding taken away.

“Every single year there are folks – many more go up than down,” said Murphy. “We work with the ones that go down. We have a fund that’s available that works- it’s not a huge number- but we’re able to work with them.

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