The Union City and West New York school districts highlight modest projected state aid increases throughout Hudson County public schools, based on the 2016-2017 budget proposed by Gov. Chris Christie (R). 
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Christie’s proposed budget for the next scholastic year would allocate $13.3 billion towards public education, grades pre-K through 12, an increase of $548 million from 2015-2016.
“As more revenue becomes available, the [Christie] Administration is continuing to provide the highest levels of school funding,” Education Commissioner David C. Hespe said in a statement. “This speaks volumes about the priorities of this Administration.”
Those districts that could reap the biggest benefits in Hudson County (grades K through 12) are the Union City and West New York public schools, both of which are Abbott districts – which largely rely on state aid to balance their budget.
For this scholastic year, Union City public schools received $177,818,679 and they will potentially enjoy an increase of $1,187,022 for a total of $179,005,701 in 2016-2017.
In West New York, the school system received $93,312,984 this year and are projected to get $93,312,984 in aid next year, a gain of $753,004.
While both school districts are relatively small, Guttenberg and Weehawken could receive the largest state aid increase in 2016-2017 in terms of percentages, with a net gain of 1.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
A breakdown of the potential state aide increases can be seen here (an asterisk denotes an Abbott district):
Bayonne
2015 – $53,524,660
(+ $491,774)
2016 – $54,016,434East Newark
2015 – $3,395,757
(+ $30,682)
2016 – $3,426,439Guttenberg
2015 – $5,033,239
(+ $63,344)
2016 – $5,096,583Harrison *
2015 – $25,383,780
(+ $34,408)
2016 – $25,418,188Hoboken *
2015 – $10,656,560
(+ $25,960)
2016 – $10,682,520Hudson County Vocational
2015 – $21,109,363
(+ $94,816)
2016 – $21,204,179Jersey City *
2015 – $418,471,290
(+ $308,600)
2016 – $418,779,890Kearny
2015 – $30,634,645
(+ $294,342)
2016 – $30,928,987North Bergen
2015 – $56,603,083
(+ $492,050)
2016 – $57,095,133Secaucus
2015 – $970,026
(+ $29,516)
2016 – $999,542Union City *
2015 – $177,818,679
(+ $1,187,022)
2016 – $179,005,701Weehawken
2015 – $2,693,051
(+ $29,657)
2016 – $2,722,708West New York *
2015 – $93,312,984
(+ $753,004)
2016 – $94,065,988
So Hoboken, whose residents pay the greatest per capita taxes to Trenton, will receive the least increase in State Aid, while Union City, whose resident send the least per capita taxes to Trenton will get the largest increase in State Aid. You can bet that Hoboken’s State Senator (also the Mayor of Union City), will be jumping for joy with his windfall. You can also rest assured that Hoboken’s Assemblywoman, hand-picked by Stack, will do as she’s told and will do nothing to fight for a change in the formula to return more tax dollars to Hoboken. Hoboken sure does get shafted when it comes to having it’s Assemblywoman owing her paycheck to Union City’s boss.
Are you out of your mind? Hoboken is one of NJ’s most overaided districts. It should be losing state aid not gaining it.