Jersey City Board of Education President Natalia Ioffe is vowing to work with the school administration to reach an “optimal solution” on this year’s budget of light of the state announcing a $51,062,150 aid cut.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
In a lengthy statement, Ioffe told HCV that Superintendent of Schools Dr. Norma Fernandez and Acting Business Administrator Dr. Dennis Frohnapfel have been working with the school board to have a budget that covers essential costs despite the “injustice” of state aid cuts.
Last year, the district lost $68,540,271 from the state, though also managed to recoup $89,072,074 from the New Jersey Department of Education due to a provision in the American Rescue Plan.
“It is unfortunate that the students of Jersey City Public Schools continue to be neglected by the municipal and state authorities. The payroll tax revenues meant to support our school system still come up short of the original estimates, and there seem to be no mechanisms in place to ensure proper collection of the payroll tax. Without strong advocates in the state government, our children continue to pay the price for the political feuds of adults. That needs to change,” she said.
“In light of this year’s state funding cuts, as our school board prepares to enter into final budget discussions, it remains committed to meeting the needs of our students and teachers, while being cognizant of the taxpayers’ burden. We will diligently work alongside the district administration to reach an optimal solution.”
In 2022, the BOE approved a nearly $974 million budget in May with an annual tax increase of $1,608 on a home evaluated at $460,000, while the city’s $724.8 million budget came with an annual tax increase of $1,162 on a home evaluated at $470,000.
As for the neighboring Bayonne Board of Education, they will see an 18.14 percent increase from last year, a jump of $16,737,927 – DOE data shows.
While their budgets aren’t particularly robust compared to other, larger local districts, the East Newark and Guttenberg Public Schools are both seeing big increases of 23.48 and 29.41 percent, respectively, good for an additional $1,027,189 and $3,451,305.
Similarly, the Kearny BOE is up just over 22 percent, which comes out to $12,346,112, whil the Secaucus BOE saw a boost of 12.88 percent, or an extra $358,640.
Conversely, the Hudson County Schools of Technology, Hoboken, and North Bergen Public Schools all saw relatively small decreases of less than two percent, drops of $451,181, $124,773, and $1,181,916, respectively.
The other schools districts in the county made out as follows:
Harrison
+10.98% (+ $2,854,591)
Union City
+6.02% (+ $12,863,367)
Weehawken
-3.19% (- $57,674)
West New York
+7.3% (+ $8,614,372)
