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