Town Hall Meeting Tonight Will Discuss State Aid to Schools

The Borough of Madison and the will hold a joint Town Hall Meeting to discuss state aid tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium, 170 Ridgedale Ave. in Madison.

State Sen. Michael Doherty will make a presentation on current school aid coming out of Trenton and an amendment to the state constitution on funding he has proposed. A question-and-answer session will follow.

The school district and municipality have struggled with budget issues amid  cutbacks in state funding and a cap on annual property tax increases under Gov. Chris Christie.

The Board of Education and Borough at the June meeting of their joint committee on Shared Services discussed the budgets and the recent state Supreme Court decision on additional aid for the so-called Abbott districts for schools in urban areas. Subsequent to that meeting, both bodies received letters regarding a proposed change to the funding formula, and collectively the members of the committee felt it was an important topic that deserved a full hearing by the community at a Town Hall meeting.

Doherty’s amendment would change the constitution so that school funding is provided on an equal per-pupil basis statewide. It would provide districts such as  Madison with significant tax relief and sufficient aid to restore programs eliminated as state funding has been frozen and then eliminated over the past several years, the Board stated in a release.

The current state funding formula, as required by the Abbott rulings, provides aid to school districts that ranges from a low of just a few dollars per pupil to more than $25,000 per student. Doherty’s proposed amendment would provide an equal amount of about $7,480 per student, or more than $17 million to Madison.

By comparison, in 2010-11 Madison received no state aid and in 2011-12 is scheduled to receive about $350,000, or $150 per student enrolled in the district.

The Board pointed out that the $17 million, while a significant increase, would still only be a fraction of what Madisonians pay to the state in income taxes annually.

"The $45 milion that our residents paid in income taxes in 2010 is required, by New Jersey's Constitution, to provide property tax relief. Yet, less than
$4 million is returned to Madison’s school district and borough for that purpose," the Board stated.

'The total property taxes paid by Madison in 2010 — $33,941,993 for schools, $13,167,645 for the borough and $8,315,720 for Morris County — would be reduced by 25-30% if the formula was changed as proposed.

The Board of Education at its June 14 meeting passed a resolution supporting  Doherty’s amendment. The Borough Council will take it up at its next
meeting on June 27.

"Because of the critical nature of this issue, and the need to provide real change to help Madison’s taxpayers, the Board of Education, and the Governing Body urge all residents to attend the meeting to hear the proposal, and to provide feedback to our legislators on this issue," the Board said.

For more information about the town hall meeting, residents can contact the Board Office at 973-593-3101, x-3112, or Borough Hall at 973-593-3041.