School aid changes made last year to help underfunded districts have a flip side: Some lose funding, and they turned out in force at the first budget hearing.
Lawmakers appeared to get a public acknowledgement that school aid figures for 2018-19 will be recalculated. Some districts will get less than promised.
"Districts that think they’re getting money, they’re not going to get as much money as they think" once school aid is redistributed, says one Democrat.
Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed budget puts almost as much additional money into the school aid as the last five budgets combined – yet still drew criticism.
Nearly every school district in New Jersey would get an increase in state aid next year and none will see a reduction, according to figures released Thursday by the Murphy administration.