funding New Jersey Public Schools is expected to be a tough topic during the budget season with state aid Cuts looming from changes made more than six years ago to how the state dos out cash to districts some lawmakers believe Now's the Time to revamp the school funding formula but one legislator has a temporary fix in mind lift the property tax cap to help districts facing the steepest Aid Cuts senior correspondent Joanna Gagis reports we've seen an increase in class sizes we've seen a a decrease in available uh staff that can push in and support our students we have less ESL teachers we have less special education teachers in fact the Wildwood School District actually saw 18 staff positions cut last year these changes the result of S2 the school funding formula that's been tweaked in recent years changing the amount of state aid that each district receives about 20% of the state school districts have lost Millions through the changes our district uh lost $15 million in actual state aid over the course of six years and and that would be bad enough but the issue the reality of a 2% cap in 6 7% inflation periods of time is just that it takes a lot more than 2% to operate that 2% cap is the limit any District can increase property taxes in a given year it was put in place by Governor Christie.

Districts can currently exceed it with voter approval but a bill introduced by Senator Andrew Zwicker would allow districts that have faced year-over-year funding cuts under S2 to increase property taxes beyond the 2% cap without taking it to voters first if under this S2 reallocation of funding you lost a certain amount of money that is the only amount you can go over 2% that's it meaning that if 2% doesn't get you there and 2.2% will then that's it you can't go a dollar over that the education Law Center is in support of the bill that they say will provide critical funding to districts that are on the brink of crisis in a lot of cases um these districts are not raising the property taxes that the state formula says that they need in order to meet adequacy under the formula adequacy the term associated with what the state believes you should be spending per student the Senate the governor nobody cares about the adequacy number that that actual formula which they praise spits South Brunswick superintendent Scott Feder says the 2% cap adjustment would help but the bigger issue at hand is a re-evaluation of the S2 funding formula overall a move that has consensus for many in the education Arena we believe that the formula structure in general is good it's one of the best formulas in the nation but it hasn't been evaluated over 15 years so we think that the state needs to step up and do a very in-depth review of the formula as required every 3 years to make sure that the formula is operating at the level that is adequate for students Senate education chair Vin goal is creating a working group to address the formula and plans to hold a legislative hearing on the issue in the very near future we dramatically need to to revamp it uh mental health cost special education Transportation a lot of things have changed since when SF S2 started in 2008 last year gopal allocated an additional $13 million to help close budget gaps for districts that have faced years of funding Cuts this year that funding's not coming it's replaced by this 2% cap adjustment this year we're trying to provide some certainty for the next couple of years so that we don't have to go up to the last minute with a budget appropriation when you do it through an appropriation it's coming out of state funding you have to reallocate the funds when you do it this way it falls on the taxpayer there are towns where they have commercial development they have growth overall and the amount of money that they need to go over this 2% cap is not that much so the there are going to be some districts where there will be no impact whatsoever on on the on the homeowner and there'll be somewhere that could be some districts will learn about new rounds of potential Cuts in the coming weeks they say this bill gives them one more tool in the toolbox to hopefully stay afloat before cuts are made that'll have a direct impact on students I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight news