New Legislation Uses Federal Relief Funds to Prevent Reductions in State School Aid

Senator Steven Oroho has introduced legislation to use federal stimulus funds received by New Jersey to prevent school funding cuts proposed by Governor Phil Murphy in his FY 2022 State Budget proposal.

“No school should have to contend with the funding cuts proposed by the Murphy Administration while they are incurring significant costs to deliver a quality education during the pandemic,” said Oroho (R-24). “It makes sense to use a small portion of the billions in federal relief funds that New Jersey is getting to support our schools in this extraordinarily challenging time.”

Approximately one-third of New Jersey’s school districts are slated to lose funding under the governor’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1.

Oroho noted that New Jersey will receive more than $6 billion in direct federal aid from Washington under the most recent stimulus package, more than enough to cover the estimated $193 million cost of reversing the Murphy Administration’s proposed school funding cuts.

“There’s no budgetary justification for school funding cuts when we have $6 billion in new federal relief funds at our disposal,” added Oroho. “After a year of remote and hybrid learning, it’s imperative that all of our schools have the resources they need to keep students from falling even further behind.”