Successfully Fights to Restore $2.3 Million of Cuts, Says Final Deal Still Not Good Enough

Senator Steven Oroho (R-24), a member of the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee, voted against the FY18 New Jersey state budget citing more than $1 million of local school aid cuts that remain in the new budget that has been passed by the Legislature.

Sen. Steven Oroho voted against the FY18 New Jersey state budget citing more than $1 million of local school aid cuts that remain in the new budget that has been passed by the Legislature. (SenateNJ.com)

“Our local schools were facing more than $3.3 million in lost state aid under the proposal originally put forward by Democrats,” said Oroho. “While I successfully fought to restore $2.3 million of funding that was cut, I’m still not satisfied with the $1 million that our schools will still lose under the final plan. I don’t believe these cuts were done fairly, so I voted ‘no’ on the state budget.”

Click here to view school aid numbers and changes under the various proposals and final approved state budget.

Oroho worked with the administration to ensure that districts impacted by cuts will have a mechanism to replenish any remaining lost aid through an application process to the New Jersey Department of Education.

“School districts are already into their new fiscal year, and I’ve made clear that it’s unreasonable to ask them to make cuts at such a late date,” added Oroho. “I encourage every impacted school district to take advantage of this application process as it is rolled out.”