NEWARK – Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy took reporters’ questions earlier today regarding the agreement for school funding struck this week by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) and Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32).

“The big picture is this has been underfunded by over a billion dollars for seven and a half years,” Murphy told InsiderNJ as he prepared for a taping of On the Record with Michael Aron at NJTV studios. “That’s the big overarching issue. Is this a step in the right direction, I think yes. I was studying through the eyes of the press, looking at the impact down where we are in Monmouth County and it’s very uneven. It’s better than nothing but we have to fund the school funding formula. It’s a hundred some million [the money redistributed to districts in need]. Our analysis is we need something closer to a billion dollars.”

Murphy acknowledged that he would find that money as governor in part by implementing a millionaire’s tax, in addition to closing Wall Street loopholes, and getting hedge funds out of the pension plans.