School Aid Plan Raises Questions
The school aid plan that is slowly being leaked to the public and being reported on by the media continues a trend of increasingly distributing state aid based on each school district’s wealth while taking away aid from so called “wealthy” school districts. As a result, property taxes, the majority of which is used to fund public education, will likely increase in wealthy areas while many "Abbott" districts no longer needing such funding continue to reap the benefits. The plan as presented in recent media coverage is flawed on several levels:
First, despite the growing wealth of several of the 31 Abbott districts, including Hoboken, all 31 will continue to have "Abbott" status under the plan and are guaranteed to continue receiving special State aid at the same level or more than they are currently receiving. Why should a place like Hoboken, with a burgeoning upper middle class, continue to have Abbott status and further, why should New Jersey taxpayers continue to subsidize its funding at the current level? Hoboken and other Abbott districts similar to Hoboken should be removed from the Abbott classification or its residents should pay their fair share to educate their children.
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Michael M. Shapiro, founder of ShapTalk.com, is an attorney who resides in New Providence,