TRENTON – In an effort to make complete the distribution of State military impact aid to certain eligible school districts, the Senate approved legislation sponsored by Senator Vin Gopal that will provide a Fiscal Year 2022 supplemental appropriation from the Property Tax Relief Fund in the amount of $1,135,749 to provide State aid to those districts. This amount would be added to the fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriation for Stabilization Aid in the Department of Education.
“School districts that serve our military bases are providing an invaluable service to our nation, and our state, and are entitled to a certain share of military impact aid in order to properly fund classroom studies and activities that make for a thorough and efficient education,” said Senator Gopal, chair of the Senate Education Committee. “This legislation will merely make certain that all those districts providing this service receive the funding they are due and deserve.”
Under the bill, S-1929, the amount would be appropriated for the purpose of providing State military impact aid to eligible school districts that received a payment of federal Impact Aid under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in the 2019-2020 school year, according to the district’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for that school year.
The appropriation would be calculated by first taking the difference between an eligible school district’s per pupil local tax levy (PPLTL), and per pupil impact aid amounts (PPIA).
Specifically, the supplemental appropriation would provide the Rockaway Township School District and the Tinton Falls School District with military impact aid in the amounts of $320,582 and $815,167, respectively.
The legislation was released from the Senate by a vote of 36-0.