TRENTON – Senator Joseph V. Doria made the following statement today following testimony by Education Commissioner William Librera before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee:
“The fact that we haven’t used the established CEIFA funding formula when determining school aid during the last four State Budgets is evidence that it is time for us to develop a new way to allocate state educational aid.
The CEIFA formula is so complicated that only a rocket scientist could understand it. It ignores the impact that special education has on individual districts and fails to include a complete picture of a municipality’s economic position. We need a formula that is straightforward and is equitable for all schools across the state, whether they are in the richest districts or the Abbott districts.
“Far too many districts get shortchanged by our current funding formula and they are forced to either cut programs or pass the costs onto local taxpayers – neither of which are winning choices. I am encouraged to hear that Commissioner Librera has already begun to explore potential new funding formulas and I look forward to working with him in developing a better means by which to determine local education aid.”