Recent Highlights
Statewide outreach effort launched. NJDOE announced the start of a statewide, stakeholder-driven effort to take a closer look at New Jersey’s school funding system and identify ways to improve transparency, accountability, predictability, and ultimately student success.
New learning resource released. NJDOE released the first installment of the School Finance Learning Series, NJ State Aid 101. This plain-language resource explains where school funding comes from, how state aid is calculated, and how the current formula works.
Steering committee moving forward. NJDOE is partnering with The Hunt Institute to convene a statewide steering committee that will synthesize stakeholder engagement feedback. The steering committee includes families, educators, school leaders, community organizations, advocates, business leaders, and policymakers. The list of invited organizations, along with representatives of the New Jersey Legislature, can be found on the NJDOE School Funding Outreach webpage.
Community engagement coming this fall. Additional engagement opportunities in communities throughout the state will be announced in September. Feedback from the sessions will be shared with the Steering Committee and summarized publicly to help inform potential short- and long-term recommendations.
Take Action This Week
Watch NJ State Aid 101. This first learning series resource provides a plain-language overview of how school funding works in New Jersey. The School Funding Formula is one component of school finance, as explained in the NJ State Aid 101 video. |
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Share your feedback. After viewing the resource, please complete the brief survey. Your input will help NJDOE understand what information is most useful, what questions communities have, and what topics should be covered in future materials.
What's Next
In the coming weeks and months, NJDOE will continue to:
- Release additional School Finance Learning Series videos and resources.
- Convene the New Jersey School Funding Steering Committee.
- Hold stakeholder meetings and listening sessions across the state. Public sessions will be announced in future issues of this newsletter.
- Share updated data tools and public information resources.
- Provide regular updates through newsletters, webinars, reports, and the project website.
Big Numbers, Big Responsibility
New Jersey invests about $40 billion each year in public education. That funding comes from three main sources: local property taxes, state aid, and federal funding. State aid is based on factors like student enrollment, student need, and local ability to pay, and it also includes specific funding for areas such as transportation, special education, and preschool. Federal funding generally supports specific groups of students, including students living in poverty and students with disabilities.
Forty billion dollars is a big number. To put it in perspective: one million seconds is about 12 days, one billion seconds is about 32 years, and 40 billion seconds is about 1,268 years. That is why this outreach effort matters. Together, we can better understand how school funding works and how this major public investment can create the systems of support every student needs to succeed, regardless of ZIP code.
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