The Brian Lehrer Show 30 Issues in 30 Days: Public Education in New Jersey
Oct 30, 2025
Jessie Gómez, a reporter at Chalkbeat Newark, dives into the contentious world of New Jersey's public education funding. She breaks down how property taxes and student needs impact school aid, highlighting disparities in funding. Gómez discusses gubernatorial candidates Mikie Sherrill’s and Jack Cittarelli’s contrasting plans for modernizing the funding formula and implementing a per-student funding standard. The episode also addresses the challenges of teacher shortages and the effects of charter schools on local budgets, illustrating the complexity of education policy in the state.
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How The Funding Formula Works
- New Jersey's funding formula mixes student needs and local property wealth to allocate state aid.
- In practice the state hasn't fully funded the formula, causing wide disparities between districts.
Special Needs Drive Higher Costs
- Districts with many English learners and special education students face much higher costs.
- Newark's special needs population drives expenses that outpace local property tax capacity.
Democrat's Push To Modernize Formula
- Democratic candidate Phil Murphy (note: episode used 'Sherrill' mistakenly for Murphy) wants to modernize the 2008 formula to better reflect current costs and student needs.
- Updating the formula could target funding to districts with higher concentrations of vulnerable students.