The previous post was about the 3 main school district budget funds, General, Special Revenue and Debt. This one is about how State aid is distributed. State Aid comes to be about 80% of our local school district budget due to the fact that a large majority of students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
For this year the State is sending to Plainfield schools a total of $118,407,526.00. This I am told is what Plainfield is supposed to get under the old new formula that was set by former NJ governor Corzine, the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA). SFRA seems to be in its way out as the state is again looking into school aid formula, you can read the governor's press release HERE to learn more about what changes are being talked about school funding. Big changes, especially for Plainfield, more on this some other day!
Back to Plainfield's 2012-13 school year state aid budget and its 6 categories as reported by the state. I am also posting last year's recorded figures but keep on mind that the district got an additional $22 million plus after the budget was passed but because I do not know how the district allocated the additional money I am not adding it to last year's numbers.
Equalization Aid--$98,343,450.00 (2011-12 was $84,174,647.00)
"It is called Equalization Aid because it takes into consideration districts’ relative ability to contribute to their Adequacy Budgets; property or income poor districts are expected to contribute less – and therefore receive more Equalization Aid – than property or income rich districts." Education Funding Report 2012.
Education Adequacy Aid--$11,009,173.00 (2011-12 was $1,400,178.00)
*Choice Aid - The Plainfield school district does not receive this aid.
Transportation Aid--$1,263,235.00 (2011-12 appears to be 0 funding, will check)
Special Education Aid--$4,712,302.00 (2011-12 was $4,712,302.00)
Security Aid--$3,079,366.00 (2011-12 was $1,863,131.00)
*Adjustment Aid - The Plainfield school district has not received Adjustment Aid for the past two school years, what is more, Adjustment Aid is being discontinued. You can read more about this HERE starting at page 50.
Now the fun part will be to find out if the district and the board will be making the best choices for the utilization of these monies. Parents and community stakeholders will do students and Plainfield a favor by making sure that monies are adequately used to properly educate children and narrow the tremendous academic gap a large number of students have shown so far.
0 comments:
Post a Comment