I am a member of Teach NJS, a coalition that works with the state legislature on behalf of Jewish day schools, as well as all nonpublic schools, throughout New Jersey to advocate for greater school funding. I am contacting you today to discuss the significant disproportion in funding between public and nonpublic schools in the state and to respectfully urge funding parity in the Fiscal Year ’18 budget. In the FY ’18 budget we are requesting nonpublic school funding at a level of $500 per student, which would breakdown as: $150 for nursing aid, $146 for technology aid, $144 for security aid, and $60 for textbook aid.
Today, there are around 150,000 total nonpublic school students throughout the state of New Jersey. Included in that number are 170 Jewish day schools, serving over 41,000 students, making Jewish day schools the second largest provider of nonpublic school education in the state. 10% of K-12 students in New Jersey attend a nonpublic school, yet annually the state spends less than 1% of education funding on nonpublic schools. By comparison, neighboring New York and Pennsylvania invest around six times as much as New Jersey in their nonpublic schools.
This past year Governor Christie signed into law the “Secure Schools for All Children Act” which provides $75 per student in security funding. True parity for all students, based on funding provided to public school students, would be $144. Similar to security funding, health care should also be the same for all students. However, nonpublic school students find themselves lacking full time nurses due to the limited funding that these schools receive.
Again, we are asking for $500 per student for all nonpublic schools in the FY ’18 budget. This would allow schools to hire nurses to care for thousands of students, implement more security measures to keep those students safe, and increase funds for technology and textbooks so nonpublic school students are provided with the same resources as public schools. Please address the significant disproportion in funding between public and nonpublic school students in the state.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this critical issue.
