Luis Perez writes that the share of aid swallowed by the poorest urban districts is unjustifiably huge.
To the Editor:
The June 22 print edition article "Fairness formula," which details Republican Gov. Chris Christie's plan for a fixed per-student amount of state school aid, regardless of district, spells out why our school funding is not currently allocated properly.
The numbers show that largest share of state aid goes to the poorest local districts, under the belief that more money will make schools better. So far, this idea has failed.
Even a donation several years ago of $100 million by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to the Newark district has not increased its students' knowledge. This money has been wasted.
Democratic legislators want to continue the waste in the hope that the poor will continue to vote for them. In the meantime, the rest of the New Jersey districts are shortchanged by the existing, insane formula.
Each student deserves an equal amount of state funding for his or her school. The poorly performing districts can only improve student grades if parents get involved.
Hopefully, we will have a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment as proposed by the governor, to change the state aid formula and make it fair to all school districts.
Luis M. Perez
Glassboro
To the Editor:
It's commonly understood that the way we fund education in New Jersey is unfair. There are relatively poor districts, like Woodbury, that receive too little state funding while wealthier districts like Hoboken and Jersey City -- which are among those that are historically classified as "special need" districts" -- get way state more money than they need or deserve.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney has offered a proposal that would address this issue. Instead of some districts getting more than 100 percent of the funding proscribed in a 2008 aid formula, and others getting less, all schools would get 100 percent of this funding level over time.
This change would end the current practice of the state providing roughly the same level of funding every year to districts where enrollment has been dropping.
Sweeney's plan makes perfect sense: The dollars should follow the child, and the funding should be fair. It costs more to educate more students. That is basic logic, and it should be reflected in policy.
Sweeney's idea deserves a close look, and it's good to see newspaper editorial boards endorsing it. Education funding in our state is broken and unfair, and it's time we find a reasonable solution.
Chuck Rose
Woodbury
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