State Doubles Brick's School Aid Increase

Revised state aid figures released by the Christie administration Tuesday show that Brick will receive an extra $1.3 million in state funding.

Administration officials announced Tuesday that $850 million in new aid has been authorized for New Jersey schools in the state's 2012 fiscal year budget. Brick's share of the aid will be $1,360,532 - doubling a previous state aid increase by the same amount which was announced in February. In all, aid will rise by $2,721,064 over the 2010-11 school year. The Brick district will receive $34,939,962 in total aid from Trenton this year.

"Being able to provide additional education funding to districts this year further affirms this Administration’s commitment to ensuring each and every child in New Jersey receives a quality education," said Acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf. "It is now time to focus on aggressive education reform, concentrating on improving standards, assessments, and curriculum; strengthening the use of performance and accountability data; improving educator effectiveness; and investing in innovative models of educational delivery."

Brick Board of Education President Sharon Kight said school board members and district administrators will discuss the increase in a committee meeting before the regularly-scheduled, public pre-agenda meeting of the board tonight.

Board member Larry Reid, who heads the board's operations committee, said how to allocate the money in the district should be "a group decision" by board members.

"This is good news," he added.

The $850 million in funding was divided up three ways under the state's court-mandated funding formula. Of the total funding, $250 million was distributed evenly to all of the state's districts and $150 million was distributed to regular operating districts, such as Brick. The bulk of the funding – $450 million – will be shared among the 31 so-called Abbott districts, mainly urban school districts covered under a court mandate that they receive extra state funding.