Stockton University will receive an additional $5.9 million in state funding under the new state budget signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Phil Murphy.
“I’m extraordinarily pleased with what I see with the equitable funding,” Stockton President Harvey Kesselman said last week.
Both houses of the state Legislature approved the historic, $46 billion budget last week.
The fiscal year 2022 budget, which takes effect Thursday, reflects an increase of $1.5 billion from when the governor introduced his budget in February, due in part to federal funding resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stockton’s total aid is about $32.6 million in 2022. The college is getting a significant bump to the state aid it receives based on full-time-equivalent students, now at $3,000 a student. There is also an additional $4.6 million in aid for the college to continue its expansion efforts in Atlantic City.
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Three years ago, Stockton’s state aid was $18.4 million.
Kesselman has been pushing for several years to see funding for full-time-equivalent students increased and said last week he felt the state was finally recognizing Stockton and other institutions that have grown but were underfunded.
“It would have never happened without incredible legislative support both at the local level and the state level,” said Kesselman, who is also chairman of the New Jersey Presidents’ Council for state colleges and participated in the legislative budget process. “People were willing to talk in a constructive way, and I think this budget reflects the outcome of those discussions.”
In addition to the increased aid at Stockton, the state budget is pouring additional funds into K-12 education.
The New Jersey School Boards Association said the budget allocates $9.3 billion in direct aid to schools and adds $578 million more in formula aid to districts. Furthermore, special education funding increased by nearly 50% in the 2022 budget to $400 million.
“We appreciate the increase in education formula aid,” NJSBA Executive Director Lawrence S. Feinsod said. “The impressive new investment in Extraordinary Special Education Aid will provide relief for more than 500 districts, and the Stabilization Aid will help districts as they are adjusting to new funding levels required by the state’s funding formula.”
Other school-related budget highlights include adding $5 million for charter school facilities improvements, $5 million for establishing a community school pilot program and $500,000 for the new Clayton Model program that promotes social-emotional learning. There is $200 million for the Schools Development Authority and funding to support a school regionalization study bill that would help districts losing aid recapture a portion.
In addition, a $50 million stabilization aid program to provide funds for districts that are seeing a formula aid decrease will prioritize districts, including Cape May City, that have a large portion of students coming from a nearby military base but that are underfunded by the federal government. A bill that passed both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature would make this funding permanent.
For higher education, the budget will also implement Murphy’s Garden State Guarantee to provide two years of free tuition at four-year institutions of higher education for students in their third and fourth years with household incomes of less than $65,000.
The budget includes deductions to support education savings plans for those who earn less than $200,000 and for up to $2,500 in New Jersey College Loans to Assist State Students (NJCLASS) payments.
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