Now more than ever, in a time of so much uncertainty, I want to thank you for being part of this effort. Together, we can continue our work to ensure that every student in NJ has access to the high-quality public education they deserve, regardless of what’s happening in DC.

As mentioned, Congress is the entity that appropriates federal education funding, so Trump can't do that without the support of Congress.

We don’t yet know what this EO and any associated Department actions may mean for the federal education funding that NJ receives. But we do know that Trump’s stated goal is to return education fully to states, ending federal funding entirely.

He also cannot remove or reduce funding that Congress has appropriated; however, he can starve USED of resources and can direct agency staff to begin restructuring, dismantling operations, and transferring functions to other departments like the Treasury or Justice.

It’s important to know that the President lacks the authority to eliminate USED without congressional approval because the department was created through legislation.

We must continue pushing for a fairer funding formula, holding our state leaders accountable, and organizing our communities to defend public education at every level.

Without strong, coordinated advocacy, we risk widening inequities that already exist across NJ.

That’s where NJFFC comes in. Our collective voice is a critical force for equity.

This EO threatens to strip away vital protections, resources, and oversight that support students. If the federal role in education is diminished, the responsibility will fall even more heavily on state and local systems.

While the full implications will unfold over time, what’s clear right now is this: our work to ensure fair funding for NJ’s public schools and students has never been more urgent.

Sharing this email we sent yesterday to our members:

NJFFC Members,
You’ve likely already heard about a deeply concerning development – yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order focused on dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (USED).

🚫 The bad: This is only for the 2025-26 school year. For this to apply beyond that, either the next governor would need to continue it on an annual basis, or the Legislature would need to change the formula for SFRA.

✅ The good: This allows for much greater accuracy in revenue allocation and ensures that students receive the funding they need for the services they require and are legally entitled to.

3. Special education funding is based on district classification rates (rather than the previous census-based model that applied a State average number to all districts).

🚫 The bad: Aggregate income is still used instead of avg income, though avg income can ensure that extreme wealth outliers don't skew the data. And the multipliers used & how they’re determined is not transparent at all - the multipliers have been different every year, making forecasting impossible.

✅ The good: This increases stability for districts when there are significant changes from one year to another.

2. Three year averages were used for the elements of the Local Fair Share calculations - equalized valuation (property values) and district income (aggregate income).

🚫The bad: This doesn't take into account the stabilized funding districts who were cut last year received, so the cuts are larger for many districts. When that funding is taken into account, the average reduction for districts that received decreases both last year and this year was more than 9%.

✅ The good: This reduced year-over-year volatility for school districts, especially those who have experienced large increases in prior years.

While there are still lots of improvements that can and should be made to our funding formula, some important steps were taken this year that align with our recommendations:

1. Decreases were capped at 3%.

A graphic from the NJ Fair Funding Collective features a statistic stating that “77% of districts who saw state funding decreases received the maximum allowable cut by the state for 2025-26.” The text is accompanied by a visual representation of 100 graduation cap icons, with 77 filled in teal and 23 in white, illustrating the percentage. The organization’s website, www.njffc.org, is displayed at the bottom.

175 school districts received a cut to their State Aid for 2025-26. 135 of those received the maximum cut allowable under Governor Phil Murphy's budget - 3% (across the categories of equalization, transportation, special education, and security aids).

47 school districts (8%) across the State of New Jersey received cuts in their State Aid in both 2024-25 and 2025-26. 53% of those districts are located in South Jersey.

Does NJ's school funding have a geographic bias?

@stateofnewjersey.bsky.social @govmurphy.bsky.social

Sources:
New Jersey Department of Education www.nj.gov/education/sp...
Education Law Center edlawcenter.org/wp-content/u... @edlawcenter.bsky.social

Prelim analysis shows a shift to fund SpEd by classification rates is nearly cost-neutral: In 22-23, districts with higher rates were underfunded by $378M & districts with lower rates were overfunded by $287M. Making this shift represents less than a 1% increase in NJ’s education budget.

Traditional public schools, where classification rates average 17.63% and can climb as high as 33.41%, are routinely underfunded, while charter and vocational schools with lower classification rates – averaging 11.05% and 9.91%, respectively – are receiving more funding than they need.

Infographic highlighting the imbalance in special education funding in New Jersey. It states that 67% of NJ school districts receive less special education funding than they need, while $287 million of special education funding is allocated to districts that don’t need it. The graphic is from NJ Fair Funding Collective, with a link to their website at www.njffc.org.

Th State of New Jersey's current approach to special education funding assumes a one-size-fits-all rate, allocating resources as though 15.9% of students in every district require special education services.

This assumption is far from reality.

@stateofnewjersey.bsky.social