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OCEAN CITY, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed $44.8 billion budget contains decreases in state aid to many schools. Fortunately, the Ocean City School District is looking at an increase
in state aid for the 2021-22 school year. Gov. Phil Murphy's administration released a proposed $18.1 billion pre-K-through-12 state school aid funding plan on Thursday for the 2021-22
school year. Nearly 200 school districts would have a decrease under his school funding plan, while more than 300 would gain. Many districts are facing cuts as part of the ongoing reduction
in aid to the district under S2, the law that enforced cuts in so-called adjustment aid to districts that have been deemed to not be paying their local fair share of property taxes. Under
the proposed budget, the state would increase the Ocean City School District's aid by 3.95 percent. The district would receive $4,124,406 total. On the whole, statewide aid would
increase 6.6 percent over the 2020-21 school year under a plan that requires approval from the state Legislature. That number would be larger than the 3.8 percent increase Murphy proposed
last year. * Avalon Boro $57,896 * Cape May City $410,203 * Cape May Co Vocational $1,396,049 * Cape May Point $12,033 * Dennis Twp $3,172,640 * Lower Cape May Regional $6,119,839 * Lower
Twp $6,078,367 * Middle Twp $11,680,148 * North Wildwood City $426,124 * Ocean City $4,124,406 * Sea Isle City $194,157 * Stone Harbor Boro $47,679 * Upper Twp $7,118,679 * West Cape May
Boro $563,584 * West Wildwood $42,799 * Wildwood City $4,291,399 * Wildwood Crest Boro $627,705 * Woodbine Boro $2,851,652 Statewide, the proposal calls for $578 million in additional K-12
school aid and nearly $50 million in additional preschool funding. School districts will be able to use the state funding in conjunction with federal aid to address COVID-19-related learning
loss, stand up mental health programs, train educators, and remediate buildings, among other uses, according to the administration. The 2021-22 budget proposal plans to continue the
seven-year phase-in to fully fund New Jersey's school funding formula. By adding $578 million in K-12 formula aid, the Murphy administration proposes to make the full scheduled phase-in
for the upcoming school year and make up for the pause in the phase-in from last year's budget. The proposal also includes $50 million in stabilization aid to help districts adjust to
the phase-in of the school funding formula and an additional $25 million for Extraordinary Special Education aid. "After years of chronic underfunding of our classrooms, we're
getting back where we need to be," Murphy said. "This is good for our students, this is good for our educators, this is good for our district and school leaders, and this is good
for our educational communities." _Click here to get Patch email notifications on this or other local news articles or get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our
app. Download here. Follow Ocean City Patch on Facebook. Have a news tip? Email [email protected]._