By Matt Rooney
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It’s throwing good money after bad, Save Jerseyans.
There’s never been a correlation between the huge sums New Jersey taxpayers send to under-performing, poorer public school districts and success. Quite the contrary. In 2012, the New Jersey Department of Education released a study which found that test score gains in the so-called “Abbott Districts” weren’t better than those in other high-poverty districts which had not received the same level of state aid after the infamous lawsuit.
In the new budget proposed by legislative Democrats? The nine biggest raw recipients of state aid dollars are all Abbott Districts:
1. Newark Public Schools: 5% hike ($37.5 million added to current $787.6 million)
2. Paterson Public Schools: 5% hike ($20.3 million added to current $426 million)
3. Elizabeth Public Schools: 4.6% hike ($17.2 million added to current $390.5 million)
4. Trenton Public Schools: 5% hike ($11.5 million added to current $242.2 million)
5. Passaic City School District: 4.3% hike ($9.9 million added to current $240.7 million)
6. Union City Public Schools: 5% hike ($9 million added to current $190.2 million)
7. Perth Amboy Public Schools: 4.2% hike ($6.8 million added to current $133.2 million)
8. New Brunswick Public Schools: 5% hike ($6.3 million added to current $133.2 million)
9. Plainfield Public School District: 4.6% hike ($5.8 million added to current $132.2 million)
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