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Cherry Hill board adopts resolution urging state to fix school funding formula
Summary
The Cherry Hill Board of Education voted to adopt a resolution calling on New Jersey lawmakers to revisit the state school-funding formula, citing decades of underfunding, an operating budget largely supported by local property taxes and the district's recent bond referendum.
The Cherry Hill Board of Education voted to adopt a resolution calling on New Jersey lawmakers and the governor to revisit the state school-funding formula and fulfill what the board described as the state’s constitutional obligation to provide “a thorough and efficient” education.
The resolution (agenda item 23.3), moved by Board Member Miss Palmer and seconded by Miss Sherpane, passed by a roll call vote during the March meeting. Board leaders said the measure is intended as a concise, legislative-style document to “tell our story” about long-term underfunding and its local effects, and Secretary Schimpf was directed to transmit the adopted resolution to legislative and executive leaders in Trenton.
Why it matters: board members said the district’s operating budget is unusually dependent on local property taxes—about 81%—and that repeated shortfalls have driven difficult decisions and a voter-approved $363,000,000 bond referendum the board called the largest in state history. Several members framed the resolution as urgent advocacy timed to the governor’s recent budget address and ahead of expected state-aid numbers to be released later this week.
Debate and context: Miss Palmer, who sponsored the resolution, summarized the district’s case in the meeting: decades of compounding underfunding that, the board said, forced painful budget choices in prior years and increased local tax burdens. She said the district wants to highlight both historical trends and recent consequences to elected leaders in a concise format lawmakers will read.
Board members emphasized the need for prioritized budget planning even as the resolution was adopted. Mister Greenbaum, reporting for the Budget & Finance committee, described a range of budget scenarios staff prepared—estimates that ranged from about $13 million to as high as $38 million in potential deficits under different assumptions—and said the governor’s budget address reduced the worst-case exposure. He noted expected cost increases including roughly $700,000 for transportation and a benefits spending rise the committee estimated at more than $12,000,000.
Public comment: a Cherry Hill resident identifying himself as Jeff Potterwood urged the board to emphasize long-term underfunding in the resolution and cited historical aid cuts and local effective property-tax figures; other callers raised related concerns about consolidation, testing and student-support programs.
What happens next: the board president confirmed the resolution text is embedded in the meeting agenda and that, upon passage, Secretary Schimpf will transmit the resolution to the legislature and the governor’s office. Board members said they will press ahead with budget work: state-aid figures are expected Thursday, an initial public budget discussion is scheduled for March 19, and a tentative final adoption is targeted for April 28.
Vote at a glance: the board moved and seconded the resolution and adopted it by roll call. The motion carried. Secretary Schimpf will transmit the adopted resolution to state officials.
