Supporters of Catholic education are being urged to make their voices heard regarding two critical issues facing nonpublic school students – transportation and compensatory education.
Using the New Jersey Catholic Conference’s Voter Voice platform, nonpublic school advocates are asked to contact Gov. Phil Murphy before he unveils the Fiscal Year 2023 state budget March 8.
The NJCC, the New Jersey Network of Catholic School Families and their supporters are looking to increase transportation funding for nonpublic school students to $1,150 per student, an increase of $150 over last year.
Tightening budgets and the financial ripple effects of the COVID pandemic have created limited options for nonpublic school students, reports the NJCC, the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops. Instead of being offered transportation, nonpublic school student parents are instead receiving aid-in-lieu payments. This is the first time since the inception of nonpublic school transportation in 1968 that the number of students given aid-in-lieu payments exceeded the number transported.
For most parents, aid-in-lieu does not help in getting their children to and from a nonpublic school because many parents have no alternative other than busing. The NJCC notes that parents are at the mercy of private bus contractors, who provide more than 85 percent of nonpublic transportation.
“Unfortunately, many bus drivers who were laid off or lost their jobs at the outset of COVID in March 2020 have not returned, despite various incentives offered by the bus companies,” said Sister Rose DiFluri, assistant superintendent for government programs in the Camden Diocese’s Office of Catholic Schools. “Most often, one driver must handle multiple routes, and thus fewer students can be transported to their schools in time for the start of the school day.”
To urge Gov. Murphy to accept this increase in transportation funding, visit votervoice.net/NJCC/Campaigns/90919/Respond.
In addition to transportation, the NJCC and proponents are asking the governor to ensure compensatory education works more efficiently to assist students in their journey toward a successful future.
Since 1977, compensatory education (Chapter 192) has been provided by the State of New Jersey for remedial instruction in language arts and mathematics for students in nonpublic schools. However, according to the NJCC, the program service has been reduced as a result of an increase in enrollment in the program, along with a freeze in funding at $995.33 per pupil since the 2008-2009 school year.
Also concerning is the amount of class time provided for the service, which also has been decreased since the 2008-2009 school year as a result of costs incurred by the providers of the service. For the past several years, the qualifying number of compensatory education students has increased, thus causing the service providers to make adjustments for the per-pupil amount, which has remained constant. These adjustments include increasing the class size, reducing the number of minutes per week offered for each service, and eliminating services prior to the end of the school year.
Sister Rose said students in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Camden who need these remedial services are receiving 30-35 minutes of instruction on average. This is clearly not enough to produce significant improvement in student performance, she said.
As such, the NJCC is asking New Jerseyans to contact the governor and indicate that it has been more than 10 years since this program has received a statutory increase. The NJCC is also recommending that next year’s budget be adjusted to at least $1,300 per service, an increase of more than $300, in order to provide additional time for the teaching of these subject areas.
To contact Gov. Murphy on compensatory education through the NJCC Voter Voice System, go to votervoice.net/NJCC/Campaigns/90922/Respond.
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