N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy announced his proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2024 on March 8, 2023. The budget process is now in the hands of the Legislature. In an Action Alert issued this week, the New Jersey Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, urges voters to contact legislators and request two types of student funding increases: school transportation and remedial instruction for language arts and mathematics.
The NJCC and New Jersey Network of Catholic School Families support an increase in transportation funding from the statutory ceiling of $1,000 to at least $1,300 per pupil. In their explanation, they note that the ceiling for the current school year was increased in the last state budget by a mere $22 per pupil, hardly enough to cover bids on the routes by private companies.
In a budget article earlier this year, Sister Rose DiFluri, assistant superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Camden, observed, “As everyone who is trying to navigate this time of inflation knows, $22 does not even buy half a tank of gas. Parents deserve to be given enough money in lieu of transportation to cover bringing their children to and from school each day.”
Barbara Stevens, superintendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Metuchen, asserted that a lack of transportation “disallows Catholic schools to be a viable choice in the education of children.”
She continued, “The per-pupil increase actually helps to save the taxpayer money. If a nonpublic school is not a viable option for a student due to the lack of transportation, that child will transfer to the public school at a greater expense to the taxpayer.”
“Transportation is the lifeblood of nonpublic schools,” the NJCC stated in materials promoting the Action Alert, noting that private bus contractors currently serving over 85 percent of the nonpublic school routes may charge whatever they want. “No public school child is ever denied a ride to school because of transportation costs.”
Attempting to accommodate the lower per-student funding, nonpublic schools have tried combining public and nonpublic students on the same bus, eliminating half-school days and bidding routes at a reduced number of days. However, increases in fuel and decreasing numbers of school bus drivers have thwarted efforts to make busing available to all nonpublic school students, the NJCC stated.
“The per-pupil amount for nonpublic school transportation was frozen for 17 years, and we are still trying to recover from that freeze,” according to the NJCC. “Legislation was enacted in 2003 that provided for an increase in the nonpublic transportation ceiling commensurate with the Consumer Price Index figure; the figure now should be at least $1,300.”
In addition, the NJCC and NJNCSF are advocating for an increase in funding for compensatory education from $1,040 to $1,300 per service. Known as Chapter 192, it has provided remedial instruction in language arts and mathematics for nonpublic school students since 1977.
Public school closures during the COVID pandemic, and the subsequent student transfers to nonpublic schools that remained open, exacerbated an already-dire deficit with the number of services increasing from 40,760 to 45,466. Said the NJCC, “Necessary adjustments for the loss of funding over the [pandemic] freeze include an increase in class size, reducing the number of minutes per week offered for each service, and eliminating services prior to the end of the school year.”
Legislators will now convene to discuss the budget before their vote; a final draft must be signed by Gov. Murphy by July 1, the start of the fiscal year. To call, write or email your state legislators, go to njcatholic.org/faith-in-action.
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