August 25, 2020
SPECIAL ALERT
Gov. Murphy Unveils Revised FY 2021 Budget Proposal:
“Stronger, Fairer, and More Resilient
Building New Jersey’s Post-COVID Future”


TRENTON – Governor Phil Murphy today released his revised budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021), including targeted cuts across State government, fair and equitable revenue raisers, an emergency borrowing proposal, and additional plans to invest federal funding received to date to help close what would have been a nearly $6 billion budget hole as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The revised budget was proposed six months to the day after the Governor originally laid out his FY 2021 budget proposal. Since then, COVID-19 has ravaged New Jersey from both a public health and an economic standpoint, prompting the State to move important April tax filing deadlines to July and extend the fiscal year from the traditional June 30th ending to September 30th. As a result, the revised budget unveiled today addresses spending for only the nine-month period from October 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.
 
The Governor’s revised budget overwhelmingly preserves many core state programs:
  • It does not cut K-12 aid, post-secondary tuition assistance, or operating aid for senior public colleges and universities;
  • It restores funding for the Homestead Benefit and Senior Freeze property tax relief programs and does not decrease core municipal aid; and
  • It does not impose new burdens on Medicaid recipients or curb the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC). 

RESOURCES:

Governor Murphy Delivers Revised FY 2021 Budget Address "Stronger, Fairer, and More Resilient: Building New Jersey’s Post-COVID Future” August 25, 2020 

  • Total Appropriations:
$40.070 billion
  • Projected Surplus:
$2.239 billion
  • Total Revenues:
$36.4 billion
  • Reductions & State Savings:
$1.25 billion
Revised FY 2021
Budget Proposal


PoliticoPro Reports:
Revised New Jersey Budget Includes
Flat Funding for Schools
By Carly Sitrin 08/25/2020 10:16 AM

Gov. Phil Murphy’s revised $32 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2021 calls for flat funding for New Jersey‘s school districts and public colleges, less money for county colleges and a continuation of the school funding formula reallocation.

According to the administration’s budget documents, total pre-K through grade 12 spending for the next nine months would total just under $14 billion. Combined with the $2.3 billion included in the governor’s three-month budget extension, the total reaches $16.3 billion — the same amount proposed in February before the coronavirus pandemic devastated state revenues.

The revised budget, which Murphy presented to lawmakers Tuesday morning at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium in Piscataway, also includes $10 million to help school districts that don’t have pre-school programs launch them.

Treasury Department officials said the planned reallocation of state aid to school districts would continue according to the planned phase-in of landmark school funding changes under NJ S2 (18R), however. That means some chronically underfunded districts will see increases in their individual state aid allocations while previously overfunded districts will see cuts, even during a pandemic when resources are dire.

Officials also said the nearly $467 million state aid payment for September that had been deferred until October will be paid as planned. No more deferrals are proposed in the revised budget.

Funding to the state’s four-year public colleges and universities is also proposed to remain flat between the nine-month and three-month budgets while county colleges will see a $25 million cut in their state aid.

The state is also relying on previously distributed federal coronavirus relief funds to cover Covid-19 related costs for school districts. According to preliminary budget documents, $100 million will go to the state Department of Education to cover school reopening and remote learning costs and $50 million will go for Murphy’s digital divide initiative announced in July. The Office of the Secretary of Higher Education will get $300 million for a “higher education fund.”

Murphy warned in July that school funding may need to be slashed by $1 billion if the federal government didn’t provide rescue aid in time, but though no new federal aid came through, Murphy’s proposed budget does not include such drastic cuts.
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