Angelozzi: NJ School Funding Formula Should Consider Pinelands Development Restrictions

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP — As New Jersey prepares for a potentially significant overhaul of the way it funds public schools, Assemblyman Anthony Angelozzi says the state should take a closer look at a problem unique to many South Jersey communities: large amounts of land where development is restricted by Pinelands protections.

Angelozzi, a high school teacher now serving his first term representing the 8th Legislative District, said those restrictions can limit a municipality’s ability to attract development and generate the additional property-tax ratables that help support local schools.

“We have a lot of communities in the Pinelands that, you know, their claim is that, ‘Hey, we don't have ratables that can offset our tax increases,’” Angelozzi said during an appearance on Off The Press with Scott Cronick on WOND, hosted Thursday by Atlantic County Democratic Chairman Michael Suleiman.

“So basically we should get more funding based on the formula and based on our restricted land use,” Angelozzi said. “And that's something that really resonates with me.”

The issue is particularly relevant in Angelozzi’s district, which includes Hamilton Township, Egg Harbor City, Folsom and Mullica Township in Atlantic County, along with portions of Burlington County.

All four of those Atlantic County municipalities are within the New Jersey Pinelands area.

State Already Considering Funding Changes

Angelozzi’s comments come as the Sherrill administration prepares to revisit a school-aid system whose basic framework dates to 2008.

New Jersey’s School Funding Reform Act, commonly known as SFRA, was first funded for the 2008-09 school year and later modified through the state’s S-2 legislation. The formula uses factors including student enrollment, student needs and a community’s ability to raise local revenue to determine state aid.

The state Department of Education has already begun examining potential changes.

Under a provision of the state budget, NJDOE was directed to study school-funding policies and solicit input on issues including wealth calculations, annual aid fluctuations, tax-levy restrictions, transportation and special education.

Gov. Sherrill has gone further, saying she wants to work with lawmakers to “modernize and stabilize” the formula.

Her proposed fiscal 2027 budget calls for a record $12.4 billion in K-12 school aid, an increase of $370 million from the previous year.

For Angelozzi, that review presents an opportunity to ask whether the current formula adequately recognizes communities whose potential tax base is constrained by state land-use policy.

'Education Has Changed Quite a Bit'

Angelozzi has an unusual perspective on the issue for a state legislator.

He is entering his 19th year as a high school teacher and noted that his first year in the classroom coincided with the adoption of the current funding formula.

“The last time our school funding formula statewide was changed was 2008,” Angelozzi said. “And I can tell you that was my first year as a teacher.”

“Now I'm starting my 19th year, and I can tell you just based on my career that education has changed quite a bit and the costs and the inputs are not the same that they were 20 years ago.”

The formula has undergone changes since then, including the 2018 S-2 law that redistributed state aid among districts, but the underlying SFRA system remains in place.

The Pinelands Question

New Jersey created the Pinelands land-use system to protect roughly a million acres of environmentally sensitive forests, wetlands and water resources across South Jersey.

Those protections also place substantial restrictions on where and how development can occur.

Hamilton Township, for example, contains areas subject to Pinelands Commission oversight, while Egg Harbor City, Folsom and Mullica are also among Atlantic County’s designated Pinelands municipalities.

That can create a financial dilemma for municipalities and school districts.

New commercial, industrial and residential development generally adds taxable property to a community. Those additional ratables can broaden the tax base, potentially reducing how heavily existing homeowners must be relied upon to fund municipal and school expenses.

Angelozzi argues communities that cannot pursue development as freely because of state-mandated environmental protections deserve consideration when Trenton decides how much state school aid they receive.

The concept itself is not entirely new.

New Jersey has previously recognized the fiscal effects of Pinelands land restrictions through programs including the Pinelands Property Tax Assistance Fund, which was established to provide state aid to qualifying Pinelands municipalities.

Angelozzi’s proposal would bring that same general concern into the debate over school funding.

Rising Health Insurance Costs Add Another Problem

But Angelozzi said rewriting the school-funding formula by itself won’t solve the financial pressures facing local districts.

He pointed to rapidly increasing employee health insurance costs as another major problem.

Angelozzi said some school districts are facing health insurance premium increases of between 10% and 30%.

“You could give schools a lot of money right now, but there are school districts out there right now that are facing anywhere from 10 to 30% increases in their health insurance premiums,” Angelozzi said.

He said those increases make it harder for districts to negotiate labor contracts and replace employees who retire or leave.

That means additional state aid can quickly be consumed by rising fixed costs rather than making its way into classrooms or property-tax relief.

“We have our work cut out for us,” Angelozzi said.

Summer Meetings Could Lead to Legislation

Angelozzi said he has spent much of the summer meeting with groups throughout the 8th District in preparation for lawmakers returning to Trenton after Labor Day.

Those roundtables have included police and fire chiefs, EMS personnel, religious leaders and local Board of Education presidents.

As a teacher, Angelozzi said he has often been frustrated by education policy being developed without enough input from people working directly in schools.

“The state would always pass all this education policy, but they wouldn't talk to me or any other teachers who actually do the job,” Angelozzi said.

“So as a legislator, I'm trying to hear people out.”

He said he is now developing a package of education bills, along with proposals involving public safety and agriculture, based in part on those discussions.

A South Jersey Issue in a Statewide Debate

The coming school-funding debate will involve vastly different types of communities — wealthy suburbs, growing towns, older cities, rural districts and communities struggling with declining enrollment.

Angelozzi wants Pinelands municipalities added explicitly to that conversation.

His argument is relatively simple: if New Jersey limits development in certain communities because preserving environmentally sensitive land benefits the entire state, those same communities should not necessarily be expected to generate local school revenue as though those restrictions do not exist.

With Sherrill already calling for changes to the formula and NJDOE examining the system, Angelozzi sees an opportunity to raise that South Jersey concern before the next version of the funding formula is written.

For communities in the Pinelands, he said, the ability to develop land and create new tax ratables is not always entirely within their control.

And when the state decides how much help local schools need, Angelozzi believes that should count.