Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Improving accountability and transparency for Jersey City Public Schools

September 25, 2021September 26, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

In 2021 Jersey City Public Schools fully funded its schools for the first time in over a decade. Reasonable questions now follow related to transparency and accountability, including: How do we hold the district administration and school board accountable for full investment in our kids? I’m part of a team with Jersey City Together...

In one chart: Jersey City’s seismic change in tax levies fully funds the schools and reallocates property tax

June 30, 2021July 1, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

A "levy" is the amount raised in property tax to fund a government budget. Typically, a levy is one of multiple sources of revenue that fund total expense. In 2021, Jersey City is poised to both fully fund its schools and also enter a new paradigm with respect to property tax. Let's review what's...

NJ’s “Cost Per Pupil” is a flawed comparison of school district cost.

April 26, 2021May 2, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

On its face, the NJ Department of Education's "cost-per-pupil" is an inviting metric upon which to compare and contrast school spending among New Jersey's 600+ districts. However, cost-per-pupil is misleading as it distorts the intentional, extra investment for students with more needs, including at-risk students and students with limited English proficiency. Specifically, the intentionally...

The Board of Education Should Approve Superintendent Walker’s Schools Budget & Fully Fund Our Schools

March 17, 2021March 17, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

Superintendent Walker proposed a fully funded budget on Monday, March 15th, a monumental step forward in Jersey City’s efforts to climb out of a gaping funding hole. The Board of Education should approve this budget. Our children are currently underfunded and the BOE is being presented with a plan to start to meaningfully fix...

CivicParent NJ Property Tax Viewer: 2020 Levies

March 16, 2021June 12, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes, Public Schools

The 2020 property tax tables for calendar year 2020 are now available. This data provides insight into the way municipal, county, and local public school governments share the total tax dollars each year. The dataset at the link contains: Tax base data Tax levy data – this is what I’ve visualized below Tax rate...

JCPS: How does the schools budget process work?

February 5, 2021February 5, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

Update, Feb 5, 2021: I’m re-upping this post from 2020 to share with anyone who’s interested in the upcoming schools budgeting process in 2021. The annual public schools budgeting process is fairly regimented due in part to milestone dates that live in state law. A timeline of key dates from last year’s budgeting process...

Jersey City Schools Parent Advocacy Update: Connect with Jersey City Together

January 29, 2021January 30, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis

COVID19 remote learning is extremely challenging. It's important to note that some challenges are exacerbated by chronic underfunding of Jersey City Public Schools. For instance, our schools lack: social workers crisis intervention teachers psychologists math & literacy coaches Teachers, paras, and remaining staff are left to absorb much of this work in addition to...

Abatements 801: We need better abatement disclosures in NJ to show impact on public schools

December 11, 2020May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, NJ UFB-In Context, Public Schools, Tax Abatement Series

This is post included in both my abatement series and a series about the User Friendly Budget in NJ. We need better disclosures in NJ to understand the impact of tax abatements on the local fiscal landscape, particularly as it relates to public schools. The user friendly budget – mandated by the state starting...

CivicParent NJ Property Tax Viewer – 2019 Levies

November 2, 2020June 12, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Tax Rates, Public Schools

Last month (October 2020) the state published the 2019 property tax tables. This is a “look back” at the local property tax landscape in New Jersey. It’s a wonderful treasure trove of public data from municipal, county, and local public school governments including: Tax base data Tax levy data Tax rate data Property appeals...

Thoughts on Jersey City’s 2020 Board of Education (BOE) Election

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis

I’ve been getting asked about my thoughts re: the Board of Education election. I wanted to offer two insights that matter to me from a funding and advocacy perspective. Take it or leave it; every vote is sacrosanct and reflects myriad personal considerations. These are two factors that matter most to me and I'm...

Jersey City School Tax Expense Calculator for 2020/21 School Funding Year

May 18, 2020September 29, 2020Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes

I am part of the education team with Jersey City Together and in May 2020 we created a school tax expense calculator to help Jersey City residents understand the personal investment for a $50 million increase to the school levy. Our aim was to the put the power of understand property taxes into taxpayers’...

Jersey City BOE Passes Mr. Walker’s Full Budget: $52.7M

May 12, 2020July 29, 2020Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis

Jersey City’s Board of Education took a huge step forward, following Superintendent Walker’s courageous lead to invest in Jersey City Public Schools. I didn’t write up a post specific to this but am sharing the NJ.com article below that explain the vote. Also providing a visual – shared from Jersey City Together – that...

It’s Now or Never to Support the 2020/21 Schools Budget for Our Kids.

May 9, 2020October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis

It's Saturday May 9th and we are within a week of the 2020/21 schools budget being passed for next year. Parents are on the 98th yard line of a fight to push Superintendent Walker's full budget across the goal line. This post is aimed to bring parents and school advocates up to speed, give...

Approve the 2020/21 #JerseyCity Schools Budget: Invest in Jersey City’s Kids

May 4, 2020October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

PS #5 PTA Campaign: Tell the Board of Education: Approve the 2020/21 Schools Budget - Invest in Jersey City's Kids The PTA Advocacy Team at Dr. Michael Conti PS #5 School created this "Call to Action" email campaign ahead of the final vote for the 2020/21 schools budget season that we can share with...

What Investing in Jersey City Public Schools Looks Like for 2020/21

March 20, 2020March 20, 2020Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

On Wednesday March 18th, Superintendent Walker proposed a budget that significantly increases local investment in our public schools. The budget includes a $64 million school levy increase, which represents a 47% increase over last year’s levy. Mayor Fulop “blasted” the increase, citing the harm to taxpayers, stating that “They’re going to destroy the taxpayers....

Jersey City Public Schools 2020/21 Budget Process: Working Timeline & FAQs

February 24, 2020February 5, 2021Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

As we enter the budget season for Jersey City Public Schools, I wanted to share some upcoming process info – key dates & timeframes in case it’s helpful for parents and advocates. It’s never too late to get involved. BOE Budget Process – Working Timeline This timeline was updated after the budget process concluded. ...

Value & Empower Our Public Schools By Locally Funding Them in the 2020 Schools Budget

February 14, 2020October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Helpful Tips: Thank you to the PTA of Dr. Michael Conti PS #5 School for this information & advocacy. We are asking all concerned parents, residents, and taxpayers who care about our public schools to send an email to the Board of Education and Superintendent Walker to demand that Jersey City #FundOurSchools. The Superintendent...

Why the School Tax Levy is Key to Funding JCPS (and why seeking abatement funds is not a concrete solution).

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools, Tax Abatements

I've heard "can't we go after the abatement money to fund our schools? Rather than increase the school tax levy?" The answer is: no, at least not directly. I wrote about the intersection of abatements & school funding back in 2015; this current moment has been foreseeable for years, unfortunately our elected are only...

Infographic: Jersey City: the Municipality’s Role in School Underfunding

January 18, 2020June 12, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

I've created this infographic as part of the 4th post of my 4-part series about the School Tax Rate in Jersey City. The municipality's growth is a factor in the underfunding of our public schools. There is a domino effect at work; city growth is ahead in the line of dominos, and our kids...

A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate, Part 3: A Case for Increasing the School Tax Levy

November 11, 2019November 12, 2019Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

This is the third in a 4-part series about 2018 school tax rates, with a focus on Jersey City. This series will use public data that I have visualized in Tableau here. To read the first post in the series, click here and to read the second post, click here. Talking about taxes going up...

A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate. Part 2: Statewide Comparisons & the Role of the Tax Base

October 17, 2019June 12, 2021Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

This is the second in a 4-part series about 2018 school tax rates, with a focus on Jersey City. This series will use public data that I have visualized in Tableau here. To read the first post in the series, click here. “How does Jersey City’s school tax rate compare with the rest of...

A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate, Part 1: the Public Data

October 15, 2019October 17, 2019Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes, Public Schools

This is the first in a 4-part series about 2018 school tax rates, with a focus on Jersey City. This series will use public data that I have visualized in Tableau here. I was asked recently, “how does Jersey City’s school tax rate compare with other towns and cities in NJ?” We can answer...

PS #5 PTA Fall 2019 Email Campaign: No more “efficiency cuts” – What’s the long-term plan to fund our schools?

October 12, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Why do the class sizes keep growing? Why did my child's "special" - art - get cut? Why aren't there any working fountains with potable water? Why did the BOE cut my math support teacher? Because: these are examples of "efficiency eliminations" - what the BOE needs to cut to balance its budget. "Efficiency...

PS #5 Email Campaign #6: JCPS is Not Fully Funded…City Must Help #FundOurSchools

August 3, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

The PTA Advocacy Team at Dr. Michael Conti PS #5 School created this email campaign to keep the pressure on school officials, City Council, and Mayor Fulop as they determine next year's budget in the lead-up to the Monday August 5th City Council meeting. I am sharing on CivicParent to help spread the word...

The Clock is Ticking…What’s the Plan to #FundOurSchools?

July 16, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Sharing...from the Dr. Michael Conti School PS #5 PTA Advocacy Team It's July and the Clock is Ticking...What's the Plan to #FundOurSchools? July 2019...School is less than 2 months away. Tell City Council: The Clock is Ticking...What's the Plan to #FundOurSchools? Jersey City's school funding crisis is NOT yet resolved. There...

Sharing from NJTV News: Questions over Jersey City teacher layoffs remain (July 4, 2019)

July 4, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

I spoke with reporter Briana Vannozzi in late June regarding our June 26th City Council action, when we delivered our #JCPSMailboxCampaign letters to council representatives and also stood behind students while they addressed Council. The NJTV news report is below and includes other perspectives including JCPS Teacher John Flora and BOE President Sudhan Thomas....

PS #5 Advocacy Campaign -Jersey City’s school funding crisis is NOT resolved. City Council — #FundOurSchools!!

June 24, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Sharing...from the Dr. Michael Conti School PS #5 PTA Advocacy Team Jersey City's school funding crisis is NOT resolved. City Council -- #FundOurSchools!! Keep the pressure on City Hall. Demand that Mayor Fulop & City Council: FUND OUR SCHOOLS!! Jersey City's school funding crisis is NOT yet resolved. There are still...

June 26th: Tell the Jersey City City Council to #FundOurSchools

June 7, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Jersey City Public Schools are $100 million underfunded and the stories we’ve heard about how this underfunding is impacting students are real. Join us as we press the City Council to put $16 million towards the schools budget. This will help prevent unnecessary layoffs, stop the sale of Central Office, and help the JC...

City Council Can Allocate Surplus Funds to the Public Schools.

June 3, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

The education team of Jersey City Together has been researching to understand, in concrete terms, the process by which City Council can allocate funds to JCPS. I’m a member of that team so wanted to share: 1) NJ law NJSA 40:48-17-1 allows the municipality to allocate surplus funds to the public schools. Sharing that...

Civic Questions for the Board of Education Upon Passing of their 2019/20 Budget

May 31, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

I wanted to share some civic questions that can be asked on the record or included in an email to the BOE. Why did five of Board of Education trustees approve a budget that included an incorrect tax base number? I wrote about this error in detail here, but to quickly recap: the Jersey...

Jersey Journal Op-Ed: No Way to Run a World Class School District

May 31, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

I am a team member with Jersey City Together and a leader on the JC Together education advocacy team. I co-wrote with this op-ed with Dr. Jyl Josephson and Rev. Dr. Alonzo Perry, Sr. about Jersey City’s school funding crisis. No Way to Run a World Class School District ...

PS #5 Advocacy Campaign: Not Good Enough – Better Leadership Needed.

May 30, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Tell Jersey City's elected: we need you to provide better leadership. Fund Our Schools. How you can help. Keep the pressure on the City and Board of Education. We elect members of our community to govern on our behalf. It is our civic responsibility to communicate our concerns & express our priorities. Please help...

PS #5 PTA School Funding Advocacy Action: Keep the pressure on the BOE & City Leadership: No Pink Slips!

May 16, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Jersey City is not properly funding its public schools. Hundreds of JCPS employees have received layoff notices aka "pink slips" due to systemic underfunding. The time to act is NOW. How you can help. Contact your Board of Education & City representatives. We elect members of our community to govern on our behalf. It...

JC BOE Used Incorrect Tax Base Value in Its 2019/20 Budget: Explaining the Tax Math

May 15, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

The Jersey City Board of Education used an incorrect tax base value in its budget presentation. It then based its estimated per-homeowner school tax increase estimates on that error. This NJ.com report gives the initial report of the error: “The 2019-20 budget will increase the school tax levy by 10 percent to $136.5 million. The...

Accountability Checkpoint: Parent FAQs for May 13th BOE Meeting to Finalize the Budget

May 13, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

I’ve been getting some questions in advance of the Board of Education meeting tonight, and thought I’d share via a post, so everyone has access. This is all public data, and we can endeavor to understand it in community. If you have a question, please email me at Brigid@CivicParent.org. When was the BOE given...

The Jersey City BOE’s “10% Tax Levy Hike” Isn’t Enough & Doesn’t Value Our Kids or JCPS

May 8, 2019August 16, 2019Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes

Jersey City’s Board of Education is emphasizing a “10%” school tax levy increase as if that’s a big jump. Except 10% isn’t a big dollar-for-dollar jump, when you look at the entire picture. In actuality, 10% is way too small, given the fiscal hole we’re in as a district. A simple example can illustrate...

Jersey City: Approximately $40 Million of School Tax is Locked Up in Abatement Contracts

May 7, 2019June 12, 2021Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Tax Abatements

This is part of a series about the 2019/20 proposed municipal and schools budgets in Jersey City. Jersey City’s proposed 2019/20 municipal budget shows that over $120 million in PILOT fees are expected to be collected in in the coming year. What is notable about PILOT fees is that they don’t contribute to the...

Jersey City’s 2019/20 Proposed Budget: Visualized Revenues

May 5, 2019June 12, 2021Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City City Budget, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes

Every municipality is funded by a mix of income streams, including: Property taxes (everyone pays property tax...you either pay it directly if you're a property owner, or you pay it to your landlord. Your rent includes the cost of property tax) State Aid Local Revenues - these are user-fee income streams like marriage licenses,...

2019/20 Proposed Advertised Appropriations (JCPS Spending for 2019/20 School Year)

April 28, 2019May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

Check out prior visualizations here that I'm sharing as part of the 2019/20 budget cycle. This visualization shows multiple lenses into the proposed 2019/20 "advertised appropriations" within Jersey City's public schools, as reported by the Jersey City Board of Education here. This budget has been prepared by the district administration and a finalized version,...

PS #5 PTA School Funding Advocacy Action!

April 22, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Jersey City is not properly funding its public schools. Our public schools are $100+ million underfunded and it's about to grow much worse. The time to act is NOW. How you can help. Contact your city representatives. We elect members of our community to govern on our behalf. It is our civic responsibility to...

2018/19 Advertised Appropriations (What JCPS Spends Money On)

April 15, 2019May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

This "tree map" shows the 2018/19 appropriations (i.e. expenses) for Jersey City Public Schools. I downloaded the data from the NJ Department of Education website, created a subset of "Appropriations" showing total spending, and then removed subtotals and totals so that only detailed lined items are visualized. Jersey City will lose $27 million in...

Jersey City Facing $27 Million State Aid Cut for 2019/20 School Year

March 7, 2019August 24, 2019Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Data Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

Governor Murphy released his proposed fiscal year (FY) 2019/20 budget for NJ and this week, and it included a re-allocation of state education aid. The impact to Jersey City was both expected and gut-wrenchingly sobering: a $27 million cut in “Adjustment Aid”, a type of excess state aid that Jersey City has been receiving...

NJ School Funding Basics: “Adequacy” Budget, School Tax Levy, & the Impact of Inflation (A Case Study of Jersey City)

March 7, 2019October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes, Public Schools

This article is about Jersey City’s public schools funding crisis. If you’re unfamiliar with this issue, you can read more about it here. I’ve been attempting to de-puzzle some of the tax math that is vexing Jersey City with respect to its public school funding crisis, and have found three factors that deserve public...

Taxpayer Guide to Education Spending – Total Spending Per Pupil (#OpenData Visualization)

February 5, 2019May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

An explanation of “Total Spending per Pupil”, from the NJ Department of Education: “The Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending (Taxpayers’ Guide) provides the public the opportunity to view and compare all dollars spent on students enrolled in the public school system. In 2010-11, the Department updated this publication (previously the “Comparative Spending Guide”) to...

NJ School Funding Basics: The Tax Levy

January 13, 2019May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

This is part of series about school funding, property tax, and community in Jersey City. To read other posts in this series, click here. In my previous post, I wrote about the tax base: what it is, how we can find its value in public records, and how Jersey City's value compares with other...

NJ School Funding Basics: The Tax Base

January 13, 2019May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Tax Rates, Public Schools

This is part of series about school funding, property tax, and community in Jersey City. I'm learning about Jersey City's tax base, tax levies, and property tax profile so that I can better understand our school funding paradigm. I'm sharing with the community, through this platform, as I learn. To read see the full...

NJ School Funding Basics: NJ Department of Education Data & Reports

January 4, 2019May 19, 2021Brigid D'SouzaData Visualizations, Jersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

This is a quick initial post to point taxpayers to an excellent resource for rich, official public data about our public schools here in NJ. The NJ Department of Education (NJ DOE) has, for at least the past 10 years, published a host of different datasets on its “DOE Data & Reports” page. The...

JCPS Funding Crisis: An Overview

January 4, 2019July 15, 2019Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Property Taxes, Public Schools

Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis Based on the state funding formula, Jersey City Public Schools are currently $100 million under-funded. Jersey City students, parents, teachers, and staff experience this under-funding everyday. This is a structural deficit and a threat to our school system, our city, and our community. Get the facts, connect in...

“Jersey City Public Schools are Structurally Underfunded”…What does this mean?

December 1, 2018July 15, 2019Brigid D'SouzaJersey City School Funding Crisis, Public Schools

This started out as a Facebook post on my CivicParent Facebook page. I’ve turned it into a quick post, for posterity & to help explain some of the financial mechanics of Jersey City’s under-funding crisis. “Jersey City’s public schools under-funding is a structural problem” – what does this mean, exactly? Here’s one way to...

#PayrollTax Ordinance: Public Testimonials About Our Public Schools

November 27, 2018October 23, 2020Brigid D'SouzaAdvocacy, Jersey City School Funding Crisis

Since launching CivicParent five years ago, I've attended countless public meetings about issues related to property taxes, abatements, and public schools. And one thing that I've learned and that increasingly informs me at each meeting: the wisdom and pluralism of community comes alive during public comment. Public comment is the time when individuals engage...