Jersey City’s Public School Budgets: Year-on-Year Analysis & Insights

How does Jersey City Spend Its Money? A Data Visualization of Budgets from 2015-2018

As we look towards the coming weeks and months, two local governing bodies are undergoing a public budgeting process: The Board of Education will be determining the 2019/20 schools budget. The city of Jersey City will be determining the 2019 ...

April 25, 2019 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #JCCityBudget, #openData, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, Taxpayer tools to demystify property tax

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

How to use this visualization: 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 ...

April 15, 2019 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #openData, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy

Jersey City’s 2017 School Based Budgets: Learn what’s being funded in your school

How to use this visualization: This bubble chart shows 2017 actual spending within Jersey City's public schools, as reported by the 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report ("CAFR"); 2017 is the most recent year available for this report. The CAFR is ...

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

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 ...

March 7, 2019 / #FundOurSchools, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy

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

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 ...

March 7, 2019 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #openData, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, NJ SFRA of 2008, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy

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

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, ...

January 4, 2019 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #openData, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, Tableau, Tax Base

JCPS Funding Crisis: An Overview

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 ...

January 4, 2019 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #openData, Board of Education, English Language Learner, Free and Reduced Lunch, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, special education, Tax Base

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

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 ...

December 1, 2018 / #FundOurSchools, Board of Education, English Language Learner, Free and Reduced Lunch, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, special education, Tax Base

Jersey City & NJ: Student Group Data from NJ School Performance Reports (A Focus on ELL, At-Risk, and Special Education Students)

The NJ Department of Education publishes annual data relating to certain “student groups”, per school. The table below focuses on three groups that, per state funding law, are entitled to more funding based on the level of need. These groups ...

October 6, 2018 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #openData, Board of Education, English Language Learner, Enrollment, Free and Reduced Lunch, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, special education, Tableau, Tax Base

NJ Special Education Statistics | #DataViz #OpenData

In this post I’m sharing statewide special education data, with ability to drill into Jersey City special education data specifically, for both Jersey City Public Schools (the public school system) and charter schools attended by Jersey City students. I am ...

September 22, 2018 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #openData, Board of Education, Enrollment, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, special education, Tableau, Tax Base

Jersey City’s Taxpayer Funded Schools: Enrollment Overview with Focus on Income Diversity

The charts below show enrollment data for Jersey City Public Schools. The Jersey City Public Schools system is the 39-school district under the purview of the Jersey City Board of Education (BOE) and is funded through taxpayer dollars. Public charter ...

September 15, 2018 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #GetCivic, #openData, Board of Education, English Language Learner, Enrollment, Free and Reduced Lunch, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, special education, Tableau, Tax Base

Jersey City Public Schools – A Public Good Requiring Public Funding

Jersey City Public Schools is the city’s largest public good, funded through a combination of state, local, and to a lesser degree, federal tax dollars. In 2018/19 the public schools budget was over $600 million; this is larger than the ...

August 30, 2018 / #FundOurSchools, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, Tax Base

Jersey City: Who in City Council & the NJ State Legislature Represents Your School?

To help parents and taxpayers understand (a) what schools are in their neighborhood and/or (b) which elected representatives are tied to which schools, I’ve mapped all 40 Jersey City Public Schools (along with accompanying basic profile information, as listed on ...

June 25, 2018 / #DataViz, #FundOurSchools, #JCCityBudget, #openData, Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy, School Tax Levy, Tax Base

Jersey City Funding Crisis: Banked Cap, Explained

Jersey City Public Schools: CivicParent Funding FAQs I have been trying to understand how Jersey City Public Schools are funded and am sharing questions I’ve endeavored to answer. As I learn, I’m sharing with the community in the hopes others ...

April 27, 2018 / #FundOurSchools, Banked Cap, Board of Education, Education Law Center, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, NJ SFRA of 2008, Public Budget, School Funding Advocacy

JCPS Funding: How JCPS Spends Its Money…A High Level Primer

I detailed in my last post how the JCPS budget is funded by a mix of state, local, and federal tax dollars. But how is that money then spent? That is the main focus of this post. Governor Christie approved a budget ...

July 5, 2017 / Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, NJ SFRA of 2008, Public Budget

JCPS Funding: Why Possible State Aid Cuts = “Major Hardship”

I will be writing about this issue as it unfolds, it’s a big topic that taxpayers should understand. This is a quick primer on why the Sweeney-Prieto proposal to cut $8.5 million in state aid from Jersey City Public ...

June 29, 2017 / Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Jersey City School Funding, NJ SFRA of 2008, Public Budget

Op-Ed Follow-Up: Get the Facts & Figures About Abatements & Public School Funding in Jersey City

I teamed up with Ellen Simon to co-author an op-ed in The Jersey Journal about how Jersey City’s PILOT policy harms our public schools. The article is dense with facts, figures, and assertions. To ensure our assertions are as accessible ...

May 30, 2017 / Abatements in Context, Board of Education, City Council, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Montclair, Understand Abatements, NJ SFRA of 2008, Public Budget, tax abatements, Tax Abatements

Jersey Journal Op-Ed Highlights PILOT vs. Public Schools Tension in Jersey City

I teamed up with Ellen Simon, a friend, fellow public school parent, and former board trustee of the Jersey City BOE, to co-author an op-ed in the Jersey Journal. The topic: how Jersey City’s PILOT policy “robs” funding from our public schools ...

May 15, 2017 / Board of Education, City Council, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Montclair, Understand Abatements, NJ SFRA of 2008, Public Budget, tax abatements, Tax Abatements

Jersey City PILOTs Rob Funding from the School System

A strong public school system is essential bedrock to a healthy community. Yet in Jersey City, our bedrock is threatened by a fiscal policy that is over-reliant on PILOTs. Here’s the crux of the problem: PILOTs help grow the city, which in turn increases demand ...

November 17, 2015 / #FundOurSchools, Abatements in Context, City Council, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City Public Schools Funding Crisis, Montclair, Understand Abatements, Public Budget, Steven Fulop, tax abatements, Tax Abatements

Jersey City, We Have A Problem.

Jersey City has been estimating the cost of its abatements incorrectly for at least eight years, and the impact to conventional taxpayers could amount to millions of dollars. Here’s the problem: Jersey City has been under-counting the number of (a) residents and (b) public ...

May 18, 2014 / Jersey City, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Jersey City School Funding, property taxes, tax abatements, Tax Abatements, Tax Base

Tax Abatements 501: A Critique of Mayor Fulop’s “Buy Up” Abatement Policy

In my Abatement Series, I’ve discussed the basic premise of abatements, how they are funded, and the impact to conventional taxpayers. In this post I look at Mayor Fulop’s new tax abatement policy for Jersey City, which includes two notable components: Tiering ...

April 21, 2014 / Abatements 101: a Series, Jersey City Abatement Policy, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Property Tax, Steven Fulop, tax abatements, Tax Abatements

Tax Abatements 401: The Transparency Issue

In his 2010 report, “A Programmatic Examination of Tax Abatements,” NJ Comptroller A. Matthew Boxer highlighted numerous weaknesses with abatements. One issue he touched upon was transparency. He stated, “Information concerning abatement[s]…is not published in a transparent manner or centralized ...

March 23, 2014 / #AMDG #Revaluation #Property Tax, Abatements 101: a Series, City Hall, Jersey City Abatement Policy, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Journal squared, KRE, Montclair, Understand Abatements, Rolando Lavarro, Steven Fulop, tax abatements, Tax Abatements

Let’s Get Civic

The genesis of CivicParent.org…. I live in Jersey City and on November 14, 2013 I learned that Mayor Fulop’s first abatement – the 3 towers planned for Journal Square – would not include dedicated funding for Jersey City public schools ...

December 15, 2013 / Jersey City, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City Public Schools Budget, Property Tax, tax abatements, Tax Abatements

Jersey City Public Schools Budgets: Year-on-Year Analysis & Insights