In the Heights: Learning more about the BOE Roles & Responsibilities (2024 Edition)
I presented a brief overview of the BOE’s major roles and responsibilities at a local community event in the Heights ...
NJ’s “Cost Per Pupil” is a flawed comparison of school district cost.
How NJ's "cost-per-pupil" can mislead taxpayers to interpret "investing more in higher needs students" as "overspending" On its face, the ...
JCPS: How does the schools budget process work?
Update, Feb 5, 2021: I’m re-upping this post from 2020 to share with anyone who’s interested in the upcoming schools ...
Jersey City Public Schools 2020/21 Budget Process: Working Timeline & FAQs
As we enter the budget season for Jersey City Public Schools, I wanted to share some upcoming process info – ...
Infographic: Jersey City: the Municipality’s Role in School Underfunding
I've created this infographic as part of the 4th post of my 4-part series about the School Tax Rate in ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Jersey City Public Schools – 2025/26 Budget Insights (Focus on Revenues)
This is a follow-up to a previous post about the 2025/26 schools budget about Jersey City’s 2025/26 schools budget which ...
Jersey City Public Schools – Insights re: the 2025/26 Board of Ed Budget
The Board of Education's budget was confusing to the public despite several notable updates to the funding paradigm. My friend ...
Demystifying Jersey City’s $1 billion budget for JCPS high schoolers
I recently met with high school student leaders in Jersey City Public Schools who are sharing stories of the conditions ...
JCPS audit is informing about needed improvements
I’m playing catch-up (due to a busy spring), but I wanted to share important news from the JC Board of ...
Jersey City set to lose $51 million in NJ education aid; how this connects to rising school tax
NJ's Department of Education released its state education aid summaries for the 2023/24 academic year and Jersey City is set ...
Jersey City’s 2022 tax hikes & Q3 and Q4 tax bill flux, explained
This post made my head spin a bit … the math and timing is wonky and confusing. I’ve done my ...
$89M Maintenance of Equity to JCPS & the Eventual “Fiscal Cliff”
I wanted to share some thoughts around the $89 million "maintenance of equity" funds that Jersey City Public Schools received ...
Jersey City Board of Education Passes Historic School Levy Investment
Tonight the Jersey City Board of Education passed its 2022-23 school budget along a 5-4 vote, approving funds that staved ...
A picture of state aid reduction in Jersey City
I wanted to share a picture of the state aid reductions to Jersey City Public Schools. State Aid can be ...
Putting Jersey City’s low school tax rate into perspective
Jersey City lost another $68 million in state aid on March 10th, 2022. This cut was expected, part of the ...
Midway through Jersey City’s “S2” state aid cuts: assessing the fiscal landscape.
It has been nearly four years since NJ passed the “S2” law, leading to state aid cuts to Jersey City ...
In one chart: Jersey City’s seismic change in tax levies fully funds the schools and reallocates property tax
A "levy" is the amount raised in property tax to fund a government budget. Typically, a levy is one of ...
Thoughts on Jersey City’s 2020 Board of Education (BOE) Election
I’ve been getting asked about my thoughts re: the Board of Education election. I wanted to offer two insights that ...
Jersey City BOE Passes Mr. Walker’s Full Budget: $52.7M
Jersey City’s Board of Education took a huge step forward, following Superintendent Walker’s courageous lead to invest in Jersey City ...
Why the School Tax Levy is Key to Funding JCPS (and why seeking abatement funds is not a concrete solution).
I've heard "can't we go after the abatement money to fund our schools? Rather than increase the school tax levy?" ...
Infographic: Jersey City: the Municipality’s Role in School Underfunding
I've created this infographic as part of the 4th post of my 4-part series about the School Tax Rate in ...
A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate, Part 3: A Case for Increasing the School Tax Levy
A Closer Look at Jersey City's School Tax Rate, Part 3: A Case for Increasing the School Tax Levy Jersey ...
A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate. Part 2: Statewide Comparisons & the Role of the Tax Base
This is the second in a 4-part series about 2018 school tax rates, with a focus on Jersey City. This ...
A Closer Look at Jersey City’s School Tax Rate, Part 1: the Public Data
This is the first in a 4-part series about 2018 school tax rates, with a focus on Jersey City. This ...
Civic Questions for the Board of Education Upon Passing of their 2019/20 Budget
I wanted to share some civic questions that can be asked on the record or included in an email to ...
PS #5 Advocacy Campaign: Not Good Enough – Better Leadership Needed.
Tell Jersey City's elected: we need you to provide better leadership. Fund Our Schools. How you can help. Keep the ...
PS #5 PTA School Funding Advocacy Action: Keep the pressure on the BOE & City Leadership: No Pink Slips!
Jersey City is not properly funding its public schools. Hundreds of JCPS employees have received layoff notices aka "pink slips" ...
JC BOE Used Incorrect Tax Base Value in Its 2019/20 Budget: Explaining the Tax Math
The Jersey City Board of Education used an incorrect tax base value in its budget presentation. It then based its ...
Accountability Checkpoint: Parent FAQs for May 13th BOE Meeting to Finalize the Budget
I’ve been getting some questions in advance of the Board of Education meeting tonight, and thought I’d share via a ...
The Jersey City BOE’s “10% Tax Levy Hike” Isn’t Enough & Doesn’t Value Our Kids or JCPS
Jersey City’s Board of Education is emphasizing a “10%” school tax levy increase as if that’s a big jump. Except ...
Jersey City: Approximately $40 Million of School Tax is Locked Up in Abatement Contracts
This is part of a series about the 2019/20 proposed municipal and schools budgets in Jersey City. Jersey City’s proposed ...
2019/20 *Proposed* Advertised Appropriations (JCPS Spending for 2019/20 School Year)
How to use this visualization: Check out prior visualizations here that I'm sharing as part of the 2019/20 budget cycle ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...