School Funding Disparity: Bergen County Taxpayers “Cheated” by State Aid Formula
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, with another school year underway, a new focus is being placed on a long-standing issue in New Jersey: the massive disparity in state school aid. According to Bergen County Republican Commissioner candidates Jay Costa, John Dinice, and Andrea Slowikowski, Bergen County taxpayers are being “crushed” by a $2.6 billion school tax burden, arguing that state and county Democrats are doing nothing to fight for fairness.
According to the candidates, Bergen County homeowners paid the most in local school taxes in the state in 2024.
The Numbers Tell a Story of Disparity
The Republican candidates point to a stark contrast in funding that they say is a result of the state’s school funding formula.
- In the current school year (2025-2026), all Bergen County districts combined will receive a total of $505.6 million in state school aid.
- By comparison, Essex County will receive over $2 billion in aid, and four other counties—Union, Passaic, Middlesex, and Camden—will each receive more than $1 billion.
The candidates also note that urban school districts in other counties are getting up to 80 percent of their school costs paid for by state taxpayers, while in towns like Mahwah, state aid makes up just 6 percent of the school budget.
In fact, several individual cities will receive more school aid than all of Bergen County combined. Newark will get nearly three times as much with $1.32 billion, while Paterson and Elizabeth will also receive more than the entire county.
A County Issue or a State Issue?
The Republican candidates argue that the “obvious financial issue” of school taxes is a major driver of property tax increases in Bergen County, impacting senior citizens and middle-class families. They believe that the county’s Democrat Commissioners have failed to advocate for Bergen taxpayers.
“When something like this atrocious inequality impacts people’s lives to the tune of $2.6 billion, I say it is an issue for all elected officials in Bergen County,” said John Dinice.
The candidates promise to make fighting for more school funding a priority if they are elected in November. They argue that since Bergen County sends the most tax money to Trenton, the county’s commissioners should be “pressuring the state to return more of that money to us.”
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So your platform is we don’t get enough of our own money back from Trenton?
Maybe sky high spending and shitty test scores is a better discussion.
NO it’s more like Democrats are taking our money and wasting it on kids who are wholly unwilling and in many cases incapable of learning. It’s literally taking good money and throwing it after bad. All for no benefit to anyone!
“All for no benefit to anyone!”
eh, the teachers unions?
Robin Hood.
And all the administration at cottage place. Take a look at the salaries