For years, parents and teachers in Republican leaning school districts across New Jersey have claimed that state Democrats and Governor Mikie Sherrill and her predecessor Phil Murphy have targeted those districts and put them on a path for failure.
Today, we are learning there is now evidence to support this theory, and the education of hundreds of thousands of New Jersey children is suffering as a pawn in a larger political siege by state democrats.
Now that politically driven agenda is forcing many school districts to fire teachers, cut programs, pack classrooms, and in on district, Toms River, which is one of the largest in the state, they were even forced to sell off trees to balance their budget.
New Jersey’s school funding and legislative budget process is becoming a case study in political favoritism — and taxpayers in Republican-leaning communities have every right to be outraged.
A report published by NJ Spotlight News, a left-leaning PBS network, cited by Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia found that Democrat-held districts received “OVER 96% of legislative budget add-ons” tied to municipalities, counties, and schools. Fantasia pointed specifically to Newark lawmakers receiving massive allocations, noting that State Senator Teresa Ruiz alone secured nearly $134 million in legislative add-ons, roughly 67% higher than the next closest legislator.
Fantasia also highlighted the broader statewide imbalance, saying Democrat-held districts received roughly 81% of all legislative budget add-ons statewide, while Republican districts received just 12%.
“Backroom budget deals. Last-minute pork spending. Political favoritism masquerading as investments,” Fantasia said, arguing that taxpayers are repeatedly told there is not enough money for property tax relief, infrastructure, energy affordability, or fair school funding elsewhere in New Jersey.
The NJ Spotlight News analysis supports the broader concern over the imbalance in state-directed spending.
According to NJ Spotlight News, “Nearly all of the hundreds of millions of dollars set aside annually to fund such spending in recent years goes to districts represented by majority Democrats in the Legislature.” The report added that “In the current state budget, the total was more than 80%.”
NJ Spotlight News further reported that the spending is often “inserted into the budget just days or even hours before the July 1 start of the fiscal year” and is “typically approved with little public explanation or justification.”
Examples cited by the publication included:
- $400,000 for “playground and safety amenities” at a Newark park
- $165,000 for “tot lot and playground improvements” in Florence
- $50,000 for “recreational improvements” in National Park
The report also noted that lawmakers did not publicly disclose sponsors for many spending items until weeks after the budget was signed into law, while one allocation involving opioid settlement funds still has no publicly identified sponsor nearly a year later.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill has since raised concerns about the sustainability of the state’s spending practices. NJ Spotlight News reported that Sherrill warned of a “wide structural budget gap” and removed much of the legislatively sponsored spending from her proposed budget earlier this year.
While Democrats defend the allocations as comparable to congressional earmarks, Sherrill argued there is a key difference: federal earmarks come with greater accountability and transparency.
When children and school districts are effectively penalized because of the political affiliation of the communities they live in, New Jersey is no longer operating under a fair or equitable funding model. Taxpayer dollars should follow student needs and infrastructure priorities — not partisan advantage.
Source: NJ Spotlight News analysis on legislative budget add-ons and remarks from Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia.