Poverty and School Funding – New Jersey

Acting N.J. education chief reconsiders using school free-lunch programs to measure poverty, By Jessica Calefati, February 26, 2012, Star-Ledger: “Tucked into an 80-page report on Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to overhaul distribution of state aid to public schools is a proposal that could have greater implications on school funding than anything else the governor has pitched, experts say. In New Jersey and across the nation, the number of students living in poverty is determined by how many of them qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, a federal program run by the Department of Agriculture. But the count is not just about the federally subsidized meals – schools with poor students in the lunch program receive up to 57 percent more state aid than their peers. Citing growing concerns with the program’s susceptibility to fraud and error, acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf is calling for a governor-appointed task force to study whether there’s ‘an alternative way to measure New Jersey’s at-risk student population.’  The move has the potential to shift where the money goes in the state school system, rekindling New Jersey’s long debate over school funding for needy children…”