The Millstone Township K-8 School District and the Upper Freehold Regional School District which serves Upper Freehold Township and Allentown will not see an additional decrease in state aid for the 2020-21 school year as a result of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
Since the enactment of state legislation known as S-2 in 2018, administrators in both school districts have dealt with a decrease in state aid each year.
Millstone has lost $886,913 from the $4.95 million in state aid the district received in 2018.
Upper Freehold Regional has lost $598,621 from the $5.85 million in state aid the district received in 2018.
For the 2020-21 school year, Millstone administrators were told the district would receive $4.06 million in state aid.
For the 2020-21 school year, Upper Freehold Regional administrators were told the district would receive $5.25 million in state aid.
Using those amounts, Millstone Board of Education members adopted a $40.1 million budget on April 27 and Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education members adopted a $43.7 million budget on May 6.
On May 29, state officials announced that as a result of the financial impact of the pandemic, the state aid amount that administrators in some school districts had been informed they would receive for 2020-21 would be reduced.
In total, $335 million is expected to be trimmed from New Jersey’s school spending during the upcoming year. According to state officials, Millstone and Upper Freehold Regional are among the school districts that will not lose additional aid.
The Upper Freehold Regional School District serves school-age children of Upper Freehold Township and Allentown. High school-age students from Millstone attend Allentown High School through a send-receive relationship between the two districts.
