NJ Education Report

There’s so many different ways to calculate cost per pupil, which accounts for much of the rhetoric tossed around by those who argue that NJ isn’t spending enough and those that argue that it is. Recently Gov. Christie raised the ire of those on the former side when he said at a campaign stop at Somers Point that

“In fact, there’s more state funding for education today than any other time,” Christie said when the teacher cited the governor’s education funding cuts for why he has referred to New Jersey schools as “failure factories.”

An NJEA spokeman, who sides with the latter cohort, responded that Christie, in fact, made a state aid cut of $1.9 billion his first year and that districts have never caught up.

So who’s right? Here’s  Politifact‘s verdict:

Our ruling:
Christie last week said during an argument with a teacher, “In fact, there’s more state funding for education today than any other time.”
Critics frequently call the governor out for the massive funding cuts he’s made to education since taking office, and for either increasing state aid by a minimal amount or not at all. But the fact of the matter is that despite the cuts, New Jersey’s education funding level is the highest it’s ever been. For that reason, we rate Christie’s statement True.