“Providing our children with a quality education is absolutely essential to their future success. The Assembly’s budget proposal once again makes funding for our schools a top priority by increasing education aid by more than 9 percent – or $2.1 billion – over last year for a total of $25.4 billion. The amount is $1.2 billion more than the governor proposed in his executive budget. The Assembly budget plan also includes $10 million for schools with growing English language learner populations.”

“In addition, our budget includes $434 million to eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) that has left schools underfunded and school districts and taxpayers overburdened. The GEA was put in place to make up for budget shortfalls during the Great Recession that began in 2008, but those days are over. The GEA must be eliminated and regular increases to Foundation Aid must be restored in order to fulfill the state’s promise of a sound, basic education for every child. Now is the time to ensure our schools have the funding they need to give kids the quality education they deserve.”