(Courtesy of Agudath Israel) After months of advocacy and grassroots lobbying by Agudath Israel of America’s New Jersey office and its partners, it was a big day for non-public school students when the school funding numbers were finalized in New Jersey’s FY 2019 budget.

In early February, Governor Phil Murphy proposed a budget that reduced much of the non-public school allocation. The proposed budget included a more than 11 percent cut in transportation funding, as well as cuts to nursing services, textbooks, and security.

To ensure that students would not be harmed by the proposed cuts, Agudath Israel of America’s New Jersey office focused its efforts this session on bringing the non-public school funding back up to its 2018 levels.

Agudath Israel of America commends Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin for their efforts in restoring per-student funding allocations to $97 for nursing services, $75 for security aid, $36 for technology and $53.40 in textbooks. After a few weeks of tense negotiations, Governor Murphy agreed to a budget deal that included the reinstated funds.

New Jersey stands out as being one of the most generous states when it comes to security funding. Thanks to the leadership and vision of Assemblyman Gary Schaer, who has spearheaded this effort since its inception, New Jersey serves as an example to surrounding states. At $75 for each child attending a non-public school, the per-student allocation is more than double New York’s $35 per child, and provides significantly more than Pennsylvania’s non-annual security grant funding.

“Although there still remains a security funding discrepancy between public and non-public schools,” explains Rabbi Avi Schnall, New Jersey director of Agudath Israel of America, “New Jersey remains far ahead of other states in this regard. We are grateful to reside in a state that is concerned for the safety of all its children regardless of where they attend school.”