New Jersey Gov. Christie says extra aid to 31 of N.J.'s poorest school districts is driving up taxes

Bloomberg News:

Gov. Chris Christie said a requirement that the state provide extra funding to its 31 poorest school systems is driving up property taxes in other districts.

State spending in those poorer districts has risen to 59 percent of education outlays from 36 percent in 1988, Christie said at a town-hall meeting today in Cape May. More than 550 districts across the state split the remaining 41 percent, the first-term Republican said.

New Jersey's homeowners pay the nation's highest average property-tax bills, according to the Washington-based Tax foundation. Residential real-estate levies, the prime source of education money in middle- and upper-class school systems, rose about 4 percent in 2010 to an average of $7,756 per property.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 14, 2011 1:06 AM
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