Capitol Comments

Assemblyman Alex Sauickie

The last week of March turned out to be “school aid week” in our state’s capital, at least for the Assembly. On Monday, the Assembly Budget Committee held an open hearing on the governor’s proposed state budget, which includes his plans for distributing – and cutting – school aid. On Wednesday, the committee held another such hearing. On Thursday, the Assembly voted on a bill to temporarily cancel two-thirds of his planned cuts in aid to schools across the state.

While it’s not very common for legislators to testify at open budget hearings, I chose to do so because the proposed cuts would significantly harm Ocean and Monmouth counties’ schools and students. Eight of the ten largest cuts in the entire state were aimed at schools in those counties, a fact I shared with the committee.

I also told the committee about the harsh impact that aid cuts would have in specific Ocean and Monmouth school districts in, and outside of, my own legislative district. I stated that four out of the top five proposed cuts