NJSBA last week thanked Senate President Steve Sweeney for his continued support of a tax-levy cap adjustment for certain school districts facing state aid reductions.

In a Jan. 31 letter to the Senate President, Executive Director Dr. Lawrence S. Feinsod expressed the Association’s belief that legislation sponsored by Sweeney to allow the adjustment was “sound public policy.”

NJSBA’s statement came after Sweeney underscored the opinion of Moody’s Investors Service, which last week labeled Gov. Murphy’s Jan. 13 veto of the legislation to permit a tax-levy cap adjustment for certain districts as “credit negative.”

“The legislation, which the governor unfortunately chose to veto, was well-thought-out and would have enabled a number of school districts to maintain educational programming,” wrote Feinsod.

“We stand by our belief that the legislation would have helped students in those school districts that are facing state aid cuts and spending below adequacy,” he stated. “The cap adjustments would not have resulted in wide-scale, uncontrolled property tax increases.”