State aid notices for the 2022-2023 school year can now be found under “School Aid” in the New Jersey Department of Education’s Homeroom portal, according to an NJDOE bulletin.
The NJDOE’s 2022-2023 school district online budget software was recently updated to reflect each district’s state school aid. Software screens and functions that were blocked are now available for use.
There has been no change to the process for gaining access to the budget application through the NJDOE’s Homeroom portal. The district Homeroom administrator must create the user accounts for individuals that need access to the budget software. Refer to the Homeroom Administrator Manual on the NJDOE Homeroom portal for instructions regarding login. The budget software is named “budget statement” in the Homeroom Administrator system.
Among the screens and functions made available March 10 are:
- State school aid revenue is loaded into the revenue screen.
- Amounts for tuition to state facilities, the Schools Development Authority assessment and transfer to charter schools are loaded into the appropriations screen.
- Updates to enable full functionality of the edit report tab.
- School Funding Reform Act calculations, report of district status.
- SFRA calculations, minimum tax levy.
- SFRA calculations, prebudget year levy and enrollment adjustment report, line B adjustment for P.L.2020, c. 44 savings in health care costs.
- County Special Services School District maximum permitted net budget.
- Tax levy certification tab, including the A4F report and the estimated tax rate information report.
- County review and approval tab.
- User-friendly budget report and advertised budget for newspapers report.
- Printable PDF report.
A complete listing of the edits can be found in Appendix B of the 2022-23 Budget Guidelines and Electronic Data Collection Manual.
Districts with November Elections
School districts holding school elections in November are required to submit the proposed budget to the executive county superintendent by March 28 as listed in the 2022 Election Calendar as revised on Feb. 17, 2022. The budget must be advertised at least four days prior to the public hearing on the budget, and the public hearing must be held between April 25 and May 9, 2022. School districts holding school elections in November must certify the tax levy to the county board of taxation by May 19.
Districts with April Elections
School districts with a board of school estimate and those holding school elections in April are required to submit the proposed budget to the executive county superintendent by March 17. The budget must be advertised at least four days prior to the public hearing on the budget, and the public hearing must be held between March 25 and March 29. Refer to the 2022 Election Calendar as revised on Feb. 17,2022 for the deadline to certify the tax levy to the county board of taxation based on the election type.
Adjustments for P.L. 2020, c. 44
New in the 2022-2023 Budget Application is the required calculation of tax levy adjustments for decreases in health care costs, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:16-13.3. The amount on this line will be calculated by the NJDOE from district entries in the Chapter 44 data collection in the Homeroom portal. Pursuant to the 2020 law, savings in district health care costs attributable to implementation of the statute are used as a reduction to the amount that is required to be raised by the local property tax levy by the school district. For more information, refer to the NJDOE budget memo here.
Refer to the full memo from the New Jersey Department of Education for complete information on submitting the proposed budget.
For information and resources regarding the 2022-2023 budget process, refer to the NJDOE’s Districtwide Budget webpage. Contact your county office of education with questions.