The time has come to revisit the amount of state aid being given to the state's most-disadvantaged schools.
It seems to be a never-ending cycle: Another budget shortfall for the Trenton school district and another threat to lay off teachers and staff and close programs.
This year, Trenton is faced with a $5.9 million deficit that will require jettisoning 164 jobs and closing the district's early childhood center.
The year before, the district considered job cuts to help close a $17.3 million budget gap. And the year before that, the city school board voted to terminate 44 employees to bridge a $10.5 million deficit.
The latest financial crisis has caused quite an outcry and well it should. School union officials, local lawmakers and parents are complaining that Trenton's children are being denied a proper education. Some have even called it "institutional racism" since the majority of students in the city's public schools are minorities.
The root of Trenton's school problem is money. It never has enough.
Trenton to layoff staff, close school
Aggravating this situation are charter schools. The growing charter school movement in the city is siphoning students and money from the district, compounding the financial woes of the public schools.
It has become a vicious cycle of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The worst the situation gets for public schools, the more attractive charter schools become to parents who want better educational opportunities for their children.
The public schools thus suffer from the loss of motivated students who can serve as role models to others who are underperforming.
By the same token, Trenton's public schools are left to deal with an inordinate number of special needs students who require more resources. About 17 percent of the city's school population is classified as eligible for special education services. This is a segment of the student population that is not a priority for most charter schools.
Like other poor urban school districts in New Jersey, Trenton relies heavily on state aid to keep its schools open and pay the bills. And that aid has been relatively flat for the past several years while increases in construction debt, pension and health care costs for school employees in New Jersey continue to swallow up more tax money.
Budget shortfall impacts children | Editorial
The other alternative for Trenton is to raise its local school tax to help fill the budget gap, which the city did for the 2016-17 school year. The 2 percent hike, the maximum allowed by the state, will only generate an additional $400,000 for the district budget, a far cry from what is needed.
A fair and equitable distribution of school aid was the object of the 2008 School Funding Reform Act. But many say it has failed to live up to its good intentions.
Now there is a new bipartisan effort under way to craft a new spending formula for state school aid.
State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) are finalizing a plan they say would make school funding more equitable beginning in the 2017-18 school year.
It's a Herculean task that is bound to please and upset different factions in the education community. Let's hope that we don't continue to rob Peter to pay Paul when it comes to funding a quality education, whether it's a public school or a charter school.