January 23, 2025
Dear Collingswood Community,
On January 16th, Board Vice President Kate Seltzer, Board member Sarah Sherman, and I attended the NJ Department of Education’s regional public hearing on the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) in Blackwood, NJ. At that public hearing, Ms. Sherman and I both made public statements asking the Department of Education to provide immediate, meaningful and needed updates to the state’s school funding formula and policies. Ms. Sherman’s statement (link) and my statement, co-written with Dr. Seltzer, (link) can be read in full on the Collingswood District website.
What struck us the most from the public hearing was how many different school districts of different sizes – from Collingswood to Cherry Hill, Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, Evesham Township, Brick Township, Washington Township, and more – are facing the same budgetary challenges due to an outdated school funding formula, restrictive school funding regulations, and ever-increasing costs. Our messages were all the same: the state must make serious funding reforms so that our districts can provide our children with the education they need and our staff with the compensation they deserve.
I would also like to take a moment to thank all of the Collingswood community members who have given or submitted testimony to the Department of Education regarding needed reforms to the state’s school funding formula. The community’s continued advocacy for sufficient school funding from the state are greatly appreciated and key to improving educational opportunities for all of our children in Collingswood.
As we continue our state-level advocacy efforts, our focus remains on meeting the needs of the students in the Collingswood school district. If you would like to learn more and become involved in advocating for sufficient school funding, please reach out to the NJ Fair Funding Collective, led by Haddon Township BOE President Kellie Hinkle, at https://njffc.org/ or to the Collingswood Board of Education at CBOEConnect@collsk12.org.
Sincerely,
Roger Chu
President, Collingswood Board of Education