The United States Department of Education, in response to a complaint filed by the Education Law Center, has announced that New Jersey has distributed Fiscal Year ’22 state aid to high need school districts across the country to comply with ESSER Maintenance of Equity (MOEq).
The ruling means that two districts in Hudson County, Jersey City and Harrison, will benefit financially, with Jersey City receiving slightly more than $89.2 million and Harrison just under $340,000.
In the summer of last year, Jersey City Together, an advocacy group, campaigned that New Jersey had to restore $71 million in cuts to the Board of Education based on the “maintenance of equity” provision in the American Rescue Plan.
Jersey City Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh, upon learning of the USDOE decision, tweeted, “Thank you. So glad this was rectified it was not right/appropriate how much aid was cut to Jersey City.” Mayor Steven Fulop echoed that sentiment, tweeting “$89 million is a great result for the #JerseyCity Public Schools and it should go a long way towards fixing many of the infrastructure issues.”
Thank You !! American Rescue Plan Team! Thank You so much!