BY KATHLEEN CARROLL
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Every school district in New Jersey will receive a state aid increase next year, according to figures released by the Department of Education on Friday.

Under Governor Corzine's proposed budget, Trenton will spend $11.5 billion on education in 2008-09, a $600 million increase over this year. It is the biggest hike in an austere plan Corzine described as a "cold turkey" reversal of years of overspending.

The news means the state's 600-plus school districts would each receive between 2 percent and 20 percent more aid under the spending plan.

But the cash might not all get to the classroom, because under a new state aid formula, some communities must use the added aid to lower property taxes. In addition, increases of 2 percent may not be enough to counter rising costs for special education, utilities, transportation and teachers' salaries -- especially since aid was frozen several years in a row earlier this decade.

READ MORE: http://www.northjersey.com/education/More_aid_for_every_school_district.html

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