Posted on July 8, 2022
On June 30th, Governor Murphy signed a record-breaking $50.6 billion FY2023 state budget into law, which will cover all of the state’s planned spending between July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.
At a time when the state is experiencing an extraordinary surplus of funds, significant actions were taken to provide supports for children and their families.
Below are highlights of additional funding in the budget earmarked for children and families:
Education and Child Care
- $28 million for The Thriving by Three Child Care Program, a competitive grant program to expand access to infant and toddler child care programs
- An extension of the child care subsidy payments to be based on enrollment and not attendance
- $68 million for Preschool Education Aid, with $40 million of those dollars earmarked for eligible new districts interested in expanding preschool
- $650 million in K-12 formula aid for a total of $9.9 billion in FY 2023
- $1.9 billion for school construction and renovation, including more than $1.5 billion for former Abbott districts, and $350 million for all other districts
- $75 million in additional facilities funds for every school district for maintenance and emergent projects, and $10 million for charter and renaissance school facilities
- $120 million in federal funds for the Schools Development Authority to be used to upgrade existing and build new preschool facilities that will support preschool expansion
- $30 million to be used by the NJ Economic Development Authority (EDA) for building on their Child Care Facilities Improvement Program that helps support child care providers to provide high-quality education and care
Tax Credits
- A state-level Child Tax Credit that will provide a maximum of a $500 refundable tax credit for all families with children under the age of 6, whose household earnings are $80,000 or less
Health Care and Family Services
- $15 million to raise Medicaid rates for maternity care providers, and additional funds for midwifery education and Connecting NJ Hubs to support families with young children
- $2.1 million to increase case management capacity for Connecting NJ
- $20 million in State and federal funds to implement the Statewide Universal Newborn Home Nurse Visitation program. This funding includes $6 million in federal funding to support the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in developing a data system and network to support program implementation
- $11 million for Phase 2 of the Cover All Kids Initiative
- $65 million for the Emergency Feeding Organizations
- $18 million to create a minimum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment
- $180 million in federal funding to be used by the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to abate lead-based paint hazards in homes. The funds will be targeted in homes in which a child has been diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level
- $50 million in federal dollars to strengthen youth mental health supports
ACNJ will continue to provide post-budget updates as additional information becomes available. Stay tuned!
In February 2022, ACNJ began its Newark Future Policymakers Advocacy Training program. Leaders of the program worked alongside 17 talented young people who live, work or go to school in the City of Newark. After several months of learning sessions, these Future Policymakers worked in groups to identify policies to improve the lives of Newark residents. Each group presented their ideas on a variety of topics to a panel of esteemed speakers in a final symposium. Presentation topics included:
