SCCC, NJSOC funding reduced

New Jersey’s $58.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2026, signed into law June 30 by Gov. Phil Murphy, reduces funding to Sussex County Community College (SCCC) and the New Jersey School of Conservation (NJSOC).

SCCC saw funding cuts in several areas:

• Tutoring and student support funding was reduced by 50 percent, or $124,500 from a year earlier.

• Funding for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities was reduced by 50 percent, or $101,285 from a year earlier.

• Funding for Community College Opportunity Grants was reduced by 18 percent, resulting in a loss of financial aid for about 143 students.

Despite the cuts, the college president, Cory Homer, said the quality of education will not suffer. “I am very confident there will not be any diminished level of quality education and programming despite the cuts.

“The strategic plan will essentially provide a roadmap for the college in terms of what to prioritize. As an example, we will delay technology upgrades and other operating budget updates to focus on student-facing programming and education. We will additionally be seeking more grants to cover areas that we had to move away from.”

SCCC did not receive more funding in any area from the state or county despite an increase in expenditures caused by contractual obligations and $1.3 million in health-benefit increases, Homer said.

“Our budget was $21,453,000 for fiscal year 2025 and is sitting at $22,505,000 for fiscal year 2026. We are making up revenues by increasing student enrollment not tuition.

“We use an algorithm each year to predict the environment for the next year, and it is showing favorable increases plus new program additions and better retention.”

School of Conservation

Located on 240 acres of open space in Stokes State Forest, the NJSOC has taught teachers and students about environmentalism and conservation for decades.

Its mission may suffer after officials in Trenton reduced funding from $2.8 million to $1.6 million in the latest budget.

“In January, we submitted a budget request of $3.5 million to continue our efforts to restore this historic state asset and to operate programs per our lease and the legislation making the Friends of NJSOC the managers of (the school),” said Kerry Kirk Pflugh, executive director of the nonprofit organization.

“Despite the great efforts of (Senator) Bob Smith, Senator John McKeon and Assemblywoman Alixon Collazos-Gill, we received only $1.6 million. Last year, we requested $3 million and received $2.8 million.”

While programming and staffing will remain in place, efforts to restore the campus facilities will cease until funding from other sources, such as a capital campaign, grants and fundraising, is identified, Pflugh said.