After repeatedly calling for more funding to close the learning-loss gap, Assemblyman Brandon Umba (R-Burlington) celebrated a $17 million state grant announcement to pay schools to implement high-impact tutoring.

“We know for a fact our children have fallen behind due to lengthy school closures. We need to catch them up, and that starts with implementing strategies like high-impact tutoring,” Umba said. “I’m pleased Governor Murphy is putting funding towards this initiative, and I will continue to pound this drum until more help comes so our children get what they need.”

For months, Umba called on Governor Phil Murphy and Democratic legislators to pay more attention to learning loss and get serious about helping students who fell behind during the pandemic. For months, little was done to advance education legislation. Now, after fierce advocacy, more funding and legislation is being focused on fixing learning loss.

“Seventeen million is just a start. We need more funding and implementation of data-proven solutions like high-impact torturing. We need the state to create a roadmap school districts can follow so when they have students who fall behind, they know there is a way to help them. I’m hopeful this gets more attention in the Governor’s budget address on Tuesday,” Umba said.

Under the Governor’s proposal, New Jersey will create a high-impact tutoring registry that school districts can draw from and receive funding. This will allow schools to provide students with long-term tutoring at a maximum 3:1 teacher to student ratio.

Umba proposed two similar pieces of legislation. One to require the Department of Education establish a central registry for tutoring and another to establish a grant for school districts to implement high-impact tutoring. The tutoring registration bill is up for final passage on Monday.

This is a press release.