This year we are told that the aid distribution formula has been changed and the volatility in the formula has been corrected. It is of interest to review the support given to the Freehold Regional High School District and the eight municipal-ities that comprise the district.

The FRHSD, Colts Neck and Freehold Borough received significant increases, while the increase to Manalapan-English-town is just sufficient to keep up with inflation.

Farmingdale, Freehold Township and Marlboro were reduced by 2 percent and with Howell the reduction is only slightly less.

Considering the cost of living to which all of the school systems are subject (ap-proximately 3.5 percent), four of the municipalities were effectively subjected to a 5.5 percent decrease in state aid. This still reflects a system that is not stable and not apparently equitable.

Further, the formula for the distribution of state aid is still not understandable.

It is clear that the total state aid increases with enrollment except for Free-hold Borough, which is treated differently by the formula.

Comparing the aid/student with enroll-ment, (we see) a trend with the exception of Farmingdale and Freehold Borough.

The trend, however, is that the more students in a district, the more money per student that district is given. This makes no sense.

A Marlboro student is worth 59 percent more in state aid than a Freehold Township student, a Manalapan-Englishtown student is worth 44 percent more than a Marlboro student and a Howell student is worth 37 percent more than a Manalapan-Englishtown student.

This is particularly puzzling since the equalized value of the four municipalities is very similar and the difference of the affluence of the four towns is small.

This is especially true when comparing Freehold Township and Howell. Their assessed values are within four-tenths of 1 percent of each other. Howell, however, receives 31.5 percent more state aid per student than Freehold Township. With less than double the students, Howell receives six times the support.

The state aid formula does not correlate on assessed value or the perceived wealth of the residents of the municipality. It only seems to correlate, in an unsupportable way, with enrollment.

The Department of Education should be required to explain and defend, in clear language, the basis of their formula.

Eugene B. Golub

Township Committeeman

Freehold Township