Hopewell school officials want residents to attend funding ‘summit’

The conference, set for the auditorium of East Brunswick High School at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12, is being sponsored by the Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS).

By John Tredrea
   Superintendent Robert Sopko and other officials of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District hope the district sends a good-size contingent of residents and officials to an upcoming statewide conference on public school financing.
   The conference, set for the auditorium of East Brunswick High School at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12, is being sponsored by the Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS). The GSCS is billing the event as a "Statewide Summit: Public Support for Public Education."
   Board of education members, parents, community leaders and educators from around the state have been invited to participate in what GSCS terms "a practical conversation" on "problems with current funding systems and revenue sources" in public education in New Jersey.
   Hopewell Valley is organizing a bus trip to the conference. For information, call Georgia Fesmire at Dr. Sopko’s office, 737-4000, ext. 2103.
   "It would be nice to send two buses," Dr. Sopko said hopefully during the Jan. 21 school board meeting.
   During that meeting, Dr. Sopko and board member David Goldschmidt alluded to New Jersey’s heavy reliance on local property taxes to pay for public education.
   In a GCSC document distributed at the Jan. 21 meeting, the coalition called on state government to "reduce and stabilize reliance on property taxes." The goal, the coalition says, should be at least a 50-50 split between state and local revenues for funding public education. Local officials say property taxes pay about 90 percent of public education costs in the Hopewell Valley district.
   The GSCS also says the state should pay for all programs it requires local districts to implement. Like the heavy reliance on property taxes, this has been a particularly sore issue with local school officials and citizens around the state for many years. The coalition stresses that it wants fiscal reform without sacrificing quality of education.
   The conference at East Brunswick will include presentations by experts on school finance and state revenue. "State leaders and legislators have been invited to listen and learn along with others who attend," said GSCS Executive Director Lynne Strickland. "Time will be allowed for legislators to react at the end of the program if they so choose."
   Ms. Strickland said the GSCS is "a statewide, grassroots organization of 120 school districts represented by parents, community members, board of education members and school administrators."
   For more information on the Feb. 12 conference, GSCS may be contacted online at [email protected], by phone at 396-7620, or by mail at 210 W. State St., Trenton, 08608.
   Nearly 1,200 people turned out for a GSCS conference in Livingston in 1996, Ms. Strickland said. "It’s time to send that direct, grass-roots message to Trenton again," she added.