State proposal to disband certain boards of education like Rocky Hill’s termed harmful by local officials.
By: Jill Matthews
ROCKY HILL State Education Commissioner William Librera proposed last week that local boards of education like Rocky Hill’s which oversee no schools be eliminated, and their duties transferred to municipal government.
The proposal comes in response to Gov. James E. McGreevey’s call for the commissioner to "develop a plan to eliminate the 23 school district bureaucracies that oversee nothing but their own existence."
The proposal, which has drawn criticism from municipalities with non-operating school districts, would save approximately $750,000. And some municipalities, like Rocky Hill, claim the consolidation will actually cost its taxpayers more than the current system.
"The amount of dollars involved is not great, but we’re talking about not only saving money but operating in a more efficient way," said DOE spokesman Richard Vespucci, adding that details of the recommendation would be released at the end of this week.
Rocky Hill has 100 school-age children, about 70 of whom attend school in the Montgomery district. Besides tuition, the school board spends about $20,000 a year in administrative costs, which includes pay and insurance for two part-time staffers and supplies.
"I don’t see any advantage to consolidation," said Randie Zimmerman, president of the Rocky Hill Board of Education. "What was calculated by the board secretary is that it would be more expensive for us if we were to consolidate."
Because Rocky Hill is considered a sending district and all of the school buildings and lands are owned by Montgomery, it pays only a small portion of the interest on the debt incurred by the Montgomery school district for those properties. This system, in part, results in lower school taxes for Rocky Hill than Montgomery.
"Rocky Hill is a small, independent operation and they have a very low tax base; Montgomery is a large community and probably has at least $100 million in debt," said Frank Chilson, secretary of the Rocky Hill Board of Education. "In Rocky Hill’s case, because that’s not our community, we pay a small portion on the interest (of the debt). We don’t pay principal on that debt."
About eight years ago, Rocky Hill and Montgomery did a consolidation study to see the economic effects such a reorganization would have on the taxes in both towns, according to Mr. Chilson. At the time, the study found consolidation would cause Rocky Hill’s taxes to rise slightly. Now that Montgomery has debt from the building of the new high school and middle school, the taxes for Rocky Hill would increase significantly, he said.
And even more important than the costs, school board officials say, is the personal attention the Rocky Hill board is able to give to members of its community to answer questions and to act as a representative for community members.
"I think what’s really nice in this community we have about 100 school children with five board members is that everyone knows at least one person on the board. I think that would be lost if we were to consolidate," said Ms. Zimmerman.
Ms. Zimmerman, whose husband, Ed, is a member of the Borough Council, also said it would be ineffective to have the Borough Council take over the duties of the board, as the commissioner has proposed, because the council has too many other issues to focus its energy on.
"People always laugh at us saying, ‘You don’t have a school, what do you do?’" said Ms. Zimmerman. "We pay the bills, pay the tuition and advocate for students’ needs. I wish all school boards had the time to do what we do."
Under current statutes, Rocky Hill is required to maintain its own school board, according to Mr. Chilson.