SCHOOLS: Jamesburg to withdraw from Monroe district

By David Kilby, Staff Writer
   JAMESBURG — When the 2012-13 school year begins, Jamesburg students entering high school will not be going to the new Monroe High School right down the road.
   The approximately 205 Jamesburg students currently attending Monroe High School will graduate there, and Jamesburg students currently in eighth grade will attend Monroe High School.
   But Jamesburg seventh-graders, after graduating from eighth grade next year, will attend a different high school yet to be determined.
   The decision came after a heated discussion regarding the peak in tuition rates for the new Monroe High School. The tuition rates have been lowered, but not enough for Jamesburg to maintain its relationship with Monroe High School.
   Jamesburg asked for its tuition costs to remain around $13,000 to $15,000 per pupil while the new high school was being built. But Jamesburg agreed to pay its true portion once enrollment began, said Michael Gorski, Monroe school business administrator.
   That portion wound up being $18,933 per pupil. To pay that amount, Jamesburg would have to raise the school tax rate by 40 cents and go over its 2 percent cap, according to Kenneth Hamilton, superintendent of the Monroe School District. Jamesburg officials, however, estimated the increase would be closer to 32 cents.
   Monroe and Jamesburg school districts held special budget meetings this week to announce a new tuition rate of $16,100 per pupil and explain how Jamesburg students will phase out of Monroe High School.
   Jamesburg initially was expecting a tuition rate of about $14,985.
   ”They mechanically cannot fit tuition within their budget due to the 2 percent cap,” Mr. Gorski said at the Monroe special meeting Tuesday.
   This new tuition rate of $16,100 will reduce the Monroe school district’s revenue by $580,765, and the tax rate will be $2.413 per $100 of assessed value if the tentative budget is passed.
   To compensate for the drop in revenue, Monroe school district is receiving an extra $214,453 in state aid, $212,048 in prior years tuition adjustment from Jamesburg, and reducing its employee benefits from about $18.2 million to about $18 million. Within this new agreement, Jamesburg also would pay off debt owed to Monroe within the next two years. Jamesburg owes Monroe about $212,048 from the 2007-08 school year and about $339,000 from 2008-09.
   If Jamesburg does not approve this resolution, the same send-receive relationship will remain, and Jamesburg will pay the actual cost of tuition, $18,900. The borough would have to ask for a 2 percent cap waiver to pay that amount. Jamesburg has until March 22 to approve the resolution.
   The state commissioner of education also must approve the resolution to change tuition.
   Individual school districts do not determine tuition rates. Tuition for send-receive districts are determined by a state program that adjusts the rates every year after weighing many different factors, explained Donald Peterson, Jamesburg board member in charge of finance and negotiations, at Jamesburg’s regular board meeting March 10.
   On average, tuition rates for Monroe High School were increasing 3 percent each year. When the 2 percent cap was implemented, it made sense to increase tuition only 2 percent as well, school officials explained.
   ”Unfortunately, this year, the adjustment is just too huge,” Mr. Peterson said.
   ”We’re living in a time when we need all our resources,” said Dr. Gail Verona, superintendent of Jamesburg schools. “If we continue to support tuition costs, it’s going to cut in to our expenses here.”
   She added, “Monroe is a wonderful high school, but we’ve reached a point where we just can’t afford it.”
   Mr. Peterson said, “There are school districts that could offer the same or better quality education for $12,000 to $13,000.”
   This lower amount would allow Jamesburg to start paying back debt to Monroe and start putting services back into Jamesburg’s school district, Mr. Peterson said.
   ”There is a small detriment in terms of reduction in revenue due to students leaving,” said Dr. Kenneth Hamilton, Monroe superintendent of schools, at the special meeting Tuesday, “but this was a request initiated by Jamesburg.”
   Dr. Hamilton added, “It’s going to be a hardship as students phase out. Financially, Monroe has enjoyed the relation, and it will be a detriment to us.”
   ”Over the years we’ve had very successful students come from Jamesburg,” said Lew Kaufman, president of the Monroe Board of Education. “Many of my kids’ friends were from Jamesburg. It saddens me to see them (Jamesburg students) leave.”
   ”Monroe would lose the diversity and character that Jamesburg brings to our school,” Mr. Gorski said.
   He explained the scarce amount of state aid is one of the main causes of the peak in tuition rates. The Monroe school district only received $204 per pupil in state aid, said Mark Klein, board member.
   Sandy Sussman, of Buckelew Avenue in Jamesburg, asked the Monroe board if parents personally could pay the $2,800 difference to have their children attend the new high school, but school officials said, unfortunately, the tuition rate doesn’t quite work that way — since it’s based on property value and not the number of students a parent sends to the school.
   Monroe and Jamesburg school districts have been in a send-receive relationship since July 1, 1979.
   Jamesburg used to have its own high school, but more than 30 years ago, the state decided Jamesburg High School was no longer capable of adequately supporting its students so it ordered — through the courts — that Jamesburg students attend Monroe High School.
   In this sense, the relationship between Monroe and Jamesburg is unique because most send-receive districts have made mutual agreements with each other.
   No court order is needed to undo the decision, though.
   Paul Gentile, of Sedgwick Street in Jamesburg, noted the irony of the situation, saying Monroe’s new high school was built on land taken from Thompson Park, which used to be part of Jamesburg.
   ”Now our kids won’t be able to go to a school built on Jamesburg land,” he said.
   The only way Jamesburg students would be able to attend the new high school after 2012-13, at this point, is if either Monroe or Jamesburg taxpayers were willing to take on the extra tax burden.
   ”As much as we’d like to do the altruistic thing and flip the bill, we can’t,” said Ken Chiarella, board member. “Our residents can’t afford it.”
   Jamesburg school officials and residents argued they never voted for a new high school, but wound up paying for it anyway.
   ”We weren’t the reason they had to build a new high school,” said Tom Van de Sande, of Fernwood Drive, who has a child who would attend the new high school next year. “We’re not going to be sending another 50 kids there.”
   School officials said the Jamesburg board has not yet solidified a decision with another high school.
   ”We’re still talking to different schools,” said Thomas Reynolds, Jamesburg school business administrator.
   ”We can’t say what schools,” he added, emphasizing that mentioning what schools the district has spoken with at this point would be premature.
   ”We’re looking at other options that are viable and available,” Mr. Peterson said.
   ”I’m upset on so many levels,” said Patty Florek, of Prospect Street, who has a child in seventh grade who would be going to the different high school. “The only thing we’ve ever had is a future at (Monroe) high school.”
   She said the property value of Jamesburg houses would go down if Jamesburg sent its kids to a different high school when there’s a brand new one right down the road.
   ”My son is in seventh grade,” Ms. Florek said to the Monroe board at its meeting Tuesday.
   ”I want him to go here (to new high school),” she said in tears.
   Mr. Peterson said at the board meeting March 10, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to organize a rally in front of the statehouse regarding this issue.
   ”We got to get loud in this town,” he said, “and you’re the ones who need to do it.”
   He added, “You can’t just get loud one time. It needs to be a sustained scream.”
   Dr. Hamilton, at the special meeting Tuesday, also said the state would be a good venue for residents to voice their concerns.
   Mr. Peterson, Mr. Reynolds and Dr. Verona have addressed the state about this problem before. They, in fact, went down to Trenton to discuss the matter a few weeks ago.
   ”I’ve been telling people about this for 10 years,” Mr. Peterson said. “Our point of going down there (to Trenton) was to tell them ‘we told you this was going to happen. Now it’s happening. What are we going to do?’”
   Jamesburg residents were upset the Jamesburg board didn’t publicize this issue sooner.
   ”Our board in Jamesburg seems to keep things to themselves,” said Patti Bisignano, of Birchwood Road, who has a daughter in third and fifth grades. “They don’t communicate with parents well enough.”
   Monica Ludwig, of West Church Street, was surprised the board could decide what school her children could go to.
   ”I didn’t know they had that much power,” she said. “I want my kids to go to Monroe. I love the community and everything else.”
   She said for years she and her neighbors have been telling their kids to look forward to the community, teachers and coaches they’ll have at Monroe High School.
   ”We’ve been paying taxes for that school for 32 years,” she said. “Now it’s my son’s turn. This (Monroe High School) is the end of the rainbow.”
   She added, “The high school they built is almost like a new college. Every kid (in Jamesburg) can’t wait to get out of eighth grade and go to Monroe High School. It’s the promised land.”