By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
Using a jar as a visual aid, two township parents stacked $600 in student activity and test fees up against the $1 increase in state aid the school district will see this year.
”It’s insulting,” parent Theresa Dempewolf said during a Thursday afternoon press conference in front of the Board of Education office on Blackhorse Lane. “Don’t call that an increase.”
Ms. Dempewolf joined parents Lisa Grieco-Rogers, Maryann Herrera and Catherine Oliver in appealing to the state legislature to act in making sure the state’s schools are funded at 100 percent of the 2008 School Funding Reform Act.
According to the parents and Rob Duffey of the Our Children/Our Schools advocacy organization who put on the press conference, the district is currently being under funded by eight percent below the aid it received in 2009, the last year of full state funding.
The four parents said that the drastic cuts made when Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010, which cut aid to the district by about $11 million, caused many employees to be laid off and forced the district to impose a $75 fee for activities and AP classes at the high school.
While the district capped the amount of fees charged to $300 per family, per year, Ms. Oliver said the amount is more than some in the district can afford.
”They may not have the income (to pay) that,” Ms. Oliver said.
Ms. Dempewolf said it was “absurd” that Gov. Christie tout his increases in aid to 370 districts in the state when in 40 of them, the increase was just $1.
She then called on the legislature to act to enact a millionaires’ tax, close corporate tax loopholes, and end certain “subsidies” to raise more than $4 billion to fund the schools in the state.
The cuts made by the district in 2010, according to the group, have increased individual class sizes by three or four students and have caused the district to drop a number of programs and clubs.
”After struggling under three years of school cuts, every district in the state is entitled to meaningful relief,” Ms. Herrera said. “We’re asking Trenton to take the steps necessary to comply with the law and make all our schools whole.”
The parents said while some of the 2010 cuts in aid had been restored, this year’s total is still some $2 million below the 2009 level and has forced the district to increase property taxes in each of the last three years.
In the last two years, however, district and Board of Education officials have said that the increases in tax rate were only to offset the loss in the overall value of the township and that the amount of the actual tax levy remained flat during that time.
The current proposed school budget of $138 million, which is scheduled for public hearing and possible board action Monday night, carries no rate increase, according to officials.

