RED BANK – Members of the Red Bank Board of Education sounded off on the short fall in state aid the district receives.
“I think this board has to adopt a more activist policy in the future on these topics,” said Board of Education President Ben Forest about the shortfall in state aid that the district receives.
“I’m not going to vote to cut music or sports or any of the fundamental aspects of education. I am sworn to provide a thorough and efficient education and I feel compelled to vote accordingly.”
At the Nov 17 district meeting, members discussed the dwindling amount of state aid the district receives and how best to address the problem.
For the 2015-16 school year, the district received $2,996,370 in state aid, the same amount as the previous year and $200,000 less than the 2013-14 school year. According to District Business Administrator Debra Pappagallo, half of the state aid is provided to the charter school by state mandate.
Pappagallo said the district is due another $500,000 in state aid based on student population and demographics.
During the 2014-2015 school year, the district had 1,224 enrolled students, according to information from the New Jersey Department of Education. During that same time period, the Red Bank Charter School had 193 students enrolled.
The discussion began with board member Michael Ballard, who asserted that the charter school receives a disproportionate amount of state funding compared to the district.
Board member Ann Roseman responded that the under funding of the district is not the fault of the charter school but of the state.
“Without begging the legislators to do something different, we don’t have a lot of options. They just come and they give us a number and they say we have to transfer this to the charter school. It’s not like it’s a negotiable item,” said Roseman.
“It’s a total puzzle to me why we are always in this position.”
Superintendent of Schools Jared Rumage agreed that the district should not blame the charter school for the funding issues, adding the district must focus on the best uses of the state aid available.
“Regardless of the unfair funding formula or the challenges in having a charter school in this small town, I believe we need to fix things from the inside out and I think it’s important for everybody to know that we’re responsible for what we do and what we have here currently.
“I think there has been tremendous progress that has been made in terms of our efficiency over the past 15 months and I think we are headed in the right direction in terms of what we currently have,” said Rumage.
Forest agreed, calling for cooperation among the schools.
“I think we should all try to work as partners in the educational community. I think if we take an approach of attacking the charter school this might not help us. Most of the people there are concerned with education too and I think they would rather see us be properly funded,” said Forest.
“I’m pretty sure that most of the charter school parents that I know would be in favor of us being properly funded if for no other reason than providing better services for the kids and we won’t be raising taxes that much if at all.
“What ever strategy we adopt I think we should work away from have a confrontational [relationship] with the charter school and move forward on things we can agree on,” said Forest.
“I think we should get more activist. Yes, we may lose, but we really have to try to hold our [legislators] responsible who run the state.”
Contact Michael Nunes at mnunes@gmnews.com.