By Matthew Sockol
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD – In response to what district administrators consider to be an unfair distribution of school aid, the Freehold Borough K-8 School District Board of Education is pursuing legal action against the state.
During a meeting on April 24, board members passed a resolution authorizing the district’s counsel to institute litigation against the state, the New Jersey Department of Education and the New Jersey commissioner of education.
The litigation will challenge what district administrators said is a shortfall in state aid. They said the shortfall is harming the staff’s effort to provide every student with a thorough and efficient education.
According to district administrators, Freehold Borough is the third most underfunded district in New Jersey.
The authorization of the legal action was made alongside the adoption of a $25.8 million budget to fund the operation of the district from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018 and that will impact taxpayers.
The average home during the 2016-17 school year was assessed at $247,410, the school tax rate was $1.12 per $100 of assessed valuation and the owner of that home paid $2,771 in K-8 school taxes.
For 2017-18, the school tax rate will increase to $1.14 and the average home is now assessed at $252,447. The owner of that home will pay $2,877 in school taxes – an increase of $106.
“I am proud of the district’s 2017-18 budget, because after extensive work, we were able to prevent personnel layoffs and to contain degradations to educational programs,” Superintendent of Schools Rocco Tomazic said.
“However, I remain highly disappointed with state aid, both for the inadequate amount provided and the unfair manner in which it has been distributed between districts.
“Flat funding without regard to enrollment is indefensible,” Tomazic said. “Freehold Borough will be pursuing legal action in the courts to resolve this inequity being given to our students.”
The 2017-18 budget indicates that $9.7 million in state aid will support the $25.8 million budget. The budget will also be supported by a tax levy of $11.89 million to be paid by Freehold Borough’s residential and commercial property owners and $823,414 from the district’s surplus funds (savings).
The $9.7 million in state aid was the same amount used to support the school district’s 2016-17 budget, which totaled $25.19 million and was supported by a tax levy of $11.58 million.
According to district administrators, the state’s flat funding is not compliant with its constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and efficient education to every student.
As noted in the resolution, the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 established a school funding formula to develop an equitable and predictable way to distribute state aid. The resolution says the state has provided less than required equalization aid to the district.
Each New Jersey school district is assigned what is referred to as an adequacy level of funding and Freehold Borough administrators say their district is $9 million under its adequacy level and $14 million underfunded in state aid.
Freehold Borough and other school districts said to be below their adequacy level have received support from state legislators.
“We have long pushed for a fair share of state aid for school districts like Red Bank and Freehold Borough that have been massively underfunded year after year,” Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth) said. “It should be noted there are 46 districts that receive state aid in excess of what the School Funding Reform Act says they should get, at a cost of more than $10 million. At a minimum, it makes sense to look at redistributing this $10 million.”
“We have toured underfunded schools in Freehold, Red Bank and Neptune City, we have brought the budget chairman to our district to talk to school board officials, and the conclusion we have come to is that temporary fixes are not enough to solve this crisis,” Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling (D-Monmouth) said. “We need to re-examine adjustment aid, enrollment growth caps and other provisions that have left some schools underfunded and overcrowded.”
“Ever-increasing school taxes are unfortunately part of the reason why so many families are forced to pack up and move away from their communities, which is heartbreaking to see. Fixing school funding is the key to bringing about real property tax reform,” Assemblywoman Joann Downey (D-Monmouth) said.
“The governor has now finally realized we need a bipartisan solution to school funding and we are taking this opportunity to listen to our residents and continue the fight for fair funding,” she said.
Student enrollment in Freehold Borough has been steadily increasing and the schools are facing overcrowding. According to district administrators, the two elementary schools and one intermediate school have classroom space for 1,148 students, but 1,713 students are enrolled – an overcapacity of 565 children.
Some Freehold Borough students are educated by Freehold Borough teachers in nine classrooms that are rented in the neighboring Freehold Township K-8 School District.
From 2014-16, enrollment increased from 1,643 to 1,713, according to district administrators, who said the schools are short 50 teachers.
An ongoing project to construct new facilities will increase classroom space to 1,589, according to district administrators.
The board passed a resolution authorizing an agreement with New Road Construction for construction management services related to the construction of the new facilities.
To also deal with issues facing the district, the board passed a resolution authorizing an agreement between the district and the Monmouth Ocean Educational Services Commission (MOESC).
According to district administrators, beginning July 1, all teacher aides will be hired through MOESC. The agreement will have no impact on teacher aides currently employed by the district.
Part-time (less than 30 hours per week) aides will receive an hourly salary of $23.40 if they are non-highly qualified and an hourly salary of $25.50 if they are highly qualified. Full-time (30 hours or more per week) aides will receive an hourly salary of $29.45 if they are non-highly qualified and an hourly salary of $32.15 if they are highly qualified.