FREEHOLD – The Freehold Borough K-8 School District will receive $955,793 more in state aid for the 2017-18 school year than what administrators were initially told the district would receive.
The extra aid was added to the 2018 New Jersey budget that was passed in the state Senate and Assembly and signed by Gov. Chris Christie following a three-day shutdown of state facilities during the first week of July.
Superintendent of Schools Rocco Tomazic said it is too soon to determine how the additional $955,793 in state aid will impact the district’s 2017-18 budget and/or the local school tax rate. He said administrators are waiting for guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education.
“We are not sure if we must resubmit a new budget or not,” Tomazic said.
The 2017-18 budget that was adopted by the Board of Education in April totals $25.8 million and includes $9.74 million in state aid. The $955,793 boost will increase state aid to $10.7 million.
District administrators intend to allocate some of the additional aid toward hiring more teachers in order to reduce class sizes, according to Tomazic.
“Beyond that we will have to discuss with the board about how to allocate the funds to our various needs,” he said. “There are many needs to select from, but it is too early in the process to say. We will be able to specify for sure after the money arrives and we finish the revised process, whatever that process may be.”
The owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $252,447 is expected to pay about $2,877 in K-8 school taxes during the next 12 months.
The borough operates two elementary schools and one intermediate school. From 2007 to 2016, total enrollment increased from 1,363 pupils to 1,715 pupils, according to administrators. Plans are being made to construct new facilities in the district.
Some Freehold Borough pupils are educated by Freehold Borough teachers in nine classrooms that are rented in the neighboring Freehold Township K-8 School District.
The school board has initiated legal action against the state in a bid to rectify what Tomazic called “severe underfunding.”
“We will continue our efforts for fairness until we get to 100 percent of the state aid due us under (the law). We will continue pursuing advocacy with the governor and the Legislature. We will continue with the lawsuit in the judiciary,” he said.