Members of the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education have decided to retain courtesy busing for the 2019-20 school year.
During a meeting on Nov. 6, a consensus among board members was reached to provide bus service for all of the district’s approximately 5,100 pupils during the 2019-20 school year.
Providing bus service to every pupil has been the district’s policy for many years, but in the face of an anticipated reduction in state aid, board members considered eliminating bus service for students who live closer than 2 miles to the school they attend.
Bus service for students who live closer than 2 miles to the school they attend is not mandated by the state and if it is provided by the school district it is referred to as courtesy busing.
However, district administrators cautioned that courtesy busing is not a guarantee beyond the 2019-20 school year.
Superintendent of Schools John J. Marciante Jr. said district administrators are developing a budget for the 2019-20 school year and need to cut about $2 million in projected spending. The district is facing the second year of a six-year reduction in state aid.
During a discussion, Marciante said if courtesy busing was eliminated, about 1,200 pupils would be impacted. That figure was revised from an initial estimate of about 1,800 pupils who would be impacted by such a decision.
Marciante said if the district offered subscription bus service to students who lost courtesy busing, a parent would have to pay about $500 to assure his child a seat on a bus for the school year. The other option would be for students who lost courtesy busing to walk to and from school or to be driven to and from school.
The two schools most heavily impacted by the plan would be the Clark Mills School and the Lafayette Mills School, he said.
“I have received emails from parents who are not happy” about losing courtesy busing, Marciante said. “You (board members) are deciding this issue for (2019-20). I may come back to you with the same cuts for (the 2020-21) budget.”
Board President Dotty Porcaro said she, too, heard from parents whose children were in danger of losing courtesy busing. She said that when considering the amount the board would save by eliminating the service, “my suggestion would be to stay with courtesy busing and look for other areas to cut” for 2019-20.
“You can put this on the side for now, but two years from now when I tell you that you have to cut the music program or courtesy busing, that’s a different story,” Marciante said.
Board member Gerald Bruno said, “With the state funding situation, courtesy busing will end, but it does not have to end (in 2019-20).”
Given the facts before them, board members agreed to retain 100 percent busing for the 2019-20 school year.
On another issue related to the budget, board members reached a consensus to charge parents a fee for their children to participate in extracurricular school activities such as drama, choir, band and sports. The fees would cover the honorariums paid to program supervisors and sports coaches.
Marciante suggested that the fee to participate in a sport could run between $100 and $400 per student, depending on the number of students on a team. A lower fee could apply to sports such as track and wrestling, and a higher fee could apply to sports such as basketball and soccer, the superintendent said.
Fees for activities such as drama, choir and band could run between $40 and $200 per student, again depending on student participation in a specific activity, Marciante said.
Board members discussed the issue and had different views on the subject. Some suggested the fee should be the same for all sports teams. Others suggested that volunteers be enlisted to run the extracurricular activities, thereby saving money that is paid to club advisers and sports coaches.
Board member Christine Parisi said, “$400 is a lot to pay for middle school sports. For that amount, parents will take their child to a travel team.”
Marciante said specific fees for activities and sports teams would be determined as the 2019-20 budget is developed by the district’s administrative team.
And, board members reached a consensus to institute a fee for tickets to the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School’s eighth grade graduation ceremony to cover the cost of renting an indoor arena at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft. The cost will be $10 per ticket, according to the board.
Finally, Porcaro raised an issue which she said parents address with her on a regular basis.
“All I hear from parents is that we are top heavy” in administrators, she said. “Is there an opportunity to look at this area? Could we look at our whole administration?”
“This is a process we are just starting, developing a budget for 2019-20, but yes, I will take that into consideration,” Marciante said.
Marciante previously said that under the terms of a bill that was signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy during the summer and beginning in the 2018-19 school year, the district will lose $13 million in state funding during the next six years.
“We have a crisis situation in the budget and everything is on the table,” he said. “You can no longer think the way you did living in this community and working in this district.”