BY ELANA ARON
Correspondent
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Voters in Freehold Township will be selecting three school board members on April 17. Polls will be open from 3-9 p.m. Running for three-year terms are Mindy Wille, Stephen Buffett, Robert Hoppes and Daniel DiBlasio.
Wille is presently serving as the board’s president; Buffett and Hoppes are board members; and DiBlasio is making his first bid for a seat on the board which oversees the operation of the township’s K-8 public schools.
Buffett, a native of Freehold Township, is a senior technical director at AT&T, Middletown. He has served on the board for 18 years. His grandfather was C. Richard Applegate, who served on the school board for 30 years. Buffett’s mother was a teacher in Freehold Township.
“I have deep roots in the community,” said Buffett. “In a lot of ways, the reasons I’m running are the same the first time I ran. I love Freehold Township and I’d like to give back to the community. I just want to do what I can.”
Buffett speaks highly of the township’s school system.
“We do have an excellent school system. It’s a pleasure to be on the board,” he said. “I think everyone has done a good job. A lot of our challenges are around continuing to deliver a top-notch program with the funding we have, with the uncertainty of financial support from the state and the programmatic mandates with little or no funding. This continues to be one of our priorities, and it’s an easy priority because it’s a must-do.”
Buffett expressed concern about state funding levels that remained stagnant for the five years previous to the 2007-08 school year.
“Each year there are issues. We try to represent Freehold Township. They (the state) try to be responsive,” he said. “Our funding is very minimal. It’s been literally flat. We haven’t had changes in five years, but of course our student body has continued to grow. Gov. Corzine has indicated that he definitely wants to go after a state-funding formula, but the state is broke.
“Nine percent of our budget funding comes from the state, the other 91 percent comes from property taxes. Some districts are getting more than their share (of state aid). The urban city districts often get more than equitable funding, whereas Freehold Township depends a lot on taxes according to our socioeconomic situation,” he said.
DiBlasio is an accountant and has lived in Freehold Township for about 11 years.
“I want to make a difference and add a fresh face to the board,” he said. “All those parents keep saying they wish there was something they could do, so instead of just complaining, I thought I’d actually do something.”
DiBlasio, who has three children, said he is concerned about the adequacy of the education children are receiving.
“As far as classroom teaching, we should get back to basics of getting classrooms to do the teaching and get away from the politics. We need to teach according to the needs of each student instead of having one program that fits all,” he said.
DiBlasio has some ideas about budgeting issues, as well.
“It really should be a bottoms-up budget instead of looking at what we spent last year,” he said. “Parents need to be educated on state mandates that are not funded. They should take care of the children instead of just (voicing) rhetoric. If you’re going to complain, then please partake in the system.
“That’s what we’re supposed to be doing in a participatory democracy – come up with ideas, come up with a way. Everything goes up. We all need to partake in the process and come up with suggestions. If you can’t voice your opinion, then what’s the point?” he said.
Hoppes, a resident of Freehold Township for 37 years, has served on the board for 18 years.
“I enjoy doing it,” said Hoppes. “I’m an advocate of children. We do a good job providing a good curriculum and services children need. I’d like to continue to do that. I like giving to the community.”
Hoppes said he got involved when his two children were in the school system. He coached soccer, Little League baseball and was involved in the YMCA.
“Someone approached me and I thought, ‘Gee, that would be a nice way to contribute, so I ran” for the school board, he said.
Hoppes, who has a master’s degree in education, voiced concern about keeping up educational standards in the township.
“It’s becoming more and more challenging to keep the curriculum. There’s not enough funding. The challenge is to keep what we have and keep improving. It’s important to keep our curriculum and activities going and our highly qualified staff. With funding the way it is, that’ll be a challenge. All the schools are feeling it. The public doesn’t have a clue. They just keep seeing their taxes go up.”
Hoppes said he hopes next year will be better.
“Hopefully next year they will have a (new) state school funding formula in place. That will help. We feel we’re getting the short end of that. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed,” he said.
Wille, who has served on the board for nine years, said the budget for the coming year is the major issue facing township schools.
“The governor promised a fair funding formula,” said Wille, referring to Gov. Jon Corzine’s efforts to boost state aid for public school districts. “Finances are of special concern. There is budgetary confusion. The state pays 9 percent of our budget, which is well under the state average of 38 percent. We’ve had flat funding for the last five years. We get less state aid than Howell and Marlboro. The state should fund all districts in an equitable way so that we’re not all receiving less than other districts. We get less than other districts of the same socioeconomic level.
“We’ve been trying to get an answer on why we get less for years. Believe me, we’ve been working with Sen. (Ellen) Karcher and the legislators to find out why we get less. No one has an answer for us. Our taxpayers basically fund our entire budget. It’s unfair to them. It’s a huge burden on them. I know, I’m one of them,” she said.
For more information on polling places in Freehold Township go to www.freeholdtwp.k12.us.