Leaders:

Continued From Page 1 members unanimously passed a resolution criticizing the cuts to districts in Ocean County and the state as a whole by the New Jersey Department of Education for the 2023-24 school year.

The resolution raised questions about the fairness and transparency of the state formula that determines how much aid each district receives.

It also noted that 16 districts will see state aid cuts, including drastic cuts to Toms River and Jackson, which will lose $14.4 million and $6.3 million respectively.

It was noted in the resolution that the cuts would negatively impact both the education of students and the amount of money local taxpayers will be asked to pay to fund education in the coming year and that the school districts may be forced to cut important educational and extracurricular programs due to lack of funds.

The state is enjoying a $10 billion budget surplus at the current time and most schools in urban counties and the state’s largest cities are benefitting from increased state aid. 10th District

Snow:

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“When those storms track along the jet stream, the wind blows counter-clockwise around them,” said Robinson. “And if it’s to the west it brings warm air as the storm comes through.”

According to him, our area often fell on the warm side of the storms making it not cold

Senator James Holzapfel and Assemblymen Gregory McGuckin and John Catalano are asking Governor Murphy to fund all the state’s public school districts fairly and equitably.

Copies of the of the resolution were sent to Governor Murphy’s office as well as the 9th, 10th , 12th and 30th Legislative District offices and the 16 impacted school districts.

Director of the Board of Commissioners Joseph Vicari spoke to Jersey Shore Online.com prior to the start of the meeting noting his prior years as a teacher, principal and superintendent. He served in Brick and Toms River for many years and later Berkeley Township.

Vicari said, “we did so many good things in Berkeley, full day kindergarten programs and in Brick where I started in 1969, we did a lot,” Vicari said. He had been a middle school teacher teaching history and English and later a supervisor and a principal of an elementary school. He served as superintendent of the Berkeley School District Vicari feared that such progress in programs might now be reversed. He noted that while other school superintendents were unable to make the meeting, “they all speak with the same voice about this subject.” enough to snow, thus creating a pattern.

In order for the shore to be blessed by a snowstorm, the storm has to travel to the east to cause the counter-clockwise rotation to bring northern cold winds into the area. Those northern winds meet with the moisture of the nearby storm and create a snowstorm.

“That’s what you need along the coast in particular,” he said. “Because it keeps the wind’s direction from blowing off the water. Once that

Brick School Superintendent Dr. Thomas Farrell provided that voice during the meeting having compiled a white paper report that he said shows the current state aid formula is inadequate and flawed. It is called “The Paradox of the Current State of School Funding in New Jersey.”

“I want to thank the Board of Commissioners for this resolution and your support in urging the governor and the state to relook at the state funding formula. Each year around this time we wait for the state budget and legislators determine what our funding priorities should be. Inevitably there are winners and losers unfortunately especially in education and many of the losers are right here in Ocean County,” Dr. Farrell said.

He added, “There are five districts right here in Ocean County, Toms River, Jackson, Brick, Lacey and Stafford K-8 that look to now cut over 400 positions in our schools due to the continuation of the perfect storm fiscally. The state aid has affected us absorbing an exorbitant rate to what we can replenish annually and put back.”

“These are dire times and Ocean County School districts are bleeding budgetarily. They are simply running out of funds. I hope that is time for all of us in Ocean County to come together and advocate for wind turns off to the water, coastal New Jersey tends to almost always go over to rain.” While the atmospheric pattern can be pinned as the main reason for the lack of snowfall this winter, the pattern of climate change also has an effect. many efficient and effective school districts right here,” Farrell said.

According to Robinson, the overall global warming pattern is amplified in the shore and coastal areas. This pattern is likely tied to the ocean’s warming in the mid-Atlantic and the northeast.

He said he presented his white paper report to local legislators and local media and “details how the state should pay for the local fair share for each community.” Farrell called the current funding formula a complicated and unfair process and inequitable for many school districts “down this way.”

Vicari said Farrell’s information was shared with each commissioner. “These cuts will not only be devastating to Brick but all the districts included. The test grades for these districts are high, they aren’t failing. The students are graduating. They are doing a good job in not only providing a quality education. People move to Ocean County because of educational programs of our schools. We have excellent school systems. I worked in Brick for many years. I have faith in the system. The state has a $10 billion surplus and with the stroke of a pen, the governor of New Jersey could make a difference and make a change.”

The director said, “we want fairness. Why should someone who lives in north Jersey gets two or three times as much. It’s just not fair and it’s not reasonable. We want equity stated by the New Jersey State Constitution.”

“We can be so influenced by conditions offshore,” he said. “We think that some of it is just a shift of wide-spread long-term patterns of circulation in the atmosphere but amplified of the fact the ocean waters at our coast are getting warmer.”

As for the possibility of snow becoming extinct in New Jersey, and especially by the shore, Robinson urges people to not give up on snow. “We are a long way from seeing snow disappear in New Jersey,” he said.

School: Continued From Page 1 back, according to the bill. It appropriates $102,784,455 toward that goal. The money is coming from the Property Tax Relief Fund.

The Assembly version, A-5328, has only just been introduced. An official said that this version will go to a vote on March 30 and that the governor has said he will sign it if it goes to his desk.

This additional money would be Supplemental Stabilization Aid, and it would only be a one-time award. A district will have to write to the Commissioner of Education with a plan on how they will use the fund, and how they will manage in future years if they don’t get the same kind of stabilization again.

Many districts lost aid consistently since 2018 due to a funding formula referred to as S-2.

The Toms River district had been anticipating a loss of aid in the amount of $2,688,937. Instead, it was cut by $14,421,851. The aid for the upcoming school year will be $30,978,802. This is about a 33% reduction from last year.

Toms River Mayor Mo Hill testified before the NJ Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee the morning of the vote to support this additional aid.

“We in Toms River are very appreciative of the funding you will hopefully provide today. With the $9.5 million being restored to Toms River Regional Schools, we now have a $4 million problem instead of the insurmountable $14.5 million problem,” he said.

“Toms River Regional has suffered over $60 million in cuts via S-2 over the last five years. Spending has already been cut to the bone. Our class sizes are already too high at 30 students per class. Our surplus and emergency funds are gone. This year we are paying some teachers’ salaries with federal COVID funds, which as you know, will not be recurring. Along with several other school districts we have requested the release of the S-2 formula and data however that information has not been provided. It is increasingly difficult to explain these severe cuts to our students, parents, teachers, staff and residents without that data,” he said.

The concept behind S-2 was that overfunded and relatively rich districts saw cuts in aid. Hill explained that these numbers don’t add up. The median household income is a little over $85,000. This makes Toms River middle class.

“I understand that the S-2 formula punishes districts that were overfunded in the past. Punishing children and teachers today, in 2023, for mistakes made by administrators, on both the State and local level 10-15 years ago makes no sense. It is cruel and ridiculous. It cannot be what the legislature intended when S-2 was passed,” he said.

“I’ve been told that property values are a component of the wealth test. Like much of the Jersey Shore, our real estate values soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as people fled New York. But these increased real estate values do not translate into

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