Toms River Sends 27 Buses To Support Our Students Rally

TRENTON, NJ — Two years ago, when massive cuts to the Toms River Regional School District's state aid were first in the offing, the district wanted to send buses to Trenton to draw attention to its plight.

At that time, the plan to cut so-called adjustment aid was still just a proposal. But Toms River Superintendent David Healy and Business Administrator William Doering were clear that the proposal would have a devastating effect if it went through.

Now, two years later, with S2 signed into law and those cuts pushed by state Sen. President Stephen Sweeney becoming a reality, Healy and dozens from Toms River loaded up school buses and took the pleas to the steps of the Statehouse. Their plea: fair funding for all students in New Jersey.

Toms River, which sent 27 buses to Trenton, is among 71 districts in the Support Our Students coalition of districts that are seeing significant cutbacks in aid under S2. The law, first proposed by Sweeney in 2017 and then approved and signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018, is cutting the "adjustment aid" to districts that have been deemed "overfunded" under the law.

Some folks wondered if we'd really come through filling the amount of buses we projected. Ummm ...
#WeAreTRschools #SOS #StopStateAidCuts pic.twitter.com/L4oXbFiJvY
— Toms River Regional Schools (@wearetrschools) March 5, 2019

Toms River Mayor Thomas H. Kelaher lent his support to the efforts, as did council members Edward Turnbach, Laurie Huryk, Maurice Hill and Daniel Rodrick.

Sweeney has demanded the aid cuts to some districts to funnel money to sorely underfunded districts, saying those that are "overfunded" are not paying their fair share of property taxes to support their schools. The fight over the funding played a role in the state shutdown in July 2017 that became infamous for then-Gov. Chris Christie's photo on the beach at Island Beach State Park.

Sweeney has claimed districts like Toms River, which stands to lose more than $80 million cumulatively over the six years and $5.7 million for 2019-2020 alone, were spending money on iPads when other districts were forced to have students share textbooks.

"I get offended when I hear these districts talk about 'it’s unfair,' " Sweeney said in an interview with NJ Spotlight in mid-February. "What was unfair was when they were overfunded for the last nine years and they're buying iPads for all their kids and other school districts are sharing books."

At a recent budget and finance committee meeting of the Toms River Board of Education, Healy bit his tongue when a board member asked about the comment.

The district purchased Chromebooks for the administration of PARCC testing, but has not reached a level of 1-to-1 access that would allow students to take them home — an issue that frequently causes friction as educational programs shift to online assignments, which leaves poorer students in the district without access.

"We're required to have this technology," Healy told the board, noting the district has to administer 90,000 PARCC tests under legislation that also was passed by the state Legislature. A fight is continuing over whether PARCC will continue to be a mandated graduation requirement.

The pending cut for the 2019-2020 budget will mean the elimination of 80 staff positions, Healy said during the budget and finance meeting. Over the six years, the district says the aid cuts will likely force it to cut 400 positions, eliminate kindergarten, reduce busing, cut sports and extracurricular activities or only offer them for a fee and much more.

Programs would be reduced 10 percent, the district has said.

The cuts, Toms River district officials say, amount to nothing more than punishment for being fiscally responsible for years: The district is the second-lowest in per pupil spending among more than 100 districts in the state in its size category, and spends more than $2,000 less per pupil than the state average.

Those figures put Toms River into the "under adequacy" category, meaning it is spending less per pupil than the state Department of Education says it should be spending. Districts under adequacy are required to increase their property tax levy by the full 2 percent cap amount to make up for lost aid, as one of the provisions of S2. The district is more than $30 million under adequacy, Doering has said.

Murphy will be giving his 2019-2020 budget presentation Tuesday afternoon, and . What will be done about the pending cuts remains uncertain.

In addition to the rally, Toms River is one of nine districts suing the state Department of Education over the funding distribution. That lawsuit is moving forward; state Administrative Law Judge Ellen S. Bass on Feb. 20 granted a motion to expedite hearings on the lawsuit, and dates have been scheduled for May 6 and May 20, according to Brick Township school district officials.

And leaders of the effort say it's not about taking money back from the underfunded districts; it's about ensuring equity for all districts.

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