'Significant Uptick' In Students Prompt Need For More Teachers In Basking Ridge

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Bernards Township School District is seeing a "significant uptick" in student enrollment this summer prompting the need for more classrooms and teachers, said, Superintendent Nick Markarian.

"It is a substantial cost but students move into town and we are happy to meet their needs appropriately," said Markarian at the July 25 Board of Education meeting.

This summer alone, the district has seen 17 students register for preschool and also for the special needs programs in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.

"That is a very significant number when we try to manage class sizes at around six students in that program," said Markarian of the special needs program which runs out of Mount Prospect Elementary School.

To accommodate that growth, the district will need to open up two classrooms, hire two more general education teachers, two more special education teachers, and around six more aides.

When factoring in the teacher and aides' salaries and health benefits, the district is looking at a "ballpark of $85,000 on average for teachers and probably in the ballpark of $55,000 to $60,000 for aides," according to Markarian.

Those numbers will vary depending on what health benefits the new hires choose.

Even with state aid, the district will be responsible for the first $40,000 it costs per student.

Ultimately, the district won't know until all the staff is hired and students are enrolled on what the increase to the budget will be.

All of this follows the district's decision to eliminate eight teaching positions as part of the adopted $111.7 million 2022-23 Bernards Township school budget. Read More: 8 Teaching Positions Eliminated In $11.7M Bernards School Budget

Markarian said in May the reduction in staff was due to a "downward trend in enrollment."

The eight positions cut included three elementary school positions, two middle school positions, and three high school positions.

Here is a look at the year-over-year decline in enrollment since 2016 in the district:

• October 2016 - 5,518
• October 2017 - 5,419 (-1.8%)
• October 2018 - 5,295 (-2.3%)
• October 2019 - 5,125 (-3.2%)
• October 20120 - 4,845 (-5.5%)
• October 2021 - 4,709 (-2.8%)

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