'Schools Will Have To Close:' Brick's Future Dire In NJ Aid Cuts

BRICK, NJ — Parents of Herbertsville Elementary School students came to Thursday night's Brick Township Board of Education meeting angry about the district's plan to expand its preschool program.

They left, after more than four hours of discussion and questions, still angry, still frustrated, but with one thing clear: that cuts in state funding are putting the district in a dire situation that will force it to close schools, slash staff and cut programs.

"Why hasn't anyone told us this sooner?" one mother who spoke said, wiping tears as she expressed her frustration over the idea that her children will be moved from Herbertsville School to another school in the district.

"We have and we did," said Susan McNamara, director of planning, research and evaluation for the district. "We will continue to do so."

The school district is faced with the task of cutting $4.2 million from the 2020-2021 school budget due to a cut in aid under S2, a law pushed by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney that eliminates so-called adjustment aid that was part of the 2008 School Funding Reform Act.

Brick —and dozens of other districts —had been receiving the adjustment aid since 2008. Sweeney and those backing the S2 cuts say the aid was supposed to be taken away long ago, and contend Brick is not paying its fair share of property taxes to support its schools.

The 2020-2021 school budget is the third year of the cuts; Brick is expecting to lose $5.2 million in the 2021-2022 school year and $4.8 million in the 2022-2023 school year. The district is slated to lose $22 million in state funding over a seven-year period.

The insistence that Brick taxpayers are not paying their fair share of property taxes to support their schools is based on a formula that the state uses to determine each district's "local fair share."

The state Department of Education has refused to release the formula, despite Open Public Records Act requests from school districts, the New Jersey School Boards Association, and an number of other entities, including Patch. Read more: Toms River, Brick Seek 'Secret' Math Equation In School Aid Fight

The formula controls about $6.5 billion of the state's budget, roughly 17 percent.

James Edwards, Brick's business administrator, said the district and others have been fighting to get the formula for months, and that it is part of the reason the district has filed a lawsuit against the education department. Brick is one of eight districts that are part of the lawsuit.

While the district is fighting, however, it is faced with hard decisions right now. Including closing schools and, in the case of Herbertsville School, using it for a different purpose.

"We said many times that everything was on the table," board president Stephanie Wohlrab said, as she tried to point out that she and Edwards and others have talked about the crisis facing the school district.

"But only Herbertsville is on the table," said Chrissie Arif, president of the school's PTA. "We're what's for dinner."

Herbertsville School, which has 237 students, is the first school in Brick so drastically affected by the cuts, district officials said, but the school's families are far from the last that will feel dramatic effects. Brick may be forced to close other schools, cut more than 250 staff members and get rid of non-mandated programs including sports and clubs.

In the high schools, there is a consideration of merging history classes into much larger, lecture-style classes. Advanced Placement courses are likely to be cut back. Pay-to-play for sports and clubs is under consideration again.

In the elementary schools, some class sizes already have climbed to as many as 30 or 31 and could increase more.

S2 has a second requirement; while it's cutting aid to districts that are said to be "overaided," S2 requires property tax levy increases in districts like Brick, where they spend less than what the state says they should be spending per student.

As Edwards, Wohlrab, acting Superintendent Sean Cranston and McNamara repeatedly explained the situation the state aid cuts have created, parents expressed frustration at what they perceived was a lack of transparency about the possibility that a school — specifically Herbertsville School — could close.

McNamara read part of a letter sent to the entire district and distributed to media outlets in February by then-Superintendent Gerard Dalton. The letter (you can read it below), which sought to rally parents to participate in the March on Trenton that drew thousands from districts around the state, laid out some of the serious consequences.

"Over the past two years, the district has cut administrative, teacher, and support staff positions. Should this path continue, we are on track for continued losses of staff and ultimately programs for our students. The following will be the reality for Brick Schools:

• Increased class sizes across all levels - reality of class sizes above 30 students
• Loss of 290+ various staff positions
• Reconfiguration of the district schools with possible school closures
• Elimination of many non-mandated programs
  • Clubs and athletic programs
  • Late buses."

Courtesy busing — buses for students who live less than two miles from the elementary schools and less than 2-1/2 miles from the high school — will remain intact because of a 2007 referendum where parents voted to dedicate funding to that in every budget.

When one father expressed concerns about the impact on property values with the change to Herbertsville Elementary School, district officials said it is a legitimate concern.

"The community as you know it today will not be the same five years from now, if these cuts go through," Edwards said.

The dire nature of the cuts seemed to get through to parents who, though still angry, demanded action to fight the cuts, including more visible action from town officials and a march like the one held Tuesday by Toms River parents in Trenton.

McNamara encouraged parents to tweet at Sweeney, Gov. Phil Murphy and even Lamont Repollet, the state's education commissioner, with the hashtag #savebrickschools to express their anger over the cuts and demand release of the funding formula.

Sweeney has proposed legislation that would allow districts like Brick and Toms River to exceed the state's 2 percent cap on property tax levy increases, so they can make up some of the aid losses.

Wohlrab rejected that outright. "It's not a solution," she said. "Not until they give us the formula."

"They are trying to shift the state's problem onto the local taxpayers," Edwards said.

The preschool program grant, if awarded by the state, will repurpose Herbertsville Elementary School to house preschool classes, which would expand the popular program.

The hope is that the preschool education will help young children by identifying and eliminating some of the issues that result in students needing extra educational assistance, which would save the district money over time. Preschool classes are limited to 15 students per class, with some special education inclusion students in each class.

But the preschool grant would not solve the district's budget hole.

"Herbertsville School was going to close," McNamara said. "This allows us to serve more Brick students."

"I know how hard this is," she said. "I know you don't want to see your children go to other buildings. We don't want this either."

Brick Township Schools' State Aid Cuts Letter by Karen Wall on Scribd

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