80 Positions Cut: Toms River Schools Budget Hearing Wednesday

TOMS RIVER, NJ — "These cuts have a face." It's a message that the Toms River Regional School District has been delivering repeatedly to Gov. Phil Murphy and state legislators for months as the district fights the state's decision to cut state aid to dozens of school districts.

The cuts, pushed by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney under S2, the law passed last year, will cumulatively strip more than $80 million from the Toms River school district. The 2019-2020 cut of $2.9 million, combined with the impact of the post-budgetary cut of $2.5 million in 2018-19, leaves the district needing to make major cuts for the 2019-2020 budget.

Those cuts include 80 staff positions this year alone, and more than 400 over the coming years, Superintendent David Healy and Business Administrator William Doering have said. The longer impact on Toms River, over the next five years, also likely will mean the elimination of courtesy busing, and the elimination of many extracurricular activities — the kinds of activities that admissions counselors are looking for when high school students apply to college.

Healy, with Doering beside him, testified before both the state Assembly and Senate budget committees last week about the devastation that will ensue and the impact on the students, staff and the community as a whole. (You can watch Healy's Senate testimony at the top of this article.)

They returned to Trenton on Wednesday with Toms River students, to continue to underscore their message that children will be harmed by these cuts.

Tonight at 6 in the media center at Toms River High School North, Healy and Doering will be fielding questions during the district's Citizens Budget Advisory meeting.

"If your child attends Toms River Schools, will enroll in Toms River Schools, you work in them or you pay taxes to support them, this meeting is for you," board member Anna Polozzo wrote in a message encouraging the community to come to the meeting.

"This is where the district will talk about the impact of this year's state aid cut and those to follow over the next few years. It will be informative and you can ask questions."

Toms River is one of more than 70 districts fighting the state aid cuts as part of the Support Our Students/Save Our Schools coalition. You can follow the district and Support Our Students on Twitter to keep up on what they are doing.

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