Actress Piper Perabo Joining Toms River School Aid Protest

TOMS RIVER, NJ — When Toms River parents and students head to Trenton on Tuesday to protest the ongoing state cuts to funding for the Toms River Regional School District, at least one high-profile alumnus will be in attendance.

Piper Perabo, a 1994 graduate of Toms River High School North and Golden Globe-nominated TV and film actress, tweeted on Sunday that she will join the rally that is headed for the State Street office of Gov. Phil Murphy.

"I'm joining students & community from the New Jersey public school district I went to, to stand up for the state funding they need," she tweeted Sunday.

The school district has been pushing back against the cuts to so-called "adjustment aid" for more than four years. The cuts, mandated under S2, the law pushed by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, will cumulatively result in an impact of more than $70 million, school district officials have said.

Sweeney has pushed the cuts, saying residents in the Toms River Regional district and in more than 100 other districts are not paying their fair share of property taxes to support their schools. But how the state is determining that local fair share is shrouded in mystery, as the state Department of Education has refused to release the formula it uses to determine that figure.

Toms River Regional Superintendent David Healy and Business Administrator William Doering have said the district is due to take a cut of $4.3 million in state aid for the 2020-2021 school year — a cut that will force officials to eliminate all non-mandated programs, including all sports and clubs, the marching bands, the school plays and even National Honor Society. The afterschool activities, that have 13,000 student participants in the 15,500-student district, cost the district $3.8 million.

The district's full-day kindergarten program also is at risk, as kindergarten is not mandated by state law, even as the state has been pushing hard to expand pre-kindergarten education.

Perabo, in addition to tweeting that she will be in attendance, on Monday morning tweeted a photo of herself in the school play in high school, with the hashtag #WhatTRStandsToLose. Parents and students started using the hashtag in late November, taking photos at the Toms River South football game with signs to highlight the potential losses.

The district cut 77 staff positions and 55 coaching stipends for the 2019-2020 school year, and applied for $4.4 million in emergency aid from the state. The district on Friday was notified it will receive $854,634, an amount the district called "nothing short of a slap in the face."

While Perabo has openly vowed to be at the rally, there are others who have been urged to attend and have shared information about it. Major League Baseball star Todd Frazier, who retweeted Perabo's comment about attending the rally, has not publicly committed to attending the rally but has retweeted several statements about the district's dire circumstances.

Frazier, a Toms River High School South graduate, has been a vocal supporter of the district, lending his voice to the push last January to pass the $147 million referendum for repairs and badly needed facilities upgrades across the district.

UFC fighter Frankie Edgar, a Toms River East graduate, has retweeted information about the rally as well.

The potential impact has the attention of current students as well as alumni. A Toms River South sophomore compiled a video to try to reach her peers, parents and state officials about what the cuts will mean.

The district could be facing the need to cut more than 300 staff members in the coming years if the S2 cuts continue unabated.

"We've been taking from other places (in the budget to make ends meet) for years," Doering has said. "If you're in a circumstance where you have wiggle room it's one thing. We have no wiggle room left."

A caravan is scheduled to leave from Toms River North on Old Freehold Road at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, with the rally scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon. Parents and residents are being urged to carpool.

Questions about the rally can be directed to map.morrison@gmail.com. Residents who are not part of a parent organization can register at tinyurl.com/TRRSatTrentonDec10.

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