'Drastic, Significant Cuts:' Toms River Schools' Dire Reality

TOMS RIVER, NJ — When Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent David Healy laid out potentially devastating cuts to the district's programs for school board members last fall, he did so with the expressed hope that it was just a matter of discussing a worst-case scenario.

"We're going to keep fighting," Healy said at the time. And that is what the school district has done: kept fighting against the cuts mandated under S2, the law Gov. Phil Murphy signed in 2018 that laid out a seven-year plan to cut aid to districts the state believes are receiving more than their fair share.

At the time, the district was anticipating a cut of $4.3 million in aid, and faced with cutting more do to rising health care costs and other costs that had gone up in the district. But Healy, business administrator William Doering kept looking for ways to minimize the damage it would cause, hoping there would be a change of course at the state level.

On Thursday, the district learned that not only would there not be a change of course, the state was cutting even more than anticipated, slashing aid by $5.3 million. It is, Healy said in a letter to the district's parents, the worst-case scenario.

"It is with deep regret that I must provide you with the following information," he said, noting the $5.3 million cut. "The fears we have been sharing with our community for the past year and more have become a reality. We will be forced to make drastic, significant cuts to services and programs in 2020-2021. All extracurriculars, clubs, and athletics will be impacted."

Healy said the additional $1 million aid cut turned "a monumental task" into one that "will require us to make some truly painful decisions."

Healy and Doering issued a statement earlier on Friday, blasting Murphy over cutting aid to Toms River and nearly 200 other school districts while at the same time boasting about adding to a $1.6 billion surplus that the state is holding. Read more: Toms River Schools Blast Murphy's Boast Of Surplus Amid Aid Cuts

He said the promise of stabilization aid is not guaranteed and was not anticipated to be received in time to prevent cuts, because the district's budget must be turned in soon. Healy announced earlier in February that the district's full-day kindergarten program will be protected; a hiring freeze was approved at the Feb. 19 Board of Education meeting.

"The details of these impending cuts to programs and services will be examined and then shared no later than our March 25 budget advisory meeting," Healy said. That meeting is set for 6 p.m. in the media center at Toms River High School North.

"I am disgusted, quite frankly, that’s it come to this," he said, "but I also felt it important to prepare our families for the grim realities of what we’re facing."

Read more: Sports, Clubs, Kindergarten At Risk In Toms River School Aid Cuts

"Six years ago I made a promise to this community that I would provide the leadership necessary to foster a sound educational system. No period of adversity will ever compromise that promise. We will continue to lead this fight in the spirit of hope and with expectations for success," Healy wrote in Friday's letter.

"This stuff keeps me up at night every night," Healy said in November. "This is a very emotional process for all of us. There are young lives in the balance."

Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Toms River Patch on Facebook.