'Taxation Without Representation:' Toms River BOE Balks At Dues

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education wants to cancel its membership in the New Jersey School Boards Association over what it says is a lack of support from the state group in the battle over school funding.

Calling it "taxation without representation," the school board passed a resolution that supports making membership in the New Jersey School Boards Association optional, in response to what the Toms River board sees as a lack of support on the state funding cuts.

According to the district, legislators from New Jersey's 9th and 10th districts were planning to sponsor a bill to make that membership optional. Doing so would save the district $26,662.70 in dues, which it has been withholding in protest of the lack of support.

"We feel abandoned by the New Jersey School Boards Association," said Russ Corby, vice president of the Toms River school board, referencing the state funding issue. Toms River is among more than 100 districts that have seen drastic cuts in their state funding under S2, the bill that amended New Jersey's School Funding Reform Act in 2018. That amendment is cutting so-called adjustment aid to a number of districts, and Toms River is estimated to lose $90 million cumulatively over the course of the seven years of its implementation.

Corby called the lack of support for Toms River and other districts who pay dues to the New Jersey School Board Association "Taxation without representation."

The resolution notes the district had to cut 77 staff positions and eliminated 55 coaching stipends, and that class sizes increased for the 2019-2020 school year, and its dues and other fees to the state school boards association are estimated to cost nearly $31,000.

"The Toms River Regional School District believes that this annual cost of $30,662 would be better used to offset some of the annual losses in state aid and to preserve instructional staff and program stipends," the resolution reads. The board believes it can provide the necessary training in-house by paying consultants, the resolution said.

The district has been continuing to fight to alter the cuts, which Senate President Stephen Sweeney said are needed because the districts being cut are not paying their fair share of the property tax burden. The cuts in Toms River could cost 400 teaching positions and result in cuts in extracurricular activities, kindergarten and other programs if they are fully implemented, district officials have said.

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