Toms River Schools Institute Hiring Freeze Due To S2 Aid Cuts

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional School District has instituted a hiring freeze, put in place as it grapples with the impact of an anticipated $4.3 million state aid cut for the 2020-2021 school year.

The hiring freeze, approved by the Toms River school board last week, is the result of the budget cuts the district is facing as a result of S2, the 2017 state law that implemented immediate cuts in so-called "adjustment aid."

The hiring freeze is in effect through the end of the 2020-2021 school year and is for every department at every level. The only exceptions are positions where the salary is paid by a grant or where they are required for essential or mandated services. Any jobs that were vacant as of Feb. 19 are remaining vacant.

The hiring freeze comes as the district continues to fight S2. The state law has mandated a $4.3 million cut in aid for the 2020-2021 school year, and district officials are grappling with what can be cut. In January the district announced it will protect its full-day kindergarten program, ending speculation and calming fears among parents of young children.

The cuts under S2 come as the state Department of Education continues to insist that Toms River Regional taxpayers are not paying their "local fair share" of property taxes, based on a complicated formula that the state has yet to reveal. A group of 58 school districts facing steep cuts under S2 submitted a joint request under the Open Public Records Act for the details of the formula. Multiple requests from schools — including the Toms River district — and outside entities including media outlets over the last year for specifics, including the wealth calculation, have been rejected. The formula is used to determine how the education department will allocate $6.5 billion in state school aid. Read more: Toms River, Brick Seek 'Secret' Math Equation In School Aid Fight

The wealth calculation has been one of the issues that has been continually challenged in Toms River. It states the district's property ratable base has risen 56 percent in value in the last 10 years, despite the fact that Toms River's property tax base took a $2 billion hit during Superstorm Sandy.

That $2 billion ratable loss in 2012 was a decrease of more than 11 percent, said William Doering, the district's business administrator.

But instead of the state adjusting for that ratable loss, Doering said, "our local fair share (for the 2013-2014 school year) went up $13 million."

"The foundation of s2 is not concrete, it's papier mache," he said.

In its December letter awarding Toms River Regional $854,634 in emergency aid (less than a fifth of the $4.4 million the district had sought for the 2019-2020 school year), education department officials insisted the district has room in its budget to absorb the cuts. Read more: Emergency Aid Award 'A Slap In The Face,' Toms River Schools Say

Doering has said the education department's claims are full of holes, starting with its claims that Toms River is not using the full enrollment capacity of its buildings.

The state claims the district has educational space for 20,785 students, but Doering said that figure is wrong because it counts every classroom as having a 30-student capacity. Kindergarten, which was half-day at one time, is still being treated as a half-day program in the state's calculations.

"So when they see 25 students, they see that as 50 for that classroom," because they are not treating it as a full-day class, Doering said.

It also ignores the district's special education student population. The Toms River schools have worked to create programs that serve a larger range of learning and behavioral disabilities. Bringing students back into the district saves money, because tuition at out-of-district private special education schools is expensive; some programs are upward of $100,000.

But special education classroom capacities are limited to eight students, in part because students can have equipment that takes up more space, and often they have 1-on-1 paraprofessionals to assist them. The district has about 2,890 students currently in its special education programs (just under 20 percent of the district's enrollment) and that number is rising, Doering said.

"The nursing budget (for special education students) is up by $800,000," he said, because the number of students who need those services has increased.

The education department insists the district has money in reserve that it could use, but Doering said at least one of their suggests goes against the department's own rules.

"They suggested we use the reserve for insurance claims," Doering said, referring to funds the district is required to set aside to cover claims that exceed what's anticipated. That requirement is set by the state. The district is self-insured, and one year of exhorbitant claims could put it in a serious financial crisis if it did not have the required reserves. "It's a violation of their own code," he said.

The education department also said the district should use $1.5 million in extraordinary special education aid — funding that's already accounted for in the 2019-2020 budget.

The education department also said the district should pull money from its maintenance reserve — a move Doering said would leave the district in a bind if there were facilities emergencies. Following Superstorm Sandy, the district had to lay out thousands of dollars for repairs from damage to buildings caused by the hurricane's winds.

"They do that with no suggestion of how we would replace the reserve next year," he said.

The district cut 77 teaching positions and 55 coaching stipends in the 2019-2020 school budget. With the hiring freeze, it's unclear how many more will be eliminated for the coming year. It is clear class sizes will rise, likely to far more than 30 students.

"They (the teachers) don't deserve that," Superintendent David Healy said in January at a school board committee meeting. "The kids don't deserve that either."

Note: This article has been updated with the number of special education students in the Toms River Regional School District, as of the 2019-2020 school year.

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