TOMS RIVER – The Toms River Board of Education will be joining Brick in a legal challenge to a state plan that will strip both districts in millions of dollars of aid.
In Toms River, they are faced with a loss of almost $71 million over the course of seven years. Brick is looking at a loss of $42 million over that same period. The rationalization behind the state plan is to shift aid from districts that are losing enrollment, like Toms River and Brick, to districts that are growing but have less money.
Earlier this month, Brick retained the legal services of the Weiner Law Group to mount a constitutional challenge to the change in aid. On Oct. 17, the Toms River Board of Education joined that suit, pledging half of the $10,000 initial cost.
When Matthew Fisher, a student from High School North, asked what is at stake, Board President Russell Corby replied “Every aspect of our district will be affected.” A loss of $70 million over seven years, “No community can sustain that.”
There was a large crowd at the meeting, many wearing “red for ed” in support of the fight against Trenton.
Corby thanked the public for their presence, and “unity in facing the crisis before us.”
However, some said there needs to be more unity, for strength of numbers will show state officials what the cuts will mean to the district.
Resident Bridget Maillard started a petition on Change.org asking for the aid to be brought back to last year’s figures. It can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/new-jersey-governor-save-our-students-help-the-students-of-toms-river-regional-schools-before-it-s-too-late.
As of press time, less than 10,000 people had signed. However, the numbers were climbing slowly even as this reporter was writing this article.
“In a town of 100,000 people there should be far more people” who signed, Maillard said.
She also said that when she reached out to the township for help, she did not get a reply.
Board member Michele Williams said that the resolution the board passed in joining the lawsuit has a lot of language that can be borrowed by people if they want to write a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy or Senate President Steve Sweeney, who were decision makers in the state aid plan.
“The purpose of the lawsuit is to finally address the funding formula itself, which remains a mystery to everyone,” Corby said. The formula is outdated and doesn’t address key issues such as the recession or the $2 million in ratables that Toms River lost to Superstorm Sandy.
It also doesn’t address that some of the towns that received more aid haven’t been revaluated with new home values in decades, board member Daniel Leonard added.
In the meantime, the district has not heard back from the state after an August request to return the aid to last year’s numbers, board member Michael Horgan said.
“What keeps me up at night…is the fact that the brunt of the cuts will be in six to seven years. I’m getting married and that’s aroudn when I’ll be sending a little boy or girl to school,” he said. He can’t imagine what the district will look like by then.
“Already, (staff) are being asked to do more with less,” he said. “It is mathematically impossible to maintain what we have today – that’s not even talking about growing and improving.”
