TOMS RIVER – The School Board has tasked a law firm with pursuing any means necessary to have the school district receive more funding from the state.
Busch Law Group, represented at a local meeting by Hope Blackburn, in consultation with David B. Rubin, will be filing suit against Trenton and state officials.
“The pleas for our students have been met with accusations, empty promises, and direct threats,” said William Burns, attorney for the school board. “A state takeover of our schools and school district has been threatened. The forced closure of district schools has been threatened. The slashing of jobs that have a direct impact on our classrooms and our kids has been threatened. And when Superintendent Michael Citta and Business Administrator William Doering pushed back, saying we cannot and will not cut programs or jobs that impact kids, and reminded the state that they were legally required to certify only a budget that provides for a Thorough and Efficient Education, the revocation and forfeiture of Mike and Bill’s certificates were threatened.”
The commissioner of the Department of Education has been blaming the community, school board, and administration for the shortfall, Burns said. The state has suggested putting questions on the ballot to see if the public wants to fund things like athletics.
The hiring of the lawyers was announced during a meeting where the school budget did not pass, and after years of cuts from the state. The new funding formula, referred to as S-2, has cut millions from the district year over year, while other laws capped how much the district could raise in taxes.
“The fallout of all this has pushed the most cost effective – the lowest-spending district in the state of New Jersey – to bankruptcy,” Superintendent Michael Citta said.
The superintendent summed up the last seven years which brought them to this point. They have cut more than 250 jobs, raised taxes the maximum 2% every year, and increased revenue from such things as renting facilities. This has not been enough by itself to make up for the $137 million in cumulative cuts.
Some of the worst was avoided through one-time fixes, like federal COVID funding, or when the district sold land to Toms River Township for open space.
Gov. Phil Murphy has suggested that districts should sell schools or other assets (although he wasn’t specifically talking about Toms River at the time), and in fact Jackson is selling the Sylvia Rosenaur Elementary School.
Citta warned against any more one-time fixes such as this. Selling a school creates a one-year cushion but that hole in the budget will still be there the following year. The entire funding formula needs to be overhauled.
“To be clear, we are fighting tyranny, oppression, and persecution, not by a foreign entity, but by our own state government. We are fighting for the right of our students to receive the education they are legally entitled to and, more importantly, the education they deserve,” he said.
The district still needs $26.5 million to operate. Without it, there would be class sizes over 100, no extra-curricular activities, and no kindergarten.
“What they have done is nothing short of legislative child abuse and neglect,” he said.
Citta noted that neighboring towns like Brick, Lacey, Plumsted, Stafford and Jackson were also impacted.
“The state of New Jersey knowingly created this problem,” Citta said. “How can they do that to 15,000 children?”
This Year’s Budget
A law recently passed to allow the district to wait until the state passed its budget to craft their own. The School Board met on July 3 to vote on their budget.
The budget would have contained a 9.9 percent tax increase; this was allowed due to another recently-passed law.
When it came time to vote on the budget, it was voted down by all board members present – James Capone, Jennifer Howe, Kevin Kidney, Ashley Lamb, Melissa Morrison, Anna Polozzo, Joseph Nardini, and Board President Kathy Eagan.
This means that the district will be opening schools in September and operating as they did in June. However, district officials have said in the past that the money would run out in April or May.
Board member Lamb warned that even though the school board voted down the budget, the county executive superintendent, who reviews the budget, might reverse this.
“(Voting against the budget) is the best choice of the worst options, unfortunately, so all I can do is vote no,” she said.
At one point, there was a plan to raise the taxes 9.9 percent if state aid was increased to meet them the rest of the way. That didn’t happen.
“I would’ve voted ‘yes’ if it had gotten the funding,” board member Polozzo said. “I vote ‘hell no’” because the budget as written doesn’t provide for students, especially the most vulnerable ones.
Before S-2, there were other issues. “We’ve been begging for money non-stop since 2010,” she said.
Last Year’s Contracts
Several administrators, including Citta, are working under their previous contracts. They don’t have a raise.
Officials thanked administration members whose raises went through, but chose to give the money back.
At a recent board meeting, several contracts were not renewed. This was partly because board members had to recuse themselves from a vote because they had a conflict. It was also partly because some board members said they couldn’t vote on raises while the budget was in flux.
No More Politics
“The easiest thing to do in this untenable position is to panic, point fingers, and fight amongst ourselves, which is what cannot happen. The fight is with the Department of Education and the State of NJ, whose decision makers have created these policies to harm our students, teachers, staff and community,” Citta said. “Already, however, we have witnessed local politics attempt to step into this crisis and cause division.”
He urged people to reach out to their elected officials and advocate for kids, and to talk to their neighbors about what is going on in the district.
Board member Howe said she was tired of politicians using children as collateral in some game.
“15,000 kids shouldn’t be caught in the middle,” she said. She hoped people in Trenton realize “You’re just affecting kids. These are kids who just want to go to school, and they want to join the band, and they want to be in a show, and they want to be on a sports team…and they don’t want to have 100 kids in their classroom and they’re fighting for attention.”
Board member Morrison said that the children are being used as pawns by politicians in Trenton. “All of the children and their families deserve better,” she said.
Several local leaders were named at the meeting, including Police Chief Mitch Little, South Toms River Councilman Thomas Rolzhausen, and Toms River Councilmen James Quinlisk and Justin Lamb.
Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-10th) spoke at the school board meeting, and said his colleagues Assemblyman Gregory McGuckin and Senator James Holzapfel also support the district.
Kanitra said that when the state passed the $56 billion budget, Newark’s school system received an additional $100 million. The district came under fire recently for throwing a $50,000 party for staff. Newark’s state aid is $1.25 billion.
“They are picking winners and losers in the state,” he said.
Pine Beach Mayor Lawrence Cuneo, a teacher, said that his residents are concerned about taxes. If the district raises taxes by 9.9% this year, they worry that the same increase could be done next year, too. Some residents have expressed that they want Pine Beach to leave the district.
“We put out estimated tax bills and there was almost a riot in town,” he said.
“You have to do what’s right,” he said, noting the school board and officials are in a difficult position, but reminded them that “the taxpayers are getting crushed.”
