TOMS RIVER – While the school district is no longer in the process of filing for bankruptcy, financial issues were still discussed at recent Board of Education meetings.
During the final Board of Education meeting of the state’s fiscal year – on June 30 – the Board announced that they’d explore the process of filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy by securing representation. This was done instead of passing a budget that contained a 12.9% increase to the tax rate.
The state then stepped in and passed the most recent version of the budget – the one with a 12.9% increase. This stopped the district seeking bankruptcy protections.
Still, district officials are concerned about school finances and the finances of families in town. As one official said, the number of students who need the most help is growing at an exponential rate. Meanwhile, funding from the state was cut at an exponential rate.
It was noted at the July 9 Board meeting that two additional schools in the district have more than 40% of students eligible for free or reduced meals, as per the Community Eligibility Provision.
South Toms River Elementary, Citta Elementary, Walnut Street Elementary and Pine Beach Elementary already had more than 40% of the student population on the program. Two additional schools which are now part of that program will be Intermediate North and North Dover.
A Board member asked if 40% of the district’s schools qualified, would that in turn make the entire district qualify? The answer was that it goes school by school. However, if the trend continues, then one by one every school in the district would have students in which 40% or more are on free or reduced meals.
At the Board’s July 16 meeting, Board President Ashley Lamb read from an article describing how New Jersey joined other states in suing the Trump administration for withholding federal education funds.
She said that it sounded very much like when Toms River sued the state for funding that they needed.
“I’d like to congratulate the Murphy administration in their stance for fighting for fair funding,” she said sarcastically. “If they’d like to look over our lawsuit for some pointers on what they should be doing, they should contact our board attorney.”
