BRICK - The Board of Education voted Thursday to join a growing collection of school districts planning to sue the state commissioner of education over cuts in their state aid.

Brick Township Public Schools are slated to lose about $42 million in aid over seven years, according to district officials. The state cut nearly $2 million for the 2018-19 school year.

Mark Tabakin of the Weiner Law Group in Parsippany said the schools plan to sue state Commissioner of Education Lamont Repollet because his department oversees the distribution of state aid.

"The commissioner has ignored the legislative intent and plain language of the (state's funding) statute by creating what is otherwise just an arbitrary and capricious funding formula," he said Thursday evening during a presentation to the school board. "It's neither predictable nor is it equitable."

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The state Legislature adopted an amended funding formula last summer that redirected aid from districts with declining student populations toward those where aid had not kept pace with growing enrollment.

Board President Stephanie Wohlrab acknowledged Brick's declining student population, but said the state's formula failed to consider the district's growing number of English language learners and its high percentage of students with special needs. The town's tax base is also still recovering from superstorm Sandy, she said.

"Losing this money will cripple this school district. It will cripple this town," Wohlrab said.

Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent David Healy also attended Brick's school board meeting. Toms River schools received a $2.4 million cut in state aid this year. The district of some 16,000 students could lose more than $70 million in state funding over seven years, Healy said.

Healy said Toms River's school board would vote Wednesday on whether to join the lawsuit.

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On Tuesday, Brick's Township Council also voted in support of the legal action.

"Why is a kid in another district worth more than a kid here in Brick Township?" Brick Mayor John G. Ducey said Tuesday. "They're not. Every kid should be equally funded. It's just a total abomination of our constitution here in New Jersey."

Wohlrab said the state aid cuts could endanger the Brick school district's long-term survival. Brick's total state aid dropped from $36 million in the 2016-17 school year to about $34.1 million this year, according to Department of Education figures. That downward trend will only continue over the next six years, unless the state agrees to recalculate the funding formula.

Tabakin, the attorney, said the formula needs to be applied in a predictable, non-arbitrary way.

"The school funding formula is a mess," he said.

Related:Brick plans to sue NJ for more school funding

Within three to four years, if the funding trend continues, Tabakin said, Brick schools and other districts facing aid cuts would be forced to make "terrible" decisions that would affect both students and taxpayers.

Board officials said even if they raise school taxes 2 percent annually — the maximum allowed under New Jersey law without a vote by the residents to exceed the cap — they still could not prevent major reductions in the school budget.

"You're heading toward a fiscal cliff," Tabakin told the board.

Brick's board approved spending up to $10,000 for legal representation in the lawsuit. Additional spending on the matter would require another vote.

If more districts join the legal action, the cost borne by each individual district will be reduced, Tabakin said.

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Amanda Oglesby: @OglesbyAPP; 732-557-5701; aoglesby@gannettnj.com