Toms River Regional: We need your help to get more NJ school money

Jean Mikle | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Why is state aid important to New Jersey schools? Here's what you need to know about schools in New Jersey are funded.

TOMS RIVER - Saying "the future of our children and our community is at stake," Toms River Regional Schools Superintendent David M. Healy penned a letter last week to the school community, pleading with residents to write letters and make calls demanding more state aid.

Healy's letter is the latest attempt by Toms River Regional officials to get the public involved in the district's quest for more state aid. Without an outcry from parents, teachers and other residents, the district's pleas for more state school aid are likely to fall on deaf ears, officials have said.

Facing a nearly $2.4-million aid cut for the 2018-19 school year, the Board of Education agreed last month to use $1.15 million in additional surplus funds and $1.2 million in maintenance money to make up for the cut.

But Healy and other officials warned that next year the district could face a budget hole closer to $5 million. That could lead to staff and program cuts, with items like late buses, courtesy busing and some sports programs at the middle and elementary schools potentially targeted for cutbacks.

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"It is difficult if not impossible to overstate the negative short- and long-term impact of these projected cuts, and while we seek not to alarm or provoke anxieties, it is incumbent on us to adequately communicate what is at stake," Healy wrote in the Aug. 2 letter.

The letter includes contact numbers and email addresses for a host of state and local government officials, from Gov. Phil Murphy and Senate President Steve Sweeney, to Mayor Oscar Cradle of South Toms River. You can read Healy's letter below.

Toms River, Pine Beach, Beachwood and South Toms River make up the Toms River Regional district, which has about 16,000 students and 23 school buildings.

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"Tell them that we can no longer sustain these cuts and continue to provide the efficient, comprehensive education we are entrusted to deliver," Healy wrote. "Tell them that enough is enough.... Demand that they restore our state aid in full and encourage them to, finally, fix the state education funding formula so that school aid is distributed fairly to all districts."

Toms River schools business administrator discusses budget crisis William Doering, Toms River Regional school district's business administrator, discusses the ways the district will be hurt by cuts in state aid.

Under the new state budget, school aid was reduced for many of the largest districts in the Shore area, including Toms River Regional, Brick, Freehold Regional and Middletown. But other districts, such as Long Branch, Freehold, Red Bank Regional and Rumson, will receive more school dollars.

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Toms River Regional, which received $69 million in state aid last school year, will see its aid package reduced by $19.7 million by the end of seven years, according to estimates by the Newark-based Education Law Center, an advocate for changes in educational spending.

To learn more about how school districts are funded in New Jersey, watch the video above this story.

School aid figures released by Gov. Phil Murphy's administration show a $991,110 cut in aid for Toms River Regional for the 2018-2019 school year.

But Toms River Regional Business Administrator William Doering said the aid cut is actually much larger: $2.35 million.

The discrepancy is because of state aid that was restored to the district after an initial $3.3 million aid cut in the 2017-2018 school year, Doering said.

All of that state aid eventually was restored to Toms River Regional, but it was not included in the district's aid allocation this year, he said.

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com