Finding funds for schools
By TERRI AKMAN
Cherry Hill Sun
10/25/2007

Local mayors seek solution to ongoing school funding issues

The school funding issue is a recurring nightmare for taxpayers and politicians alike.

As more money comes out of town coffers to cover education, many fed-up residents are fighting back by voting down school budgets.

Local mayors have had enough and hope that together, they can create a unified position on school funding reform.

Seventeen mayors attended a conference in Trenton recently, sponsored by the New Jersey League of Municipalities, to begin a dialogue intended to lead to change.

“I think it is imperative to be involved in discussions with the state government as Gov. Corzine prepares to propose a much-needed new school funding formula,” Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt said. “There is a consensus among many mayors that meaningful property tax reform is not possible without a complete overhaul of the current school-funding formula.”

According to Voorhees Mayor Michael Mignogna, the biggest problem with the current and recent formulas is the failure to fund them: “The state has not fully funded the proposed formula in approximately six years. School districts count on receiving the amount in the formula and craft their budgets accordingly. The schools should receive the amounts provided in the formula.”

Added Haddonfield Mayor Tish Colombi, “Hopefully, by involving the mayors, we can get some enthusiasm going and support for this issue. The state doesn’t have enough money to fully fund the things it is supposed to fund.”

Evesham Mayor Randy Brown sees the current funding formula as being completely antiquated and said it does not take into account the growth that communities such as Evesham are experiencing.

“I’m a newly elected official, and I learned how the pie gets cut up. There’s approximately $10 billion in state aid, which gets split up about 50 percent to the 31 Abbott Districts, and the other 570 districts split up the other 50 percent. I was actually very shocked by those numbers, and I did not realize it was as astoundingly separated as those two numbers were,” Brown said.

So, if the state is promising school districts less than they need, and then funding less than it promised, who gets stuck with the burden? The answer is the taxpayers.

Moorestown, according to Mayor Kevin Aberant, falls near the bottom of the list of Burlington County School aid. “Our local school budget is approximately $60 million. Local property taxes raise about 90 percent of that figure, so more than $50 million annually is paid by the property taxpayers for our Moorestown schools.”

In Haddonfield, close to 90 percent of the school tax is raised on the backs of the residents, Colombi said.

“It’s killing us, absolutely crippling us to the point that our last two school budgets have failed. That sets up a very difficult relationship between your borough government and your Board of Education, who are the two groups who should work together all the time,” she added.

Similarly, Cherry Hill residents shoulder most of their school tax burden. The state’s current share of 11 percent of local school budget is “severely insufficient,” Platt said.

"After six years of flat school funding, the state has effectively shifted one of its major financial burdens onto the shoulders of property taxpayers. School expenses are the biggest factor driving up our property taxes, which are already the highest in the nation,” he said.

How can the school funding problem be fixed?

The mayors agree that, first and foremost, the formula needs to be completely overhauled.

They said they believe the state needs to come up with more money for local school budgets, and that the allocation of those dollars needs to be reworked.

The Abbott District court ruling has reduced funding substantially in non-Abbott districts, they said.

These poor, urban schools are given additional state funding so that their per-pupil expenditures become equivalent to the average per-pupil expenditures in wealthier suburban districts, according to local mayors.

Yet Colombi believes these funding amounts aren’t equitable and put a squeeze on towns such as hers.

“The funding for them is incredible,” she said. “Where is the accountability that says that sending this much money to the Abbott Districts is working? That’s one of the questions that the mayors at the meeting wanted answered.”

Aberant understands the formula must take the financial coffers of individual districts into account, but that equation needs to be done more fairly, he said.

“There are certain communities in the state that need some extra assistance because they have an eroding tax base,” Aberant said. “Camden, for example, cannot collect enough from property taxes to pay for their school system because their ratable base is so low as it is, and it’s so difficult for them to even collect on the properties that exist.

“Camden has a fairly low tax collection percentage, whereas Moorestown collects 99 percent of our taxes. The formula needs to be adjusted so it’s more equitable to all the communities.”

Another key problem is in the funding of special education, which is a major draw of some communities, Brown said.

Students move into Evesham all the time because of the quality of its special education programs, the mayor said. “But we also need to be sure the state is a partner with us so that we can take care of all the needs of the special ed children.”

Mignogna agreed. “The formula should equalize aid to every child, regardless of the district. The amount per child should be adjusted based on the child’s needs.

“Special needs students deserve a quality education and the formula should be adjusted accordingly.”

A solution?

While there is no specific timetable as to when a solution may be implemented, the ball is now rolling, and hopefully, the right people are working to fix the problem, the mayors said.

“I expect the Legislature, the governor and the Department of Education to treat this matter with the urgency it deserves,” Platt said.

“After lawmakers issue a formal proposal, we’ll review it and release our official stance. In the meantime, we’ll be sitting down with members of Gov. Corzine’s administration. Looking ahead, we hope there will be a new funding formula in place by the 2008-2009 school year.”

“I am very optimistic that we can move to get something accomplished,” Brown said. “This is a severe issue that affects every taxpayer in the state. This is going to be a great challenge, but in order to keep taxes at a manageable level, we have to find a better way to split the pie.”

Yet this is an election year, a time when political issues often grind to a halt.

Colombi said she anticipates that the state is not going to bring the issue up before the elections because people are going to say, “so what have you done?’”

Aberant is a bit more skeptical: “I’m very pessimistic that we’ll be able to arrive at a political solution. I think it’s going to take something on a constitutional basis from the people.”