BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

RED BANK — A school district beset with resignations, a looming budget crisis and few options is looking for help from all levels.

Officials of the Red Bank Public School District are turning to local, county and state levels of government for help in dealing with a projected $600,000 shortfall in the budget for the 2006-07 school year.

According to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Keshish, there are three main reasons for the financial crisis: the transfer payments of $1.6 million to the Red Bank Charter School; the budget limits set by S-1701, a state law that caps school budgets; and a growing Spanish-speaking population in the district, requiring English as a second language (ESL) instruction.

“We’re currently looking for $810,000 from the state in extraordinary aid,” she said. “That is the difference in the cost of supporting the [ESL] population now and what it was eight years ago.”

Former district superintendent Dr. John Krewer said in an interview last week that he does not see the ESL population as a significant reason for the budget shortfall.

“If you don’t have the first and second reasons,” he said, “you don’t have a problem with number three.”

Krewer said that he met with Borough Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr., Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck (R-12), Monmouth County Superintendent of Schools Eugenia Lawson, and representatives from the state Department of Education (DOE) concerning the financial issues currently faced by the district.

“We are continuing our effort to actualize our mission of every child learning well,” he said. “We’re looking for extraordinary aid for districts that are Abbott-like, but are not Abbott.”

Abbott districts are school districts defined as poor urban districts that require additional state funding to be on an equal educational footing as all other school districts.

In defining Abbott districts, the state Supreme Court relied on a formula that includes property tax assessments, average family income, student achievement and whether the district is a K-12 district on the state’s list for urban aid. There are currently 31 Abbott districts in the state.

Krewer said that the Red Bank school district is nearly Abbott, but does not meet every criteria.

Board of Education President Janet Jones said in an interview this week that the board has not formally requested extraordinary aid from the

state, but is planning to meet with acting Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy.

“Hopefully,” Jones said, “by our February meeting, we will have a response to our request for a meeting at the state level.”

Lawson said in an interview last week that the Red Bank Public School District is extremely well run, and that its officials are doing everything in their power to keep the education provided in the district schools at a high level.

“Through the superintendent and administration,” she said, “the school has been taken to a new level, and its Blue Ribbon nomination is a perfect example of that.”

The Red Bank Primary School was recently nominated as a Blue Ribbon School by Davy, who stated that the school has made tremendous strides in its students’ standardized test scores over the past year.

Blue Ribbon schools are those that have shown dramatic improvement in a short period of time. The award is given through a federal school program.

Lawson said that she personally met with Krewer and district Business Administrator Frances Finkelstein to review the district’s 2006-07 budget and found no place for more cuts.

“We combed through that budget very carefully,” she said. “It’s a violation of the law to cut core programs. The district is at a very tenuous point at the budget.”

Lawson said that every district in the state is being affected by S-1701, but the legislation is hitting smaller districts hardest.

She said that despite several attempts by legislators to repeal the law, she doesn’t expect to see that anytime soon.

“We knew years ago that we were looking at hardships with 1701,” she said, “and it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be much movement there.”

She said that if something is not done about the financial situation, the district faces more teachers being cut.

Lawson said that because S-1701 caps surplus, a school district’s surplus could be wiped out with an influx of special education students.

“Forty-seven thousand dollars or more could be spent on one special education student,” she said.

As far as the effect of the charter school on the borough district, Lawson said that she could not comment, but said there are three charter schools in Monmouth County: the Red Bank Charter School, Academy Charter School in Lake Como, and Hope Academy in Asbury Park.

There is ongoing litigation between the borough district and the charter school concerning perceived discrepancies in the racial make-up of the schools.

According to Armand McOmber, the attorney representing the borough district, the district has many more minority students than the charter school has.

“This year we have 144 students who need ESL [English as a second language],” he said in an interview last month. “That’s 21.7 percent. Next year we’ll have 196 ESL kids. That’s 27.8 percent. That’s very costly.”

Keshish said that since the district cannot cut core classes to compensate for budget problems, the district may face more teacher layoffs, which would mean increased class sizes, or cutting noncore classes like music, art and technology.

“No one wants to look at doing any of that,” she said. “The charter school has gotten caught up in the issue because of its financial impact on us. It’s not the cause, but the money going to them exacerbates our problem.”

Keshish said the board must approve a budget by mid-February, and it would then go to the county for approval, before taxpayers vote on it in April.

The financial constraints on the borough school district have acted as a catalyst for major changes in the district.

Krewer tendered his resignation in October, citing the pending financial crisis as his main reason for accepting a position as superintendent in Spotswood, Middlesex County.

Keshish also submitted her resignation to the board last week, effective at the end of August, and said she will apply for the post of superintendent.

David Tarver, a founder and trustee of the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative, also announced his resignation from the board of the initiative, and said he is not planning to run for re-election to the district Board of Education in April.

Tarver cited the growing discord between the charter school and the borough school district as one of his main reasons for stepping back from the arena.