S.B. seeks referendum on reg'l school funding
Boro pays $80K for each of 27 students at SRHS
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer
Sea Bright Borough Council members hope to add a ballot question to the Shore Regional High School (SRHS) September referendum.

Mayor Maria Fernandes

The borough's School Formula Advisory Committee recommended the ballot question tactic to council as one avenue to try to get tax relief for Sea Bright.

Councilwoman Dina Long, who chairs the committee, said the question would involve trying to change the mechanism by which the funding of the regional system is done.

"As we all know, the law on the regional school has said that if you want to make any changes in the way that the proportionate is calculated, it has to pass referendum in all the member towns," said Long at the March 18 council meeting. "At least let's try to change how we calculate shares."

The council wants the regional school funding to be based on per pupil costs and not the current system, which is property value based.

With the current system, Sea Bright pays $80,976 per student to educate 27 students, which means that Sea Bright's tax levy would be about $2.1 million, according to Long.

Councilwoman Dina Long

In a March 16 letter to the editor, Sea Bright Mayor Maria Fernandes said the amount is based on the Thorough & Efficient formula that takes into consideration the number of students in the grammar school, as well as Shore Regional, and the equalized value of the municipality, etc.

"This formula was voted into law by the N.J. State Legislature and was supposed to guarantee every child a 'thorough and efficient' education. We do not disagree with that intention, but as far as Sea Bright taxpayers are concerned, and other small communities in similar situations, it has also guaranteed an unbelievable unfair financial hardship, which must be resolved by the same body that voted for this unfair formula in the first place- N.J. State Legislature," wrote Fernandes.

The average cost to educate a child at the high school is $14,726 per student, based on another formula devised by the state Department of Education, which is defined as current expenses exclusive of tuition expenditures, transportation, residential costs and judgments against the school board, according to Fernandes.

Fernandes said in her letter that Oceanport ends up paying $12,990 per student to educate about 242 students at the high school and West Long Branch ends up paying $12,969 to educate 359 students.

"The total tax levy for the four communities shown above is $13,151,046, and the total number of students is 729.5. So the true cost to educate a student at Shore Regional is $18,027.48," wrote Fernandes.

Sea Bright has also seen a 6.6 cent per $100 of assessed value increase in the tax rate based on the proposed $14 million SRHS budget.

This increase is the highest increase of the four municipalities that send their students to the school. Those four municipalities are Sea Bright, Oceanport, West Long Branch and Monmouth Beach.

"We feel it's not just inequitable, it's just plain unjust," said Long of the increase.

Fernandes echoed this sentiment in her letter.

"Sea Bright has the least amount of students, has the lowest equalized property value, but has the highest increase and the highest per pupil cost," wrote Fernandes.

She said the sharp increase is due to the [Thorough & Efficient] formula and it is also due to the increase in the total property value in Sea Bright, which increased by about $4 million.

"Our bill to SRHS was $1.8 million. This budget adds another $345,899 to that bill which brings Sea Bright's bill up to $2.1 million," said Long. "Ironically SRHS also prepared a relatively lean budget this year. Their $14 million budget is up only $307,855 from last year. So we're covering that with our $345,000 increase and then some."

The proposed regional school budget would bring the tax rate up from 35.1 cents to 41.7 cents per $100 of assessed value for Sea Bright taxpayers.

Ahomeowner living in the average Sea Bright home assessed at $383,100 would pay an additional $21.25 a month, or $254 annually, if the school budget were adopted.

The total amount of the district's budget to be raised by taxes is $13.15 million, of which Sea Bright's share is about 16 percent.

This is an increase from the 2007-08 Shore Regional budget, for which Sea Bright's share was about 14 percent.

To go forward with the ballot question, the council would have to confer with the SRHS board of education (BOE).

"There is a whole mechanism that you would have to go through to get to the point where that would be voted on by all of the constituent towns to change from property value based proportionate to per pupil based," said borough attorney Scott Arnette at the meeting.

The 10-member BOE is made up of representatives from all four-member towns, including one representative from Sea Bright.

Fernandes said she is optimistic about the situation.

"I think we should [go forward on the referendum.] It may happen that it will get voted in our favor. I like to be optimistic and if all of us did some campaigning at school election time and … just think, if every single voter in Sea Bright came out to vote we could pull it off," said Fernandes.

Fernandes also came up with a solution to the formula woes that caused the increase in Sea Bright.

"The solution is simple - eliminate complicated formulas devised in the past and fairly charge each municipality on a true per pupil cost. All we are asking for is fairness and common sense," she wrote in the letter.

Long was concerned about the costs of sending out a mailer to all four towns to publicize the ballot question.

She said it would cost about $4,000 for printing and $2,500 for the mailing.

"The $6,500 is about 1/8th of the cost of one student's tuition so it's a good investment I think," said Councilman Thomas E. Scriven.

Long also mentioned a half-cent increase for Sea Bright as part of the lower school budget, which is part of the Oceanport School District.

She said that budget is expected to increase by 3.3 percent.