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Bill clears way to eliminate school districts with no schools
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Non-operating school districts must be eliminated in a way that has the least financial and educational disruptions under a bill approved by the state Legislature last week.
But residents of the 25 districts that send all of their children to school in other towns will still not get to vote on the plan, a sore point with some school board members and the state association that represents them.
Local non-operating districts include Longport and Corbin City in Atlantic County, West Wildwood and Cape May Point in Cape May County, Shiloh in Cumberland County and Newfield in Gloucester County. Newfield has already been approved by the state to begin moving its children out of Atlantic County's Buena Regional School District and into other Gloucester County districts.
The elimination of non-operating districts was originally approved in 2007 as part of a larger bill to improve school efficiency and accountability. Last week's bill, S3000/A4141, clarifies the procedure for how the non-operating districts will be eliminated.
State Sen. James Whelan, D-Atlantic, who sponsored the Senate bill, said he did so because it addresses a major issue for his nonoperating districts - how much it will cost property owners. Nonoperating districts, which now pay tuition based on enrollment, were worried that they could see a huge property tax increase if they were forced to merge.
"My concern was to make sure there would not be a big financial hit for anyone," he said.
Whelan said that does not mean there may not be any change in the tax rate, but it should be small and gradual.
The bill only requires the cost to be the "least fiscally disruptive" during the first year. It then requires the districts to follow the same procedure as already outlined in state law for regional districts. The bill does allow for a five-year, phase-in period of the cost apportionment, which can be based on enrollment, property valuation or a combination of both.
The executive county superintendents have the responsibility to develop the plans for eliminating nonoperating districts. Whelan said he was told the plan is to do 14 districts in the next year. Longport and Corbin City would be in the second wave.
Charles Muller, county business administrator in Atlantic and Cape May counties, said they are waiting for regulations from the state before proceeding.
The bill was introduced last Monday and passed Thursday, record time in Trenton, and some local officials were still reviewing it.
"They just slipped this in," said Cape May Point Mayor Carl Schupp. He said the town only has three children, so he is very concerned about how a forced elimination might affect the tax rate.
West Wildwood school board member Steve Cava said he still doesn't understand how the state can just eliminate nonoperating districts, when other regionalization plans must to go to the voters.
"I'm not opposed to merging," he said. "I'm trying to preserve the right to vote."
The New Jersey School Boards Association also criticized the bill for not allowing residents to vote. Spokesman Frank Belluscio said county regionalization plans are due March 2010, and they would prefer to let the nonoperating district issue be included in that process.
Executive county superintendents must also come up with plans to merge all K-8 districts in their counties into K-12 systems of about 5,000 students. Those plans will go to voters in the affected towns, including the nonoperating districts.
The county superintendents were supposed to have plans for eliminating nonoperating districts by March. But complications involved in the allocation of costs delayed the project.
Under the bill, which Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to sign this morning, the nonoperating district would continue to be treated separately for calculating school aid. There is also a procedure to allow a resident from the former nonoperating district to serve on the school board of the merged district. Assets of the nonoperating district would be liquidated with the cash balance turned over to the municipal government.
E-mail Diane D'Amico:
Posted in Press on Tuesday, June 30, 2009 3:05 am
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