Pursuant
to the Board of Review’s request at its March 22, 2007 meeting, the Great
Meadows Regional Board of Education (the “Board” or “Great Meadows”) files this
brief in opposition to Liberty Township’s (“Liberty”) February 2, 2007 Petition
seeking authorization to conduct a referendum on the dissolution of the Great
Meadows Regional School District (the “District”). Through its Petition Liberty seeks to break
up the District, which is comprised of less than 1,000 students, into two
separate districts. One of these
proposed districts –
However,
Moreover,
As
it will be demonstrated herein, this Board has the ability to deny
1. An excessive debt burden
will be imposed on either
2. An efficient school
system cannot be maintained in either
3. Insufficient pupils will
be left in either
4. Any other reason which this Board may deem to be sufficient.
See N.J.S.A. 18A:13-56.
As it is discussed in greater detail
below, it is respectfully submitted that
FACTUAL
BACKGROUND/PROCEDURAL HISTORY
A. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
1. General Description of District
The District is located in Warren
County, New Jersey. The District was
created in 1993 when the citizens of
We asked ourselves why would two … proud, successful school districts consider jeopardizing their status quo by voluntarily forfeiting their total control? Our answer to that was because we had a shared vision for improvement, there was a win-win scenario.
“Findings and Recommendations of
the Assembly Task Force on
Great Meadows is a kindergarten
through eighth grade limited purpose school district.[3] Currently, there are approximately only 989
students from
Great Meadows currently provides
instruction to the children of
The
The
By
all accounts, the Great Meadows’ students are performing exceptionally
well. In fact, they exceed their peers
in many standardized tests. In fact,
2. Educational Funding
Great Meadows’ revised budget for
the 2006 – 2007 school year is $18,502,166.
(
When
the voters of
Great
Meadows manages the tax dollars that it is entrusted with exceptionally
well. In fact, for the 2005 – 2006
budget year, Great
Meadows’ costs-per-pupil were over $1,000 less than the state median of
$10,712.[4] (
3. Debt of Great Meadows
Currently, the District has very
little debt. Great Meadows’ most recent audit revealed that the
District has a borrowing capacity of $25,245,784. (
4.
Despite all of the advantages
that Great Meadows has afforded to both
Initially,
it is submitted that the State Aid amounts that
The petition states
on a number of occasions that “withdrawal would result in a decrease in the
school tax levy for
(
Regarding
Under current state
law, eligible construction projects receive 40% of the debt service payments in
state aid. This law originally provided
either grants or state aid payments at 40%.
The grant fund has been exhausted but the law requiring 40% debt service
aid is still in effect. However,
according to a state official, since the grant funds have been exhausted there
is a possibility the legislature could eliminate the 40% debt service funding. If this were the case it would cost
(
Mr. Yaniro also voices serious
concerns regarding the debt burden that
With regards to additional staff
that Liberty would have to hire if the District were dissolved, Mr. Yaniro
concludes that an additional custodian, a superintendent, a business
administrator, 2 secretaries, a bookkeeper, a treasurer, nine teachers[5], a
child study team supervisor, a school psychologist, a speech therapist, a
social worker, and a technology specialist would have to be retained. (
Mr. Yaniro’s study also mentions the
fact that if
Finally,
in analyzing the possible effects of Assembly Bill 1 on the ability of
Mr.
Yaniro also opined that under the A-1 regime, it would extremely difficult for either
As a district gets smaller (Great
Meadows will lose 140 pupils and
(
B. PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Pursuant
to the Statutes of New Jersey, on or about November 2, 2006 the Mayor and
Council of Liberty adopted a resolution requesting that the Warren County
Superintendent of Schools make an investigation into the advisability of
William
N. King, the Warren County Superintendent of Schools responded to this request
on January 8, 2007. (
1. The
Townships of
2. The
study [performed by the RAND Corporation, and utilized by
3. The
State Legislature and the Governor are studying and are committed to a new
funding formula for all of the schools of
4. The direction of the State Legislature, the Governor, and the Department of Education is to reduce the number of school districts through consolidation and shared services. This proposal increases the number of districts.
5. The
summary of the study provides a good listing of advantages and disadvantages of
dissolution. On the surface, it appears
the disadvantages outweigh the advantages for the total population of the
(
Apparently unperturbed by Mr. King’s rejection of its request to dissolve
the District, on or about February 2, 2007
On or about February 16, 2007 the Board filed a response to the
Petition. (See Great Meadows’
Response and Opposition to
1. N.J.S.A. 18A:13-51 should not be utilized to circumvent N.J.S.A. 18A:13-23 where a constituent municipality is not satisfied with the apportionment formula approved by the voters in the municipalities comprising the limited purpose regional school district.
2. The
financial conclusions reached by Petitioner on
3. Both
4. A decision on whether to submit the question of withdrawal to the electorate cannot be based on a phase out plan.
5. The educational programs at
6. Withdrawal of
8. Continued viability of clubs/activities
will be compromised with the withdrawal of
9. The withdrawal of Liberty Students will
result in a reduction of 36% in the special education population at
(
LEGAL
ARGUMENT
Dissolving a regional
school district is a very serious task that has wide reaching impacts, upon not
only the district’s pupils, but also on the constituent communities. “Dissolving a regional school district or
allowing a district to withdraw from a regional situation is a very serious and
very important decision, and it has tremendous impacts on communities, as well
as the lives of our students.” “Findings
and Recommendations of the Assembly Task Force on
The process by which a municipality may seek to withdraw from a regional school district is governed by the provisions of N.J.S.A. 18A:13-51, et seq. Pursuant to these statutes, a petition seeking the withdrawal from a regional school district may be denied after this Board has “consider[ed] the effect of the [proposal] upon the educational and financial condition of the withdrawing and remaining districts,” and determines:
1. An excessive debt burden will be imposed upon the remaining districts, or the withdrawing district, or upon any of the constituent districts in the event of a dissolution;
2. An efficient school system cannot be maintained in the remaining districts or the withdrawing district, or in any of the constituent districts in the event of a dissolution, without excessive costs;
3. Insufficient pupils will be left in the remaining districts, or in any of the constituent districts in the event of a dissolution, to maintain a properly graded school system; or
4. Any other reason, which it may deem to be sufficient.
N.J.S.A. 18A:13-56. See also, In re Petition for Authorization to Conduct a Referendum on the Withdrawal of the North Haledon School District from the Passaic County Manchester Regional High School District, 181 N.J. 161, 173 (2004); In re Petition for Authorization to Conduct a Referendum on the Dissolution of Union County Regional High School District No. 1, 298 N.J. Super. 1, 7 (App. Div.), cert. den. 149 N.J. 37 (1997).
When interpreting this statutory provision, the courts of New Jersey have held that “any of the first three circumstances specified … as a justifiable reason to refuse permission for an election would result in a condition inconsistent with the ‘thorough and efficient system of free public schools…,’” which the State is obligated to maintain and support. In re Union County, supra, quoting, N.J. Const. Art. VIII, § 4, ¶ 1. See also, In the Matter of the Petition for Authorization to Conduct a Referendum on the Withdrawal of the North Haledon School District for the Passaic County Manchester Regional High School District, 363 N.J. Super. 130, 138 (“Facts which establish any of the statutory criteria to refuse permission to withdraw are with constitutional guarantee of a through and efficient education and dictate a denial of the petition.”).
It
is respectfully submitted that the facts here clearly mandate a denial of
A. The Petition Is To Be Denied Because
One
of the factors that this Board is to examine when determining the
appropriateness of a petition seeking dissolution of a regional school district
is whether “[a]n excessive debt burden will be imposed upon the remaining
districts, or the withdrawing district, or upon any of the constituent
districts, in the event of a dissolution.” (Emphasis added). N.J.S.A. 18A:13-56. The Appellate Division has specifically held
that a local school district may not avoid paying its share of a regional
school district’s debt by simply withdrawing from the regional district.
By
its own calculations,
In
analyzing
The total debt a school district can assume is limited by its borrowing margin as determined by state statute. The borrowing margin is the average of the community’s equalized valuations over the past three years multiplied by 3% (since a K – 8 district).
2006 $ 341,250,484
2005 309,698,685
2004 270,374,011
Total $ 921,323,180
÷ 3 307,107,727
X 3% $ 9,213,232
Addition $ 5,268,700
Regional Debt Assumed 2,332,800 (27% of $8,640,000)
Total $ 7,601,500
Thus
If
(Emphasis added). (Gratt Cert. at ¶ 2, Exh.
A). This study reveals that
It
is also important to note that these figures were based upon the assumption
that the School Construction Corporation would assist
Added
to this is the fact that
In
light of the above, it is respectfully submitted that
B. Liberty’s Proposed Withdrawal From The Great Meadows Regional School District Will Cause Independence To Suffer An Undue Financial Hardship In Attempting To Educate Its Children.
As
Great Meadows’ response to
In analyzing the feasibility of
Despite
its contentions to the contrary, this increase, however, would not be offset by
any great tax savings to the citizens of
Clearly, such a minimal change does not warrant the
extreme result that
Accordingly, it is respectfully submitted that
II. SINCE
In support of its Petition Liberty has submitted a Feasibility Study prepared by Statistical Forecasting, LLC. A review of this Feasibility Study, however, reveals that it contains numerous flawed assumptions. As a result, this Board should disregard the conclusions and recommendations contained therein, and the Petition should be denied in its entirety.
A.
In
its Petition Liberty asserts that the proposed dissolution will result in an
estimated tax savings to the residents of
As
it was indicated in Point I, supra, the Feasibility Study fails to fully
account for certain additional expenses that
1. An increase in staff costs of $1,338,480;
2.
A loss in state aid to offset construction costs to the
3.
The cost of four portable classrooms that will need to
be rented by
(Gratt Cert. at ¶ 2, Exh. A).
Additionally,
the formula utilized by
Moreover, Governor Corzine, in an apparent attempt to eliminate some of the present inequalities in state aid, has, for the first time in five years, increased aid to Non-Abbott Districts by more than $300 million. See “State Releases Aid Numbers,” New Jersey School Board’s Association, http://www.njsba.org/press_release/state-releases-aid-numbers.html.[13] According to another report, Commissioner Davey has indicated that this increase in aid “reflect[s] the direction that a new [funding] formula will take.” “Funding Formula Delayed,” New Jersey School Board’s Association, http://www.njsba.org/press_release/funding-delayed.html.[14]
The
study prepared by VDY Consulting, LLC in opposition to
The petition states
on a number of occasions that “withdrawal would result in a decrease in the
school tax levy for
(Gratt Cert.
at ¶ 2, Exh. A). Mr. Yaniro continues
by stating that a new state aid formula may actually distribute aid to
When one takes these additional
costs – which were ignored by
B.
As it was discussed above, through its Petition Liberty seeks to take a district that contains less than 1,000 students and break it into two separate and distinct school districts – one of which will only have 400 students. Not only is this an inefficient and gross waste of local resources (two boards of education, two superintendents, two school business administrators, two sets of office staff, two sets of bus contracts, two Child Study Teams, two sets of middle school foreign language teachers, two sets of middle school elective teachers, etc.), but it is also contrary to New Jersey’s recent encouragement of the formation of regional school districts.
The
1999 Report from the Assembly Task Force on School District Regionalization
commented that from a financial standpoint, regionalization presented the
following possible advantages: shared
staffing promotes efficiency while shared programming promotes student
interest, savings in central administration for staff and other costs may
accrue, an increased fiscal borrowing power results from a larger tax base, the
costs for needed facility improvements are spread over a larger tax base, the
sale of property could offset addition or renovation costs, possible savings
may result from regionalized transportation services, lower pupil costs may be
possible through centralization, stabilization of taxes will occur once the
district is regionalized, and a better bond rating may be achieved. “Findings and Recommendations of the Assembly
Task Force on
Regarding
the potential educational benefits, the Task Force commented that in the
regional setting, special education and basic skills programs are easier to
coordinate and administer, there is less variance in class size and desirable
curricular and extra-curricular programs can be maintained due to increased enrollment.
In light of these benefits, the New Jersey School Board’s Association has indicated, “when districts determine after thorough study that regionalization would provide educational and/or financial benefits to the districts involved, they should be encouraged to regionalize.” “Positions and Policies on Education – Governance – 9300,” New Jersey School Board’s Association.[15]
III. THROUGH ITS PETITION
N.J.S.A. 18A:13-23 provides three methods under which a regional school district may apportion its appropriations. This statute provides, in relevant part, as follows:
The annual or special appropriations for regional districts, including the amounts to be raised for interest upon, and the redemption of, bonds payable by the district, shall be apportioned among the municipalities included within the regional district, as may be approved by the voters of each municipality at the annual school election or a special school election, upon the basis of:
a. the portion of each municipalities equalized valuation allocated to the regional district…
b. the proportional number of pupils enrolled from each municipality on the 15th day of October of the prebudget year in the same manner as would apply if each municipality comprised separate constituent school districts;[16] or
c. any combination of apportionment based upon equalized valuations pursuant to subsection a. of this section or pupil enrollments pursuant to subsection b. of this section.
N.J.S.A. 18A:13-23. Pursuant to this statute, if there is a desire to change the appropriations formula that is utilized by a regional school district, such a desire must be approved by the citizens of the constituent municipalities that comprise that particular district.
Rather, it is respectfully submitted that if
As are result, it is respectfully submitted that the Petition seeks improper relief from this Board, and should, therefore, be dismissed in its entirety.
CONCLUSION
For
the foregoing reasons, the Respondent, the Great Meadows Regional Board of
Education, respectfully requests that the Board of Review deny the Petitioner’s
request for Authorization to Conduct a Referendum on the Dissolution of the
Respectfully submitted,
COURTER,
KOBERT & COHEN, P.C.
Attorneys for Respondent,
The Great Meadows Regional Board of
Education
By:_________________________________
Michael S. Selvaggi
Dated: April 11, 2007
[1] “Gratt Cert.” refers to the April 10, 2007 Certification of Jason P. Gratt.
[2] A copy of this report is attached as Exhibit C to the April 10, 2007 Certification of Jason P. Gratt.
[3] Great Meadows does have one pre-kindergarten disabled classroom.
[4] For this budget year, Great Meadows’ cost-per-pupil were $9,695.
[5] It is assumed that one of these teachers will need to be hired to run a Gifted and Talented Program for those Liberty Students currently receiving such educational programming in the District.
[6] Although these figures are for a “worst-case scenario,” it is Great Meadow’s position that it would be irresponsible not to consider them when undertaking the drastic step of potentially dissolving a regional school district.
[7]
The Feasibility Study states that this debt will be comprised as follows: $2,561,695 in old debt for the construction
of the
[8] It
is submitted that
[9] In
fact, this figure is even more drastic when one looks at what the impact will
be to
[10]
It must be noted that even this number is incorrect. In its own feasibility study it is stated
that such savings will be reduced to 1.3 million dollars when the debt serving
costs associated with the proposed expansion of the
[11]
It is interesting to note that
[12] A copy of this article is attached as Exhibit M to the April 10, 2007 Certification of Jason P. Gratt.
[13] A copy of this article is attached as Exhibit N to the April 10, 2007 Certification of Jason P. Gratt.
[14] A copy of this article is attached as Exhibit O to the April 10, 2007 Certification of Jason P. Gratt.
[15] A copy of this document is attached as Exhibit P to the April 10, 2007 Certification of Jason P. Gratt.
[16]
Great Meadows currently utilizes this form of apportionment between