Post by admin on Aug 5, 2006 16:02:23 GMT -5
COMMITTEES:
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AsmPanter@njleg.org
February 9, 2006
Brian, Freehold, NJ 07728
Dear Mr.
NEW JERSEY GENERAL ASSEMBLY
MICHAEL J. PANTER
ASSEMBLYMAN
Thank you for contacting me about funding for the Freehold Borough School District.
The Freehold Borough School District is unique in that it serves a large immigrant population in a small town surrounded by several larger towns with smaller immigrant populations. Despite the increasing needs of their own school district, taxpayers in Freehold Borough, like those all over the state, are paying to support Abbott school districts at a much higher level of funding than they enjoy locally.
The Abbott v. Burke decision has led to an extremely inequitable system of education funding which school districts that are granted Abbott status receive the same funding as the wealthiest school districts in New Jersey. The state Legislature must reform the way that the state funds Abbott districts, funding them instead at the same level as the state average for middle-income school districts. This would bring some relief to Freehold Borough taxpayers and others.
Another area that should be looked at in terms of education funding is the consolidation of administrative services. New Jersey has 611 school districts, each with its own superintendent and business administrator. In 2004, the average salary of a superintendent in New Jersey was $137,813, up from $121,416 in 2001. The total cost to pay all school superintendents in New Jersey in 2004 was $77 million, up from $69 million in 2001. Monmouth county school districts will spend $16.6 million on administrative salaries alone for the 2005-2006 school year.
New Jersey spends more money per student than any state in the nation. However, we rank forty-first in terms of how much of that money actually reaches the classroom. Much of the funding for school districts from property taxes goes to fund administrative services, which could be done from a County Superintendent of Schools' office.
Fairfax County, Virginia has only one school superintendent, earning $251,457 a year, for more than 200 schools and 166,000 students. Fairfax County also has the highest
standardized test scores of any school district in the nation. One reason for this is because education funding is being spent in the classrooms and not on multiple administrative salaries.
New Jersey school district administrative costs are 75% higher than the national average and 31% higher than Michigan, the next closest state. The 2001 Goldwater Institute Policy Report noted that regional school districts spend 8% of their budget on administrative costs while non-regional districts spend 28% on administrative costs.
If New Jersey were to utilize the Fairfax County model of having one superintendent of schools for each county who made an annual salary of $251,457, the total cost to taxpayers would be $5.2 million. This would result in an annual cost savings of $71.7 million on superintendent's salaries alone. Of this number, $7.1 million would be saved here in Monmouth County. More importantly, this money could be spent in the classrooms or used for property tax relief.
At the very least, a superintendent and business administrator should be responsible for a K-12 school district. This would let communities retain control of their schools while decreasing the burden on taxpayers. Furthermore, the 1999 Assembly Task Force on School District Regionaiization referenced "A Plan for School District Consolidation in New Jersey" from 1995 which stated that all regional high school districts merging with their respective K-8 districts in the towns they serve could save an estimated $32 million in annual administrative costs and more than $200 million a year overall.
One of the pieces of legislation I have sponsored is A-1984, which requires the Commissioner of Education to develop a plan to eliminate local school districts and establish a county-based educational system.
Michael J. Panter Assemblyman, 12th District
If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely,
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This is the reply I received from Michael Panter. I did not save what I had written to him. My letter was in direct response to an Asbury Park Press editorial about Freehold Schools
Brian
