TOMS RIVER – Toms River School District officials wanted some changes in Trenton that would help with future budget years. They attempted to gather support from the New Jersey School Boards Association, which provided perspective recently on why the Toms River changes weren’t endorsed.
The Association is a federation of school boards throughout the state. If they endorse certain positions, it lends weight to them and could get state policy makers to listen.
Toms River is one of several local districts that has lost millions in state aid over the last several years. Although they can’t get that money back, the idea was that they could change state policies so that future cuts wouldn’t be as deep.
Toms River had sent three resolutions to the School Boards Association Delegate Assembly in October. In November, Business Administrator William Doering and then-member Anna Polozzo met with the Resolution Subcommittee.
It was reported in the December 14, 2024 article “School Aid Policy Proposals Fall Flat” that Polozzo said three resolutions didn’t get endorsed “because a couple of staff members” at the Association weren’t interested.
Timothy Purnell, Executive Director/CEO of the New Jersey School Boards Association, responded to this article, stating that the reasons the SBA didn’t take up the cause had more to do with their work advocating for districts rather than “because a couple of staff members” denied them.
He explained the process of how a resolution goes through SBA. They are thoroughly investigated by staff members. If they make a recommendation to the Resolutions Subcommittee, those 33 school board members then have another round of studying the resolution before choosing to send it to the Delegate Assembly.
It was during the Delegate Assembly that the delegates declined to adopt the resolutions, he noted. This took place after all three resolutions were carefully considered.
The Toms River Board of Education submitted three resolutions for the December 7, 2024, Delegate Assembly.
Taxes And PILOT Programs
The first resolution would have asked for the SBA to advocate for a change in how equalized value is added together. When the state assesses how “rich” a town is, for lack of a better word, they add up the assessed value of all property.
However, some towns have PILOT programs (payment in lieu of taxes). When a developer is sinking a lot of money into a big project, they are not going to make money back on it right away. So, they cut a deal with the town that the town won’t tax them, sometimes up to 30 years. Instead, the developer pays an amount of money that grows every year until the end of the contract. Then, taxes take over.
The issue, as Toms River Schools sees it, is that these multi-million dollar PILOT developments don’t factor into a town’s assessments. That means some towns appear to have less money than others.
Toms River wanted the SBA to agree that PILOT programs should be included when determining how much state aid a district receives. Since this could hurt some towns, that new amount could be phased in over five years.
Polozzo said that the SBA didn’t support this resolution because it would decrease aid to some of the towns.
Purnell disagreed. “The reason that this resolution was rejected by the Resolutions Subcommittee was because it was substantially identical to a resolution that the Delegate Assembly considered, debated and voted on…at the May 18, 2024, Delegate Assembly. It was rejected by a majority of voting school districts at that time.
“In May the Resolutions Subcommittee recommended rejection of the resolution, noting that it does not guarantee that the Toms River School District would receive additional funds if such a policy were to become law and that the impact could not be accurately determined until the personal income and multipliers were included in the local fair share calculation along with the equalized values. The committee also noted that the policy had the potential to harm other school districts.
“It is worth noting that the December 2024 Delegate Assembly did approve a resolution dealing with PILOT programs that provides for local boards to be included in the decision making on local PILOT programs and receive a portion of the community benefits. This is an issue that NJSBA continues to advocate for boards to have input on, as PILOT developments can impact enrollment and the finances of a district,” he said.
Transparent Aid
The second resolution would require the State Department of Education to annually provide documents explaining how state aid is calculated.
The lack of transparency has frustrated schools that lost aid. Toms River Schools has even sued for the information to be provided, but has so far been unsuccessful.
Purnell said “The Resolutions Subcommittee did not advance this resolution to the Delegate Assembly because it is a reaffirmation of policy that already exists in our Manual of Positions and Policies on Education. Policy #3220, State School Finance System, details NJSBA’s beliefs about the school finance system, and includes the following statements (among several):
“The NJSBA believes that New Jersey’s school finance system should:
6. Provide for equalized aid for capital expenditures and debt service, based on individual districts’ ability to pay as defined by the School Funding Reform Act or its successor;
7. Provide state aid based on predictable statutory formulas which is predictable, transparent and capable of being re-calculated at the local district level;
8. Provide current-year funding of all state aid;
9. Provide state aid for the full excess cost of all mandated special education programs and services;
10. Provide state funding for the full cost of all state mandates;
11. Include a system of evaluation to ensure accountability in the allocation of state aid;
12. Promote efficiency in the use of tax dollars; and recognize that the geographically adjusted average of expenditures by regular school districts that have demonstrated an ability to provide a thorough and efficient education based on agreed-upon outcomes is an appropriate benchmark for the funds needed by every district to provide a thorough and efficient education.”
Revaluations And Aid
The third resolution would prevent schools from receiving more aid if they aren’t up to date on revaluations.
Every town is supposed to have a revaluation whenever their property value is, on average, more than 15% away from what they are supposed to be. Then, the town hires a third party company to look at every piece of land and any buildings on it. They determine the new valuation of that property. That new value will be what your taxes will be based on.
However, there are towns where the average property tax is way past these limits, some are more than 80% too low. In other words, as land becomes more valuable every year, towns that don’t revaluate them are still going by old values. That makes them look like a poor town that needs more aid. Meanwhile, a town that’s following the law appears to have more rich people in it, so they get less aid.
One of the policy positions Toms River put forward would be that towns that don’t follow the revaluations don’t receive the aid based on old values.
“In rejecting this resolution, the Resolutions Subcommittee determined that it called for action that was beyond the scope of the NJSBA’s charter,” Purnell said. “The reasoning is that decisions on the reassessment of property values in a municipality rightfully belong to the municipality. Current administrative code outlines the requirements for reassessments – and the authority to influence that lies outside of NJSBA’s charter.”
Future Revision
Purnell said that the NJSBA is actively advocating for school funding reform, including an amendment that would change the calculation of how aid is doled out.
Other policies in the works include increasing flexibility in the tax levy cap for certain districts; reducing the magnitude of state aid cuts, requiring more transparency and public input in the funding formula, and highlighting the need for full funding of extraordinary special education aid.
Choosing not to adopt a resolution doesn’t mean they don’t support the policy, but that the resolution as written may not be the best way of achieving the goal, he said.
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