SOMERS POINT — The Somers Point Board of Education is calling for a “comprehensive review of our dated and ineffective school funding formula,” according to President Staci DiMattia Endicott.
In a letter to district parents, the 23-year educator said state funding must take into consideration the rising costs of employee health care and energy, stating they “overwhelmingly outpace our revenue caps of 2 percent.”
“We cannot expect schools to provide positive and safe learning environments for our children, with expected student achievement outcomes, when they are constantly having to navigate volatile funding while coping with the implications of that funding,” Endicott stated.
The letter begins with Endicott expressing “grave concerns of the financial stability of the Somers Point School District and the potential implications for our students and community at large.”
Enrollment has dropped nearly 50 percent, from 1,092 students in 2010 to 580 last year, not including preschool. Meanwhile, state aid fell by more than $4 million over the past seven years under S2, the School Funding Reform Act of 2018.
This year, the district realized a 3 percent reduction in state aid, a 6.38 percent fund balance reduction and 33.3 percent bank interest loss. The district also faced in increase of $170,951 due to the loss of banked cap and a 15 percent drop in preschool aid equating to $227,645.
In addition, health care costs rose $648,080 and utilities costs are rising. This year, the district has taken multiple steps to trim a budget deficit in excess of $1 million, cutting 11 positions districtwide, raising the tax levy 7.34 percent and hiking the tax rate by nearly 6.3 cents.
The Board of Education approved the district’s $20,423,360 budget for 2026-27 on April 30, calling for a tax levy increase to $13,023,322. That’s up about $1 million from the current spending plan, which called for raising $12.1 million in taxation.
The overall budget is up about $500,000 from the $19.9 million plan adopted May 1, 2025. The new tax rate is $1.18 on $100, an increase of about $156 annually on an average assessed home.
“Despite all these efforts to balance the budget and provide our students with programs and opportunities they deserve, we are still below adequacy,” Superintendent Ted Pugliese said during the budget process. “That means we are doing more with less than the state thinks we need to educate our students.”
The drop in enrollment and other factors have changed the district’s demographics. According to Endicott, nearly 65 percent of students are now determined to be at-risk.
“As a longstanding resident, taxpayer and member of the Somers Point Board of Education for the past 11 years, I remain acutely aware of the changing landscape of our school district,” she said. “Over the past two and a half decades, I have witnessed firsthand the shifts in our district’s demographics and student population, as well as the shifts in our city’s dynamics.”
Endicott is asking for support in putting pressure on legislators through a letter-writing campaign, which proved successful in the past. “Our community has rallied in the face of this adversity: a letter-writing campaign was initiated in which hundreds of our parents and students participated in signing and sending letters to our state lawmakers to ask for funding relief and a change to the state school funding formula,” she said.
In addition, the Parent-Teacher Organization launched an online petition and City Council passed a resolution requesting the state aid be restored.
Endicott and Pugliese have testified before the state Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee to illustrate “the dire situation our school district and community faced,” calling on the Legislature to enact change in the form of stabilization aid, a cap on both decreases and increases in district allocations of state funding and a comprehensive review of the funding formula.
“Our advocacy efforts, along with those of many across the state, resulted in the passage of A4161/S3081, which provided last year’s one-time stabilization aid to our district in the amount of $510,957,” Endicott said. “Those efforts also suggest the changes implemented this year by the state: a 3 percent cap on cuts to funding, as well as a maximum 6 percent increase.”
Endicott said the rising costs of health care and utilities must be taken into account when funding districts.
“For the past couple of years we have emphasized the urgency of the outdated state funding formula and the need for change. That is no longer the only pressing issue,” she said. “The rising costs of health care and utilities must be addressed immediately. Otherwise, it will not matter what the formula is, or who it figures is responsible for their fair share (state vs. local), we simply will not be able to afford the state and local taxes necessary to keep up with such rate increases.”
The district has been forced to raise taxes and cut positions. The district cut 11 staff positions, totaling nearly $1 million in salaries and benefits, while also implementing 25 percent reductions in all supply lines. That followed cuts of 23 staffing positions over the last two years.
“In light of these pressing challenges, I urge you to contact our state representatives. Please do it now and continue to do so, because next year we are anticipating even more difficulty than we have had so far,” Endicott stated. “Our students’ futures and the well-being of our entire community, whether you have children or not, depends on swift and decisive action.”
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
