Upper, Somers Point, MRHS welcome back students with fewer teachers, other changes
Editor’s note: Because most of the state aid the Ocean City School District receives is through stable School Choice funds, and because it’s smaller regular state aid actually rose a little bit, the district did not face cuts like its neighboring districts.
Many area school districts have suffered tremendous aid cuts over the past seven years and administrators opened their doors last week with their belts on tighter.
Somers Point, Upper Township and Mainland Regional High School districts all lost millions of dollars in funding under the School Funding Reform Act of 2018.
Last spring, when formulating their spending plans for 2024-25, administrators were forced to deal with another deep cut.
Somers Point, where students started class Sept. 3, received $6.1 million in state aid for 2018-19 and just $2.1 million for 2024-25, a loss of more than $4 million, or 66 percent, in seven years.
Dealing with the effects of state aid cuts and the loss of COVID funding just this year, the initial district budget called for cutting 13 certified staff positions, gutting its Multi-Tiered System of Support, postponing or canceling capital projects, increasing the tax levy 4.45 percent and other measures.
In Upper Township, which started classes Sept. 5, the district lost another $559,718 in state aid. Since 2016-17, its aid has dropped $5,986,469 – from $10,131,084 to $4,144,615.
Upper’s initial budget called for cutting nine teaching staff positions and its security officers, as well as eliminating all of its kindergarten aide positions, courtesy busing and after-school clubs and sports.
Mainland, where the first day of classes was Sept. 6, was forced to deal with a loss of $1.4 million in aid after Gov. Phil Murphy delivered his budget address Feb. 27. To make up for the loss, the initial district budget called for increasing the tax levy 2.678 percent and eliminated 17 staff positions.
Getting some relief
Fortunately, Murphy signed legislation May 14 establishing a Stabilized School Budget Aid Grant Program, returning some of the money lost this year. The bill appropriated $44.7 million to support the program.
In addition to providing supplementary state aid of 45 percent of the amount lost for 2024-25, the legislation allowed certain districts experiencing reductions to request increases in their adjusted property tax levies in excess of the 2 percent cap to as much as 9.9 percent.
After Murphy signed the legislation, the Somers Point Board of Education presented its amended budget June 12. The new spending plan raises the tax levy 8.5 percent and tax rate 8.78 cents per $100 of assessed value while using the additional monies to fund three teachers, basic supplies, technology and capital projects.
Upper’s board voted to increase the tax levy by 8 percent and the tax rate 10.9 cents to $1.559. That raised an additional $1,490,916 for the district. The amended spending plan includes an operating budget of $38,385,721 and tax levy of $29,754,193, up $2.2 million from 2023-24.
With the increased funding, the district was able to bring back courtesy busing, middle school sports, elementary and middle school clubs, busing to sporting events and summer enrichment, security guards, mental health counseling, new math resources, two elementary school basic skills teachers and some kindergarten aides.
The district used the grant, a total of $288,390, to purchase Chromebooks for each student and the excess taxes to return some of the items that had to be cut under the budget approved in April.
Dealing with cuts
in Upper Township
Despite increasing the tax levy and tax rate, Upper still had to reduce its staff by nine teachers and a couple of aide positions.
Superintendent Alisson Pessolano said the district was able to adapt to the change by curtailing its middle school schedule, which has students starting later and cuts about 30 minutes off the day.
That allowed some staff to be transferred, filling positions in other buildings.
“We did not need as many staff members here so they shifted over to the elementary school,” Pessolano said. “A lot of positives came out of the schedule change.”
In addition, the district reduced the number of basic skills teaching positions at the elementary and primary schools and made a couple of other changes.
Pessolano said she believes the schedule change at the middle school is sustainable but more basic skills teachers must be hired for the lower grades.
“When you cut positions like basic skills, for students with greater needs, you do not have the staff to provide additional academic support,” she said, noting that they had to hire another special education teacher that was not budgeted for and more aides because the district is obligated to provide those resources for students with an individual education plan.
Pessolano said there no longer is an aide in every kindergarten class, noting they are “not required but beneficial.”
She said the end of the School Funding Reform Act, also known by its legislative name S-2, does not end the uncertainty around state funding.
“We still don’t know what to expect of state aid from year to year,” she said, adding that many of the districts that experienced cuts were not those affected by S-2.
“The unknowns of the funding formula become increasingly difficult to manage when budgeting,” she said.
Cuts in Somers Point
Somers Point Superintendent Ted Pugliese, who took over July 1 after serving as principal of Jordan Road School, said the district was able to adjust its staffing to meet the needs of the students this year.
While 10 certified staff positions were eliminated, a teacher resigned and another retired, allowing for two teachers to be hired at a lower cost. In addition, three teachers on the MTSS team were retained, keeping that support program running.
“Adding three MTSS teachers back after cutting the entire program, you look at that as a win,” Pugliese said.
He said enrollment has been falling and continues to drop, meaning fewer teachers are needed for certain grades and subjects. Through rearranging assignments, the district was able to accommodate all of the children.
“We are becoming a smaller district. We went from three schools to two (with the closing of New York Avenue School to students). We are still pretty full but numbers are down this year as well,” Pugliese said.
He said no one wants fewer teachers but as enrollment drops, the need decreases as well.
“If we are going to lose funding, the hope is that change comes with a drop in enrollment, which is what happened,” Pugliese said.
The hardships of handling the cuts are not limited to the administration, as everyone is doing more with less across the board.
Pugliese said changing assignments of veteran teachers is not always met with enthusiasm, in some cases resulting in staff moving to a different building or different grade.
“You look at their credentials, see what your options are and try to make a decision through the lens of a child,” he said.
The School Funding Reform Act was intended to be a seven-year program, which means the reassignment of aid should be completed.
What does that mean for the district next year?
“What it means is you never really know what’s going to happen,” Pugliese said. “You have to be prepared to play the cards you’re dealt.”
He said some districts raised taxes after reinstating teachers and programs because they cannot count on stable funding in the future.
“When we put a couple of positions back, we are looking to maintain those, but you can’t tell what’s going to happen for next year,” he said. “What we did when we took steps for this year is we hope we can sustain that next year.”
At Mainland Regional
According to Business Administrator Chandra Anaya, Mainland Regional High School received $635,722 back from the state and had recommended increasing the tax levy by 6 percent. She did not respond to a request for the tax rate change.
With the stabilization aid funding and increase to the tax levy, Mainland was able to bring back six positions of the 17 originally cut. Additionally, it will be able to continue providing access to certification tests, PSAT and AP testing at no cost to students.
There also is an allocation of about $400,000 that will be for capital projects (such as replacing outdated mechanics in the building and resurfacing the tennis courts).
Chief School Administrator Mark Marrone, as is his custom, ignored an email requesting comment.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
