High school could lose another 12 teachers as district grapples with funding loss
LINWOOD — Expecting the loss of another 12 teachers, members of the Mainland Regional Education Association gathered outside the school March 19 to support adequate funding for education.
More than 50 members of the MREA participated to raise awareness of what federal, state and local budget cuts mean to everyone involved.
MREA President John-Fred Crane said state and federal cuts are affecting entire communities, where students are getting less from fewer teachers and support staff members.
“We’re here to stand in support of the community, the families and the students that we serve. Public education is for the greater good,” Crane said.
As the Mainland Regional High School administration creates its 2025-26 budget, Crane said they are anticipating a significant cut in state funding. That and other factors have prompted the district to send out Reduction in Force letters to 12 of the 163-member MREA, he said.
“We have a lot of co-workers that are going to be impacted by budget cuts and funding formulas that impact schools differently. We’re here to stand with them because their jobs are going to be impacted and we are going to lose staff, and in turn that’s going to be an impact to the community,” Crane said.
The district has scheduled a public hearing on the budget for May 1.
Chief School Administrator Mark Marrone said he was tied up but that some administrators joined the teachers because “they are committed to education as well.”
“It’s heart-breaking that because of funding we have to make choices involving people,” he said. “To get to where we have to be, we have to address employment, a number of positions that would be RIFed.”
Marrone said it would be about 10 positions that “unfortunately we have to address in response to the budget.”
He said the district received $635,000 in stabilization aid last year that was not provided this year.
“We’re already in a whole whatever that stabilization aid was and we’re back in a budget crunch,” he said.
He blamed a school funding formula that bases aid on average home prices, noting that does not take into account average income.
“We are negatively impacted because home prices are rising, selling for over-market value,” he said. “We have done the work trying to be solvent but don’t control the funding formula.”
Last year, administrators were forced to deal with a loss of $1.4 million in state aid. To make up for the loss, the district eliminated 17 staff positions and raised the tax levy 2.678 percent.
Gov. Phil Murphy later created the Stabilized School Budget Aid Grant Program to provide grants equal to 45 percent of a district’s state aid reduction for 2024-2025. The bill also allowed certain districts experiencing reductions in state aid to request increases in their adjusted property tax levies in excess of the 2 percent cap to as much as 9.9 percent.
According to Business Administrator Chandra Anaya, Mainland got $635,722 back from the $1.4 million cut.
At the time, Marrone said if the district were to get some of the funds back, renewing the staff members’ contracts may not be the best move.
“If money was to come back in, we have to take a look at what that looks like candidly,” he said. “I don’t know if you put yourself in a position for something to happen again next year.”
Crane said the rally was in no way against the school administration, noting that he invited Marrone and others, and that several members took part.
“The decisions that they make are impacted by the funding. We’ve been having conversations and trying to figure out ways to put the budget together that has the least amount of impact, most importantly for the students,” Crane said. “They came out and I appreciated that because we are all in it together.”
“It’s more of a national movement. It’s not just about teachers, it’s about education in general and the funding,” Crane said.
As an example, he said the federal government via the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is responsible for funding 40 percent of education for disabled students.
“We receive a fraction of that, about 12 percent, and it equates to about a $500,000 loss. It’s a large part of our budget, it’s a large part of our community,” Crane said. “So when we talk about we’re standing in support of students, we’re standing in support of all students, all backgrounds.”
The 1990 graduate said Mainland has changed over the years but one thing hasn’t — “We are here to serve, and it’s important that the community knows that. Without public education, I’m not sure where we go from here.”
Crane said the RIF letters were going out in phases but that the first were being delivered the day of the rally.
“What that means is, come September they do not have a job,” he said. “A lot of our staff is new and they will be impacted first.”
Older teachers are not safe from cuts, either, he said.
“Everyone always says you have tenure, you have a job for life. That was the one thing that you used to at least feel you had a little bit of job security, but that’s no longer the case,” Crane said, noting districts always were able to remove teachers for cause and that financial difficulties could qualify as cause.
“We have lost certified staff or tenured staff in the past. There is no certainty in that,” he said.
The state just wrapped up a seven-year reallocation of funding, costing area districts multiple millions of dollars over that time, with the general belief was that once complete, districts would know from year to year what to expect. That apparently has not been the case in many area districts in this first budget cycle after its completion.
“We are just looking for equitable, fair funding that makes sense, that districts can plan on, communities can plan for,” Crane said.
State Sen. Vince Polistina, Assemblywoman Claire Swift and Assemblyman Don Guardian have been “very forthcoming and supportive, and believe that public education is how we improve our lives for everyone in the community,” Crane said.
The uncertainty from year to year as causing a lot of heartaches and headaches from school employees.
“At some point, people have to live their lives and support their families, and you can’t do that if you don’t know if you’re going to have a job next year,” Crane said.
And it’s not just teachers, he said, but support staff, aides, custodians, maintenance and security personnel.
“We really do well with what we are provided and I would challenge anybody who says they could do a better job with the same,” Crane said.
