District hit with another big drop in state aid
LINWOOD — Like many southern New Jersey school districts, Mainland Regional High School is suffering under perennial cuts to state aid under the Student Funding Reform Act of 2018 and this year must raise taxes and cut its staff to make up for it.
School Business Administrator Chandra Anaya, who presented the 2024-25 spending plan to the Board of Education on March 19, said the district lost another $1.4 million in aid this year, or 17 percent of the previous year’s aid.
Part of making up the difference will include cutting 18 staff positions.
Anaya said the funding formula is based heavily on the wealth factor: enrollment, income and equalized property value. According to the presentation, the district realized a 15 percent increase in property values and a 22 percent increase in income year to year.
State aid is divided into multiple categories. While the district is getting a $106,067 boost in choice aid to $610,544, equalization aid has dropped $1,518,783 for a net loss of $1,412,716.
“Transportation aid ($301,868) has been the same since 2019, and if you think it costs the same to transport a kid as it did in 2019 …,” Anaya said, noting security aid has remained $43,566 since 2017.
The budget includes a 2.678 percent increase in the tax levy as well as 18 staff reductions.
The $29,307,896 budget is down $2,137,257 and includes a $20,167,365 tax levy (up from $19,642,254), $6,773,208 in state aid, $2,087,543 in fund balance and $712,599 in other revenue.
Using banked cap, the district intends to increase the tax levy 2.678 percent to $7,165,371 in Linwood, $6,694,588 in Northfield and $8,655,571 in Somers Point. The equalized valuation for 2024-25 has Somers Point paying 38.47 percent, Linwood 31.81 percent and Northfield 29.72 percent of the total budget, based on property values.
According to the presentation, the assessed value has increased in Linwood (up $7,679,600 to $942,064,900) and Northfield (up $7,774,500 to $880,164,100) and fallen in Somers Point (down $113,501,064 to $1,139,176,000).
The regional school tax would rise in all three sending districts. Taxpayers in Linwood are facing an increase of 1.5 cents per $100 of assessed value to 74.9 cents, those in Northfield an increase of 1 cent to 74.8 cents and those in Somers Point .1 cents to 75.4 cents.
That equates to a regional school tax bill of $749 for each $100,000 of home value in Linwood, or $2,247 on a $300,000 home; $748 per $100,000 in Northfield, or $2,244 on a $300,000 home; and $754 per $100,000 in Somers Point, or $2,262 on a $300,000 home.
Enrollment also plays a factor. According to the presentation, the size of the student body has fallen steadily — except for a minor increase in 2020-21 — from 1,340 in 2016 to 1,168. In addition, the district anticipates a slow decline over the next five years based on data from local elementary schools.
Salaries and benefits continue to rise. According to the presentation, both the Mainland Regional Education Association and Mainland Regional Administrators Association are contracted for an increase of 3.3 percent, on top of step raises. Health care benefits and pension obligations are anticipated to increase $254,783.
Staff cuts this year include eight certified teachers, two retirements and eight support staff members. That reduces overall salary and benefit costs $1.4 million to $22,215,300; special education costs $425,000 to $3,705,800; and maintenance, custodial, grounds and security costs $242,000 to $3,137,000.
“The biggest chunk is going to be staff to fill that $2 million hole,” Anaya said. “We are not taking this lightly. We are very cognizant of what this means to our staff, our Mainland family and the community, but there is no way to make up that $2 million without looking at our staff.”
Further budget reductions include clubs/activities costs of $45,000 to $1,376,800, out-of-district transfers (not special education) of $188,000 to $771,387 and technology $258,000 to $555,800.
Debt service is up $589,128, or 2.8 percent, to $2,358,165. Anaya said that debt is from a 30-year bond used to build additions and make major renovations.
“We will continue to pay this debt until 2029 and we are hoping for that year to have a plan together to do the next phase of improvements because parts of our building are kind of old and need some help,” she said.
Special education spending, which includes tuition, transportation and staffing, is down $425,00 to $3,705,646.
The district has 26 students at Chartertech High School for the Performing Arts and 65 at Atlantic County Institute of Technology. Tuition costs have dropped $188,340 to $771,387.
Costs for sports ($879,190), clubs and the aquatic center ($447,588) remain steady and the district will maintain all current levels of sports.
“We have fantastic sports programs at Mainland, I think everyone can agree,” Anaya said. “Going into this budget, we were cognizant of maintaining as much of it as we can to offer to students.”
Technology costs are down $258,655 to $555,776, despite the district acquiring news computers for each student.
“We did not cut very much in technology. We have to maintain what we have — we called it the COVID computers that we bought for one-to-one students. They are now falling off and in need of replacement,” Anaya said.
The district is financing a lease purchase for $587,000 over three years that allows it to replace the laptops and other hardware.
Anaya said she thinks the administration did a great job of maintaining core programs.
“One of the goals in all of this is not to lose the things we offer students and can maintain the level of care that we give to students while incurring staff reductions that none of us want to have to endure,” Chief School Administrator Mark Marrone said.
He said future state aid cuts may require difficult choices, but for now the district will offer the same programs with less.
“Through this process, what we’ve recognized is that with consolidations, some reductions, we can still make Mainland Mainland. We can still offer the courses and the programming with less staff but still give every student the opportunity to take courses of their interest and to get involved in clubs and activities and everything else and to get a well-rounded education.”
–By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
