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| Photo via state.nj.us Gov. Christie visited the school for its reopening after Superstorm Sandy. |
Despite historic spending on public schools across New Jersey, the Beach Haven School District is one of only five public school districts in Ocean County to have received an increase in state funding. The school, located on the southern end of Long Beach Island, received an increase of $38,073 due to a boost in School Choice funds, EvaMarie Raleigh, superintendent of the Beach Haven School, told The SandPaper.
Gov. Chris Christie’s administration recently announced $12.7 billion in aid for the state’s public schools, which includes $9 billion in school aid and $655.5 million for preschool programs.
School districts across the state will receive $5.2 million more in state aid than they did last year, according to N.J. Department of Education documents. However, most schools in Ocean County will see no increase.
Five of the county’s 29 school districts, including Beach Haven, Long Beach Island, Pinelands Regional, Tuckerton and Island Heights, received a total of $122,605 in additional K-12 state aid, according to state documents. Ocean County schools will obtain $306.6 million in state aid for K-12 learning.
Although Choice funds are capped for next year, Raleigh said she worked with the Department of Education to secure three additional seats for a total of 13, which has resulted in the increase in state aid for a total of $164,983.
Had the Beach Haven Board of Education revised the residency policy this fall, the school could have been granted four more seats and an additional $50,000 in funding, Raleigh said. In the future, if the cap is lifted and Choice funding remains, there is hope for additional funds. However, there is the fear that Choice funds in the future will be granted only to students who come from failing schools. This would greatly affect not only the Beach Haven School, but many other small school districts throughout the state, Raleigh explained.
“We have the 13 seats for this year definitely, but no one knows what’s going to happen the year after,” she said. “That $165,000 could just disappear. We don’t know.”
Due to a four-district consolidation, Stockton Elementary – historically known as the smallest school in the state – is now part of South Hunterdon School District, leaving the Beach Haven School as the smallest school in New Jersey today, Raleigh said.
“We’re the smallest school in New Jersey, the smallest,” she emphasized. “It’s serious because if they take it (Choice funding) all away, it’s very serious for this town.”
In 2010, the school’s application to become a School of Choice was accepted by the Department of Education, and the school was awarded five seats. Prior to becoming a Choice School, state aid had been minimal. Some years the school received zero funding, Raleigh said.
The school’s Choice tuition rate is calculated by a funding formula that results in all schools receiving a different per-pupil choice tuition amount. Beach Haven’s local share Choice tuition rate is $12,691, Raleigh stated.
From 2010 to 2013, Beach Haven received $63,445 in Choice funds. Last year the Department of Education placed a cap on all Choice seats, as costs for the program had increased from $5 million to $50 million since 2010.
Last November Raleigh attended the new administrator’s training for Choice Schools and met with representatives from the Department of School Choice to explain the “unusual situation” the Beach Haven School found itself in after Superstorm Sandy.
She “explained that during the storm many families had to relocate to the mainland and now, a year later, several had decided they were not returning but wanted to keep their children in the Beach Haven School,” Raleigh said.
Although she was told it was too late to add additional seats for the school year, the Department of Education increased the Choice seats from five to 10 despite the cap. Funding increased to $126,910.
“To get seats has been a big deal,” Raleigh said. “The state has really helped us a lot because of the situation with the storm, but everyone else was capped.”
A member of the Interdistrict School Choice Finance Committee that has been working with the Department of Education to fight for the survival of the Choice program, Raleigh said there is a call for parents, former students and schools to provide testimony to the Department of Education in the coming months.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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