Bill To Restore Aid For Freehold Regional Courtesy Busing Advances

MANALAPAN, NJ — A Senate bill to aid regional school districts, including the Freehold Regional High School District, that have coped with years of state aid cuts, was passed by the state Senate Monday and now will be considered by the Assembly.

The bi-partisan, $6.76 million legislation, S-3950, would bolster regional school district funding, and would encourage more regionalization of smaller districts, sponsors have said. The bill was passed by the Senate 23 to 8.

It was introduced earlier this month. Senate Education Chair Vin Gopal, D- 11th District, and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-19th District, announced the legislation. State Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, R-13th District, was a co-sponsor.

The Assembly version of the bill is A5575 and was reported at second reading out of Assembly Committee last Thursday.

One immediate effect of the bill, if approved by the Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Murphy, would be to restore aid for courtesy busing to the Freehold Regional District.

Budget constraints under a state equalization bill, S2, that reduced state aid to "overfunded" districts left the regional district with no choice but to cut courtesy busing within a 2.5-mile radius of the district's six high schools for the next school year.

The regional district, the largest in Monmouth County, with offices in Manalapan, serves more than 10,000 students in six high schools: Manalapan, Marlboro, Howell, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township and Colts Neck high schools.

State aid decreases since 2018 to equalize state funding under the state S2 bill have squeezed the district budget for years, Superintendent Charles Sampson has said.

O'Scanlon, a co-sponsor of the bill along with Gopal, praised the Senate action.

“The Senate voted today (June 26) to help a local school district that I represent maintain necessary transportation services for their students. Moreover, the Senate showed a bipartisan commitment to stop aid cuts for a struggling school, which is a small, but much-needed step towards reforming New Jersey’s school funding formula,” O’Scanlon said.

“Many schools throughout the state are suffering from the S2 formula and bridging the gap with supplementary funding is not a long-term solution. This legislation would provide assistance to the Freehold Regional School District to ensure that their students do not lose courtesy busing in the coming school year,” O'Scanlon said.

“Freehold Regional is a model school district. We need to encourage more districts to go toward regionalization and shared services the way Freehold Regional is. This bill will help achieve that. In addition, this will allow Freehold Regional to continue to offer courtesy busing for students,” Gopal said earlier this month.

Since 2020, New Jersey has used a school funding formula known as S2, which was created in 2018 to provide an equitable distribution of aid among school districts throughout the state.

Republicans have argued that this formula is deeply flawed and believe that it should be fixed to avoid unfair school aid cuts, O'Scanlon, a Republican, has said.

The courtesy busing cuts in Freehold Regional are "a direct reflection on the flawed nature of the S2 school funding formula and should leave no doubt as to why it needs to be reformed,” O'Scanlon said in a statement.

The Senate version of the bill, S-3950, would freeze school aid cuts this year for regional schools that meet certain requirements.

To receive an exemption under the bill, the district must be regional and compromised of five or more constituent school districts.

Additionally, an eligible district must spend 15 percent less in administrative costs per pupil than the statewide average for regional school districts and have mitigated the costs of regionalization. The final condition that eligible school districts must meet is to have raised their district taxes up to the maximum limit permitted by law during each of the last five years.

School districts that receive an exemption under the bill would be prohibited from eliminating courtesy busing for students who reside in their district.

“Children should not have to put their lives at risk walking to and from school as they would in the Freehold School District if they were to lose their courtesy busing. This bill restores funding for the district so that they can provide necessary transportation for their students,” O’Scanlon added.

“While this bill doesn’t address other school districts that are struggling throughout the state, we have to start somewhere so that we can reach a long-term solution for the state. When you let the little issues pile up, it makes addressing the bigger picture more difficult,” O'Scanlon said in comments about the bill.