Could $26.5M Budget Gap Stop Toms River Schools From Opening In Fall?

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Will the Toms River Regional School District be able to open its doors in the fall of 2024?

It all depends on whether the district is able to close a $26.5 million gap in revenues that Superintendent Michael Citta said is necessary to provide a "rock bottom thorough-and-efficient education" to the district's students.

Citta said the district's tentative $291 million tentative budget submitted in March still has not been approved by the state Department of Education, which is why the Board of Education did not vote on the budget after its public hearing on Tuesday evening. The board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Toms River High School North.

The sticking point is the $26.5 million gap. Toms River Regional had submitted its tentative budget with the hope of receiving a loan from the state for that amount. In the weeks since, the state Department of Education has told districts across New Jersey that loans — advances on their state aid — will not be available to fill the gap.

It leaves district officials with the potential of having to cut 368 staff positions, most of them teachers, Citta said, cuts that would render the district unable to operate in the fall.

"It would be game over," Citta said Tuesday. "That is not on the table."

"This board, this town, this school district cannot cut any more (from the budget) because we would not be providing a thorough-and-efficient education, and I couldn't sign a budget that says so," Citta said.

William Doering, the Toms River Regional Schools business administrator, said the district has provided multiple checklists, analyses and answered dozens of questions from state officials over the last several weeks about the district's finances and budget.

The feedback has been "very favorable in terms of the completeness, transparency and level of detail supporting what we're requesting," Doering said.

He and Citta said the Ocean County schools business administrator reviewed the information and found that what Toms River has presented about its funding needs are accurate.

"My ray of light is the acknowledgment that our situation is real and needs to be addressed," Citta said, adding the district will continue to work with state officials to find a solution.

Solutions to filling the gap beyond an advance of state funding have been few. Toms River Regional cannot ask taxpayers to approve a tax increase to cover the funding gap because by law, those requests cannot cover items that are defined by the state as part of a thorough-and-efficient education. That includes co-curricular activities such as band, theatre and athletics.

And because of the timing of the state budget cycle and special election cycles in New Jersey, even if there were items that didn't fall under the thorough-and-efficient education umbrella, the soonest a referendum could be held is September, almost three weeks into actual classes and nearly three months into the school year. By that point, restoring items that were cut if voters approved raising the money would require a massive, significantly disruptive restructuring.

The $26.5 million funding gap is due to a combination of issues, including the cuts under S2 that aimed to eliminate the so-called "adjustment aid" that was put in place when the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 took effect. Toms River's adjustment aid ceased in the 2021 budget.

In addition, the district has had increasing budgetary pressure for special education students. For those who receive services out of district (because of very specialized needs), tuition has risen dramatically. Toms River used $6 million in federal pandemic grant funds to pay the tuition last year, which protected 90 teaching positions. It's funding it does not have for the 2024-25 budget.

The district also is under adequacy, according to the state Department of Education, meaning it is spending less per student than what the state says a district should be spending to provide a thorough-and-efficient education for its students. Doering said the district is $55.5 million under adequacy when the $26.5 million is included; that figure does not include transportation spending.

Toms River Regional has cut more than 250 teachers and staff positions over the last six years under the S2 state aid cuts, while raising its property tax levy to the full 2 percent cap as required by the law. But the tax levy increases haven't remotely come close to keeping up with the amount of aid being cut.

"Say we don't get approved. What is Plan B?" Carlos Almanza of Toms River asked.

Citta said the Department of Education has acknowledged the situation the district is in, and he is optimistic there will be a solution.

"If we get to a situation position where the state has to make a decision,they're going to have to make the decisions," Citta said.

He was hopeful the silence was a sign that officials were looking for realistic solutions.

"Everyone needs to take a breath and realize what a mess is on everyone's hands," Citta said, adding that Toms River is not alone, but is among 140 districts that are facing significant cuts.

Citta said the district has contingency plans but he would not elaborate on them.

"We will be opening our doors in September," Citta said.

Read more about the potential impact here: 368 Job Cuts, 'Ridiculous' Class Sizes In Toms River: What Slashing $26.5M Would Mean