'We are expected to perform miracles': Asbury Park schools begging to get state money back

ASBURY PARK - A loss of state funding to the local school district leads to higher property taxes, which leads to families moving out of town. Fewer families means lower school enrollment, which leads to more cuts in state funding.

Stopping that vicious circle, which has tripled the total school tax collected from local taxpayers since 2017, is why both the city and the Asbury Park school district are demanding more financial help from the state, as well as a comprehensive review of how state aid is calculated.

"Our hands are strapped to our ankles and now we are expected to perform miracles. I don't believe that we are going to provide a through and efficient education if (the state aid cuts) continue," said Asbury Park Superintendent RaShawn M. Adams.

Since 2018, New Jersey has increased its aid to public schools by more than $2 billion. But while state funding has increased for 68% of school districts statewide, the remainder — including more than half in Monmouth and Ocean counties — have lost funding, and Jersey Shore districts have eliminated hundreds of jobs and closed schools due to the cuts.

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Analysis of state aid data by the Asbury Park Press shows Monmouth and Ocean counties have lost $188 million in state aid over the last four budget cycles since Senate Bill 2, or S-2, upended how the state doles out public aid to schools.

The Asbury Park school district has been losing state funding since 2016, a cumulative loss of $26,138,837 by 2023, and an estimated cumulative loss of $36,429,860 in state funding by 2025 after nearly decade of S-2 cuts.

Adams told the Press that "the S-2 bill has impacted not only the school district but also the municipality in a very damaging way."

Unusual challenges

Adams, who earned a doctorate of education in educational leadership, has worked in the district since 2015, taking the helm as superintendent in mid-2021. He’s the fifth person to hold the position in the last decade in a district where more students live in poverty than many neighboring districts.

"When you think about our struggles from the school district, the money that has been cut over the last several years, the $26 million, has led to us cutting and reducing staff, reducing services. So, we have been supplementing services such as our after-school programs through (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds)," Adams said.

Monmouth County schools saw a 5.97% reduction in state aid in 2022-2023, compared with the previous year, while Ocean County schools received 6.58% less. Of the 84 public school districts in the two counties, 44 saw a funding uptick in the new plan, although many were small percentages.

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Among the biggest hits was Asbury Park schools, which saw an $8.6 million cutback to $29.2 million, or a 22.73% reduction.

"We have students being sent out for specials needs, or related services. We have preschool disabled children who come from a variety of different places. We offer English language classes to this immigrant community," Adams said.

The school district also offers life skill services and instructional programs to parents in the community.

"Services, instructional programs, after school programs; we are providing before-care and after-care. Students are coming in early in the morning and not leaving until 5:30 p.m. and we are providing them (with meals), and when you couple that with day-to-day instructions and teachers here are busting their butts, we are also dealing with decades of related services issues," Adams said.

He added "give me another comparable district that has this plethora of social, emotional, economic and academic issues that Asbury Park has and tell me, put their scores up, then couple that with how much money we are sending out to charter schools."

Asbury Park provides about $13 million to charter schools.

"So, the funds are going to get cut even more when we look into the 2024-2025 budget year. Now we have dealt with a crisis and managed to kick the can down the road last year to get us into this year. But we can't continue to kick the can down the road," Adams said.

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The formula for the funding via S-2 is unclear to the public, as well as educators and local municipalities.

"That is why (state Sen. Vin Gopal) and other (state) senators have called for a task force to revisit the formula because nobody knows the formula per se, including the governor," said Mayor John Moor. "(The formula) is more top secret than Pepsi or Kentucky Fried Chicken. The only thing we do know is part of it is based on enrollment.

"The problem we are having now is, with these draconian numbers, the taxes are moving up so much. It is a vicious cycle," Moor said. "Because the taxes are going up, we are losing so much of Asbury Park's residents, who probably have children of color, Black or Brown, in the school system. So as the taxes go up, we are losing enrollment. It definitely has to be re-done."

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What can be done?

Gopal, D-Monmouth, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, told the Press that the "district has lost hundreds of students over last several years and funding is primarily based on enrollment."

"If every district gained money regardless of enrollment, we would go broke," Gopal said. "That said, there are a lot of concerns with S-2."

Gopal said his number one priority as chairman of the Senate education committee "is to make sure we get a new funding formula that takes all these factors into consideration" and that it is "top priority" in November. Gopal voted for the initial S-2 bill.

Gopal stated that "Asbury has some unique challenges that are not its fault."

"About 15 to 20 years ago, well before Mayor Moor or Dr. Adams was ever around, there was a bunch of (PILOT programs) that were done and schools don't see money off that," Gopal said.

Under PILOT programs, which stands for Payment in Lieu of Taxes, developers agree to pay a set annual fee rather than be subject to property taxes for usually somewhere between 10 and 30 years. It can help spur development in towns such as Asbury Park, which languished for decades, but the money goes straight to the municipality, not the school district.

The school district has seen a 208.3% increase in the tax levy since 2017. In 2017, the school district's tax levy was $7.1 million compared with $21.89 million in 2023.

In the past few years, the city was able to keep its portion of property taxes flat or reduce them to try to offset the school property tax issues caused by S-2.

"That is not going to happen next year. It didn't happen this year. We had to raise our taxes and we are going to have a worse year next year from this year. We have some major issues throughout the city, they are going to be very expensive," Moor said. "We are looking at our financial situation, and then looking at the (school) board's, and those combined is not a good, happy ending."

They credited Gopal and others for $5.6 million via special legislation to help the school district last year. In fiscal year 2023, Asbury Park received $678,526 in stabilization aid.

"All these are Band-Aids and right now we seem to be in triage every day and Band-Aids aren't helping," Moor said. "We need a comprehensive change to S-2."

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'S-2 destroyed the district'

District officials know some critics will push back and bring up Asbury's past academic performance.

"But when you separate the academic performance from the impact on the taxpayers as well, you're telling the taxpayers still kick in your share, kick in more and more. They've done that. We've focused on improving our academic culture and all of those things. We have had clean audits. It is not an issue mismanaging money on the school district's part or the city not wanting to give their adequate share," Adams said.

The per-pupil cost has fluctuated but is now nearly the same as a decade ago. The cost for the 2023-2024 school year is $30,949, compared with $30,977 in the 2014-2015 school year, according to the district. The lowest cost was in 2022-2023 at $28,292 and the highest cost was $33,892 in 2017-2018.

John P. Napolitani, president of the city's teachers union, told the Asbury Park Press that “S-2 destroyed the district."

"My predecessors and I had an excellent dialogue in regard to S-2, cuts, budgets, etc. The only way we will ever be successful is through collaboration, which is not currently happening," Napolitani said.

Napolitani also cited "poor management on the district's part over the years" as part of the problem.

In May, citing a "lack of collaboration" and "a hostile work environment," a majority of the Asbury Park Education Association, which represents nearly 300 teachers and support staff, approved a vote of no confidence in the superintendent.

Other reasons the association cited for the vote included a "lack of adherence to procedures and laws" and the "elimination of critical positions that impact students directly" as well as fears of retaliation.

Napolitani thanked Gopal for his bill and the push for stabilization aide for declining enrollment as well.

"He really fought hard for us," Napolitani said.

Moor grew up in Asbury Park and his family has been active in the community since his great grandfather moved to the city in 1888.

"Because of this, we are losing the diversity of the city, and we are not going to be a diverse city anymore and that is what makes me lose sleep at night," Moor said "It is like gentrification on steroids. The city has done anything and everything we can do on our end. But it's not enough to combat this because it is going to force every family to move out, and what are we going have?"

Moor fears Asbury Park will lose its working class.

"We lost the DPW workers, the teachers, the nurses, the bartenders, and everything. It is a crying shame. It drives me crazy, because I love the town so much. It is so disappointing. So many new people are moving in that don't care and they have a ton of money. They don't care about the schools, they don't have kids," Moor said.

Charles Daye is the metro reporter for Asbury Park and Neptune, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. @CharlesDayeAPP Contact him: CDaye@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park School District calls on NJ to bring back lost money