Toms River school budget cuts 20 teaching jobs, raises taxes

TOMS RIVER -- Toms River Regional will cut 28 positions, including 20 teaching jobs, and raise taxes for the majority of district taxpayers, to help deal with a $14.4-million proposed cut in state education aid, Superintendent Mike Citta said.

Speaking at Thursday night's Citizens Budget Committee meeting, Citta said that Toms River Regional expects that $9.5 million in aid will be restored. That money is included in a bill adding $103 million in state education funds for various school districts that was passed by both houses of the state legislature Thursday. It is expected to be signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.

Citta said the district still needs more money -- $3.8 million -- to provide a thorough and efficient education, as required by New Jersey's constitution, and he said he remains confident that Toms River Regional will get it. He said he met recently with staff the governor's office, and came away encouraged, saying there was "acknowledgement that the $3.8 million we need has to happen."

Citta said again that no student programs or after-school activities will be cut in the 2023-2024 school budget.

"This is the worst budget Toms River Regional schools has ever presented," Citta said. "It’s no fault of anyone in this community." He said he is hopeful that the state's school funding will be adjusted to be more equitable to districts like Toms River Regional, which have per pupil costs well under the state average.

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It costs $20,328 a year to educate a student in Toms River Regional, ranking the district the third lowest per pupil in its state category (districts with more than 3,500 students), Citta said.

In addition to the 20 teaching jobs, which Citta said he believes will be eliminated through retirements and attrition, Toms River Regional also plans to cut one administration job, four bus drivers positions, two bus aides and one facilities job.

The owner of a Toms River home assessed at $444,360, the township's average, would pay about $154 more in a year in school taxes, or $3,758 annually, under the budget; in South Toms River, the average increase would be about $15, or $1,744, while Beachwood would see a $44 decrease, to $2,355.

The district was unable to provide an average tax increase or decrease for homeowners in Pine Beach, which just had a property revaluation. But the tax rate for that town would be about 79 cents per $100 of assessed property value; it would be about 85 cents in Toms River; $1.03 in South Toms River, and $1.14 in Beachwood.

The $270 million budget asks for $186,903,573 from taxpayers, up $7.6 million, or 4.3%.

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The district will also cut money for supplies, including textbooks, by 10%, and is using $2.8 million from maintenance reserves, $717,000 from emergency reserves and $7.4 million from surplus funds to partially make up for the state aid cut.

"We do not have an expenditure problem, we have a revenue problem," Citta stressed. He said the restoration of more than $103 million in school monies is "a beginning, an acknowledgement that the funding does not work."

After years of funding cuts under the state's education aid formula, known as S2, Toms River Regional has lost 186 positions, including more than 140 teaching jobs. Another 90 jobs in the district are being funded with federal COVID funds, which will expire in a year, officials have warned.

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Toms River's state aid has dropped from $71.9 million in the 2009-2010 school year to $30.9 million this year; that's before the legislation passed yesterday to restore $9.5 million.

Assistant Superintendent Cara DiMeo said the district plans to reallocate some staff positions; six more positions will be allocated to teaching English as a Second Language to help accommodate an influx of students whose primary language is not English.

The number of Toms River children being transported to private schools has risen from 702 to 2,708 in the past seven years, according to Business Administrator William Doering. The district is required to provide an annual payment of $1,000 per student if it does not provide busing to the private schools the students attend.

For the 2023-2024 school year, the district is budgeting $2.5 million for those payments, up from $2.2 million in this year's spending plan, Doering said. The state reimburses the district "for a significant amount" of that money, he said.

Doering said the district has seen increases in health insurance, benefits and costs for utilities like gas, electricity and water.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. April 26 at Toms River High School North.

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 38 years. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle,  jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River school budget cuts 20 teaching jobs, taxes rise