School Budget Hearing Set For Toms River Regional
TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education is scheduled to hold a public hearing on its proposed $290.8 million budget for the 2024-25 school year on Tuesday evening. The budget hearing is set for 7 p.m. in the media center at Toms River High School North, 1245 Old Freehold Road. It is an opportunity for the public to ask questions about the budget, which must be submitted to the state by May 15.Since the spring of 2023, Superintendent Michael Citta has been warning the district was facing a gaping hole in its anticipated revenues of $26.5 million — a combination of the loss of federal coronavirus funds and the impact of S2, the cuts in state aid that Toms River Regional has faced yearly since 2017. At the school board's April budget committee meeting, Citta laid out what cutting $26.5 million would mean: the elimination of 368 staff positions. The district has 1,300 teaching staff members."Everything in our budget is T&E," Citta said during the Citizens Budget Advisory meeting in March. "There isn’t one thing in that budget our kids can’t not have." If the district has to cut nearly 400 jobs, "we can’t open our buildings," Citta said. "I cannot sign a budget that doesn’t provide T&E.""T&E" is the shorthand for "thorough and efficient" and refers to a thorough and efficient education, which public schools — and even the state of New Jersey itself — are required to provide to students under the New Jersey Constitution. Since the meetings in March and early April, however, there have been few solutions on how to close the gap. The state Department of Education has told districts that it will not allow any to apply for loans — essentially an advance on state aid — this year. That's an edict that affects the Jackson, Lakewood and Lacey Township school districts as well, all of which face drastic budget cuts. The state's response has been to say districts must ask their taxpayers to approve increasing the tax levy. But there is no mechanism under state law for districts to do that for anything that falls under the umbrella of a "thorough and efficient" education, and the soonest the district could hold a referendum is September — nearly three months after the 2024-25 school year begins and when cuts will have been finalized. Read more about the potential impact here: 368 Job Cuts, 'Ridiculous' Class Sizes In Toms River: What Slashing $26.5M Would MeanThe budget hearing follows the board's committee meetings, which begin at 6 p.m., also in the media center. The Toms River school board holds its committee meetings as a committee of the whole, meaning the entire board is included. Only the personnel and policy committees are excluded.The article School Budget Hearing Set For Toms River Regional appeared first on Toms River, NJ Patch.
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