For Superintendent Carol Birnbohm, it’s not every day someone offers nearly half a million dollars to support the Lenape Regional High School District she has led for 12 years.
And for that “we are truly grateful,” she said at a press conference at Cherokee High School in September, after state Assemblywoman Andrea Katz announced $457,000 in funding that will benefit the district, which serves Evesham, Medford, Medford Lakes, Mount Laurel, Shamong, Southampton, Tabernacle and Woodland.
The funds were secured in the state’s fiscal year 2025 budget.
“For me, it began when the school aid numbers began,” Katz recalled. “I was just a few months into my first term and it instantly became my priority to find a solution No district should take a type of underfunding loss that we saw proposed for Lenape.”
Birnbohm said she and others were caught off guard last spring, when they learned their school district’s reduction in state aid was more than 14 times the amount anticipated, “leaving us with a budget hole in the millions.”
“We had to make some difficult decisions, including program cuts and non-renewal of staff, and to navigate one of the toughest budgets years that we faced,” she explained. “We survived, but we did it thanks to the unwavering support of our board, our school leaders and the determination of our elected officials.”
Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation in May to provide support to school districts facing state-aid losses, including grants equal to 45% of a district’s aid reduction and allowing districts to request increases in their adjusted property tax levies above the 2% cap established under current law.
“It was truly remarkable the work that went into that bill in the final hour,” Birnbohm noted. “We truly appreciate that. We also appreciate this generous gift/grant of $457,000 that will go directly towards improving safety, security, and wellness initiatives, and these efforts will benefit the students and staff in all four of our high schools.”
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin opined that it does take a village to educate a child. As elected officials, he said he and other legislators have a moral obligation to make sure people are fed, make sure people have a place to live, make sure they have someone to take care of them and give them the health care they need.
“It gives them opportunity,” he observed. “The best way to give people opportunity is through education.”
Before she was elected, Katz spent 17 years as a stay-at-home mom.
“That’s what informs the way I serve as an assemblywoman,” she pointed out. “It sure isn’t the usual path to state assembly, but it does give me a unique outlook on the issues. My priority will always be to make New Jersey a better place to raise a family. The loss in aid for Lenape directly hurt the kids and parents that live here.
“Everyone in New Jersey deserves a high-quality public education.”
