The latest Tabernacle Board of Education meeting was plagued with talk of state funding losses, even after it approved its budget last month, as many districts across the state are forced to continue planning for the loss of state aid.
Board Secretary and Business Administrator Jessica DeWysockie shared her calculations with the board detailing how much state aid the district will lose in the next several years, based off of a weighted enrollment. According to her, the state determines how the funds will be spread by calculating a “secret” equation, one that leaves districts across the state without a definite number of how much aid they will receive.
“They are numbers that the state comes up with, it’s nothing that we have any kind of control over,” said DeWysockie.
In addition, a parent petition has surfaced among Tabernacle residents in recent weeks about the cuts made at the last meeting, urging the board to reconsider the controversial decision to eliminate a principal and multiple special education teachers. But since the district is not sure how much funding it will continue to lose in the future, it was apprehensive to make such a move.
For now, the district is left with few options.
“We don’t know if they’re going to come to us in July and say, ‘you now owe us more money,’” said Board President Victoria Shoemaker.
The petition asked the board to reverse the decision to eliminate the principal position at Tabernacle Elementary School, which caused current Principal Gerald Paterson to be laid-off for the end of the school year. Around 260 residents signed the petition. In addition, the petition came with a list of suggestions for ways to save money, such as utilizing shared services with other districts. Specifically, sharing supervisors and directors in technology and special education fields.
However, Shoemaker, in response to the petition, explained that some of those suggestions were already in progress, especially sharing services, by Superintendent Glenn Robbins and DeWysockie prior to receiving the list. While some of the suggestions could be easily done, others in the petition could not be accomplished due to state law restrictions and statutes, according to Shoemaker. Shoemaker would not specify which suggestions could not be accomplished.
“We really can’t do anything about it (the petition), because our decisions had to be based on what we needed to do to keep the district running,” said Shoemaker.
She then expressed with urgency that residents of Tabernacle should continue to reach out to legislators in District 9, Gov. Murphy and state Sen. Stephen Sweeney, who is one of the coauthors of both the S-2 bill and the Path to Progress, which she explained would have a devastating effect on small K-5 and K-8 districts, such as Tabernacle.
In other news:
- The board approved a contract for 17 staff members to work during the 2019 Extended School Year, a program specific for recommended special education students who need extra or continued education during the summer.
- The board also stated enrollment had increased four students from last year, from 702 to 706. Enrollment is one of the major factors in the state’s calculations of state funding.
