{"id":21664,"date":"2023-02-22T11:43:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T16:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=21664"},"modified":"2023-02-22T11:43:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T16:43:12","slug":"brick-schools-could-see-staff-reductions-in-2023-24-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2023\/02\/brick-schools-could-see-staff-reductions-in-2023-24-school-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick Schools Could See Staff Reductions in 2023-24 School Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Brick<\/a>

Brick Township Board of Education\/Schools (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Brick school officials have sounded an early warning signal on the potential for staff reductions next school year due to state budget cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate starting off with doom and gloom, but our budget process the last few years has been dire,\u201d Superintendent Thomas Farrell said at a recent meeting of the Board of Education. \u201cWe have an additional loss of state aid once again, and this loss of state aid is cumulative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since a school funding reform law known as S-2 was signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018, the product of a deal between the governor and former Senate President Steven Sweeney, Brick has seen a cumulative loss of $22 million in funding for the district. The state contends, through its formula, that Brick residents do not pay enough in property taxes to support its school system and state aid should be cut as a result. District officials have long decried the formula, and have participated in legal action to obtain its algorithm in order to make a case for the restoration of aid. The law calls for seven years of funding cuts and mandatory property tax increases to make up for the losses. But even in a case where maximal tax increases were to be implemented, the district would still find itself in the red \u2013 a ballooning problem compounded this year by inflation.<\/p>\n

Recently, school officials have begun charting out the district\u2019s spending plan for the 2023-24 school year, which is typically presented in the spring and adopted by the board following a public hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process will most likely result in the transfer of staff, the non-renewal of staff and possible a reduction in force,\u201d Farrell said, adding that the district hopes to achieve staff reductions through retirements and general attrition rather than layoffs, though layoffs may be on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate the loss of positions once again, however similar to previous years, it is our hope that retirements and attrition will play integral parts in minimizing job losses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Farrell said the district would notify non-tenured teachers that their contracts would not be renewed by May 15. Staff transfers would occur later.<\/p>\n

\u201cS-2 has deeply impacted our already-underfunded district,\u201d he said. \u201cWith every cut made, we\u2019re doing our best to minimize the impact on our students and our staff. We\u2019re grateful for all of our staff contributions and appreciate their understanding and patience as we move through this difficult process. We are looking at all avenues that are in the best interests of our students and their educational program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exacerbating budgetary woes this year is the rate of inflation, which has outpaced the district\u2019s ability to raise property tax rates. The 2 percent cap, Farrell said, was adopted by the state during a period of low inflation, and districts are now contending with a national inflation rate of 6.4 percent, as calculated at the end of January.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchool districts like us are contending with higher costs for classroom materials, transportation, gas and fuel, electricity, and salaries and benefits,\u201d said Farrell, advising board members that collective bargaining agreements governing teacher salaries provided an average annual increase of 3.3 percent last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the perfect storm, unfortunately, and we need the state\u2019s help,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a paradox in the state\u2019s funding formula where it doesn\u2019t add relief, nor afford a mechanism for districts such as Brick \u2013 which are way under adequacy by $23 million \u2013 that have had state aid reduced substantially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since S-2 was implemented, Brick has lost 49 percent of its state funding, representing a number that is equivalent to a staggering 40 percent of the total budget five years ago, according to officials. Meanwhile, property taxes have crept upward as residents have continued to struggle with the everyday cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state has short-changed too many towns for too long, and Brick Township is one of them,\u201d said board member Michael Blandina. \u201cWe need to keep that fight up. We need the state to step up and do what they need to do, and not just shift the money wherever they\u2019re shifting it \u2013 and give us our fair share, which they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brick\u2019s budget for the current 2022-23 school year is $163,322,838. The board, which received a one-time influx of funding last year, increased property taxes by 0.8 percent to stay within the 2 percent expenditure cap. Out of the $163 million budget, $118,333,977 was supported by Brick residents through property taxes.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brick school officials have sounded an early warning signal on the potential for staff reductions next school year due to state budget cuts. \u201cI hate starting off with doom and gloom, but our budget process the last few years has been dire,\u201d Superintendent Thomas Farrell said at a recent meeting of the Board of Education. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[4891,41,24,593,4484],"class_list":["post-21664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brick-schools","tag-2023-24-school-budget","tag-board-of-education","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-brick-township-schools","tag-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/DSC_0004.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-5Dq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}