State will boost aid to schools
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - The efforts of a trio of state legislators will result in the Freehold Borough School District receiving extra state funding for the 2007-08 school year.

Freehold Borough is expected to receive $550,000 as part of a $2.9 million funding package announced last week that will help nine New Jersey school districts get closer to meeting the state's mandate to provide children with a thorough and efficient education.

Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth O'Connell and Business Administrator Veronica Wolf said they were pleased to learn Freehold Borough will get the extra $550,000. They said they will continue to lobby state officials to provide the funding needed to provide children with a thorough and efficient education.

Although O'Connell said she could not be specific about how the money will be used because the matter had not yet been discussed with the Board of Education, she said the money will be used to address budgetary issues in order to make the school district financially sound and to deal with issues aimed at improving student achievement.

"We will work toward correction and compliance," O'Connell said. "Education must be compliant with the New Jersey core curriculum standards as much as possible."

Board President Jim Keelan said the $550,000 is a good first step.

"I am happy we will be receiving this funding, but we needed $1.2 million. We understand the state has its financial problems, that's why we are asking to be raised to the bottom level of that box, not the top," he said.

Keelan said Freehold Borough representatives were expected to go to Trenton on June 18 to make their case for the additional $700,000 they say is needed in order to bring per pupil spending up to the level required by the state to provide students with a thorough and efficient education.

According to a press release from Assemblyman Michael Panter (D-Monmouth and Mercer), the $550,000 allocation is expected to be approved on June 21.

Panter said he and state Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth and Mercer) will continue to work with the governor's office and the state Department of Education to explore additional sources of assistance for the district.

"This $550,000 allocation is the result of many weeks of tireless advocacy on behalf of the Freehold Borough School District," Panter said. "While I am encouraged by this development, I know the district needs additional help."

He said it is "unconscionable that any district should lag behind others in the state by thousands of dollars per student."

Karcher said, "Under the governor's original proposal, Freehold Borough wasn't afforded the resources to meet the mandate of quality schools for New Jersey's residents, The borough has

been spending less per pupil than the state requires, but administrators couldn't make up the balance on the backs of already hard hit taxpayers. I was able to work with the Senate Democratic leadership and the administration to broker a deal which would mean a needed injection of fund into the borough's educational coffers."

"Freehold Borough is caught in a double bind because we've limited their spending increases and asked them to shoulder the loss of taxable land that hosting county government carries," Karcher said. "It would have been simply unfair of the state to turn a blind eye toward the educational crisis in the borough."

Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck (R-Monmouth and Mercer) said, "this additional funding is greatly appreciated, but it is not nearly enough to bring these schools up to the funding level which is mandated by law."

The assemblywoman submitted a budget resolution and introduced legislation that would appropriate an additional $8.4 million to the Department of Education to provide aid to school districts in which the thorough and efficient spending per pupil is less than the minimum amount set under the state's school funding plan.

"There is still plenty of time before the budget has to be voted on to discuss ways to fund the resolution I proposed," Beck said. "Throughout the budget process, I have met with the governor's office and a multitude of legislators to discuss the financial burden that is making it nearly impossible for these schools to achieve their educational goals. I am happy to sit down with them for further discussions on ways we can bring all schools up to the minimum thorough and efficient standard.

"This appropriation will help temporarily alleviate some of the burden put on school districts like Freehold Borough. However, I will continue to work to enact a school funding formula that tackles the abhorrent inequities between urban and suburban schools," she said.