District stands to gain under school aid plan
BY KATHY BARATTA Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN - Administrators in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District are expecting a new state school funding formula to provide a boost to the budget.

District officials said they will see an increase of $2.7 million in state aid for the 2008-09 school year. The budget for the coming school year is being developed now and will be presented for voter approval in the April school election.

According to information provided by Superintendent of Schools John J. Marciante Jr., the district expects to receive about $21.66 million in state aid for the 2008-09 school year. That amount would represent a 14.75 percent increase over the $18.89 million in state aid the district is receiving during the 2007-08 school year.

During the 2007-08 school year, the district is operating with a total budget of $73.3 million. According to information provided by the district, the projected budget for the 2008-09 school year is $75.2 million.

Enrollment figures for the K-8 district show that the student population has been fluctuating over the past five years.

According to Marciante, in 2002 there were 5,568 students enrolled in the Manalapan-Englishtown school district; 5,533 students in 2003; 5,486 students in 2004; 5,495 students in 2005; 5,446 students in 2006; and 5,482 students in 2007.

He said that beginning with the 2007-08 budget cycle the state required school district administrators to maintain a 4 percent cap on tax revenues.

According to Marciante, in setting new standards for the allocation of school funds, state officials drew up four district identifications. The impact on the amount of state aid a district would receive varied according to the newly developed criteria.

Under the first criteria, any school district that was spending over its state-determined adequacy level as well as taxing over the local fair share would see some of its 2008-09 state aid applied toward tax relief.

The second criteria held that a school district that was spending over its established adequacy level but taxing under the local fair share amount would not receive new state aid.

The third criteria was that a school district that was spending under its established adequacy level and taxing over its local fair share would be entitled to receive new state aid.

The fourth criteria, as explained by Marciante, dictates that a district that is currently spending under its established adequacy level and taxing under its local fair share would be likely to receive additional aid with the increase offset by a raise in taxes.

Marciante said the Manalapan-Englishtown school district qualified for the new state aid under the third criteria (spending under its established adequacy level and taxing over its local fair share) and is one of only 12 school districts out of more than 50 in Monmouth County that are spending under their established adequacy standards.

Noting that 42 other Monmouth County school districts are spending over their established adequacy standard, meaning that according to the state's interpretation they are inefficient because they are spending more per pupil than the state formula provides for, Marciante said, "The state thinks we are very efficient. The state knows we are doing the best we can with what we have because our costs are under adequacy standards.

"It shows that our Board of Education and previous superintendents have done well and not wasted money. We have an excellent education system in Manalapan-Englishtown and we are doing it in a very cost-effective way," he said. "We are likely entitled to more aid because we are spending less than what the state says is adequate and taxing more than it has defined as local fair share based on income and property values."

Board member James Mumolie said board members were informed by the business administrator that the projected numbers should "equate to a savings in the school tax now being paid by taxpayers in both Manalapan and Englishtown."