Jackson School District threatens to sue NJ over 'unthinkable' financial aid cuts

JACKSON — Faced with "unthinkable cuts," including the closure of an elementary school, the township's board of education is preparing to file a lawsuit against the state over a drastic reduction in financial aid over the last several years.

School board President Giuseppe Palmeri on Wednesday announced that the board had authorized attorney Marc Zitomer to "take appropriate legal action against the Department of Education to obtain funding and/or state aid advance that is required for us to provide an efficient education," to the sound of applause from members of the public.

"We hope this (lawsuit) can be avoided, but we do not remain hopeful, given the prior course of events," said Palmeri, wearing a T-shirt reading "S2 failed Jackson."

The crowd erupted into applause an hour later when the board unanimously voted to reject the district's 2024-25 budget, a $165.7 million spending plan that would couple the closing of Rosenauer Elementary School, staff cuts and elimination of late buses with an increase of 9.9% the tax levy -- a special, one-time exception to the standard 2% levy increase cap granted by a 2024 law allowing districts to offset aid reductions.

A taxpayer with property at the average assessed value of $330,688 would see a $4,861 school tax bill, a $146 increase over last year, under the budget.

Last year, more than 64% of Jackson voters shot down a ballot referendum that would have allowed the district to raise taxes by more than $4 million, about $96 for an average home, in order to hire over 30 teachers, counselors and support staff.

The board's rejection of the budget wasn't a surprise; all nine members rejected even the introduction of the budget last month, a decision overturned by fiscal monitor Carole Knopp-Morris, assigned to the district last year after it received a $10.2 million loan from the state Department of Education.

More: Jackson to close Rosenauer Elementary, cut 70 jobs and shrink athletics after NJ aid loss

"This is obviously not a spending issue as much as it is a revenue issue, and that makes it extremely difficult," Morris said. "There's just not the revenue coming in that there should be, either through the funding that's been imposed or the fair share amount of taxes that have been paid."

As fiscal monitor, Morris has the power to override the school board and approve the budget, including making line item changes.

Like Jackson, the Toms River Regional Board of Education is also preparing a lawsuit against the state over "unconstitutional actions" that led to $137 million in school funding losses.

The Jackson school budget, as presented, would eliminate, terminate or rescind job offers for nearly 80 positions. Resolutions tied to those moves specifically cited they were "due to severe budgetary cuts."

In addition, the budget called for the closure of Rosenauer Elementary School, "drastic reductions" to school and department supply and services budgets and the elimination of all late buses, the middle school holding center and afterschool enrichment programs, district Superintendent Nicole Pormilli said.

More: Jackson has $30 million budget gap and won't get much help from the state

The district previously proposed eliminating courtesy busing but walked back that plan after the district received an additional $2.5 million in the state budget, Pormilli said.

"This is not a budget we want to present. This is not a budget we agree with, but this is a budget we need to balance in order to continue to operate, pay staff and order supplies and things the district needs to move forward for the 2024-25 school year," she said. "We have worked so hard over the last seven years to avoid affecting our students. We've been creative. We've sought out grants. We've done everything we possibly can, but the 2024-25 budget cannot operate and balance without affecting students."

Over those seven years, Pormilli and her predecessor, Stephen Genco, pointed the finger squarely at S2, the 2018 law that rewrote the state's school funding formula in the hopes of redirecting aid from "overfunded" districts to "underfunded" districts.

At the time the law was passed, Jackson saw nearly $51 million in state aid; for the 2024-25 school year, the district received less than $25.3 million, more than half the state aid it received in the 2017-18 school year.

Unlike last year, the state denied Jackson's request for a loan to fill what was originally a $31 million budget gap before the district saw some aid restored through legislation and undertook a series of what Pormilli called "unthinkable cuts."

Like other municipalities in northern Ocean County, Jackson is in a relatively unique position. While state aid awards are largely linked to enrollment, Jackson's enrollment figures don't tell the full story.

Over the last decade, the Orthodox community in Jackson has skyrocketed -- leading to years of litigation and blatant antisemitism, especially on social media and espoused at public meetings.

Under state law, school districts are required to provide transportation for students within a town who attend private schools. If transportation can't be provided, they must provide annual "aid-in-lieu" payments to the student's family, $1,165 as of this year.

While the district currently had 7,567 students attending public schools as of last year, according to its annual School Performance Report with the Department of Education, it's also responsible for transporting or compensating the families of 3,867 nonpublic school students, a population that's grown more than fivefold since 2017, according to district records.

The vast majority of the district's nonpublic students, according to district records, attend Orthodox Jewish private schools in nearby Lakewood, according to district records.

More: 'Perfect storm': Jackson begs for help as private school bus costs soar by millions

The district appropriated about $10.5 million for transportation and $610,000 for aid-in-lieu in the 2017-18 budget, when the district had 655 nonpublic school students. In the 2024-25 budget, those line items have ballooned to $20.1 million and $6.5 million, respectively.

"These are things that need to be communicated to Trenton," said Jackson resident John Spalthoff, who works as superintendent of the Spring Lake Heights district. "We're spending $6.5 million (on aid-in-lieu) when we're sitting here talking about taking away afterschool busing. The change for Jackson needs to come from Trenton, and it needs to come to these towns that have a high number of nonpublic students."

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and a little bit of everything else. He's won a few awards that make his parents very proud. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter .

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jackson School District threatens to sue NJ over 'unthinkable' financial aid cuts