Toms River school board must decide big cuts — teachers, sports, activities on the line

TOMS RIVER - The Toms River Regional school board will hold a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. July 3 to vote on an tentative 2024-2025 budget made more complicated by a loss of state education aid.

Superintendent Mike Citta said the meeting was scheduled for July 3 because New Jersey requires that school budgets be submitted to the county superintendent's office by July 5. The meeting will be held at the auditorium in Toms River High School North, 1245 Old Freehold Road.

Toms River Regional's school board introduced a $291 million budget for 2024-2025 in March that provided for the same number of staff positions. It was balanced on the revenue side by an anticipated state loan, or another funding source that would have made up what district officials said was a $26,498,520 shortfall in state aid.

But the state has not made loans available this year to districts like Toms River, Jackson, Middletown and Neptune that have seen significant cuts in state education aid under the state aid formula, S2. And the state's budget contained only $1.2 million more money for Toms River Regional schools, an amount Citta has said is not enough to prevent drastic cuts in staff, soaring classroom sizes and the likely elimination of extracurricular activities.

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Earlier this year, Toms River Regional sought to merge with Seaside Heights school district , in a regionalization plan that could have brought significant additional state money to Toms River Regional. Voters in Toms River, Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River strongly supported a referendum approving the merger, but it failed when Seaside Heights voters rejected it.

Last month, Toms River Regional board members voted 6 to 3 to support a 9.9% school tax increase, but only if the state had provided $12,358,759 in extra aid. The higher tax increase for the 2024-2025 school year is permitted in legislation Gov. Phil Murphy signed in early May, which also included $1.2 million in extra money for Toms River Regional schools .

Districts like Toms River, which have consistently lost money under S2, were previously only allowed to raise property taxes by 2% annually to make up some of the deficit. The legislation signed by the governor allows a one-year exception, permitting districts with big budget gaps to raise taxes up to 9.9%.

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The tax increase would raise an additional $12.8 million in revenue; the additional state aid is needed to balance the budget. But no additional aid was included in the $56.6 billion budget the state legislature adopted last week, and it's unclear if a board majority would support the tax increase without additional state money.

Citta had said earlier this year that cutting $26.5 million in state aid for 2024-2025 would force the elimination of 368 staff positions, or 20% of the staff. Such a budget would also eliminate advanced placement classes, sports and extracurricular activities like clubs and plays. Most of the cuts would be to the teaching staff, Citta has said. The superintendent said he would never present a budget with such deep cuts, which he said would prevent Toms River Regional from offering a "thorough and efficient" education as required by New Jersey law

Toms River Regional has already cut about 250 positions as state aid has dwindled in the last several years.

Facing similar budget cuts, Jackson schools recently announced that the Sylvia Rosenauer School will close immediately and be prepared for sale , while 70 teaching positions will be cut; the moves are to help close an $18 million budget gap.

Jean Mikle covers Toms River, Seaside Heights and several other Ocean County towns. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle,  jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River school board must decide big cuts — teachers, sports, activities on the line