There was much discussion at Tabernacle School District’s Oct. 7 board of education meeting after members learned of a school district wanting to opt-out of the New Jersey School Boards Association.
Toms River Regional School District submitted a resolution to the NJSBA to opt-out of membership. According to their Sept. 11 board of education meeting minutes, the school district has withheld payment of $26,662.70 to the NJSBA.
“Despite being fully aware of the errors in the state aid formula, the district is not pleased that N.J. School Boards Association has disengaged themselves as an organization from assisting those districts that are unfairly losing aid due to the S2 legislation,” their minutes stated.
The district agreed to keep withholding payments until a “course of action is finalized” to address Toms River’s concerns with the NJSBA.
According to its website, the NJSBA, a federation of boards of education, “provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and promote the achievement of all students.”
“If you were to go to trainings or any available workshops that aren’t part of the membership, it’s about $8,000 [for the cost],” said Business Administrator Jessica L. DeWysockie. “Depending on how much traveling you guys have.”
Due are around $6,600 for the board.
“The only thing we’re truly getting out of it is that we’re getting our mandated trainings,” said board member Kevin McCloy. NJSBA is the state-designated provider of mandated trainings, according to its website, and these are at no cost to members.
Board President Victoria Shoemaker said the NJSBA schedules and facilitates many of the county school board association meetings, and the statewide meetings are “information, but not always well-attended.”
The board members discussed other options to satisfying their mandated trainings, but were unsure of the cost and its impact on the district. McCloy added they are also required to do superintendent evaluations; Tabernacle is seeking assistance from Lenape Regional High School District for this to save time.
“When and if this [resolution] goes further, we have to say ‘okay, what will this cost us outside of the NJSBA’ and make our decision,” he added. “We’re in a pickle.”
Col. Stephen Henske said having the option to leave the association will be great, but a cost comparison would need to be made to see how it would affect Tabernacle.
In other news:
- The ReWire conference had roughly 400 people attend, combined for both days. Robbins said if the district were to pay speaker fees, it would have cost around $120,000. The Tabernacle Education Foundation covered the speakers room and board
- DeWysockie said she and a team of administrators have met to discuss the district’s financial forecast for the next school year. She added the district is projected to lose around $481,000 in state aid, but the number could change based on the Oct. 15 enrollment numbers. She said the administrators will look to meet with the board to discuss plans leading up to the budget season.
- The district, Robbins said, was randomly selected by the state for additional testing. He added the district cannot decline it, and it does not replace the NJSLA testing in the spring. The state Department of Education conducts additional testing to see if changes are needed to the standardized tests.
The next board of education meeting is scheduled for Oct. 21, beginning at 7 p.m. at Kenneth R. Olson Middle School.
