Lakewood outgrows transportation budget

Lakewood outgrows
transportation budget
School officials ask
Township Committee
to help foot the bill
BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer

LAKEWOOD — The township is growing and so are the transportation costs of its K-12 school district. That is the case made by Kathryn Fuoto, its business administrator, for the district’s requested $300,000 to $400,000 bailout by local government.

"Our auditor, Robert Allison, told the Board of Education they are in better financial shape than last year [and] that we are approximately $40,000 short of the state’s recommended 3 percent (of the total budget) surplus," said Fuoto, describing the district’s good news/bad news situation. "(However), it means the board cannot appropriate any money from surplus for the 2004-05 budget."

Administrators and board members will formulate the district’s next budget in the coming weeks and residents will vote on the 2004-05 spending plan in the April 20 school election.

Recently Frank Marlow, a consultant hired by the Township Committee, was sent a requested audit of the 2002-03 school budget, which he said he needed in order to analyze the district’s financial problems and determine the best course of action to resolve it.

In the meantime, the district wasted no time preparing for the worst. That become evident when a draft letter signed by Superintendent of Schools Ernest Cannava was leaked to the media in early November.

In the letter, Cannava told parents that due to a budget shortfall he would have to discontinue courtesy bus transportation for all public and private high school students. Whether his prescription for the financial ills that beset the district will come to pass will depend in large part on Marlow’s analysis and recommendation.

In a recent interview with the Tri-Town News, Fuoto discussed why administrators said the district is running out of transportation funds for public and private school students in the middle of the school year, and why it should come as no surprise to taxpayers.

"By January, we have to pay parents of nonpublic school children aid in lieu of transportation money," Fuoto said. "[Even if] Lakewood courtesy busing distances conformed to the state’s longer guidelines, there would still be a shortfall."

Aid in lieu of transportation money is money paid to families of children who are entitled to bus transportation to public or private school when no such transportation is available. The money is supposed to cover the family’s cost to make its own transportation plans.

Some Lakewood residents have criticized school administrators for applyingshorter distances than required by the state to qualify students for courtesy bus transportation to public and private schools. Many of the township’s private school students are Orthodox Jewish children who live within walking distance of the religious schools they attend, but who receive the so-called courtesy busing.

But contrary to popular belief, Fuoto said, the Orthodox Jewish children are not the only recipients of such service. She said Lakewood’s population of illegal immigrants, many of whom do not have a valid New Jersey driver’s license, also are creating a strain on the district’s transportation funds.

"They keep a very low profile because of their status," Fuoto said. "By law, we’re required to educate [the children] whether they’re here legally or not."

As a result, she said, there were 200 more students enrolled in Lakewood’s public schools this school year.

"In order to maintain the current program and meet the additional demands of our growing population, the decision of the town and the board — because they both agreed to the budget cuts (in May) — will [make it] more difficult to provide a thorough and efficient education for each child," Fuoto said. "It’s not impossible, but this school year, it’s certainly more difficult."

According to Fuoto, the reason for the six-figure deficit in transportation funding is a result of the Township Committee’s reduction of the proposed school budget increase of 14 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation that voters rejected April 15.

"Because of the $2.9 million budget cut, it will be very difficult to generate additional surplus to use in the 2004-05 budget," she said. "The current crisis didn’t just happen. It [just] wasn’t identified until October, since that is when we have to take a picture of the students that are receiving public and nonpublic transportation — of which courtesy busing is [only] a part."

Fuoto insisted the district was not crying wolf in asking for the township to make up the shortfall in funding.

"A short-term fix for taxpayers could have worse repercussions in the long-term," Fuoto said. "If you tell the state that you didn’t need $2.9 million by cutting it one year, they won’t fund the district by that amount the following year, even though the district is growing."

She said the Township Committee’s good intentions to provide property tax relief, which has become a mantra throughout the state this past year, would have dire consequences for the future of Lakewood’s schools.

"The short-term property relief of 2003-04 won’t prepare them for what the board might have to propose in 2004-05 in order to meet increasing student population and their needs," Fuoto said, and added, "[That means] everything," not just transportation.

When asked if it was a case of taxpayers getting what they paid for, Fuoto agreed, but said that was not to make light of taxpayers’ financial burden, and that she empathized with their plight.

"The best solution would be to put some money back in the programs, hire more teachers [or] update computers," Fuoto said.

When Fuoto was reminded that many residents have complained to local officials about paying more taxes for students who achieve less each year, Fuoto again referred to Lakewood’s growing population of immigrants, many of whom do not speak English.

"How can you get better test scoreswhen you have so many immigrants living here who haven’t received a proper education in their native country?" she asked. "That’s not the only reason our test scores haven’t improved, but it’s a good one."

Fuoto pointed to the fact that Lakewood, unlike neighboring towns such as Jackson or Brick, is an urban district and that its problems more closely resemble those of Perth Amboy or Kearny.

"If you take the standard of the free and reduced lunch application as an income criteria, 60 percent of Lakewood students are living in what the state defines as poverty," she said. "You have to first make sure that their basic needs are met — that they’re sheltered, fed and clothed. Their parents may work two jobs and no one is there to help them."

Public misunderstanding of a complex social problem that goes beyond dollars and cents, as well as an ongoing financial tug of war waged in the media by local government and school district officials only clouds the issue further, Fuoto said.

"In my opinion, [senior citizens] who may live at the outskirts of town don’t see the urban component or its problems," said Fuoto, referring to criticisms leveled at the district by some residents of adult communities such as Fairways or Four Seasons.

Many seniors who have spoken out publicly said they are retired and live on a fixed income. But they are not the only residents in financial distress, countered Fuoto.

"Everybody says, ‘Look at Lakewood, they’re the lowest achieving district in Ocean County,’ but we’re the only urban district in Ocean County," she said.