NJ Education Report

The Star-Ledger reports today on a bizarre result of the new School Funding Reform Act in the tiny wealthy Monmouth County village of Loch Arbour. How tiny? Total population is 280 people, total school-age population is 23 children. How wealthy? The average home is assessed at $1.4 million.

Loch Arbour has a long-standing sending relationship with Ocean Township School District, whom they pay $16,000 per kid per year for a modest $300,000 annually. This funding arrangement dates back to a 1999 bill called the Kiely Act, named after a former mayor. But a little-known consequence of the S.F.R.A. overturns Kiely and bases tuition for the 23 kids on property values. For residents of Loch Arbour, this means that the $16,000 per kid per year balloons to $68,750 per kid per year.

The Ledger quotes Betty McBain, President of the village’s Board of Trustees:

For a school funding formula that was supposed to benefit all children and all communities, this is backfiring big time. This is a formula for ruination for us.

Loch Arbour residents have been agitating to get some sort of waiver from the D.O.E. The village website details their progress (not much), including a summary of a meeting with Education Commissioner Lucille Davy and their County Superintendent Carol Morris, though Davy was a no-show. Reports the Ledger,

Kathryn Forsyth, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said her agency understands Loch Arbour’s plight but its hands are tied.

“This has to be corrected legislatively,” Forsyth said. “If the legislators want to pass special legislation, it’s fine with us.”

Was the D.O.E. aware that, as a result of S.F.R.A., a village would end up paying close to $70K a kid? Heck – the town would save big bucks by shipping the kids off to an exclusive private boarding school. Is it an oversight on the part of a mismanaged bureaucracy or a calculated move on the part of a savvy government entity intent on finagling consolidation of small towns? Does the D.O.E. figure that no one will have much sympathy for people who live in million dollar homes? Are there other Loch Arbours out there?

It’s anyone’s guess. Regardless, count it as another chink in the armor of the School Funding Reform Act, already undermined by a fiscal predicament that curtails Corzine’s promise to fairly fund education in New Jersey.