It has become evident that a potential merger between Bloomsbury and a neighboring school district may very well be in the best interest of the borough and our children.
To the editor:
Misinformation regarding the potential regionalization of the Bloomsbury School District and the Greenwich Township School District abounds.
We urge all community members to read the Feasibility Study, come to the next community meeting on March 23, and form your own opinions based on real facts.
We encourage everyone to ask informed questions and engage in meaningful conversations with your neighbors so that, if this does proceed to a vote, all of the residents in Bloomsbury are able to make informed decisions.
We, as the Board of Education, will continue to provide accurate and comprehensive information to the community as it becomes available and welcome your continued involvement.
On April 12, 2016, the board publicly passed a resolution to engage in a Feasibility Study with the Greenwich Township School District.
This resolution was passed following months of open discussion regarding various options.
Could this N.J. school become history with a merger?
It became evident that a potential merger with a neighboring school district may very well be in the best interest of the borough and our children.
Since the passage of the feasibility study resolution, President Kevin Kerfoot and Vice President Craig Levesque have made a concerted effort to attend Borough Council meetings to provide council members with district updates.
Greenwich Township School District debt is of great concern to Bloomsbury residents because the Bloomsbury School District is without debt.
Although a regionalized school district would be responsible for existing debt, we do not expect school taxes in Bloomsbury to "skyrocket."
In fact, the cost of debt is included in the Greenwich Township School District per pupil cost of $10,787 for 2016, which is significantly lower than the Bloomsbury School District per pupil cost of $18,228 for 2016.
In other words, Greenwich Township residents pay almost $8,000 less per student despite their debt obligations. Finally, the debt will be repaid in five years.
School districts have minimal methods by which to increase revenue and they include tuition, choice aid, and tax levy increases.
As a choice district, Bloomsbury is not permitted to accept parent-paid tuition for students in grades K-8.
We have the maximum number of choice students allowed by the State of New Jersey so additional choice revenue is not a possibility. School districts may only increase their tax levy by 2-percent annually.
Additional tax revenue is generated from ratables, which would mean new construction of either homes or businesses. Since the vast majority of existing homes and businesses, even if vacant, are paying real estate taxes, additional families with young children moving into town will not generate additional tax revenue.
In fact, additional resident students may increase our expenses in the form of tuition.
To give an example, if a house in town passes in ownership from a family with no children to a family with two high school aged children, then our expenses increase by $30,000 a year without adding a penny to our tax levy.
Representation on a regional board of education is proportional and based on resident population as required by New Jersey Statute.
Representation by population is one of the founding principles of our democracy - it is how our house of representatives is organized, for example.
A regional board of education is not permitted to selectively raise taxes on one of its constituent towns without raising taxes on the entire region. This is not a situation where one town benefits from the taxes of another.
The tax ratio to be used by the regionalized district is required to be included in the ballot question so while it is true that exact taxation numbers are dependent on passage of the following year's budget, the people of Bloomsbury will be able to review the current budget and make reasonable assumptions based upon the new tax formula.
We are extremely proud of our school and of our community and we have been honored to send our children to the Bloomsbury School.
Unfortunately, our current financial situation is the reality of managing a school district in New Jersey in the "2-percent tax levy cap" era.
Small towns and small districts must find creative ways, with very limited options, to become even more efficient to be stable or they will wither and die. We do our students no favors - and we do Bloomsbury Borough no favors - if we ignore these facts and continue on as we have done.
It is true that Bloomsbury has had some tough years.
But if we are serious about revitalizing our community, we cannot simply continue on as we have and hope for the best.
Many people are worried about the impact on our town if the school closes; the impact on our property taxes, the effect on our civic life in town.
We are worried about this also, but we have to consider the trajectory our school is currently on as well. We face a future where we have to continually cut programs, faculty, and staff to make budget within a 2-percent tax levy cap.
Will our school still be an asset to our town if the program offerings barely meet the requirements of the state of New Jersey?
If we have to raise taxes repeatedly and significantly, how will that affect our town?
Our property values may increase if we become part of a stronger, more stable regional district that is not on the precipice of an implosion or huge tax increase.
Again, we urge all community members to read the Feasibility Study, come to the next community meeting on March 23, and form your own opinions based on the real facts.
We encourage everyone to ask questions and engage in conversations with your neighbors so that, if this does proceed to a vote, all of the residents in Bloomsbury are able to make informed decisions.
We, as the board of education, will continue to provide information to the community as it becomes available and welcome your continued involvement.
Kevin Kerfoot
Bloomsbury
The writer is president of the Bloomsbury Board of Education
