The Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education is joining a lawsuit that targets the New Jersey Department of Education in a fight for additional state funding.
During a meeting on Nov. 19, board members voted 8-0 to take the action.
Rebecca Policastro, the communications and district projects coordinator for the FRHSD, said board members authorized the expenditure of an amount not to exceed $10,000 to support the litigation. In the event there is a need for additional funds, the proposed expense would be considered by the board, she said.
The resolution was supported by board President Michael Messinger of Marlboro, Vice President Peter Bruno of Howell, Carl Accettola of Colts Neck, Diana Cappiello of Englishtown, Amy Fankhauser of Howell, Kathie Lavin of Farmingdale, Heshy Moses of Freehold Borough and Jennifer Sutera of Manalapan.
Board member Samuel Carollo of Freehold Township was absent from the meeting.
In a resolution, the board said the School Funding Reform Act of 2008 (SFRA) reflects the current New Jersey law that provides state aid to public school districts and the board said the state Legislature has appropriated limited monies to fund state aid for public school districts.
The resolution states that Freehold Regional is receiving less than the state aid it should have otherwise received under SFRA; and that the “arbitrary and inconsistent determination of the local fair share as determined by the state will negatively impact the taxpayers who support the FRHSD.”
Given that set of circumstances, board members voted to join litigation that has been initiated by other New Jersey school districts to address the “unequal and disparate results caused by SFRA’s distribution of available state aid and its impact upon its local taxpayers.”
Board members directed the district’s administration “to provide whatever assistance is reasonably required in order to pursue the litigation in order to further the interests of the school district and its taxpayers.”
Locally, the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District is also a party in the litigation.
Manalapan-Englishtown Superintendent of Schools John J. Marciante has said SFRA “is significantly flawed and it is irresponsible for it to be used to determine the appropriate level of state aid for a district. I have identified specific issues with the formula that need to be addressed. I have shared those concerns with (state) Sen. (Stephen) Sweeney and the Department of Education.”
The Weiner Law Group has been engaged to represent the school districts in the state funding litigation.
