this [Music] our [Music] right there you go e [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] another one [Music] I [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] n every [Music] com [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] w ch [Music] count [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] [Music] la [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he [Music] la [Music] [Music] that is Jackson Memorial jazz band under the direction of Jason Diaz amazing talent woohoo woo that's all [Music] all right I think we should start every Board of end meeting off with the jazb that was awesome uh call the meeting to order please rise salute the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible liy and justice for all this meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings law and has been duly advertised in the newspaper as an official meeting roll call Mrs Cardella present Mr McCarron presid Mrs baroas Dr Osman pres Mrs Rivera present Mrs Cass present Mr P present I need a motion for approval of the agenda with addendums motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Dr osbin yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr Tri P maray yes before turning over to the superintendent's report I'd like to just welcome assembly mkii thank you for coming out this evening and showing your support at this time I will now turn the meeting over to miss prilly for her superintendent's report thank you Mr promary and good evening everyone um amazing again I just want to say thank you to the memorial jazz band they were here rehearsing and they said you know what why don't we just stay a little bit longer and play for the first few minutes as people are walking into the board meeting and that was just a great way to start tonight um we all know just our incredible music programs we have here in all of our schools um just amazing I I'm flored um at what they just played amazing so thank you to them and to Mr Diaz so tradition has it that every board meeting we start with our high school board reps and Tonight is their last report sadly uh they've been with us all year this is the last board meeting for them as the June board meeting happens after school has let out so I just wanted to take a minute to thank them before they speak tonight and give their last report they've done a wonderful job at sharing all the amazing events and activities that happen on a daily basis in our high schools uh we certainly will miss you you've done an incredible job um but we are just so proud of you and excited for your next journey in life we know you're going to lead and do wonderful things in your next steps in life um and certainly this won't be the last time we get a chance to to say congratulations because we'll see you at graduation um but you've done a wonderful job and your name plates are yours to take home this evening as a little memory of being a board rep so thank you for everything you've done a great job and tonight we'll start with liberty and Jose at the podium good evening superintendent pornel Board of Education members and guests thank you for having me here I'm honored to share with you a little bit about what the students staff of Jackson Liberty have been up to since our last meeting this month was even more successful than last with many opportunities and activities taking place our psychology classes are working hard as they are creating beautiful scenery at the bus room with mental health awareness messages to all of our students happy living is not limited to people the Liberty Lighthouse Club is collecting supplies for a local animal shelter the associating Humane Society in Tinton Falls last year's Drive was a huge success and they were so appreciative of all the donations we look forward to contributing even more this year the end is near for our seniors and they are starting to send their colleges decisions and our staff is displaying their banners in the main hallway so that everyone can see them standing out speaking of Sing Out congratulations to our seniors of the month Olivia Smith and Harrison Orton in addition our athletes of the month are Elijah Elias of volleball and EM tasa of the softball team elasia Elias earned his a thousandth careers against Harbor High School finally Mrs brandian was named lion staff member of the mon for all her hard work and support towards the students our our sports teams are on a role and are willing to keep it going congrats to our softball team on winning 10 to3 against Manchester a big shout out to freshman lros GOI Angie giano on her 100 save our boys Bowl team celebrated their senior day with a 12 to5 win over Lacy the seniors did a great job leading their team to Victory the lacrosse team is having an amazing season they defeated malar last week 9 to5 and our very own Paul capuzzi got his 300 Career Point and 100 career assist mat Oban got his 600 career save pet Lanka earned the defensive player of the week honors by the Shor Savages yesterday at Eagle rege the golf team played well and defeated Manchester 178 to 195 the last match of the season is tomorrow vus piland at LBI National gol course moreover the girls track team had a great day at the Ocean County Championship D pup got second in the 800 meter ala Torres B casis danis palov and MAA Ali played second in the 400 meter relay dianis palov broke her school record in the 800 meter finally our boys volleyball team defeated CBA this past week and are going to pay free B today in the second round of the short Conference tournament good luck boys this month we had Teacher Appreciation Week the yellow HS ptsn put a motivational side of outside of the S parking lot to greet them as they enter the school the Jackson Liberty band had a clothing Drive fundraiser this past weekend to collect items for their organization the internet Club had a biged sale this past week additionally the girl soccer team had had multiple fundraisers such as saying ice pops and more that help make the day better days always seem to be good for our jazz band They recently won another competition to keep the streak alive their Excellence is always celebrated and we are so proud of all what they do the band is also hosting their popular music in the park where schools from the tri state area come to compete it is a phenomenal event the dance team had a great competition this past weekend as they earned the studio and investment award the powerful performance award and the creepy and creative award word great job girls even though Mother's Day was this Sunday I want to thank all of our mothers across Jackson for all the hard work you do and for your support you really do make a difference as always I would like to thank all of you for your continued support of Liberty and all the schools in town this will be my last meeting with all of you as I will be going off to college thank you for giving me this special place to speak on behalf of Jackson Liberty and for your Mar appreciated time throughout the years we'll continue to make the best of each day we are given I wish you all the best have a good [Applause] night as always informative and an excellent report so next up is Jamal for his last report about Memorial good evening Mrs porm Milly members of the central Administration staff and Board of Education members thank you for allowing me to speak here tonight on behalf of Jackson Memorial High School we are almost done with the year so allow me to inform you on all the important news occurring on May 1st motivational speaker Gabe Hurley came to spread his story and explain how important good decision- making is to Juniors and seniors he is a great musician inspiring speaker and he really set an example on how to make good decisions Junior formal was a huge success even though the day was rainy everyone had a great time everyone was dressed nice the food was amazing and the sceni scenery at Jumping Brook was spectacular the Air Force jrc had their annual awards ceremony last night on the 13th a awards were given away including national awards and scholarships the unit itself was awarded distinguished unit award for passing inspection by an Air Force representative the senior elementary school walk will be held on May 28th and I personally will be visiting switlick on May 30th there will be a big event held at the school it is called history on Wheels where each generation of cars will be parked in the parking lot for students and staff to enjoy the generation of cars will start from the 1920s up on June 5th scholarship night will be held for Liberty and Memorial in this Auditorium students who qualify will be awarded for strong dedication and effort that they put in these last four years on June 5th athletic signing day will be held as well including all divisions D1 D2 and D3 senior yearbooks will also be sold that day as well there will be an awareness assembly on June 6th for good decision-making and positive thinking going into the last couple of weeks of school June 7th will be the highly anticipated senior prom it will be held at Southgate Manor and will be Cinderella themed on June 9th and June 10th there will be an award night for students academic achievements the first one will be on the 9th held for freshman and sophomores and the second one will be held on the 10th for juniors and seniors students that qualify are students that maintained a 4 .0 GPA for the entire school year there will be special senior awards awarded to seniors who achieved a 4.0 GPA their entire four years attending Jackson Memorial High School final exams for seniors will be on the 13th and 14th and senior graduation will be on the 18th of June starting at 2:30 p.m. um I would personally this one is uh from the heart a little bit um I just want to thank all teachers and all coaches who have helped me um become the person who I am today um I don't think I would be the same person if I never attended Jackson Mo high school and I think that attending here really helped it really helped me find my path I really didn't have my path but it it helped me find my path and I'd like to thank all of you I would like to thank Mrs pmil and the board of education for your continued support and thank you for allowing me to speak to speak thank you for allowing me to speak here tonight thank you for the fun and entertaining Year and thank you for allowing me to speak at this meeting for the last time thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of Jackson Memorial High School have a good night always so sad that it's the last meeting for them they've just done an incredible job all year and I'm so super proud of them and their next step so thank you again and uh I'll see you graduation okay so moving on with my superintendent report this evening I did want to provide the board with an update related to our budget situation um both the current budget the 23 24 and the 2425 so in in my report I do have just a couple of slides so if the board would like to turn around and take a look at those slides I am just going to sit on my seat as just a few slides just to provide an update um to the board and the public so the purpose of of tonight's well let me start with the quote that I ended with um actually last week um just to reemphasize obviously how the community the board our staff all feel about students and that there is nothing more important right than the education of our students here in Jackson School District and that continues to be our Focus um um again the quote speaks for itself tonight's um the purpose of tonight's update is to review the status of the 2324 um loan request or state aid advancement request to also explain where we stand with the 2425 budget process and I wanted to um also inform the community and the board this evening that we were informed in writing this afternoon that we may not have a budget hearing tonight and we may not uh Vote or or approve or not approve um or vote the board may not vote because we still have an unbalanced 2425 budget therefore we cannot vote on anything um and then I also wanted to update the community and the board on the possible impact of legislation that was actually passed yesterday um and then signed today by the governor so the 2324 current status uh as I presented uh last week to the board that we were permitted to apply 4.4 million um into that budget which lowered the loan request down um and so that all went through that uh approval was last week the current status of the request uh the state monitor Miss Morris has recommended that the Jackson School District receive Advanced state aid in the amount of $7.3 million to support our 2324 budget so that recommendation has been made we are now awaiting the Commissioner of Education to make the final determination on her recommendation and as always we will keep the board and the community and our staff informed and as always we are cooperating and answering any additional questions we may receive from the Department of Education so that's where we stand for the 2324 budget with that budget closing June 30th so you can imagine how difficult it has been all year waiting to hear what we were going to be able to get supported with so moving on to the current status of the 2425 budget as you heard me just say we can't approve anything we still have an unbalanced budget as we presented last week we did apply and did um make some fiscally difficult decisions but we did reduce the deficit to about $26 Million by making about $4.2 million in cuts um and we cannot cut any further without sacrificing a safe thorough and efficient education for our students so we have St there and we're still at the unbalanced Mark of $26 million again we continue to work with our fiscal monitor the county office and the department of Ed just as a reminder the next slide just shows what could those devastating Cuts look like should we not get assistance from the Department of Education if we're forced to if the state makes Cuts some of these are the big things that the state would have to look at um I did add into these slides this evening that if we resulted in closing schools unfortunately that would drive our class sizes up so far it would be unsafe that we would have to then not accept the preschool money um that we receive and we would not be able to have 550 preschoolers with us because we would need those spaces for our uh K through through five students in our elementary schools so again it's just a horrific situation if you look at making those types of cuts to close that kind of Gap so new as I just mentioned this evening uh yesterday the bill was passed through the Senate and assembly and was sitting on the governor's desk a few of these bills are listed here um and it was signed late this afternoon we understand by the governor and as I walked into this meeting tonight I saw a broadcast from our department of Ed uh that outlined some guidance on how we are to approach the legislation obviously we've not had time to review that um or um go into the details of it but what we do know is that the way that the bill was approved uh that certain districts losing state aid um may have additional time to submit their budgets so we will look at that broadcast and see what that timeline is it does restore certain portion of the state school aid reductions that we were um we were cut at and it also does allow for to exceed that 2% cap that we have talked about year after year and so what that means for Jackson is instead of a $4.4 million Aid cut we would receive a 2.4 million Aid cut and that the district may also submit a budget that goes beyond the 2% tax at a Max of 9.9% that would be the max which would bring an additional $10 million um to our tax levy which then reduces that deficit of the 26 million to approximately 17 million so even raising above the 2% still will not close the gap that we will still have in our budget so it does not solve the problem we will still need direction from the county and the state is what to do with that 17 million cut um or deficit I should say so moving forward we will consider everything and look at our broadcast we will um obviously keep our community informed and the board informed as to the next steps we will work to continue with the Monitor and the the county and the state to seek Solutions um and we will keep everybody informed but I'm sure we will be at this again with another board meeting presenting where we stand um and where we're headed we will I think we have been very transparent kept everybody informed and we will continue to do so um it's Moment by moment changes it's difficult to work in that scenario but nevertheless we are in this for students and we will continue upon that path for what is in the best interest of our students here in Jackson so I'm just going to pause there for a moment for the board before I continue my superintendence report to see if you have any questions on the update I do yes so um is there a deadline that the commissioner has to even approve the 2324 budget you know did he give a deadline um considering I considering it's almost over yeah um I would assume that though that would be decided soon um but I do not have a timeline for a decision all I know is that it has been moved to the next step Miss Morris's recommendation was moved to the next step we're continually answering questions is you know this morning we spent all morning answering additional questions and we're hopeful that that has now gone to the commissioner for final approval so I do not have a finalized deadline from them no okay I have another question so obviously you said the legislation they just sent an email for you to digust you know what it's like but you know do we feel regardless even if we raise our tax levy to the max we're still going to have a deficit but do you feel that the state is going to come to us and say Hey you have to do this in order to Res you know receive that state aid that you still need so there's been no direction on that but I if I were making an assumption I would assume that there would not be any additional assistance to this District unless we were availed oursel of all possible Revenue to come into the district do you find it interesting and this might not be you could tell me that you won't answer it but you know like Nutley they had an issue and there they found that there was fiscal irresponsibility and they got state aid Advance within weeks so you know here we we are for two years so maybe that's just a comment just commenting yeah that's a comment yeah I can't explain that but obviously that is difficult to hear yes if I could just say so for a year we have been discussing with the Department of Education and I I know your Administration has been in constant contact with the Department of Education providing them numerous documents sometimes multiple times the same document because they keep requesting the same information and we're just a couple of weeks away from ending the 2324 school budget year and we're still waiting for the $7 million at this point that we're going to need to close out that budget why and I'm not sure if you know the answer or Miss Morris but why is the Department of Education dragging their feet when it comes to this very important topic of our budget uh obviously I I wouldn't know um other than I believe that they want to make sure that the absolute dollar amount that they provide is absolutely what we need and as you know with a budget when you're estimating all year long what your cash flow will be they're all estimates until the actual bills come in so it's really a month by month determining now is the actual now we can look at the actual now what is that Gap at so it really does you know there's a difference between estimating and the actual so that's an assumption on my part is that's what's what's delaying this process um M Morris did you want to I mean I spot on with that that's pretty much the rationale right I think it was somewhat delayed because we did have during that period of time the appointment of a new commissioner and several of the top Financial people are new and and I think that slowed the process down more than it would have um that was around when I think December November December somewhere in there that there were key positions that changed so the question that they're asking is just to find out the actual number that we're needing it's not because they're questioning to find an error within our book so that we could get the state a Advan quicker I mean I can't make assumptions of why they're asking questions um we are just any questions we being asked we are answering I have a question I'm just not sure if it's for you or Miss Morris so whoever wants to take it but I'm just curious um we learned in the last meeting that we had last week that leid created a budget with a loan that they apparently don't have yet were they able to vote on that my understanding is that they were not able to vote on it okay and my second question is so even if we vote to up the taxes to almost 10% Like you said where it's not we're still going to be millions of millions dollars away to where we need to be um so if we vote that down I think this question is for you miss moris if we vote that down because we don't want to raise taxes close to 10% um because the state poorly allocated where our already paid taxes went um do do you have the authority to veto that over the board the um I believe so uh there is other evidence L um decision in in there may even be one in the court I don't know um but if you read again the The Authority that the monitor has in 188 uh you you get an outline and I'm sorry because at last time I just it did I was reminded tonight that um I was going to make copies of that for you and and I will um but that's not the next step the next step is that it would go to the county office and the county superintendent of schools and County business administrator would be the next step after your board uh with either to approve it or not approve it have a quick question Mrs Morris have you ever worked for a district where the doe waited until the very last minute to give the money that in a sense they Pro like we had an agreement or we we gave our budget so this isn't new numbers or new information yes it's coming down to the actual but we're also down to weeks before our final payroll for the year have have they ever done this this late before I I can't I don't know uh the answer to that whether they have or haven't um I'm not certain of that I have a question do we know per household what that tax implication would be broken down if we were to raise the tax levy what that would come to we do um I'll ask Mr binsky to respond we have been in advance knowing this bill May might pass so so on the average uh assessed house in Jackson which is $332,000 it would be $166 increase if you took it to the max what was $332,000 that would be the assessed value of the average house in Jackson okay any other questions before I move on all right thank you I just want to remind the board that uh tonight on the agenda there is um a motion to approve the hi Hib self assessment scores from the 2223 school year if you recall U Mr mooki goes over those self assessment scores when we submit them so he went over those scores with you in July and it took it takes almost a year for the uh Department of Ved to send them back to us for approval so they've all been approved we've posted them on the district website so I just wanted you to know that's why it's back on there because we just received them back from the Department of Ed okay all right so let's let's move on to some positive things shall we the the things happening in our district it's a busy time of the year I can't believe that we're wrapping things up um it's miday and it's just an incredibly busy time of the year uh we do have some State Testing going on right now we have so many activities and events we have chorus concerts art Tech Expos the proms uh academic Awards happening scholarship night moving up Ceremonies for our fifth grade students um promotion Ceremonies for our eighth grade students and then there's graduation for our seniors um on Tuesday June 18th not too far away um just incredibly wonderful events and we're keeping our fingers crossed for our seniors that the weather is beautiful and wonderful and we fit it all outside for everybody so um people keep your fingers crossed just an exciting time for our students and uh I'm really looking forward to attending some of those events and seeing our families and our staff um I also do want to say um future appreciation week we really wrapped that in uh last week with all of our staff not just our teachers it takes all of us um we are just so incredibly thankful for the staff here who have been keeping um everything going in a positive direction for our students even though we're dealing with this budget crisis and so our entire staff comes together to work for the benefit of our students and I just want to thank them it's um it's not easy and you know we have more and more challenges we're doing more and more with less and I just want to heartfully thank the entire staff including the administrative team so thank you for that there's a couple of slides um as serone put together behind me this evening as well I just want to point out that um a thank you to our mayor and the council and the Jackson Education Foundation for partnering with the township Department um and dedicated residents who are making donations to help us um Revitalize our Fieldhouse here at Memorial uh it's an old building and it needs a lot of support and we're you know really working together to try and get some donations and community help to update those things and um we're having an open house this Sunday at the Fieldhouse for people to come see who are interested in making donations um fiscally or through Services um and that's from 10:30 to 1:00 here Jackson memorial on Sunday so hopefully we'll see some of you there to help us with that and we really appreciate the the team work on that I also wanted to just point out and say congratulations to the Ocean County Superintendent uh scholarship award winners uh we host that through my Association and I'm really excited to see them next week at the breakfast and their families um they've earned those scholarships and we're super proud of them and again I want to thank our staff who has been coming together to write letters write emails and make phone calls to the Department of Education the governor's office to help educate them on what's Happening Here in Jackson and you can see some pictures behind me that this is a team effort um so I'm really super proud of everybody and thankful and just as a reminder we have some summer camps that are running this summer um they're up on our website if you're looking for something for your your students to do you see some of the wonderful things that we do here uh the summer camps really do offer a lot for our students in those types of areas and just a reminder we have a Facebook page so um please follow us we that is new this year and we keep everything updated there and it's an easy quick way to get some information about the district so with that I am going to conclude my superintendent's report this evening Mr promary thank you Miss pril uh at this point we will go uh through our standing committee reports this is just committees that met from the previous board meeting which was just last week so it's not a lot um we have buildings and grounds chairperson Mr McCarron please report yes the uh Capital Improvement projects that were completed for the district uh Liberty there was new bearing assembly installed in C kitchen for the HVAC unit Johnson had room 301 new thermostatic expansion valve installed for the HVAC unit Johnson had new HVAC compressor installed in the principal's office hman the kitchen grease trap lid was repaired as per the health inspector memorial stadium bleachers are now equipped with new outlets and receptacles for for upcoming events and graduations gets water tank project tenative start date will be June 19th and hman Elementary School jym HVAC project update uh due to equipment and delivery issues this project has been tentatively postponed until September 2024 thank you Mr McCaron uh we also have scholarship chaired by Miss Cass uh is June 5th and that will be be held here at Memorial High School that evening it'll be both school's Liberty and Memorial together thank you Miss Cass I need a motion for approval of policy second reading motion second discussion roll call Mrs gordel yes Mr McCarron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pom yes I need a motion for approval of the minutes the Clos session meeting April 24th 2024 and the official board meeting April 24th 2024 business meeting second discussion roll call Mr gella yes Mr McCaron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of the bill list motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCaron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of treasurers and board secretaries reports motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P sorry yes before I open public forum on agenda items only I'd like to turn the uh microphone over to our attorney Mr zidar okay we have uh two student resolutions uh to add to the agenda this will be item number six resolved that the board reverses the finding of Hib of I'm sorry reverses the finding of unconfirmed Hib in case number 26186 jlh 0307 2024 presented by the board's Hib committee during this evening's closed session and be it further resolved that the parent should be provided with a written decision along with information on the right of appeal this will be resolution number seven students uh resolved that the board affirms the finding of unconfirmed Hib in case number 26377 j411 2024 presented to the Board of Education during this evening's executive session by the board's Hib committee and be further resolve that the parent should be provided with a written decision explaining the basis for the findings along with information on the right of appeal thank you I need a motion to open public forum on agenda items only we will hold another public forum during this meeting for other questions this public forum will be for questions on the agenda only motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on all topics until all others have been heard I would actually like to um provide assemblyman sukii with the podium if you'd like sir to present to this board thank you good evening uh and uh Mr President thank you for having me again tonight board members uh superintendent business administrator uh appreciate you having me uh back tonight uh really wanted to be here more to support all of you um a one proud dad moment before we start two of my kids were on stage tonight in the Jazz Band so I was I was really happy to see that uh you know it's it's just one of the reasons that I uh uh I'm so passionate about what we're doing here uh tonight uh you know it's not just the position I'm in but uh the position of being a father uh as as well as some of you probably heard last week I'm I'm also a proud member of the class of 89 uh from Memorial too so uh have some Roots here um I wanted to at least give you a little bit of an update from from where I sit uh obviously the superintendent uh has some uh really good information and and you know probably as close to the minute as possible um I'll talk about the two bills that you mentioned a 4161 uh I'm a uh I was a co-sponsor of uh and and lobbied hard uh for that one uh was disappointed as I'm sure you know uh it initially was supposed to have about 71 million uh and it representing about 2third of what was cut uh and the Senate um I don't know how else to say it in their Infinite Wisdom uh decided to lower it to 45% uh so uh Jackson probably lost that around $800,000 is what I'm guessing on on that um I don't know the logic behind that uh it came back to us yesterday we actually had a vote in Trenton yesterday on that bill uh it passed uh again I got I stood on the floor in the assembly and talked about how it does not solve the problem uh even if you do uh go down the path of using the property tax component of it uh I explained to the all the members of the assembly that uh you're still coming up close to $20 million shy uh and uh we we need to we need to do something now there's a lot of talk about the fact that the uh current funding formula uh the ones that the the one that failed uh everybody that you're wearing uh S2 uh but what I'm trying to get across to the rest of the legislature is we don't have time for that like every I I don't think there's disagreement that this funding formula is a disaster um I think they knew that last year the year before and the year before that and frankly in any one of those years it could have been fixed um you know I I I don't consider myself very very political I work across the aisle I've had very good success working across the aisle in terms of getting bills signed in a law um but there's control in both houses both houses could have fixed this years ago all right because I I keep hearing a lot of questions why are they doing this right why is why is there a delay it's been a delay it's this is this is the last of the delays it's been a it's been a string of delays um you know it's and in the end it's it's hurting school children I mean that's that's what it's coming down to uh I am lobbying hard for more legislation um I'm glad to see that uh 4059 uh passed uh yesterday as well and the governor signed it uh that delays uh the the date I believe to 5 days after the state budget I think somebody asked that question um I I Tried reading it in the statement while I was sitting here but I for what I've heard it's 5 days after the state budget uh so uh it buys a little time now that may not seem great because hey well what are we going to do between now and then for me personally it's it buys us time for legislation all right so uh we we have to we have a process that includes committee meetings they have to be moved out of committee they have to go to a a floor for a vote there's only so many of those uh in fact the one yesterday wasn't even scheduled until last Tuesday or Wednesday uh and that it was because things had to get p cast and and uh which includes I think 4161 in particular um I have a bill uh 4294 um I think somebody asked about the loan Bill uh that is the loan Bill uh that is to make an administrative change and to stop arguing with the doe and splitting hairs on what's a loan it defines it as a loan um it allows you to apply for the loan before finalizing your budget uh and it allows a uh loan to be a line item within the budget and to be clear I know nobody up here wants to take a loan and I know nobody out here wants to hear that your school district is taking a loan I I don't I don't think anybody wants that but it is another tool given the situation that we're all in here uh and I'm trying to enable that tool for you um to do it the right way I mean the fact that you have to wait until after you submit your budget to submit the loan request is is just ridiculous I mean it's absolutely ridiculous if any one out here as a small business owner if if you ran your business that way you'd be bankrupt you you you can't do it right you can't tell all of your employees they may lose their jobs but hey we we may take a loan later so hold on right I mean that's that's the equivalent of what we're talking about here right so uh I am pushing hard on that uh as you heard it did not get uh heard this week and I mean I lobbied the chair of the Appropriations Committee which this is not an Appropriations bill but a bill can be heard at any committee they were meeting I tried to get it on that agenda and I I spoke to and in and formally requested of the speaker to have it heard on the floor yesterday they both didn't didn't get done you know it wasn't from a lack of trying I can tell you that but I will say this I'm going to keep trying on that I am working across the aisle as I mentioned last time I was here there are members on the other side of the aisle that are having this exact same problem so I want I want to make sure everyone is clear about that that there are members on the other side of the aisle that are not happy about the way things are going right now now there are parties in control I have very uh Frank conversations and I can with these members I some of them I call friends uh because we do get along that well and we work together that well they're not happy they're not happy with their their Administration and the way this is being handled they want to do some things one of them did along with me on 4161 yesterday so assembly Roy fireman is is one of the the members I'm referring to he was the Prime sponsor on that bill and we worked on it together to to get it across the Finish Line we'll continue to do things like that hopefully in a short very short period of time with you know with the time that we hopefully have just been given back uh with the with the extension of the budget date um you know I don't know why the Department of Education is moving at the pace it's moving uh you know I I I heard our our school monitor uh talk about the fact that we do have have a new commissioner that is true I've spoken with him um within the last two weeks uh but uh I think I mentioned it last time I really didn't get much uh and I think that's been the consensus of every superintendent that I know who has spoken uh to the new commissioner as well uh you know if if it's because he's the new guy that that's not a that's not a viable excuse you know uh it's it's an important role the department of Eda is an important entity within uh the administration and uh we have some real issues right now um I have multiple districts within my legislative district that's having this problem right now and I can tell you many members of the assembly stood up on behalf of their districts yesterday particularly in Ocean County uh that are also having these problems so Tom ser and Brook for example Lacy uh plumstead are all having uh similar issues right now uh I'd say maybe one to the extent that we have here maybe one I mean they they all have a real real problem on their hands but Jackson's in in a class by itself unfortunately uh so just know that I'm fighting for all of you uh I'm fighting for you and I'm fighting for your children on on this as hard as I can and I do want to remind everybody and I want to be clear the people up here did not cause this problem I want if anyone's listening a home too these people did not cause this problem this was dropped on them it was known for years this started in 2018 and it got perpetually worse every year since and it could have been fixed years ago all right this group has an impossible job in front of them and we should be happy we have this group in place but I want to make sure everyone's clear the state caused this problem this Administration caused this problem this funding formula came in under this current Administration could be fixed under this Administration they chose not to do it all right so this group is doing the best they can to to do whatever they can for your school children children the state needs to fix this though all right so we will fix the formula going forward no doubt but I recognize we need to do something really soon for this school district and in school districts like you so um happy to take any questions I have one sure do you think that the bill that was passed um I didn't write the letters down that uh increase the tax levy with an optional to 9.9 is that for this year and well you know obviously some districts if they can go up that can actually recoup and be in a good place for this year depending on what their deficit was was yeah would it be like a every year will it solve their problem or will they be back at the starting field at the starting line you know what I'm saying well this discussion just like continue yeah it's a good question so the bill is a 4161 right that's the one that passed yesterday it has two components one component I really like which is to restore a portion of the funding that was uh cut for this upcoming school year right so you guys were expecting 800,000 you got 4 and a half million which again if you're running your business you'd be bankrupt if you had to operate under those conditions right you're getting 45% of that 4.5 million back I really like that component of it right I don't like the idea that we have to raise property tax I get that we may need to do that or you may need to to to think about that um the idea that that all of you should have to pay more property tax when you've already paid more than your fair share of income tax I I said last time in in 2021 which are the most recent numbers we have available all of you paid $68 million in income tax we're getting back 23 million right which already sounds low right 23 out of out of what you paid it makes it even worse when you look at other school districts like Nork who paid collectively only 44 million and they're getting 1.25 billion all right so the fact that the solution in this part of this piece of the bill is that well we should raise more property tax is you know it's ludicrous it's it's ludicrous to answer your question though um the bill says that you can now raise up to 99.9% above the 2% cap that you've been constrained on yeah this year right um it's only this year it's a one-time exception the only thing is it does bring you to the new level meaning starting next year the 2% cap is back in place but you're at this level after the 9.9 in increase all right so and I do like that part that at least the the 2% cap is back in place 2% cap is the only thing we we actually have done well in the legislature that keeps our property tax somewhat in check and I know all of you have raised to it every year like you had but the problem is this formula has taken more away at a faster Pace than you could ever raise with the with the 2% property tax cap so anyway it's available now as a tool um it will help I'm sure it will help your District or our district as well as many other districts um and it is a onetime exception for this year I I went back and I listened to one of your talks when you were here kind of explaining how we sent our taxes in and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it because to me it seems very corrupt and how is it legal to double tax people like that well we're all double taxed well we're let me be clear we're more than double taxed right I mean there's other taxes tolls are taxes in my mind right uh gas tax which just went up again uh but in terms of the main taxes income tax and property tax we're all paying that right so if your annual budget somewhere around $13 million for the school school district right your 23 million of it is coming from state aid which is the portion of income tax that everybody out here has paid the problem the real issue here is is that 7 years ago we were getting double so if if if let's say everything stayed the same right and it was 68 million in income tax that everybody here paid 7 years ago you were getting 46 million of that 68 to you know roughly 2/3 right now it's roughly a third that's the that's the Gap right that's that's that's what the problem is right there and that's this formula and this formula instead of being based on income is based on property value which the math now says that all of you were worth two and a half times more than you actually are that's what's so bad about this formula is because property values have gone up in the state that it's based on property not the not the actual income so when the property goes up that must mean we're all worth a lot more which makes no sense and um the income tax portion comes down that's the way the formula is designed now the specifics of the formula as we talked about at the last meeting Nobody Knows the specifics despite being sued the state was sued this the districts including Jackson were part of that they won the judge also said that the lawyers fees needed be paid none of that's happened none of it all right that happened two years ago right so we don't know the formula specifics and the school districts that paid to get the formula on your behalf still haven't been paid back for their lawyer fees so the money that they decided to give back to the schools whatever the 71 million million right is that that taken out of the line items in the governor's budget and if that's the case does that mean that the little extra 800,000 here you know 20 there they decided to keep those items in or is this additional tax funds uh I I believe this is coming out of uh the general fund or Surplus is is actually where it's coming out of so there's a certain amount of of funds that aren't allocated in the budget other than listed as Surplus so it's not line item as an expense despite this budget having gone up $20 billion under this Administration right so 7 years ago the budget was roughly 32 billion it's now 56 billion right but what we're talking about from that bill yesterday comes out a surplus it's not coming not in this case now I I mentioned last week I or maybe I didn't but I have I have a bill right now that would do exactly that it would reallocate line items um did I talk about the French Art Museum no I did right so yeah there's a French Art Museum project in Jersey City that has $58 million allocated to it again obviously I'm a fan of the Arts I I had two children up on the stage tonight um but I'm not a fan of spending $58 million on a French art museum in Jersey City when we have school districts uh suffering the way we do um and what I said was ironically the uh former Governor McGreevy who's now said he wants to run for mayor of that town uh has said he killed the project so I I spoke to the assembly budget committee on behalf of the school district and offered it up I said go get the 58 million you know go get it that that's 1/4 of the problem solved right there it it it would take about 200 million to solve this problem across the entire state right now which is not chump change it's taxpayer money but relative to a $ 56 billion budget it's nothing it really isn't right and it's it's available in the Surplus which again this could be addressed right now right the could stop right now if if the administration wanted it to S so just to be clear um this sounds a lot like redistribution of wealth Jackson is a blue collar hardworking town we work hard to support our families we put our kids to uh this school district to get a great education we paid $68 million in 2021 in income tax we're now getting 23 million back and the rest of it is going to support other towns school districts that sounds a lot like socialism to me assemblyman uh I could see how you would interpret it that way uh and you know the the um the only way these other districts could be getting 1.25 billion in state aid on 44 million of income tax their own municipality is paying is for your income tax to be going somewhere else it's the only way right I mean where else would it come from um you know it um you I was Challen challenged when I spoke at the budget committee by a by a member uh another member of the assembly who was on the committee and saying well you know don't you think those those districts deserve a fair share and and it it kind of annoyed me that I got the question because I I actually stated that in my my comments that of course I do right and I think we all do we're talking about children here doesn't matter where they're at right so yeah of course I do the the the problem is in that particular District in in some others like it um throwing money at those districts has not solved the problem I'm not making it up that their own numbers just came out in the last quarter right 90% of third graders can't read a third grade level 90% so throwing money and you threw a 100 million at it this year because their their budget their state aid went up 100 million it did last year too $100 million so in the last two years $200 million of your income tax went to one school district all right and performance is horrible and I don't want to see that and I certainly want to see that problem solved but that's that problem needs to be addressed in some other way it's not by throwing our money at at that problem while meanwhile you're you're here tonight and all of you are here tonight dealing with with the repercussions of it did anybody ask the person who said that to you like you know they've been throwing money at different school districts forever right and we know that it doesn't always work like you just explained so all they're doing in the process is bringing down good school districts is that when the state's going to turn around and go look we're all even it worked by breaking down the good ones like did anyone ask them that because with that reasoning that's that's what I'm hearing uh well I responded to him um in kind I guess is the way I would describe it I didn't appreciate the question because it was you know it was already asked and answered in my own testimony I I stated it clearly that I wanted to see that District do better right um and then I pointed out the stats to which I got crickets right and I I don't think maybe thought I knew the numbers right but once I started citing the same numbers I just said to all of you it was just like dead silent right I mean how do you respond to a district that's paying 44 million and getting 1.25 billion and the rest of us are paying more and getting less I mean how how do you respond to that in in any way right especially so egregiously off it's not like it's a little bit I mean it's it's a lot right so um yeah so I responded to it and I think I made my point um it's on video you know so you know he can watch it over and over again if he needs to but um yeah I you know it it's again like I said I I don't while I'm probably sounding a little political tonight I I don't tend to uh I I try not to and like I said I I really do try to work across the aisle and I'm going to continue to do that right every so often I I'm I'm going to make my point about the administration and the fact that they could have fixed this problem years ago all right um but I am going to continue to work with my colleagues to try to get something done uh for all of you thank you okay thank you appreciate it does anyone have any questions or comments on agenda items only we will have a public forum where anyone can discuss and talk about anything a little bit later about anything on agenda item seeing no one come forward I need a motion uh to close public forum motion all in favor second second second all in favor I motion to move Finance motion second discussion roll call M cordella yes Mr McCaron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr pmer yes motion to move facilities motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes motion to move programs motion second discussion roll call Mrs gella M Mr McCarron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr triple Murray yes motion to move students motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P Mar yes motion to move Personnel motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella abstain from 15 A2 and also 7 A1 653 and 654 yes to everything else Mr McCaron yes Dr Osman yes Mr R yes Mrs yes yes Mr P yes I need a motion to open public forum on any topic pertaining to the Board of Education motion second please sign in and state your name and whether or not you are a Jackson resident each person is allowed a maximum of five minutes to speak no person may speak more than once on the topic until all others have been heard um my name is Nama Goldstein I am a Jackson resident um I send my kids to private school and I recently got um a notice from the Jackson Board of Ed and from my children's school that the transportation is now being provided by the lsta it's being taken over um I had to go onto the lsa's website to register my children for transportation and um one of the things is is that they are charging a $80 fee for administrative purposes um I called up the lsta to ask them about this fee because as far as I know um you're not allow to charge a fee unless we decide that we want to um and even though $80 is very reasonable for transportation I think it should be left to the parents decide if they want to pay $80 per child um they told me that it was mandatory and I said well what if I don't want to pay $80 what if I don't pay $80 what are you going to do and they said that if I do not pay the $80 fee I will will be put on a bus with a bus stop so far away from my house um basically probably they The Bu step they gave me was probably eight miles away from my house um I said I don't think that's really fear I don't even know if that's legal and they said that Jackson lets you make a stop wherever you want they can make a stop as far away from your house as they feel it's okay um so I wanted to know first of all is the $80 fee legal is the putting a bus stop so far away from my house legal I mean if I'm getting busing because I'm two miles away from the school I would assume that making me drive so far away that it's like really no point so that was just my my uh two concerns and thank you thank you for that question I would turn this over to our business administrator Mr binsky he could provide you with a response so one of the things I've talked to the lsda about this because another parent had raised this concern so it is not part of the contract for the lsda to charge any fee and I made that clear with them um they did say that um some of the schools themselves have decided to have a fee in order to try to increase the rate at which they would go out to bid for buses so that would increase the likelihood of a of a bus being available for that particular school but that fee is not to be assessed through the lsta via the Jackson School District because we confirmed that that is not going to that is not part of the contract it's it's on their um when I fill out the portal it's one of the required FS it's that you have to um pay an ADL fee you can't go past it unless you sign that you will pay it and give your credit card number it's and they say without filling out this form you will not get Transportation or ad so one of the things so you leave you leave your number there and or leave your phone number with uh Miss Barber and I'll be sure to get back to you tomorrow I will contact the lsda myself tomorrow and we will I will make sure that uh you get a proper response from them and and also from me and uh about the bus stops so when they're going to bid out for the for the buses the lsta is creating the the routes based on the students and the schools um they try to make the uh the routes as appealable as possible to possible contractors to improve the likelihood of getting a route um when they design those routes um there is no consultation with us about where those routes are specifically are uh they do use cluster stops because they know what contractors are interested in and they know what a contractor will or will not take so they try to make them as as appealable as possible um so I would contact them specifically about a bus stop if you feel like it's too far from your home or whatever else to see if they can make an adjustment or the contractor can make an adjustment right but I want to know how how far away can they give me a stop like at a certain point it's not worth having busing if I have to travel so far away like I'm not going to get the aen L and I have to travel five miles to my stop that's that's a little bit like um that's a little the you know counterproductive yeah so I wouldn't expect the bus stop be further away than than than the two miles and if that's the case then that's something else I should talk to the lsda about right no I believe Custer stops are fine I like I live in Hampshire Hills if they wanted to make it at the entrance of Hampshire Hills I would hear that but if they're going to give me a stop in you know on cross street that's not really going to help me much sure yeah that's that's another issue I will take up with the lsta when I them tomorrow okay thank so make sure you leave leave your information contact fish thanks thank you hello my name is Deb Jones I am in Jackson resident um Miss moris I stood here last week and I asked you that to when you're making a decision even when it's hard to make the right decision and when I see the update and that you did um suggest that we should get the funding for this year I would like to say thank you cuz it could not have been easy you are not up against an easy room last week but you did what we needed you to do for that but as far as the rest of the issue we may never reach a full solution but it's never going to absolve us from trying so I just ask you to just keep working and keep trying because our students and our faculty are worth more than what the state should be giving us to help us with our budget but we need at least that and I would just like to close out with um Maya Angelo we may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated and this is not something that Jackson can be defeated with our kids are too important and our future is too important but I do want to thank you for what you have done so far and I would like to thank all of you for not accepting no and for not accepting defeat because you guys are on an uphill battle but the town needs to get behind you and even if we're shoving you up that hill we have to do it so thank you [Applause] anyone else uh any uh topic pertaining to the Board of Education all right seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I I at this time we'll take we'll have our board comments starting with Mr McCarron I appreciate that last comment it is an uphill battle and um it is one that I know everybody in the board's willing to fight for so just asking everybody to continue their calls continue their emails and uh let's see where this all goes thank you thanks for coming out tonight I agree with Mr mcaren uh keep sending letters keep advocating that's really all we could do at this point thank you I want to thank everyone for coming out and viewing us on live stream thank you Mr Mr swiky for your input and updates and thank you for the student board reps and best of luck on your Endeavor and everyone please continue to support and advocate for our districts and everyone have a gra and safe night thank you for everybody coming out I'm looking forward to the end of the school year and all the events it was super fun last year and I'm sure it will be fun again um I also want to thank Deb for her comments um it gives a renewed sense to go out and start ruffling feathers again so I appreciate that I think we needed it up here and I hope everybody has a good night and hopefully we see 40 people in the audience more often it's a big rooms but if we were in a small space it would feel great for all your support and appreciate it have a great night um I too just want to thank everyone I want to thank the high school reps I know they already left um it was their last meeting tonight so it's always sad to see them go but it's great to watch them all year and as they grow doing that um and having the Jazz Band today I think was fabulous it was a fun light-hearted thing and certainly reminds us of the things that we don't want to lose in this District so again just piggybacking on everybody else keep writing keep reaching out to your legislator we have our advocacy group I want to thank um Mrs um Gardella and Mrs baras who is not here they've spoken to 15 leg legislators over the last couple of months right so I mean that's that's huge so they're working hard and we have Mr siwicki in our corner and everyone else up here is working so um just continue for the fight and oh and the best to the seniors they have a month left I have a senior so it's going to be a rough month but uh all right everyone have a good night the Department of Education Governor Murphy and his S2 funding formula has failed the Jackson School District I urge us all to remember that Equitable funding isn't just a matter of numbers on a balance sheet it's about investing in the future of every student regardless of their zip code we must work together to advocate for a fair and just school funding formula that ensures every child has the resources they need to succeed and we must never give in we must never give up never never never like Winston Churchill said sometime ago so thank you and have a good night I need a motion to adjourn by acclamation by [Music]