Mary McAn took Turk place all of them qualified to go to the state championships in Atlantic City and did an amazing job representing Liberty turker Pinko was selected third team offshore conference by the Asbury Park Press also the Lions coach Gian has been nominated for the short conference Coach of the Year a war they weren't the only ones to have standard performances our Liberty cheerleading team won the large old music state championship this is the third consecutive year they have won this title amazing job girls we will also like to recognize a few individuals for their success congrats to Jame arima Sophia pinto and Lauren selini for being named February athletes of the month Lucas Lees earned recognition from the boys basketball team and was named first team OB Central additionally jel LZ Martinez and Turner Humes were named February seniors of the month and Isabella oisha was elected as a committee share for the 2024 new yeary model Congress congratulations to everyone several other clubs are raising money for scholarships and events the second annual Rock PR persist tournament was a huge success as staff and students participated in intense matches with the winner being Danny Cruz this was a fun event that everyone enjoyed and helped create a strong bond between the lion Community the girl soccer is hosting another chocolate cover fundraiser on Thursday March 28 to celebrate spring and bring a few smiles to the faces of your friends and family in Jackson The Jackson Liberty band members are hosting their fourth annual you have been act fundraiser everyone is really getting into the spirit of this time of year our spring spirit week is a huge success as students and staff are participating with great enthusiasm the student council has another one planned at the end of the month as a way to kick up opening day for spring Sports and gain momentum for the upcoming pep R we are very excited for the start of our new sports season this week and wish every single one of our teams best of luck this year the Jackson Liberty band did an outstanding job at dist world as they led the parade our Jackson Liberty jazz band had a great night at the serer high school jazz festival receiving section and a standing m awards they're also hosting a jazz Musical Festival on April 13 that will showcase live jazz performances from 17 area schools moreover our art department and Academy work hard to gr Memorial event when the Jackson Academy of Arts hosted the museum night art show we would like to congratulate all the artists who participated in this showcase and thank all parents and staff who helped support the amazing talent that was displayed at the event the Jackson Liberty High School Lions closet will be open open for the Jackson Community on Thursday March 21st from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. so be ready to get your aparo for just $1 each Jackson Li High School is hosting a trade in jobs fur tomorrow Thursday from 6 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. we hope to see you there moreover the ptsn high school organization will host a volleyball tournament and give auction on April 19th from 6:00 to 10: p.m. it is going to be a night of competition and fun the Jackson Liberty High School course is hosting a dessert theater this Friday in the main hallway as you can see Liberty is staying involved and participating in different activities I appreciate you giving me this platform to best represent some of the good news circulating around Liberty we appreciate the opportunities that we have and thank you for your support through them all have a good evening thank you Jose boy there is a lot going on there at Liberty uh wonderful things to celebrate as well Great accomplishments by students so for Memorial Jam could you please come to the podium 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 in regards to Memorial High School spring is officially here and there's a lot to talk about winter sports have officially come to an end with boys and girls basketball making a run for the state sectional title girls wrestling ended at the top in the state once again continuing the Legacy and boys wrestling ended making a run defending their former former former yeah former sectional title winnner track had a good season along with boys and girls swimming and girls and boys bowling however all endings start new beginnings spring sports are back in action with boys baseball girls softball girls and boys lacrosse Spring Track boys tennis and girls and boys golf all ready to make a run for the 2024 spring season scheduling for classes has officially been finished to all grade levels including Juniors sophomores freshmen and even the incoming class of 2020 which that's insane saying out loud Jackson Memorial High School had some of the best success ever seen with the March into Wellness Fair held at the beginning of March we had over 22 vendors four physical and mental therapy dogs Mental Health Services and Addiction Services this was nonprofit and done to benefit all students to all grade levels we had a great turnout and overall it was a great event the school loved it and many people continue to ask when the next fair will happen we have to give a big thank you to Mrs cajano our student assistant counselor and the guidance department for all the time and effort they put into setting this up this week during common period there are conferences being held for coping with social media and all of its burdens and coping with stress and all the big issues in life the theater had much success as well with their latest musical Mary Poppins with the help of over 100 students making up the cast and crew they were able to create one of the most successful plays this year which showed in the great crowds that attended the same week was Battle of the classes and and after a solid week of challenges and events it finally came down to the last couple points in the end all classes were represented with their pride within the school and through everyone's surprise The Freshman won the competition in other news the Marine Corps visited the school with returning alumni to show many options they provide for any students interested in serving Junior formal bids have just started being sold and it will be held May 10th at Jumping Brook Country Club from 6:00 to 10: Mr J HS will be held March 26th to the 27th during common period and the senior crowned will win a free prom bid for him in his date speaking of prom many seniors begun to realize how close we are to the end we enter our last two marking periods together and after just a short 60 days we will walk the stage on Jack Munley field to move on into the next chapter of Our Lives I'm speaking the truth when I say this is very scary however all seniors are duly prepared I would like to thank Mrs porm Milly and the board of education for your continued support and thank you for alignment to speak here tonight I'm excited to speak again at our next meeting on behalf of Jackson Memorial High School thank you have a good spring break thank you jam an incredible report again a lots of things happening lots of things to celebrate at both of our high schools and yes it goes quickly um once we hit Spring break you return it's going to go very quickly so enjoy every minute and every opportunity uh seniors so moving on um as has become tradition this year uh Miss Irwin puts up slides to um help everybody see some of the wonderful things that are happening across the district um so I just want to remind the board members if you look behind you as I I speak there are some slides of some other highlights some of which you just heard from the high school um board reps but we have so many wonderful things that happen on a daily basis we try to use this platform to show some of the things that happen within our school district there's much much more on a daily basis but coming up tomorrow we have the trade and jobs Fair very first trade and job fair very excited for that um and it's uh at Liberty tomorrow evening and it is uh it's going to demonstrate career Pathways we'll have um both trade people there and certification programs there and to show Pathways that um to careers that don't require a four-year degree it's very exciting um and as you well know you I'm sure you've seen um you know articles on this or heard news you know reports on this that we need trades people um and so we want to highlight some of those career paths for our students and so very excited for this first one coming up so if uh you're available come out and see them lots of opportunities last night we had the Elementary District spelling be and although I couldn't attend I was able to watch it later in the evening from home and it was very enjoyable and boy did those elementary students just blow my mind getting up on that stage in front of a large audience spelling very difficult words I know at their age I definitely could not have done that congratulations to all of the winners and all of the the students that participated it was it was a great event so as both of our high school board reps mentioned and uh we had both of our High School Musical plays recently I was fortunate enough to attend both of them they were phenomenal as always uh always involves many students lots of students on stage behind stage the staff involved everybody puts forth so much effort and so much of their time it's really like a massive event that um needs to be celebrated and acknowledged right I mean I know many of the board members were able to attend as well so uh we do have a few little clips that Miss's going to pop up for for you to take a look at a father a mother a daughter A a father a mother a daughters are [Music] done is needed to twist [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] as we will shed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] face look there she goes that girl is so I wonder if she's [Music] feeling isn't this amazing stay back stay back help somebody [Music] help like in a wrestling match nobody bites like a [Music] be our gu Be Our Guest please be our gu let the world be done with [Applause] [Music] me [Music] far from Fools made of wax I'll get down to Brass tax and relax I human [Music] [Applause] [Music] again [Music] so as you can see just even those small Clips amazing and the talent too and the voices and the choreography just I can't say enough fabulous moving on we um also have you heard um you heard about the from Jam the wellness fair that happened at Memorial during common lunchtime again so many available resources for students to review explore for mental health um and then that e um later that week in the evening we also opened it up to the community um again just incredible amounts of resources available for people in regards to um mental health you know we had all sorts of of vendors here it was an incredible event I also wanted to point out that recently it was read Across America week I know some of the board members came in and and read to students I myself also read to a third grade class at Elms just very joyful um and over at home in you see that the staff perform a couple of skits about Dr Seuss it's always a big evening for them they invite parents in to come see them so again a wonderful way to connect with our parents as well um so lots of of wonderful things that have happened across the district you heard some of the other wonderful acknowledgements from our high schools uh with with Deca um winning at the state competition and having four I mean many students won but four students specifically are moving on to the Internationals and going to competition in California uh incredible uh again just wonderful things that that happen in our programs ourmes um our Liberty AP students um were um at model Congress and did a phenomenal job a brilliant um showing there they asked actually had one of their bills Go the whole way up to um to the Senate chamber which was fantastic um and then you heard about Lucas and his accomplishment in basketball as well uh our Liberty band was recently at Disney and Memorial is going to be on their way shortly to Disney to have that incredible experience you heard about the cheerleaders winning again their competition so lots of wonderful things and acknowledgements for our students we also had a preschool evening uh where where the parents came in and they did yoga with their preschool students so that was a lot of fun again and a nice a nice evening uh to spend out with your child we also um have our summer camp registration open up in the district so we encourage people to apply um and get registered for summer camp we're starting to put up some of the other summer activities that are available uh some of our other camps that we offer here that are incredible you see behind me on the screen so we encourage people to sign up and allow their students to have these great experiences um obviously the uh payment for the tuition to attend those pays for the actual summer camp and then finally I do want to announce uh that we have officially have a district Facebook page it goes live tonight yes so uh we're excited for that it's another way to get information out to our community uh we know that uh people like to have information in small sound bites versus reading long email I think emails uh get we get flooded with emails so this is um The District's way of again getting out positive things and information on um a fast and quick basis to our community so look for an email coming out soon from the district probably tomorrow uh with how to uh find us out there on Facebook so that's that's exciting things happening across the district so moving on to another exciting thing and to make a special note tonight um at every board meeting as you know uh we have um our students here from the digital media Academy who film us uh they also are across the district that's how I was able to watch the spelling be last night from home later on um and so they're constantly at every event and it's just our ourmes here are top-notch they're phenomenal the the activities that are available to our students in the Art Academy the Music Academy the business the stem and the digital media Academy they have top-notch experiences and learning high level learning that many other students in other high schools don't get our students leave us and go on to do these incredible things have incredible opportunities and get selected for these opportunities because of the experiences they've had here um and tonight we have um a graduate student who's been working with us for for a while has already graduated continues to put in Endless hours with the district um and tonight I I'd like to call up um two of our incredible staff members Mr Fon and Mr Noble to share a little information about a specific um individual who's here this evening so thank you don't try to run away Keith come on over here he's a tough one the trick let me tell you yeah it took a while to get him in here uh Mr Noble Mr fr I think most of you guys know us so we take a minute and talk about Keith Flores so um you may not know him but you've definitely seen some of the things he've done in the district um we've graduated hundreds of kids from uh our program over the years we have kids at all the major networks we have kids that started their own business doing film and TV we have kids that are working on feature films um it it's a great opportunity we have here to go through our program and Keith sees that um but all those other students have one thing in common they all went to college now it took a while it took three years to get Keith to leave here um but he's finally graduating it's his turn officially graduating to go on to college um some kids take off after high school and they travel the world and they find themselves uh Keith also found himself in the TV studio every day for the last Almost 3 years from 700 a.m. to sometimes 8:00 at night volunteering uh for us um he does Tech in the theaters he helps us with JTV upgrading Technologies um and he's been here you know he's in before I am most days um we ran the numbers so Keith volunteered for 4,700 156 hours since he graduated in June 2021 which is ridiculous um from doing tech for JTV upgrading the theater technology he came every day to work problem solving fixing things um he probably saved the district literally tens of thousands of dollars for doing the installs helping us fix things that broke technology wise he was always on top of it um FR and I can't begin to express how grateful we are for him um he's become like an expert in technology over the years he really has uh and he helped grow the theater and the video programs um Beyond expectation so he received the pathway scholarship for fale University which is basically a full tuition scholarship uh to go there he leaves on Saturday to pursue his career his bachelor's degree in show production um our fear is that he's going to get there and the professors he's going to know more than the professors and I'm only half joking he knows more than everywhere we go for anything we do he generally knows more than everyone in the room about this stuff including us s um so he's a part of the JTV family um we are heartbroken mostly because we're going to have to start doing a lot more work than we didn't have to do in the last three years um but we know we're excited for his bright future that lies ahead um and as he finally spreads his wings so we love you Keith we wish you the best of luck and we thank you for everything over the years um we have an awesome slideshow Alison I don't know if you were rolling it you don't have to look at it now it was going to be in the background of that but it's uh it's long I'll send this to you Keith you don't need to watch it now but he's been there for pretty much every single that's him when he started in the jcd film Camp when he was in fifth grade A long long time ago um he's been at pretty much every event that we've done helping us uh all the time and he's become like you know everyone knows him in the program uh he's an amazing help so you don't have to show it now but thank you Keith and good [Applause] luck okay now moving on to some other business uh this is the time of the year that we work on finalizing a tenative budget for the upcoming school year the board and the community are aware of the district's Financial situations and struggle that we have had over the last six seven years um oh my goodness going to get me emotional so we are going to um present the um the tentative budget tonight to the board and to the community tonight Mr binsky and I the business administrator will provide you with an update on the current budget situation for 2324 and then also the tenative budget for the 24 25 school year so we're going to head to the podium for that so as I said we are going to we're going to do a little update first a recap of where we currently are where we were for the 23 24 school year budget and where we currently are um and then we'll go into the tenative budget so just as a reminder and a recap for the 2324 budget we had to make some significant Cuts uh so you see here on the screen some of those things that we did cut in this current School Year's budget uh we increase class sizes and overall since our S2 legislation has been in place and the district's been receiving major reductions in their state aid we've lost a total of 215 positions in this District across all different departments um and it has been a difficult time um for the district we have worked hard to keep as many things intact for students as possible as you um saw and heard tonight in some of the presentations and the wonderful things happening across the district but last year as you saw for this current uh budget season we we cut all of this and we still couldn't come up with a balanced budget um and so you see here we wanted to create a balanced budget but we felt it was not appropriate to cut any deeper we would be drastically affecting program in the district and so we chose to see seek um a a loan for $10.2 million some assistance from the State Department of Education to help us balance this balance this current school year um meanwhile we continue to educate and Advocate um and educate decision makers legislators and the governor's office and the department of Ed of what was happening here in Jackson why was the loan necessary well um we were really going through this this budget extremely detailed as we always do and knew that we couldn't cut any further we've met several times multiple times with our County Superintendent you've heard me say this before who has clearly said we have made fiscally responsible decisions we are fiscally responsible we have a revenue problem uh we do not have a spending problem here um and that the expenses continue to go up for all sorts of of things that are required within a district and we certainly cannot bring in enough Revenue uh we had hope right I said last year at this time we have hope that something will change with the funding formula we had hope that uh we could balance this budget we would that there would be some kind of Revenue that would come forward um and but we couldn't work on just hope that's why we sought the loan we also tried to bring in some more Revenue through a special question that was voted on in November of uh this year in which or last year I should say um in which we were going to bring more resources to our students through Staffing and unfortunately that did not pass so we could not bring in that extra revenue of $4 million or those extra resources to our students so where are we now with the 2324 budget I'm sure you've read in the paper you've heard our announcement that we did apply for stabilization Aid we did receive $2.1 million in stabilization Aid which is is good news um however that um needs to just come off of the loan amount it's not additional money that we can use to bring anything else into the district or offset any other expense you know we were informed that we need that comes off the loan amount um so we have continue to work with the Department of Education uh the fiscal monitor in the district we meet constantly we update them on where we're at and we have been informed that we should receive the loan in April of this year so that we'll be able to move forward and pay our bills in May so that is some positive news that we will have that loan and be able to move forward meanwhile for the 2425 uh school year again we had hoped that there' be some change there is no evidence of any change in the school funding formula in S2 this uh 2425 school year is the last year of that legislation um and we did receive a pretty hefty um cut for the 2425 school year in state St Aid yet again you see there at the bottom of the screen we were anticipating about an $800,000 based on information that had been given out in the beginning of S2 legislation that that's what we should anticipate for the 2425 school year unfortunately we receiving a $4.4 million reduction in state aid you'll hear some numbers um soon from Mr binsky that will show you further what that really means and how that compounds over time to create this deficit of a budget that we are in um at this moment and there also has been no change any other legislative change although lots of people have tried have put bills out to try and help these S2 districts nothing has passed at this point that's a significant benefit to us so with that I'm going to turn it over to Mr binsky who will share with you where we stand for the 2425 tenative budget so if you've been at one of our board meetings for the last seven years you've seen a version of this slide this is the original S2 schedule of cuts uh that we were informed of seven years ago uh and this is what we've been dealing with um on face value you look at it and you see it's uh $22.5 million over seven years and from The Outsiders perspective you may look at that number and say oh over 7even years 22.5 million this might be something that's doable or something that the district could cut its way through and I think you're going to see throughout the rest of my presentation that this is not doable and this is not sustainable uh and this school district deserves better um you miss miss permil left off by saying that the last of the S2 Cuts should have been $86,400 million uh and that is just the last of the S2 cuts and really the last thing that we have to deal with on top of all those other cuts that have happened one of the the the things that um that bothers me the most with this is this time of the year when the state aid numbers have come out you see in the press and the media uh The Biggest Loser List uh nj.com and I could tell you that during what you're looking at is the top 10 biggest losers in terms of school districts in terms of total state aid loss over the last seven years the S2 years and there's only three school districts that are on that list every year with Jackson Township being one of them so other school districts have come on come off but when you see that we have lost and one have the been the biggest losers of state aid every year you think about what that has done to our Revenue base from a state aid perspective and even the increasing nature of it it's it's something that as a school district it's almost Beyond Comprehension of how we can deal with this Miss permil mentioned the compounding nature of S2 and I'm going to show you a couple of things that are kind of like what if scenarios on the left you see the state aid cut as we've been presenting it through the years that 22.5 million over S2 and in the yellow you see what our state aid that we actually received because when we get a cut it doesn't just cut for that year it then cuts the next year and next year and the next year and you see where we were in 2017 2018 at $49 million and almost half of that as we look into next year with 20 2024 2025 if you kind of wh if this and think about what if the state just froze us if they froze us seven years ago and said Jackson's not going to get any more state aid that's you know this is this is what you're going to get you're going to live with that state a every year for the next seven years we would have had an additional $83 million over that 7-year period I could assure you we wouldn't be in the place we are today if that was the case another what if maybe even something maybe a little bit more realistic what if they just decreased our state aid as our enrollment decreased because over the state aid years our enrollment decreased by 15.1% over those seven years the state aid as you saw before was cut in half 50% if they had just reduced our state aid by our K12 enrollment which is in theory what the formula should do we would have had an additional $ 52.8 million over those seven years Miss Peril said we can't plan for hope we also can't go back in time and say what if so where we're at Now is really looking at a budget deficit that can be attacked through two ways either increase revenues or decrease expenses that's it so when you look at the revenue side of what we're dealing with the c the K12 state aid as you saw in S2 has decreased every year decreased $4.4 million moving into next year but on within that there are some really damaging numbers and I will tell you we get a state aid notice from the state every year it comes in late February early March and on that state aid notice it tells you what the district is going to be getting and what the district should be getting based on the calculations that the state sets forth and for transportation aid for 2425 we will be getting $61,500 so there's nothing we can do about that or nothing that I can do about it only legislators can do something about that only the state can couple other things we have looking at us in terms of Revenue the co era funding has is sunsetting we've utilized Esser and ARP the covid funding to really just operate and so this year is the last year that we're actually using those funds and so in the 23 24 budget that c we're currently in we have 8 $175,000 worth of salary and health benefits in there and we have almost $800,000 worth of supplies and purchase services so next year we have to build the budget without that so that already in a in a normal year that would already put us at a $1.5 million deficit uh our Surplus when we were going to when we were building the budget last year one of the contingencies about about seeking the loan was that we had to drain our Surplus so that's essentially what we did the state recommends that you keep a surplus of 2% of the general fund which for a district our size should be more than double what our Surplus is we started this year off with a surplus of $900,000 okay our Surplus should be uh every bit of close to $2 million and what is that Surplus used for it's used for a big organization to take care of things that have to be done in an emergency basis and we've left ourselves less than half of what the state recommends and the tax levy cap so we all are very familiar with the 2% tax levy cap that we cannot raise the tax levy Beyond 2% without um without going to the taxpayers and I will tell you that this year we actually qualify for one of the cap waivers so we qualify with it's called the health benefit tax uh health benefit uh cap waiver so we will be able to increase the budget beyond the 2% because our health benefit costs have increased proportionally to the same to the health benefit costs of the State Health Benefit Plan so we were eligible to raise the in the the tax levy in this proposed budget to $2.7 million which is a 2.91% increase we're leaving nothing on the table um in terms of expenses uh we are not going to cut our way through this budget uh we are not going to cut our way through this deficit this district has done everything it possibly can to try to not take a loan and to try to save the financial situation of the school district but there are fixed costs out of our control you have you run households and businesses utility costs just go up and up and up diesel fuel natural gas electric think about this we have 10 schools two Transportation buildings and an administration building also our special education out of District tuition and our and transportation associated with it that's dictated by the state they just tell us what what the increase is they don't ask us and say well how you know can you pay this or should it be it's just told this is an increase insurance premiums we've done a great job over the years of saving money and insurance but it has been inevitable that that is not going to last forever and we're looking at a 10% increase in our health insurance for next year we're looking at a 99.3% increase for our liability insurance those are big big numbers in the budget uh Transportation responsibilities while Transportation Aid remains flat you know that our Aid has remained flat for seven years yet our non-public Transportation responsibilities have increased 785 per in the 7-year period we went from some 677 Stu non-public students at the start of S2 we're looking at 5,800 plus non-public students for 2425 no additional state aid curricular and instructional needs uh I have been on the other end of the the table here as assistant superintendent and I have seen for fir hand how we have kicked the can down the road in terms of making purchases that are necessary for curriculum and programs and we can't do it anymore it's it's something that as a school district you saw the wonderful things that are happening here if you want those things to continue you have to invest in curriculum and program and next school year in this tenative budget we built in a literacy K8 curriculum adoption and a math 6 to8 curriculum adoption we've also have uh had to design and expand programs for multilanguage Learners we have 750 plus more multilanguage Learners that now than we did at the start of S2 um you put that on top of rising inflation the last three years in inflation in our regional area 8.2 6.3 3.4 that alone is a budget Crusher think of all the goods and services that relates to and as Miss pilia already mentioned we have to build in the repayment of NJ dooe loan that we have for this year and so a $10.2 million loan 10 years zero interest we're looking at over a million dollar payment that we have to build into the budget for next year so you put all these things together and you say can we do it well the state makes a determination of can you do it it's called the adequacy budget the state does a calculation of whether or not a school district is funding the educational program to a necessary level to provide a thorough and efficient education for every people in the district be it by the state's own calculations part of that state aid notice they do a calculation the adequacy calculation you see when we fell below adequacy it was 2020 2021 okay that's when the wheels fell off we were salvaged for that year and really the year after with the covid money okay uh ironically the pandemic saved us and and and staved off our our financial situation but we dropped back Below adequacy in 2022 2023 1.1 million below that was the year we had to drain all existing Surplus just to get by we're in this year this year $8.5 B million below adequacy why did we have to go for Al loone last year we weren't able to adequately provide an education for our students on the state aid notice when I opened it up on February 29th this year $23.7 million below adequacy so where are we at what does that mean for us as a school district well what it means is we're going to need to request another loan so as it stands right now this is the tentative budget um the final budget will be uh presented and approved at the April board meeting but as it stands right now we've maxed out the fund general fund tax levy we've been told by the state what we're getting in terms of state aid our federal and state programs we always budget for uh a conservative measure of 25% less than what we received the previous year so that's what that is the total debt really hasn't changed and that leaves us a very very very large loan to bridge the budget Gap that is going to exist in this tenative budget which would at this point be $3.9 million so I'm going to turn it back over to the superintendent she's going to summarize a couple of of things with the budget thank you Mr binsky so in summary after losing 22.4 million over the last 7 years which is 50% of our state aid um after cutting and cutting and cutting away and eating away at our Surplus using all of our Surplus uh you know making reductions uh for athletic programs for other programs and for cutting 214 positions again we find ourselves yet again in a situation with another reduction of $4.4 million for the 2425 school budget in a situation where we were unable to submit a balanced budget unless we take a loan also again as we have said in the past we are not making any more sacrifices for our students we will continue to put our students first and fund these excellent programs instructional programs that we have and seek a loan in order to balance this budget now between now and the final budget that gets presented in April we'll continue to review every line item we've already gone through it multiple times but we will continue to do that again we will review all of our Revenue seek to see if there's any other Revenue we can bring into the district but we are very limited with that and consider all possible um opportunities that might come up there's a lot of Buzz out there there's a lot of State hearings happening right here for the budget um in New Jersey right now we have um uh many of us who are testifying at those budget hearings to make a case for um making some additional changes to the S2 districts to provide them some more funding so if anything comes our way we will absolutely be on top of that um we're going to continue to educate our decision makers in this in this state about what's happening in Jackson and we're going to continue to be fiscally responsible if there is something that makes sense to reduce we will reduce it but we will not sacrifice our students and our programs for that um and I want to let everybody know that the public hearing will be held in April 24th um next month here in order to comment on the budget that we will present we present the final budget until then we'll continue to work on it um while seeking a loan in order to balance the budget so with that that concludes the attentive budget presentation to the board tonight are there any board member questions or comments so miss prilly just to be clear the state of New Jersey sent us a letter letting us know that they know we are $24 million uh in adequacy under budgeted and they still cut us $4.4 million it's not a letter it's a document that we receive with all of the the formula numbers and all of the um ways in which they calculate and demonstrate the funding that we are getting or what should have been calculated had we not been frozen due to S2 in certain areas so it's a document that is posted after we get our state aid numbers and this is formulated from the state this document that we we so they know we're under adequacy yet they still took $4.4 million from us it is documented on there yes which means that they also know that the S2 funding formula is not correct if if they're telling you that you're shorted 23 million and taking another for right that's what that well the numbers are telling us this yes and those numbers come from the state which comes from the state which are the same people doing the S2 Cuts I'm just okay I think that this was eye opening I hope our residents watch this presentation because I think they will really understand how we got here and why we are here so thank you for that can I just ask do you know I don't do you know um why it is that they chose to freeze our budget over the seven years of the S2 cuts that was part of the legislation that was just the legislation at that time yeah so when that went into effect any funding that we were currently receiving just stayed at that point and honestly didn't really stay at that point because we got reduced yeah I understand the S2 cut but yes it was part of the legislation understood thank you you're welcome so that was a really good um presentation it was very clear so I definitely appreciate that I just have a question for you so um this won't end that right every year you're going to have to ask for another loan and it's just going to grow and grow and grow but you also said that it's the last year for S2 so what happens after that good question so obviously I don't have a crystal ball to know exactly what's going to happen but my understanding is that state aid will then be flat so wherever we're currently funded at now will be funded again the following year below correct number that they yes so meaning that they wouldn't give you your transportation S2 funding and your special education and your security funding at their current so even though the legislation froze you for seven years it really said it's going to freeze you for your entire exist new legislation is is written to do a different formula so that would mean would be receiving half of what we received in 1718 so we'll be at $22.5 million so what you're what you're really saying is that that top 10 list right all of those districts and many might be taking loans that the state is basically bankrupting all of these districts and it's going to continue to be well you do see um several other S2 districts remember last year when I presented I said there will be other districts behind Jackson um who will also have to seek perhaps alone because they also won't be able to balance their budget with these next round of S2 cuts and so we do see other districts around us like Tom's River Lacy um Jackson and Lacy were the biggest cut in state aid for the 2425 school year so yes you going to see other districts um you know new EG hton I mean um plumstead also is in a similar situation so yes I think you're going to see more districts that are going to be in the same situation we are seeking loans I'm not trying to sound like I'm asking the same question but I have to ask it again so you're saying that the legislation actually says that they froze our what we're getting in transportation and security and special education even though they're calculating higher calculating higher but they're going to remain the same whatever your state aid ends at this year so technically you will not be given the appropriate that we calculate it ever I just have to ask it again so again I that is what I'm hearing um I don't have any solid confirmation of that we're still you know a year away from that really to know more about it but my understanding from hearing through other people is that yes it will just St flat because it ends the the legislation for for us too so so the calculations go away so to speak at that point I guess I you don't know I don't know okay I just had to ask it again because sure I just have one question that I still can't wrap my head around so the years like this year and I know I think it was last year too where we you were given that schedule which you showed in the beginning every year what was coming off for S2 right year one was 1 point and it was kind of like a pyramid and then in the middle there was and then it was supposed to drop this year was only supposed to be 800,000 and he came back and said we're taking 4.4 million right so we were given a schedule and yet they deviated from the schedule so again where does the formula calculate right and I again I I don't know the details of that as you know we have tried to understand that formula there's been lawsuits about the formula um but my understanding is it has to do with enrollment drop and also local fair share of taxes being contributed so they froze our trans so they froze everything else but they didn't free like they they were able to adjust those numbers at their Will based on some strange enrollment number that's not accurate for us is it so like did they send a letter with that like how did that come that we're we just got told it'll be cut 4.4 instead of 800,000 yes again it's in that document in which we see um after uh the governor has his um his budget address and shares it then we receive our numbers and our numbers have our several pages of formulas and documentation with numbers on them and which finalizes here's what your state aid is for the 2425 school year and we see that it is 4.4 million less yes having a state monitor is there anything that will be done on that end to help our district out Miss Morris would you like to take that not really but I guess um I I'm not sure everybody understands the the adequacy issue and and and certainly you anybody that knows more than I do which is probably everybody but uh the the state attempted uh through S2 uh to look at districts that um and I won't name them um but who who were virtually increasing in property value decreasing in enrollment um but had had longstanding practices of of being awarded um large amounts not your District but large amounts of um of state aid what this particular issue addresses is that there is has been the Assumption in um S2 that the tax levy can afford to donate if you want to call taxes donations um more money to the support uh of the local school district and therefore lessening the burden on the state so when you say when as to sunsets that it may stay just as it is at that point what you're saying is that the state anticipated that at the end of those 5 years um that would have have been able to uh really adjust itself and you would have seen a a better Equalization of uh what people were paying now the difficulty with that obviously is that there's the assumption that because your property value has increased you have the ability to go to your checkbook and and write a bigger uh check for your taxes we know that's not always the case particularly in some of the districts uh in the urban districts where people simply do not have that kind of money I think that's what is forcing this to remain pretty much the same um there is a formula in place it as um Nicole indicated we have no information as to whether it's we're going to see another one or a different one uh once S2 goes away but basically that's what everybody I think is waiting to hear whether we're going to be looking at the same amount of money or you know but keep in mind those three factors what your enrollment is involved the property value um assess valuation of of the of the property um that is extremely important if the value of and we know most most of New Jersey properties have increased in value um even after the covid issue and so that contributed um in a negative sense to to a district uh like this and you have you know the district from what I have seen thus far and again I have only been here a short time but I can tell you that I think the district has has worked um you know night and day to try to protect the the Integrity of your program uh for your students which is really what education is all about and why we should all be here um there is no problem with the spending aspect of it the problem is with as Nicole has said the revenue side of it and that is definitely tied into to the SS2 that's said we have to go back and assume that the people that drafted the bill and those that voted on it probably could not have anticipated all the negative aspects of what was going to happen 5 Years From when when when that vote was taken so um perhaps there will be some some changes I know that the there are hearings going on I know that there are other persons that are are looking um but it is a serious problem it is not a problem that was caused by the district I I think that's important for everybody to realize um and therefore it's got the answer the solution cannot be just from the district it either has to be from the taxpayers or the legislature thank you Miss Morris I appreciate that there any other questions or comments I would just like to thank Mr binsky um first time in in the job as business administrator and he did an excellent job with the presentation Miss Peril can I just ask Miss Morris do you report that to the state what you just reported to us tonight absolutely thank you are you also going to the state hearings to Advocate as you're sitting here for us and you see what's happening and we have people going to the state hearings will you be attending as well to advocate for us to show that the formula is not working um I am not not been invited and I would have to to U go through the State Department of Education because there are monitors as I'm sure you know all over the state and I don't think that um that is a particular part of the job description that that the department would want us to become involved in um because because it's not one of the the areas that um to my knowledge has ever been done that that a monitor has been asked or um you know to go to a hearing for that purpose okay thank you everyone so that does conclude my superintendent report Mr per back to you thank you m pril at this time any standing committees that have met since the previous board meeting will report we have a buildings in grounds um report chairperson is Mr McCarron please report yes uh buildings and grounds some Capital improving projects uh that took place roseen hour faculty boys and girls restroom upgrades the ceiling tiles and light fixtures switlick room 29 there was new coil replacement for the HVAC system switlick room 35 uh new unit for HVAC replacement uh Liberty trainers office area there is a new uh un for HVAC replace mcalli room 128a new UN replace for HVAC and mcalli there was a new fire panel installed that's it thank you Mr McCarron budget and finance met on the February 27th March 12th and our next schedule meeting is April 16th I will I will not reiterate with with Miss permil and Mr binsky already um reviewed so I will move forward with our adhoc committees that have met uh over the past month we have scholarship chairperson is Miss Cass uh yes I met with scholarship um last week we um sent out um information uh to advertise in the pamphlet which goes out on scholarship night which is June 6 I'm sorry May May 6 I believe um so the students uh receive scholarships throughout the district from several businesses throughout the township um if you have if if you're a parent of a senior and you'd like to donate um that we have the scholarship is on our website the scholarship fund if not you can also contact me um it's a great night and a lot of students um they apply they write essays it's a great program that helps our children um get a little extra funds to go to college next year so thank you thank you Mrs Cass State and County School Board representative chairperson Miss Rivera please report yes Monday March 25th 6 o'clock the e8th grade dialogue at Tom server intermediate East and the next County hybrid meeting will be April 24th 6:00 at the Claren hotel in Tom rivver thank you Mr Rivera advocacy committee chairperson Miss Gardella please report good evening um we did not have a formal meeting but I felt it was appropriate for us to report on all the work that we've been doing this month um tonight we'll be making a public resolution to support um Alex awi's bills number 1286 and 1282 1286 as a state cover 100% of non-public Transportation costs if a district meets outline criteria um and Bill a282 covers 100% of special education cost for both in District and out District students um Allison barois jeppi palmary and myself attended the GOP club meeting on February 28th to discuss the state of the district we got good feedback and we're hoping that community members present can get board members to speak in various communities including um we spoke to some people in the adult community so that would be beneficial um members of the committee met with assemblyman zi on March 7th and we discussed um you know obviously a lot of the items that were discussed tonight so I won't reiterate them but you know our lack of funding um in certain areas we uh attended the town council meeting to also let people know in the community where we're at um it's been mentioned several several times uh Mr binsky and Mr palmary testified Mr palmary tonight today uh at the state budget hearings Miss Peril testifies next week um miss pril Mr Pinsky also gave um some documentation to Senator Henry at his request they also met with Ross dammer who is a policy and budget director about possible legislation to solve the state funding Aid cuts um the committee has sent several emails and phone calls requesting virtual meetings with legis lers um we got some response from we reached out to I don't know 6 or seven and we are going to meet with assemblyman rumph tomorrow assemblyman Fryman on Friday um assemblyman shank shenberger on March 27th and hopefully with Senator Henry on March 26th um we also have a meeting that we set up um on Monday March 25th with uh surrounding S2 districts and the hope is to get everybody to Advocate collectively um so you know I just wanted the community and all the board members who might not be aware know that you know we are working hard um trying to raise awareness of what's happening in Jackson and the surrounding school districts that been cut thank you m gordel enrollment study committee chairperson Mr McCarron please report yes the enrollment committee met on March 7th uh we did a review of current enrollment numbers we reviewed the maximum School P capacity numbers and compare the capacity numbers to the enrollment numbers uh currently schools over capacity include gets Johnson Holman switlick and rosenhauer discussed uh trailers that are being used in the district for student classrooms um and currently we don't have our next meeting schedule but it'll be sometime over the summer thank you Mr McCarron I need a motion for approval of policy second reading Revis adoption motion second discussion roll call Mr gella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion for approval of the minutes the closed session meeting February 21st 2024 and the official board meeting February 21st 2024 business meeting second discussion um I just wanted to ask on our minutes I abstained from one of my votes for all of Jackson Memorial's coaches is there any way to put on the minute that that was due to lack of data so the next people on the board can understand that vote I don't see why that couldn't be added in the minutes to reflect the reason for your vote sure any further discussion roll call Mrs gordel yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs baroas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rea 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 McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr Tri P Mar yes I need a motion for approval of the treasures and board secretary's reports motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs baroas yes Dr Osby yes Mrs Rivera Mr Cass yes Mr P yes 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 agenda questions uh only motion second I would like to uh I would like to First welcome I should say uh assemblyman Alex siwicki uh he is in attendance today he is a fierce defender of the Jackson School District he did approach me earlier uh this week and asked if he could address this board during this time uh and I would love for him to please come up to the podium Mr assembly Miss Wiki and and address this board and if uh if I may Mr President I do have a list of uh bills that I've sponsored related to education that I could pass down if that's all right uh certainly a you would mind thank you all right while those are being passed down uh good evening uh and uh uh thank you superintendent uh Mr President uh Madame vice president uh business administrator uh members of the board uh and parents uh in the audience uh for having me here tonight uh I will say it's uh it's tough to follow that presentation uh you know uh again it was very well done but uh certainly it's it's tough to look at those numbers and and uh come up here as a member of the general assembly uh which um you know the state is what's caused this problem uh one of the things I want to make sure is clear uh one uh I've said very publicly uh the S2 formula is an absolute disaster uh make make you know make no uh qualms about it it it is an absolute disaster uh it was uh poorly constructed uh the fact that uh it takes into uh uh account property tax value uh is a a major part of the problem uh and I'll I'll I'll underscore that by by saying this and I think I think people need to understand when we talk about state aid state aid is your income tax all right so every resident of this town is pay income tax to the state state aid is the proportion of that income tax that comes back to fund the education of our children um it is disproportionate in Jackson it's disproportionate in a lot of other school districts the idea that now those residents who've already paid an absorbent amount of income tax should now pay more property tax to make up for it is ridiculous absolutely ridiculous um there's propos proposals out there right now um to raise the cap that's not the solution all right uh adding more taxes to uh residents who are already taxed the highest in the country in property tax is a ludicrous idea it's absolutely ludicrous um what needs to happen is the income tax that the residents are already paying to the state need to come back and support their children and I'll I'll explain that a little bit and as I did um to the assembly budget committee this morning uh so I was there this morning and uh and my goal was to highlight extraordinary circumstances to that to that board all right um my Approach is the same that it's been since I took this office which is to work across the aisle uh find common sense and get get some things done in the interest of our residents um so when I when I uh started speaking to the assembly budget committee uh it was with that in mind um there are members of the budget committee on both sides of the aisle that I've worked with very well uh already in the last 18 months that I've been in office uh and I can tell you there are members on that budget committee on the other side of the aisle who are experiencing the same problems uh which you know hopefully will help our our case all right uh you know when I when I talked to them I wanted to make sure that they understood real metrics on how we measured the success or not of what S2 has done so far so when I talk about state aid uh I talked about the fact that uh the norc city school district which gets 1.25 billion in state aid um also has a over $30,000 uh allocation of state aid per student Jackson as I'm sure you probably know is down to 3500 at this point Tom's River was mentioned they're down to less than 2,000 okay so nor Nork city school district is getting over $30,000 a student our kids are getting 3,500 so the income tax that the residents in Jackson paid to the state is going to norc and other districts other than this District let's be really clear about that all right so when we start talking about well this this District these residents need to pay more property tax it is absurd that the residents of this town should have to pay more property tax when their income taxes are going to a school district that gets over $330,000 per student now the argument of course on that is that that District needs that that extra money that's the argument right well throwing more money at that district has not worked uh in the last month the results of of that District have come out and they are dismal dismal one-third of third graders can read at third grade level all right I was questioned on this and I was even challenged on it a little bit this morning from from a member of the the committee uh I want to be clear nobody wants to see those students do bad right every we want all children to perform well all right but it cannot be at the expense of this district and other districts within the state all right you cannot funnel 1.25 billion of your income taxes to one school district and to to make sure we're clear and these numbers these numbers admittedly change dayto day but the latest numbers are that while the Administration has claimed that they have for the first time in history fully funded this school formula 151 School school districts this year lost funding 151 all right out of the 21 counties in the state Three Counties lost funding ocean Mammoth and Cape May those Three Counties lost funding all right for a total of 151 school districts for a total of $107 million the norc school district this year got 101 million more think about that excuse me 151 districts lost 107 million one school district got over 100 million of that money almost dollar for dollar it's infuriating and the results the results of that District again show that throwing money at that District isn't improving it so what I suggested to the assembly member that challenged me on this was you've need to treat that District as a separate problem figure it out but chaos is a def definition the definition of chaos is you keep doing the same thing right so this is the second year in a row that school district has gotten that kind of funding additional all right it's not working simple as that so fix that as a separate issue don't do it while you're simultaneously destroying other other districts um like I said I went into it in the spirit of partnership uh I will give you some hope uh because I think uh this board and the residents of Jackson as well as the rest of the residents of of District 12 need some um I will tell you in my relatively short time in the assembly um it's not like what you see federally right I mean we watch the news and we we see how polarized things are at the federal level um while we certainly have our problem as as we all know from what we're we're talking about tonight and there are issues on both sides of the aisle there are um characters on both sides of the aisle um generally I find that most of the people in the in the general assembly and i' I'd even say the Senate are there for the right reasons I think they are there for their constituents I think they're there for the residents of the state of New Jersey and I think they generally want to do the right thing I mean that if if I didn't I wouldn't say it um my Approach has been to to find Common Sense common ground with members on the other side of the aisle and actually try to get some things done and have had you know some success with that so far um I think that helps when you go to a a committee like we went to this morning uh and you have members of course on both sides of the aisle uh as members of that uh budget committee again a committee that can make changes right this is a committee that can actually influence change in the proposed budget right uh so having having established those relationships um with you know I can think of off the top of my head at least three on the other side of the aisle that are on that committee um and knowing that they are also dealing with the same issues meaning they have school districts that are in precarious situations just like this one um so they are going to first off be pressured to do something but I will say I know them well I think they want to do something all right um as an example if you recall last year uh as a superintendent uh superintendent mentioned and and the ba mentioned you knew coming into last year as you did this year what you were supposed to lose last year you got a number that was three times that number um one of the members of the budget committee put in a bill to restore the 2/3 that was was put in on top of what you were expected to to pass I co-sponsored that bill it passed and that funding came back right imagine if it didn't you know I mean you just saw the numbers um a similar bill has already been proposed I was asked this morning to co-sponsor it uh so that same member who's on the budget committee uh put in a bill to restore $105 million um across all the districts um you know I of course will be lobbying hard uh on that on that bill so so we can see if we can get a good portion of of of the funding back um you know with respect to other things that I've been working on uh right out of the gate in fact the very first bill I ever put in uh as a member of the assembly was the day I was sworn in and it was to address the private school funding mandate uh fund uh bus mandate uh as you know uh for non-public schools uh the state requires a mandate that the uh School District makes up a portion of that that private school uh bus transportation cost uh it's and in probably most most parts of the state it's really not a problem but when you have a disproportionate amount of it here as as we saw from the numbers where you know six seven years ago the the number was virtually zero uh and now at at last check I think it's somewhere to5 to $6 million you're approaching uh just for private school busing um to be clear this is not the families of the private school's fault it is not the students of the private school's fault it's the state's fault just like this situation you're in is the state's fault all right the state has a a a mandate the state doesn't fund 100% of that mandate state has a lot of mandates and they fund them right so you're left this this governing body is left with um a situation where Transportation costs have gone up across the entire State everywhere right inflation cost cost of gas cost of uh school bus drivers uh it's gone up everywhere and we are also in a situation where we have the fastest growing uh non-public uh School Bus obligation in the state it's growing faster than any other town in the state right now you know you you think about that growth in Lakewood they've already had their growth right the the percentage growth year-over-year is is the highest in the state here in Jackson again not those parents fault not those students fault it's the state's fault right so the first bill I put in was to um do two things one create a Consortium which uh later passed um but the other part of that that I I put in was for the state to fund the state mandate um uh thank you that is one of the bills tonight that I heard you're you're putting up for a resolution in support of uh so I want to continue to keep pushing on that uh to make sure that uh that gets addressed and i' I'd say in general what I have been doing with respect to bills that are on uh on the list there u i I'll just highlight a couple of them for you um really is to attack the budget needs uh line item by line item right so uh if you look at uh uh 1282 uh which I understand you're also supporting tonight uh provides for full funding an extraordinary special education state aid uh this morning when I spoke to the budget committee uh I highlighted uh really two towns in my district of course Jackson and our neighbor uh plumstead uh uh which if you don't know it has Al also informed me that they too will be taking a loan this year for the first time ever right so uh as the superintendent mentioned uh Jackson our neighbor plumstead you probably know Lakewood our other neighbors already over $200 million in in debt uh with respect to loans uh Tom's River is taking loan and I actually talked to the superintendent of lacy after my testimony this morning uh she informed me they are they is are taking a loan as well as as I think you know superintendent so um you went from the idea of alone with a school district 10 years ago was um virtually unheard of to now you have multiple school districts uh within Ocean County alone that now have to take loans right um so again uh it comes back to S2 being a an absolute disaster I'm not really sure what other proof you need of that at this point uh you know once you start talking loans you know come on right um uh I may have diverted there a bit but I I will come back to uh one other thing uh there was a question about you know is was there a letter sent from the state or or it's a report um thanks to all of you and and the other districts I met with uh I I too have been very very well educated on on how things work now and so the the report that we're referring to just to be clear maybe for for anyone listening in um the report we're talking about is provided by the Department of Education right um the big issue with the formula in my opinion is the very first number on there is is the equalization Aid right we started where the state said we were $16 million overfunded you got it wrong right out of the gate simple as that and the and the stats that we see now absolutely prove that right within the report itself again calculated calculated numbers so there is some glimp there is some glimpse into how S2 works with this report right because it does calculate if they were going to provide it this is the aid that they would provide line item by Line special education which I'm I'm I'm going by memory here so don't quote me on the exact numbers was over $7 million what they quoted we should be getting we got five all right it it came in to something like 2.5 million less than what the Department of Education said Jackson Township should get right with Transportation it was over $7 million and as you saw for the last 6 seven years the town's been getting 600,000 right and that doesn't even take into the non-private or the nonu uh School Bus issues and it certainly doesn't take into account inflation and the fact that your school transportation budget is over 20 m $20 million right but even by the department of education's own report they said you should be getting 7 million and it SS right next to it but we're only getting 600,000 right the thing that's blowing that out of the water for us and not and not getting it is this top number that says according to our calculations you're getting at or above what you should be getting for Equalization right U Jackson is not the only School District that has that problem uh our neighbors in plumstead uh are also experiencing this problem and part of my testimony this morning uh in addition to giving examples just like I I gave which is where I I started uh I wanted to highlight that we can't just look at this year right if you look at this year you're missing you're missing it all right because plumstead got an increase this year the cumulative effects though have brought them to the fact that they now have to take make a $3 million loan at last check all right so one of the big things that I wanted to really get across to the budget committee this morning was you cannot just look at this year you have to look at the cumulative effects o over time all right um with respect to our our monitor um one other bill that I have is for the state to pay for the monitor um the state caused this problem I want to be clear about that I want to be clear to the parents that might be listening in this group of people um have worked incredibly hard uh for the circumstances that the the state has dealt them um the state caused this fiscal problem this uh School District was operating fiscally uh before S2 um the school district was adding programs like stem uh and uh yeah I I'm guessing at this point just because I see it in my own children's schedules uh um two dozen AP classes some were approaching that number uh when I went here and and I did um we had one AP History that was it all right the number of AP classes that you offer now is amazing the academies like digital academy uh which i' I've had at least one one of my children go through um you know or all value ads that this district has brought uh over time and you have historically done it with great fiscal responsibility uh so again I want to stress that the issue that Jackson is facing the issue that plumstead is facing and numerous other towns just in Ocean County are the state's fault not yours all right um I know you know that but I want to make sure everybody else knows that as well so um I just wanted to let you know that um I'm not done fighting for you uh you know I uh I did get a little fired up admittedly this morning um after some questions uh like I said I started off nice and and did it in the spirit of cooperation and and again to to make sure that that the um the budget committee understood the specifics of of this situation uh but uh there were a couple questions lobed at me that I I uh I thought were um shots so uh I did fire back a little bit admittedly uh but uh other than that I think it it it went went well um if you want to see the testimony um I'm not trying to plug my Facebook page here but since since yours is coming out tonight I I thought i' mentioned just for anybody who wants to see it um uh if you go on Facebook I'm at my my official page is assemblyman Alex siwicki uh I I don't expect you to know how to spell the last name it it's pretty messed up uh but the video from this morning is there uh including responses to questions uh that that were were posed uh you know I I think we got our points across I I think I quoted the numbers uh pretty accurately from what I I saw up on the board and uh I do believe uh our concerns were heard I mean that I I I do believe that they they were concerned the fact that or were heard uh the fact that I did get the questions that I got um the fact that I got them from uh members across the aisle that I know again are are facing the same problems um gives me a little bit of optimism all right so uh uh I know there was questions down the end about what what are we you know what are we looking at next year uh I am optimistic that there will be changes to this formula uh it it is it is an absolute disaster um I have a bill in to uh certainly start looking at it right away way uh one of the bills listed in the in the handout that I gave you and uh I I think you there's enough there are enough members on both sides of the aisle to say hey we we've got to we've got to fix this thing going forward um it it can't continue this way it cannot continue to uh cause multiple districts and I do think this was a Tipping Point this year where you know Jackson was one in my district I now have two Jackson was one in Ocean County other than Lakewood who who who's been taking loans for for several years now um but now you you're talking about you know approaching a half a dozen uh and and that those are the ones I know I mean there there could be there could be more than that but uh at least a half a dozen that I know of um you know if nothing else and again with respect U we'll run out of state monitors you know I mean we're just we're just not going to have enough State monitors to to to watch watch over these things and not not that and again with respect not that I think you need one um again uh you didn't cause this problem the state caused this problem and uh uh the state needs to figure it out and fix it so um just know that that's the part I'm going to play uh I will uh continue to push hard uh to get uh some of these bills across the finish line and I certainly work with my colleagues across the aisle to to make significant changes to this formula next year so we can uh kind of get everybody out of this this precarious situation so uh with that i' i' welcome any questions no questions I think you covered everything pretty good covered it all okay well thank you again for having me I appreciate it thank you assembly men and thank you for your continued advocacy for this this District thank you so much so if anyone else has anything on agenda items only 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 seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I I need a motion to move Finance motion second discussion roll call Mrs cordella yes Mr McCaron yes Mr baroas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion to move facilities motion second roll call oh discussion sorry roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr Tri P yes I need a motion to move programs motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr Tri P Mar yes I need a motion to move students motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella yes yes Mr McCarron yes Mrs barokas yes Dr Osman yes Mrs Rivera yes Mrs Cass yes Mr P yes I need a motion to move Personnel motion second discussion roll call Mrs Gardella abstain from number 20 letter M yes everything else Mr McCarron yes Mrs brokas yes Dr Osman abstain from number 12 letter f everything else yes Mrs Riva yes Mrs Cass yes mrle maray yes I need a motion to open public forum on any topic pertaining to the Board of Education 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 seeing no one come forward I need a motion to close public forum motion all in favor I we'll now go to board comments starting with Mr McCarron just want to congratulate both high schools on their shows uh I was able to make it a Beauty and the Beast and saw a clips of Mary Poppins uh both did great job on on their performances also was asked to mention that gets middle school has their High School Musical coming up this Friday Saturday and Sunday and the show will be at Jackson Memorial High School thank you thanks for everybody for coming out today congratulations to the freshmen who won at uh B of the classes that was a really fun event I know my son personally looks forward to that every year and it's fun for the kids who are um playing the games on the in the gym and it's a lot of fun for the people in the stands as well um thanks for a really good presentation that was very very clear um and hopefully people realize that the district really is doing everything they can to keep all of the programs that are important to our kids around and that the the uh district has been fiscally responsible it's really sad where we are right now for us in our in the surrounding towns I want to thank everyone for attending in person and live stream and the budget presentation the input thank you assemblyman zi for your presentation advocacy collaboration and understanding everyone have a wonderful and safe evening hi everyone um I just want to say I really enjoyed reading to Mrs H's uh third grade class at Elms Elementary during their read Across America week thank you for having me um I also had the pleasure of seeing both high school plays Beauty and the Beast and Mary Poppins as always they B both blew me away it's an excellent job by all students involved and lastly I'd like to give a big thank you to assembly Min wikii and president palmary for speaking at the budget Committee hearing today on behalf of the Jackson School District and their surrounding districts it takes a village and my family thanks you both for being part of our office thank you my turn yes good evening um I wanted to concur about the read Across America at Elms uh it was an awesome uh week of activities um not only did I read to a third grade class I also participated in the read Across America night with my daughter and I wanted to give a thank you to the School the ptn the ja they really did a nice job there I'm sure they did it you know in numerous buildings but I did get to experience that and you know I just want to end for this huge audience to say that you know the Board of Education everybody up here the administrators and our local legislators are really working hard to bring um education on what's happening to our Revenue sources here in Jackson and you know we urge residents to attend our meetings and get themselves also educated I think the presentation tonight you know to be honest I came in really hot over 200% increase in a loan amount I won't you know I didn't ask any questions but I was very upset about it but in the end you guys did a tremendous job on explaining exactly how we got there and I think a lot of times within our community you know money makes people aggravated at one another and I think the really most setting part of it is that what the state has done has actually created a divide amongst people and that's really you know gets down to the to where I feel you know we could sit here and people could argue their point or the other point but in the end what they have done is created chaos and discourse between individuals in our town and hopefully there's a resolution and we thank you assembly men for working for that and we're going to continue to push you know your colleagues to understand where we're at and we hope good things will come from that so thank you um first I just wanted to welcome Dr God lesie this is her first uh meeting and she's joining us this week so it's great to have you here um I uh wanted to thank the I hope I pronounced this correctly but the kacmarski family because they donated a keyboard and a stand um to the mcauliff um School Band program and the medil family who donated a protective L screen to the mcalli Middle School baseball team so both of those it's always great when we have families that um help out in addition to our needs so it's wonderful um I doo want to thank Mr siwicki for being here today going to the hearings Mr palmary as well and your advocacy um is just outstanding and you know that we need it um $30 million I just want that to sink in for everyone um and I agree wholeheartedly with what Miss Gardella just said I think um it did create a lot of divisiveness in this town um so it's it's really tough um but the good news is we I did get to see Mary Poppins and I think that it was amazing we do still have a 93.8% graduation rate in this town um we have Stellar programs in our district and I think we're all fighting to keep them we don't want to see them go away so thank you I'd just like to thank once again I'd like to thank assemblyman uh SII for his presentation I'd like to thank you for speaking so El quy and fighting so fiercely for Jackson I'd also like to just say that uh I will continue to uh advocate for a fair and Equitable funding formula in our district and I will Echo what Miss pril said when she was um presenting the budget that nothing else will be cut that we need and I will not vote for anything else to be cut that we need this district will remain strong and this district will continue to provide a stupendous education to all of its students and I would just also like to say I'm really excited that we have Facebook now I I think that's great uh I'm super excited I'm going to be the fir I'm going to be the first follower tonight I'm going to be watching for it so thank you all and have a good evening I need a motion to adjourn by acclamation I oh those