MENDHAM TWP. - It would cost at least a quarter of a million
dollars to dissolve the West Morris Regional High School District,
an expert on such matters told a packed gathering on Thursday, Jan.
12.
About 150 people got the schematics for dissolving a regional
school district or withdrawing from it at the public meeting which
was held at elementary school and sponsored by the Mendham Township
Committee.
Attorney Vito A. Gagliardi Jr. of Morristown said either process
could be accomplished in 18 months or sooner, with the ultimate
decision in the hands of the voters.
“You folks are the ultimate decision makers, whether its about
the type of tax levy or the configuration of the district,” said
Gagliardi.
Most of the crowd were residents of the Mendhams and Chesters
who peppered Gagliardi with questions ranging from the sharing of
assets of a dissolved district to the cost of a dissolution
fight.
“The expense depends on the degree of opposition from teachers
unions and the community which currently has an enjoyable
subsidy,” he said. “The cost with some opposition would be about
$250,000 for fees and consultants.”
Gagliardi, who has handled regional school squabbles in two
dozen districts, including dissolutions in Union and Camden
counties, said the Legislature made a mistake when it decided in
1975 that regional districts had to be funded on equalized property
values.
“Communities with relatively high property values subsidize
those with less property wealth,” Gagliardi said.
Although the Legislature backtracked on its original decision in
1993 and authorized per pupil, property value or a mixture of the
two to fund a regional districts, Gagliardi said the likelihood of
all communities approving a change was slim.
“The towns being subsidized get used to it,” he said. “In the
scenario you currently have, there’s a remarkable disparity of what
the people are paying per pupil.”
Taxation for the five-community West Morris Regional High School
District is based on property tax values, resulting in much higher
funding contributions from the Mendhams and Chesters than those
collected from Washington Township residents.
Gagliardi said there are just three ways to change the status
quo.
One is the withdrawal of one or more communities from the
regional district. That scenario played out when Mount Olive left
the West Morris Regional High School district to form its own
grades K-12 district in the 1970s.
Dissolution of the district would require a vote of the majority
of municipalities, or three in the West Morris regional case and
three of the four school districts as well.
The third scenario would be to have a change of tax formulation
on the ballot in all five towns. A majority vote would be needed in
each town and Gagliardi said there would be no reason to expect it
to pass in the municipality with the current advantage.
To get the ball rolling, Gagliardi said only one school district
or governing body, or a combination, must submit a request for a
vote to the Morris County executive superintendent of schools.
The county superintendent will next issue an advisory report and
a non-binding recommendation to the state Commission of
Education.
To assist with compiling an advisory report, Gagliardi said it’s
likely the county superintendent will ask for a feasibility study.
He advised the proponents of dissolution or withdrawal to do the
feasibility study first and to get it done to specifically answer
questions on the options they favor.
Among the options would be formation of a new district, to join
another district or to send pupils to another district on a cost
per pupil basis.
“Have as many facts available as possible on as many options as
you want, including withdrawal, sending and receiving,” she
said.
Regional school board member Jamie Button said he thought the
meeting was a terrific dissemination of information. Button
represents Mendham Township on the regional board.
“It’s clear that dissolution of the regional high school
district is not impossible if they want to do it,” Button said.
As part of a feasibility study, Gagliardi said the state would
require a five-year financial projection. He said it could take
three to five months to do such a study.
However, once the county superintendent reports, the procedural
machinery gets a lightning fast kick-start.
Within 30 days of the county report, any of the municipalities
or school boards can petition the state Department of Education,
even if the county issued a negative report.
Within 15 days, a board of review must be convened by the state
to decide on the worthiness of the petition.
“They’re saying, we think this option is worthy of consideration
by the voters,” Gagliardi said. “The statute is set up to be
permissive and a vote recommendation is usually expected.”
He said only limited circumstances would be able to convince the
review board to reject a public vote. Those include saddling one
community with excess debt, creation of an inefficient school
system or constitutional questions, such as racial imbalance.
The state Education Commissioner, an assistant and
representatives from the state Department of Community Affairs
(DCA) and the state treasurer make up the review body.
If they approve the plan, it would be up to the county
superintendent to schedule an election in either January, March,
September or November.
A full year has already passed since Citizens for Better Schools
(CBS), headed by Charlene Arrington of Chester Township, began
lobbying the five municipalities for a referendum on the tax
formula for the regional district.
Four municipalities, the Chesters and Mendhams, urged the West
Morris Regional High School Board of Education to place the issue
on the ballot, but Washington Township objected.
The school board took no action, instead calling for a public
education “summit” meeting that was held last June.
At that meeting, a mayor’s advisory committee was formed. Four
of the five mayors have met on several occasions and journeyed to
Trenton to talk with state education officials in November. Former
Mendham Township Mayor Frank Cioppettini was highly critical of the
mayors group and did not participate.
The four mayors expect to have state education officials attend
a public meeting to be held in the next few weeks in one of the
towns.
Cioppettini withdrew from the group he insisted that an attorney
also be present at a meeting between the mayors and Executive
County Superintendent Kathleen Serafino.
Arrington had urged residents of the five towns to attend the
meeting, but questions came almost exclusively from people from the
Mendhams and Chesters.
Michael Merritt of Mountainside Road in Mendham Township asked
about the ramifications if a dissolution is approved but creation
of a new district isn’t.
Gagliardi said it couldn’t be “either-or.”
“It would take both approvals to happen. It’s a contingent
relationship,” he said. “You would not want to be in no man’s
land.”
To a question about the division of assets if dissolution is
approved by voters, Gagliardi said the municipalities in which the
high schools are located would get the assets, with some reasonable
compensation for the other towns.
West Morris Mendham High School is located in Mendham and West
Morris Central is in Washington Township.
“If the transfer of the tax burden is one sided, can it be a
reason to deny (the vote)?” said Jim Coleman of Cherry Lane in
Mendham.
Gagliardi said the argument was raised and has been defeated in
appeals court decisions.
One Mendham Township resident asked if towns had ever
renegotiated their tax formulation.
“A modified tax levy still has to be ratified by the voters,”
Gagliardi said. “It’s been tried dozens of times and only once did
it pass, involving West Windsor and Plainsboro about four years
ago.”
Gagliardi said the two communities had virtually equal numbers
of pupils and property tax values, but had looked to a new tax
formula to halt radical year-to-year swings in the tax burden.
Although Gagliardi said a dissolution or withdrawal could be
done in 18 months, he said if one community or new school district
needed a large amount of new construction, that would delay the
time table.
“My experience has been that communities would be given the time
they needed,” he said.
Asked by Michael O’Neill of Chester Township, who would initiate
a feasibility study, Gagliardi said more than one entity, school
board or municipality is usually involved.
“They’re free to do their own but economies and practicality are
reasons to do it together,” he said.
Gagliardi said municipalities and school boards usually pay for
such a study out of their current budgets.
Article source: http://newjerseyhills.com/observer-tribune/news/tutorial-on-school-dissolution-in-mendham-township/article_0135cc64-4250-11e1-be6b-001871e3ce6c.html
