Bernards Officials Reach Out To Trenton, Call For End of Unfunded School Mandates

With over $5 million lost from withheld or reduced state education aid this year, Bernards has taken a more active role in securing funding relief from the NJ state government.

A team of Bernards officials, including Superintendent Valerie Goger, school district Business Administrator Nick Markarian, Board of Education President Susan Carlsson and Vice-President Bev Darvin Cwerner, Township Committee members Carolyn Gaziano and John Carpenter and Township Administrator Bruce McArthur met with Disrict 16 Assembleywoman Denise Coyle, two of Governor Chris Christie's legislative staff members and N.J. Education Commissioner Brett Schundler for an hour meeting Monday to talk about some of the challenges facing the suburban school districts, particularly Bernards.

Cwerner reported at Monday night's Board of Education meeting that the session went well, and she felt the district's message was positively received. "We really got the ear of people who are making an impact in Trenton," Cwerner said. She also reported that Commissioner Schundler was aware of many of the issues facing the schools, and was actively engaged, taking notes and discussing potential solutions to the issues the schools face.

Unfunded Mandates

Bernards, like all NJ school districts, is required by state law to complete a number of reports, reviews and policies that are mandated by the state without accompanying administrative funding.

The Board of Education officials brought a number of these issues to the attention of Schundler and the staff present, including the cost of transportation and a number of required reports.

Transportation Costs

Currently, state law requires that school districts in NJ must pay for the transportation (through busing) of all K-8 students living beyond two miles from the school they attend, and all high school students outside of 2.5 miles.

Markarian said that rough calculations in Bernards show that if the numbers were increased to 2.5 and three miles, the school district would save approximately $400,000 annually.

Unfunded Reviews and Reports

The district is also required to undergo an extensive performance review, and submit the accompanying Quality Single Accountability Continuum (commonly called QSAC) report to the state every three years. This year, Bernards received high grades in all five QSAC categories: instruction and programs (89 percent), fiscal management (93 percent), operations management (93 percent), personnel (93 percent) and governance (100 percent). The scores earned Bernards the state-awarded distinction of a "high performing district."

The QSAC process costs the district an estimated $50,000 to prepare, according to Markarian, and Cwerner said that the group talked to Schundler about potentially amending the process to allow high performing districts to be reviewed every seven years, instead of three, as long as they maintain the distinction.

"It takes a lot of time because you have to pull together all of your processes, paperwork and policies, and you have to organize it in a way you can present it to [a number of officials]," Markarian said. "It's a big effort."

Required, But Potentially Unused Plans

The district also prepares several other reports that may or may not be necessary, according to Markarian, including a professional development plans, mentoring plans, a comparative equity plan, a five-year facility plan and a three-year technology plan, to name a few.

"It seems like we produce the document and not necessarily a lot happens with it." Markarian said. "The question becomes, how many of these things are getting used? If no one is using these plans the districts are putting all of this time, energy, effort and therefore dollars into creating, maybe relaxing some of these requirements can save the district money."

Other Potential Cost Savings

Other recommendations made by the Bernards team were to look into some of the state's graduation requirements, including 150 minutes of physical education per week, and a requirement for fine arts as well as practical arts. If some of the requirements were lessened, such as fine arts or practical arts, instead of both, the district could potentially save money.

The district also talked to Schundler about requiring administrative law judges who hear special education cases to have more expertise in dealing with the issue before being allowed to take on the case. Markarian said reports from around the state have indicated that due to the learning curve to understand complex special education laws, some cases took a very long time to hear, costing school districts excessive legal fees.

Next Steps

Cwerner reported that Schundler said it will take time to implement changes, some of which could require legislative approval. Nevertheless, those in attendance at the meeting commented that it was productive, and they believed their audience was receptive to their concerns.