Opinion ID: 2424209
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 27

Heading: Testimony of Educators/Superintendents

Text: To further the position various efficiencies could be achieved within each district, the State called four district superintendents to demonstrate possible savings and/or revenue generating possibilities. The superintendents appeared to be capable, hardworking and dedicated educators committed to the goal all of their students should meet or exceed the CCCS. The educators seemed to be genuinely motivated to provide the highest level educational experience to the students in their respective districts, given existing funding levels, while recognizing there need necessarily be some limit on educational funding. Their collective commitment to attempt to ensure all students meet the CCCS was clear. Their district's ability to do so with current level of funding was far less certain. Specifically, the State called Robert L. Copeland (Copeland), superintendent of Piscataway Township school district, Dr. John A. Crowe (Crowe), superintendent of the Woodbridge school district, Dr. Harry Victor Gilson (Gilson), superintendent of the Bridgeton school district, and lastly, and Earl Kim (Kim), superintendent of the Montgomery Township (now consolidated with Rocky Hills) school district. The presented districts had significantly different characteristics, including their DFG designations, the percentages of at-risk students within each district, and differences in the reductions of State formula aid allocated to the districts. All of the districts presented were funded under adequacy levels. The Piscataway Township school district, located in Middlesex County, is designated as a DFG GH district. Copeland, 1 T 22:12-17. There are 7,163 students attending school in the district, with 27.35% of those students classified as at-risk, D-106 at 7, and one hundred in-district special needs students. [33] Copeland, 1 T 27:22-25. The district has four elementary schools grades K-5 and two intermediate schools for grades 4-5 with approximately 3,400 students in total, three middle schools with approximately 1,500 students, and one high school with approximately 2,300 students. The graduation rate is approximately 95%. Id. at 58:1-2. The district was supposed to receive $20,163,169 in FY 11 State aid pursuant to the original SFRA formula, and received $11,974,697 under the modified formula, an $8,188,472 difference or a 40.6% reduction. See D-124 at 12. Woodbridge school district, also located in Middlesex County, is designated a DFG DE district. Crowe, 2 T 32:9. There are 13,205 students in the district, with 30.2% of the students classified as at-risk, D-106 at 6, five percent limited English proficiency, and eleven percent receiving special education services. Crowe, 2 T 98:19-99:6. Within the district, there are sixteen elementary schools, five middle schools and three high schools. Id. at 31:25-32:1. Pursuant to the original SFRA formula, the district would have received $31,730,539 of State aid in FY 11, and received $17,655,042 under the modified funding formula, which is a difference of $14,075,497 or a 44.4% reduction. See D-124 at 13. Both Piscataway and Woodbridge represent districts with medium, or 20% to 40% concentrations of at-risk student populations. Conversely, the City of Bridgeton school district, located in Cumberland County, is a former Abbott district, is designated a DFG A district, and even within the other A districts, recent census data demonstrated it is the first or second poorest community in the State. Gilson, 4 T 119:16-20. There are 4,764 students in the district, of which 89.3% are at-risk. See D-106 at 1. Bridgeton has six elementary schools for grades K-8 and one high school. Id. at 54:22-55:4. The district relies on State aid for ninety percent of its funds. Id. at 56:20-22. Pursuant to the original SFRA formula, Bridgeton was supposed to receive $74,143,755 in State aid, and received $60,823,033 under the modified funding formula, a difference of $13,320,722 or an 18% reduction. See D-124 at 5. On the other hand, the Montgomery school district, located in Somerset County, is designated a DFG J district. [34] Kim, 6 T 9:18-19. The district has 5,122 students, of which 2.52% are classified as at-risk, D-106 at 16, sixty students are classified as limited English proficiency, and 10-12% are classified as special education students. Id. at 10:1-11:2. Montgomery has five schools: one elementary pre-K-2 school with about 900 students, one school for grades 3 and 4 with about 750-800 students, one school for grades 5 and 6 with 800-900 students, one school for grades 7 and 8 with about 900 students and one high school with about 1,700 students. Id. at 11:3-25. For FY 11, Montgomery/Rocky Hill was supposed to receive $6,479,374 pursuant to the original SFRA formula, and received $1,871,805 under the modified funding formula, which was $4,607,568 less, or a 71.1% reduction. See D-124 at 14. Bridgeton represents a former Abbott district with a high concentration of at-risk students, more than forty percent, while Montgomery represents a district with a low a concentration or less than twenty percent at-risk students. Interestingly, despite the aforementioned districts having such varying characteristics, each was under adequacy for FY 11. [35] See Summations, 15 T 43:16-19. Piscataway, Woodbridge, Bridgeton and Montgomery were under adequacy by $13,716,574, $16,135,701, $12,609,520 and $4,882,959, respectively. See P-126 at 1-2. The district witnesses called by the plaintiffs from Clifton and Buena regional school districts, discussed hereinafter, were also under adequacy by $29,441,368 and $2,991,727, respectively. Ibid. The State sought to urge, even for those districts under adequacy, the current level of funding would be sufficient to provide a thorough and efficient education given careful fiscal planning which would maximize efficiency. [36] Summations, 15 T 47:4-12. Essentially, the State asserted despite the diligent efforts of the superintendents to effectuate various efficiencies, as will be discussed hereinafter, and their attempts to minimize the effects on instruction, there could, nonetheless, have been other areas where further cuts could have been made. Id. at 46:17-19; see also Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 298 (urging instead of reinstating sports teams district should have hired academic support instructors, but failed to quantify cost of team reinstatement). Presumably, the State's position is, the Court, having approved a formula that provided each district a certain amount of monies, did not mandate following the formula in spending the allocated fund monies. Abbott XX, supra, 199 N.J. at 147 [971 A. 2d 989]; see also Stip. ¶¶ 63-64. As a result, each district has the discretion to determine how to best utilize the funds allotted to it by the formula. Ibid. Furthermore, the State asserted it consistently maintained the position SFRA exceeds the requirements necessary to provide the CCCS to the students in each districts and had implemented a formula which was more generous with State aid than necessary to obtain the requisite education. Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶¶ 13-15 (citing Abbott XX, supra, 199 N.J. at 164 [971 A. 2d 989]). To that effect, the State sought to elicit testimony from the district witnesses regarding cost-saving or revenue generating measures implemented by the districts. Without delineating the testimony of each district witness as to the specific efficiencies each district employed, all of the districts sought to reduce costs by reducing staff deemed nonessential that had no direct effects on instruction, restructured their transportation services, shared services with neighboring districts to reduce costs, implemented special education programs to increase out of district enrollment to increase tuition revenue, and outsourced substitute staff or instructional support staff, as well as other services, such as cafeteria cleaning. The savings achieved from these ventures varied from district to district. Specifically, and by way of example, Copeland testified concerning the various efficiency initiatives the Piscataway school district implemented in an effort to reduce costs or generate revenue for use in FY 11. The primary cost saving mechanism was by way of sharing services with the surrounding school districts. Copeland, 1 T 32:16-22; see also D-2 at 3. Piscataway created over $300,000 in revenue for each of two previous years by providing transportation services to the smaller districts surrounding Piscataway, id. at 33:20-34:5; D-2 at 3, increased tuition revenue earned from fees paid by the sending districts by fifty percent by opening up its in-district special education program, id. at 35:7-15; D-2 at 3, and created $60,000 in savings by participating in a pooled cash management program whereby the districts came together to pool their resources as one depository and, as a result, were able to obtain better interest rates than other cash management funds. [37] Id. at 38: 9-17. In addition to shared services, the district implemented plans to increase the energy efficiency of its facilities, such as by replacing outmoded windows with energy-efficient ones. [38] Id. at 40:5-17. For these projects, the district applied for and obtained grants of $147,000 from the DOE and is awaiting receipt of funds from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) in the amount of $46,000. Id. at 41:4-9. Furthermore, the district utilized outsourcing services for substitute employees, paraprofessionals and lunchroom cleaning services. Copeland noted the district contracted with a private provider of substitute teachers, aides and secretaries, thereby eliminating the district's need to oversee any aspects of substitute hiring. Id. at 60:20-61:8. Further outsourcing by the district included paraprofessionals, or teacher aides and assistants, who primarily worked with kindergarten and special education students. Id. at 60:25-62:1. Lastly, the district outsourced its cafeteria cleaning services to a food services company hired by the district. Id. at 62:20-63:1. Projected savings in the budget from outsourcing services totaled $707,790. See D-2 at 8. The districts' attempts to implement efficiency are praiseworthy and commendable, and possibly could amount to significant savings. However, without quantification of the savings achieved or to be achieved by all districts for the FY 11 year, it is impossible to find, based on anecdotal evidence alone, these efficiencies would significantly impact the effectuated reductions. One factor which makes educational funding problematic, and elusive, is the wide disparity between districts, whether by population, demographics, wealth, geography, and/or the like. While it may be possible for one district to achieve $1 million in savings, for another a $100,000 may not be possible. Without sufficient proofs, any finding concerning the overall amount of savings for efficiencies would be mere speculation, and as such, does not advance the State's position in meeting its burden. In addition to the various efficiencies, the State urged districts had access to excess surplus funds to support their budgets and the districts could have also increased their local tax levies to generate additional revenue. See Plfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶¶ 70-75, 184, 221, 254, 286, 322. Excess surplus is generated when a district's end of fiscal year general fund balance is greater than the two percent of its initial general fund balance, or its rainy day funds. Specifically, as a part of their budget process, districts could, and were encouraged to, maintain up to two percent of their undesignated general fund budget as surplus to be used two years in the future, usually, as emergency funds. Wyns, 14 T 64:13-19; see also N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-7(a). In other words, districts put away a two percent surplus in 2008-2009 for use in 2010-2011. Ibid. Excess surplus is general fund balance in excess of the two percent or $250,000, whichever is greater. Stip. ¶ 150 (citing N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-7(a)). District budgets are audited annually at the conclusion of each fiscal year on June 30, and an audit report is thereafter released sometime in November of the same year. Plfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 61 (citing Gilson, 4 T 105:13-24); see also N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-7(c). The audit identifies whether a district has excess surplus for the year which just ended, and, if so, the excess surplus is required to be appropriated into the district's budget in the fiscal year following the release of the audit in November, generally, to provide a reduction in the general fund tax levy for the budget year. See N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-7(a); see also Plfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 63. The State asserted the 2008-2009 year audit determined $430.6 million in excess surplus was available, and in the subsequent 2009-2010 year, the districts had $190.2 million in excess surplus. [39] Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶¶ 70-71; see also D-162. The State further urged during the midyear State aid withholding in FY 10, discussed hereinafter, pursuant to which districts had to then seek approval to use their surplus, only $27 million was used towards the FY 10 budget. Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 72; D-162. The remaining $400 million was available to support the FY 11 budget. Ibid. In addition, districts had $250 million projected as general fund balance at the end of the 2009-2010 school year, or in other words monies not expended during the year, which was appropriated for the 2010-2011 school year. Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 72. From these available amounts, the districts used $650 million to support their FY 11 budgets, and, consequently, the State argued, should be taken into account in determining the effects of reductions in State aid on the districts. See Summations, 15 T 31:4-12; Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 73. The State's argument the excess surplus was available for use, and could have been used in totality to support budgets school districts believed were not enough to provide the CCCS appears unfair and short-sighted. As noted, not all districts had excess surplus funding available to them for use in FY 11. Furthermore, several of the district witnesses testified not all funds were used for the FY 11 budget in order to save all or part of the monies for future years in an effort to plan ahead for the possibilities of greater aid reductions. Understandably the districts are uncertain concerning their future budgetary planning given that the FY 10 formula aid was withheld mid-year, and then FY 11 formula funding was again subject to modifications. To assert the districts were inefficient by not utilizing the totality of all funds available to them, and not planning for future contingencies, especially in such an uncertain time period, is simply inequitable as the districts were attempting to be fiscally responsible concerning future budgeting. Utilizing the totality of excess funds available would require the districts to plan only for the current year and ignore the possibility additional funding may be necessary in the future in the event similar reductions to State aid occur. The State further suggested the districts were not utilizing the permissible tax levy increase of up to four percent to generate additional tax revenue for their budgets. See Dfs.' PostTrial Br. ¶ 184 (Montgomery's tax levy increased by 2.3%, not four percent), ¶ 221 (Piscataway increased tax levy two percent for FY 11 instead of four percent, which would generate $1.6 million in additional revenue), ¶ 254 (Woodbridge increased tax levy 3.3% for FY 11 not full four percent which would generate $1 million additional revenue), ¶ 286 (Clifton increased tax levy just over one percent, not full four percent which would generate $3.1 million in revenue), ¶ 322 (Buena increased tax levy less than one percent, but four percent increase would generate $324,000 additional revenue). Districts contribute to their Adequacy Budgets by way of their Local Fair Share (LFS), which is, essentially, the amount a district can raise by way of its local tax levy. Abbott XX, supra, 199 N.J. at 221 [971 A. 2d 989]; see also N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-52. While a district could raise its tax levy more than its LFS, tax levies are subject to limitations on increases. See N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-38. The SFRA does not require any district below adequacy to increase its local levy to bring it up to adequacy. Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 25 (citing N.J.S.A. 18A:7F-5(d)). Furthermore, a district with a local levy below its LFS may not be at adequacy even with full funding of State aid. Dfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 26. The six districts which participated in the remand hearings were under adequacy and had local tax levies which were either equivalent to or exceeded the minimum tax levy required by SFRA. Plfs.' Post-Trial Br. ¶ 66. Specifically, Piscataway, Woodbridge, Montgomery, Buena Regional and Clifton exceeded their local levies by $13.4 million, $29.8 million, $1.5 million, $979,331, $16.7 million, respectively, and Bridgeton was equivalent to its minimum requirement. See P-33 at 2; P-52 at 2; D-33 at 1; P-37 at 2; P-46 at 2; P-16 at 1. Some of the districts proposed higher tax levies in their budgets, however, the proposed levies were defeated by voters and the districts chose to abide by the voter decisions instead of seeking to request restoration of the budget from the Commissioner. Kim, 6 T 40:4-42:2 (testifying Commissioner certified tax levy 3.2% less than proposed following voter defeat of budget); Whitaker, 10 T 40:8-17 (noting district board of education chose to restore confidence of overtaxed population); Tardalo, 11 T 37:3-22 (explaining Clifton board of education and voters rejected budget proposing increase of 1.34% in tax levy); Gilson, 4 T 159:10-160:3 (testifying did not seek waiver of four percent cap as district was impoverished). The districts were not acting inefficiently by not utilizing the allowable tax levy increase in full over the objections of the voters who voiced their decisions by rejecting a proposed levy. The districts, in an effort to maintain the confidence of their residents, understandably, chose to avoid overriding the voters' decision. Despite the monies the State urged were available to the districts, the superintendents' consistent lament concerning reductions to instructional, support and administrative staff in response to and its effect upon meeting the CCCS was clear. The most significant effects were on the various supplemental support programs, such as reading, summer programs, and push-in or pull-out [40] services offered by the districts to students identified as struggling, and in need of additional help. These support staff and ancillary programs were offered to help our students in need in an effort to avoid having the student fall further from proficiency. Further reductions in teachers and aides resulted in increased class sizes and even the elimination of certain classes required by the CCCS, such as world languages and technology in elementary schools. As a result of the eliminations of the various support programs, teachers, support personnel, and courses, three of the four superintendents opined their districts would not be able to deliver the CCCS to the students for the 2010-2011 school year, and one superintendent believed, although difficult, the district would be able to deliver CCCS to its students this year, although he was gravely concerned for FY 12. Specifically, Copeland, although admittedly struggling to manage the reductions in a manner least affecting direct instruction to students, testified the current level of funding provided to his district would allow for the delivery of the CCCS to its students in the most basic way. Copeland, 1 T 85:19-86:5. If the ability to deliver the CCCS under present funding levels was limited to the overwhelming majority of students in the Piscataway district, he opined the district would be able to deliver the standards this year. Id. at 116:16. Copeland, and Piscataway Township, are used as the first example as he was the only superintendent who testified his district was able to deliver the CCCS with decreased funding for FY 11. Further, this court was impressed with his forthright testimony, and his concerned and knowledgeable posture, particularly as an experienced educator. It should also be noted, however, his district is designated as a DFG GH district. Copeland testified a total of 14 teacher positions were eliminated in grades K-12. The eliminations resulted in some third grade classes increasing from 24-25 students up to 27 students and high school classes increased from mid-twenties up to 31-32 students. Certain reductions affected subject areas required by the CCCS, as discussed above, as a result of the loss of instructors in those areas. Specifically, the district terminated four certified world language teachers who provided direct Spanish language instruction to English speaking students for elementary grades K-3, and, consequently, eliminating the program in those grades. Id. at 48:20-24, 49:20-25. In lieu of the language teachers, the district directed regular classroom teachers, who did not necessarily speak Spanish, instruct the students by playing language-teaching DVDs in the classroom. Id. at 50:10-19. Currently, direct certified world language instruction is provided in elementary grades four and five, and continues to middle school grades 6-8. Id. at 101:15-18. As a result of terminating four practical arts instructors, industrial arts, consumer science and the home economics programs for middle school grades 6-8 were eliminated. Id. at 53:4-12. Furthermore, of the two technology instructors responsible for teaching the technology curriculum to intermediate school grades 4-5, one was eliminated, making it difficult for the remaining instructor to get through the curriculum with all of the students. Id. at 54:14-18. Reductions were made to media specialists who acted as librarians, in addition to working part-time in the gifted and talented and reading programs. There were also the eliminations of middle school athletics, a summer program for Kindergarten students and a Saturday program. Despite the reductions in State aid and the eliminations in staffing, Copeland opined the Piscataway district would be able to deliver education which meets the CCCS to the overwhelming majority of students for the current year. Id. at 116: 16-19. Understandably, Copeland, a capable educator determined to attempt to have all his students exceed the standards, was troubled the reductions in aid will affect those students who are not meeting the standards and would cause them to fall even further behind. He opined the availability of support services and extra-curricular activities was a crucial aspect of the effort to deliver the CCCS to those students. Id. at 117:16-22, 122:3-6. Poignantly, he offered the following: I think that there are going to be teachers and students who are going to succeed no matter the hurdle. I don't know if I can give you the kids ... there are some kids who ... were born on third base. They walk in and they're able to do everything they're supposed to do. I have a bunch of kids having a hard time getting out of the dugout. I'm worried about the kids who it doesn't come easy for and what we're not able to do for them. And I don't know if I can categorize or codify who they are at this point. Id. at 115: 13-23 Comparatively, Kim testified the current budget was not sufficient to provide a thorough and efficient education, as opposed to the prior year's budget, which was adequate. Kim, 6 T 83:4-6. The Montgomery school district had to eliminate eleven teaching positions. The eliminations implemented by the district included academic support teachers who provided a reading recovery program to about 45 students in grades pre-K through 2, first and second grade teachers were eliminated, as well as the termination of two world language teachers, resulting in the elimination of the world language program for first and second grade. In addition, the district eliminated 26 support staff, which implicated child study team services, social worker services, and technology instruction. The cuts to technology instruction will prevent the district from providing the CCCS in technology to its students for the current school year. Id. at 130:1-10. The resulting terminations increased class sizes in all grades, except for grades 6 and 7, by ten percent. Id. at 99:5-11; D-30. Furthermore, Kim asserted the ten percent class size increase was already on top of a previous increase. Specifically, in the 2008-2009 school year, with the exception of Kindergarten, the district had class sizes which were twenty to thirty percent smaller than at the present time. Id. at 110:12-20. Kim opined the reason the district will not be able to provide students with a thorough and efficient education with current level of funding, as compared to last year's funding, was the district had academic support, which compensated for the larger class size. Id. at 118:1-9. Accordingly, without the supplemental programs and increased class sizes the district cannot provide the CCCS to its students. Collectively, the educators appeared capable and utilizing their best efforts to attempt to have their students meet the requirements of the CCCS. They attempted to resolve the difficulties of instituting reductions as fairly as possible while still complying with their mandate to provide a thorough and efficient education consistent with the CCCS. Although it may be thought numerous districts are more heavily weighted in administration rather than emphasizing the classroom, the proofs did not fully substantiate such a position. [41] Furthermore, given the truncated time afforded these districts in effectuating the requisite reductions after receipt of information as to the quantum of State aid, it nonetheless appeared the budgeting was as thoughtful a collective process as was then possible. [42] The Master finds that despite the best effort of the superintendents, the CCCS are not being met at existing funding levels. The loss of teachers, support staff and programs is causing less advanced students to fall farther behind and they are becoming demonstrably less proficient. Is there a concern teachers have failed to heed the request to freeze their salaries in an effort to assist their students, certainly. Are there concerns the various collective bargaining agreements curtail flexibility and available teaching time, certainly. The directive to this court, though, is clear and the superintendents' testimony, collectively, did not allow this court to find the State had met its burden, at least with regard to these witnesses.