FREEHOLD BOROUGH

PUBLIC SCHOOLS (K-8)

PRESENTATION TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2014

ROCCO TOMAZIC, ED.D.

SUPERINTENDENT

OUR STUDENTS

• Enrollment (9/4/14): 1,630

• 1,617 in district

• 13 out of district

• Ethnic/racial breakdown:

• Hispanic – 70.3%

• White – 16.64%

• Black – 10.53%

• Asian – 1.41%

• Others – 1.12%

• Free/reduced lunch: 69.1%

OUR SCHOOLS

• Freehold Borough Schools

• Freehold Intermediate School (6-8)

• Park Ave Elementary School (PK-5)

• Freehold Learning Center (PK-5)

• Off site rentals:

• West Freehold Elementary – 4 classes

• Marshall Errickson – 2 classes (starting September 2014)

• District functional building capacity: 1,148

• Currently 469 unhoused students

• 150 in Freehold Township

• 319 squeezed into library/admin space with high class sizes

OUR REGIONAL PARTNERS

• Rise to high school (9-12) to:

• Freehold Regional High School District

• Monmouth County VoTech School District

• K-8 sending districts to FRHSD and 14/15 per student

• Colts Neck $20,786 DFG I

• Farmingdale $16,235 DFG D/E

• Freehold Twp $15,841 DFG G/H

• Howell $14,558 DFG F/G

• Marlboro $14,304 DFG I

• Manalapan/Englishtown $13,577 DFG G/H

• Freehold Borough $11,462 DFG B

2013 DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY

ACTUAL ENROLLMENTS

.

School Year Projected Actual

2012-2013 9/21/2012 1,526

6/24/2013 1,547

2013-2014 1,515 9/20/2013 1,570

5/30/2014 1,586

2014-2015 1,579 (9/4/14) 1,630

2015-2016 1,629

2016-2017 1,647

2017-2018 1,659

STUDENT GROWTH

175

225

195

174163

178

145159

128

0

50

100

150

200

250

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Enrollment

Enrollment

FREEHOLD INTERMEDIATE

SCHOOL INCREASE

2014-2015: 432

2015-2016: 482

2016-2017: 486

2017-2018: 515

FREEHOLD LEARNING CENTER

FLC FLOOR PLAN

FIS/PAE

FIS/PAE PLAN B FLOOR PLAN

EFFECT OF CONSTRUCTION

• Three years to build

• 2014-2015 – planning, bidding, construction (year 1)

• 2015-2016 – construction (year 2)

• 2016-2017 – construction (year 3)

• 2017-2018 – ready for students

• Upon completion

• New functional capacity of 1,581 (current 1,148)

• 98% of current needs

• 95% of projected enrollment of 1,659

REFERENDUM ASSUMPTIONS

• 2014 Total Borough Assessed

Valuation: $1,052,933,800

• Assessed Valuation Growth: None

• 2014 Assessed Valuation of Average

Home: $255,600

• State Aid For Debt Service: 38.02%

• Bonds Term: 30 Years

• Bond Structure: Wrap-Around

Existing Debt

• Bond Borrowing Rate: 4.00%

TAX IMPACT

Project Per $100K Per Average Home($255.6K)

$ 32,902,400 $109 $278

FIVE QUESTIONS

The five most

commonly asked

questions we hear

around the Boro

about a school

construction

referendum

COMMON QUESTION 1

• Question: Why not merge with Freehold Township?

• Things to consider:

• Both Twp and Boro would need to approve

• Might save some administrative costs and rent

• All Boro teachers would get a raise in pay to meet higher

Twp pay (NJ rules on mergers)

• Boro would take on proportion of Twp debt

• Taxes would not necessarily go down

• Answer: Even if a desired option in both the Boro and

Twp, the costs would likely exceed the cost of just the

Boro referendum.

COMMON QUESTION 2

• Question: Why should the Boro pay for immigrant

students?

• Things to consider:

• School district can’t ask immigration status, by law

• NJ law entitles resident students to an education

• Boro only has 22 immigrant students (arrived last 3 years)

• Low number of students without health insurance

• Answer: All students proving they reside in Freehold

Boro are entitled to a free and appropriate public

education, as guaranteed by the NJ Constitution

COMMON QUESTION 3

• Question: The voters turned down a referendum in 2005 by

a big margin, why waste the money asking again?

• Things to consider:

• Continued overcrowding may results in split sessions

• It is unlikely that families would be attracted to live in a

community where the schools are severely overcrowded

• Only the voters can approve a referendum to access state aid

• The board has a responsibility to provide a thorough and

efficient education

• Answer: The voters deserve the option of deciding to pay

more taxes or degrading educational programs

COMMON QUESTION 4

• Question: Why should Freehold voters take on more debt

when the state doesn’t provide the proper amount of state

aid for the operating budget?

•Things to consider:

• Nearly 50% of Boro operating budget from NJDOE

• Boro over $7M under adequacy

• State legislators continue to advocate for the Boro

• Education Law Center has featured the Boro’s underfunded

status

• Answer: Even if the proper state aid were provided the

district would still have to build more space to address the

needs of its students.

COMMON QUESTION 5

• Question: Why do anything, can’t you just keep renting instructional space here and there?

• Things to consider:

• We are year-to-year with the extra space in Freehold Twp

• Other districts with spare capacity have declined to take our students

• Use of rented space or space in other non public schools must be brought up to NJDOE standards, the cost of which comes out of the operating budget.

• Answer: Speculating on the space that might be available does not address the actual students in district. If there was really usable space available we would have rented it already, but we keep looking.

•Maximizing voter interest in the schools

•Finding new voters

•Vibrancy of the community

•Registration deadline Sept 9th

•Presenting school issues to parents

•Preventing large class sizes

•Equity with surrounding districts

•Avoiding split sessions

•Presenting school issues to non parents

•Relation of school quality to property value

•Attracting families with school-aged

children.

MOBILIZING VOTERS

BORO STUDENTS –

A GOOD INVESTMENT

• 1st and 2nd place in NJ

for Stock Market Game

(elementary)

• NJHS grants from

Peter Jay Sharp

Foundation

• 8th grade virtual

Holocaust museum

• Seth’s essay

THE REFERENDUM

Tuesday

September 30, 2014

2pm – 9pm