Already Sharing, Savings Not Great If Seven Mile Island Schools Merge

AVALON — With all the sharing agreements already in place, both Seven Mile Beach schools aren’t looking at incredible savings even in consolidation, education consultants told a capacity crowd at Avalon Elementary School Oct. 7.
They went to hear consultants from Centennial Associates, LLC present findings of a consolidation study commissioned by Avalon and Stone Harbor boards of education.
Most residents’ concerns here are less about money and more about identity and quality.
All members of both boards of education were present, but discussion will be held at their separate meetings: Stone Harbor tonight and Avalon Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. at the respective schools.
Consultants recommend an in-house island merger, which could consist of one or two reconfigured districts with one or two school buildings.
A one-school merger option has the highest potential for savings, but is still a small savings to the average homeowner. If merged into one school, consultants recommend Avalon’s building be used because it has newer facilities.
After a presentation, questions were directed to the study’s authors, educational consultants Virgil Johnson and Herbert Johnson, who explained advantages and disadvantages for each of four options.
Vito Gagliardi, an attorney who specializes in regionalization and consolidation, said the boards commissioned the study to “take actions before actions are dictated to them by the state Department of Education.”
Demographics, education quality and finances were factors to reach recommendations.
Options
• Status quo as separate K-8 districts and buildings was cited. Currently, the two school boards share a superintendent, business administrator and curriculum coordinator. Avalon and Stone Harbor both currently send high school students to Middle Township High School on a tuition send/receive basis. Avalon kindergarten students attend school in Stone Harbor.
• Pre-kindergarten (PK)-8th grade regional option, in which the two districts form a single PK-8 regional or consolidated district, the difference being in governance. Consultants recommend this option, which could include one or two school buildings. Both boards would be eliminated and replaced with a regional board with representation based on percentage of enrollment. This would cause Avalon to have greater representation, as there would be a nine-member board with five members from Avalon and four from Stone Harbor. Regionalization would not likely create any savings in administration since the districts already share those services.
• K-4 district and a PK, 5-8-district scenario, in which Stone Harbor likely becomes a K-4 district and Avalon becomes a PK 5-8 district. Both school boards would continue to exist with mutual send-receive relationships established implemented on a contract basis. Consultants also recommend this option.
“If the respective boards wish to remain intact, this is the best option,” the study states.
• PK-12 regional configuration, where merged districts would also have a high school is cited as “readily apparent that no K-12 option is either viable or economically feasible.”
The boroughs together do not have a large enough student population to form a district with a comprehensive high school on their own. Under this option, boards would be dissolved and new board of education would form for Avalon, Stone Harbor and likely Middle Township. This option is not recommended.
“Regionalization with Middle Township High School would be financially detrimental to both Avalon and Stone Harbor due to the high equalized valuations of the two towns unless taxes were apportioned strictly on a per-pupil basis,” the study states.
Overall, the PK-12 option was only explored because mandated by the state, but earnestly, with not enough students and a need to build a high school, Virgil said it’s not feasible.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said.
Enrollment
“There’s a high degree of probability that any (demographic) projection we make is wrong,” Johnson said.
This is because enrollment numbers are so small that losing even a few students creates a percentile decrease. Life birth data reveals that Stone Harbor has about five births per year and Avalon has six, he said.
There are no new developments on the horizon as the island is basically built out. Each district accepts about 10 tuition students from other communities. Each school has an average student population of about 75.
Enrollment projections cite a stable enrollment in Avalon and decline in Stone Harbor over the next five years.
The two school buildings are underutilized: Stone Harbor Elementary School has a capacity for about 150 students; Avalon’s school building has a 200-student capacity, Herbert said.
Combined, both districts have a total 131 students this year, he added.
“Ideal class size situation if combined,” Virgil said. “Avalon and Stone Harbor have already done everything they can do to reduce costs. Two not fully utilized facilities cost more to operate than one.”
“There’s national concern for large classes, except here, where there’s concern that classes are too small,” he said.
Virgil said classes would then be nine to 22 students with only two grades, not the ideal 15-16 students, which, he said, national studies cite as perfect for elementary level.
Different textbooks are used at the schools. If merged, a committee of teachers would form with the curriculum director to recommend which books to keep.
Savings
Avalon and Stone Harbor, individual or combined, based on enrollments, would fall within $5 of their current state aid, Virgil said. State aid is only 2.5 percent of each districts’ budgets.
The only way Middle Township would want to combine with the Seven Mile Beach schools, he said, is if it can apportion taxes based on property value, to which the island communities are not likely to agree, because they would then subsidize Middle Township’s students. Based on a send/receive tuition basis, it would be more favorable for Seven Mile Beach schools to combine with Middle Township, he said.
A one-school K-8 merger would save taxpayers about $1 million.
“It sounds impressive until you look at the tax impact,” Virgil said.
A taxpayer with a $500,000 property would save about a half a cent or $25 per year in Avalon and 1.8 cents or $92 per year in Stone Harbor, based on equalized values.
A two-school combined district would save the boroughs’ taxpayers about $500,000.
Avalon, with a school tax rate at 0.035 cents per $100 assessed value, would save only 3.1 cents, Virgil said. Stone Harbor, with a current school tax rate of 0.049 cents per $100 of assessed value, would save 4.8 cents, he said. Therefore a taxpayer with a property worth $500,000 would save about $14 in Avalon and $38 in Stone Harbor.
Quality
“Both schools have very solid programs expected in the best schools of New Jersey,” Virgil said. He said there are efficient instructional programs, accelerated reading skills, strong integration of subjects and favorable extra-curricular programs.
“There’s excellent programs at work in both districts and there’s no reason to assume, whatever happens, that they would decline,” Virgil said.
If consolidated to one school, he said, there’s more of an inability to resolve personality problems among teachers and students. However, Virgil said teachers often have success with students they teach consecutive years in a row because of familiarity.
Option two, with two districts, a K-4 and PK, 5-8 would result in larger classes but still offer individual student attention. Staff development could be more effective and both boards would remain intact with autonomy and continued shared services, he said.
Comments
“Didn’t we do this 15 years ago?” Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters said, jibbing that she was experiencing déjà vu.
She asked why Pre-kindergarten students would be grouped with grades 5-8.
Gagliardi said facilities were better in Avalon.
Attorney Kerri Wright explained that tenured teachers would stay, however untenured teachers would not have job security.
Resident William Burns, chairman of Stone Harbor Planning Board, said the problem with any merging is that it has potential to become a slippery slope towards consolidation with a mainland community to a regional K-12 district, as the state aims to do with all districts.
“Our strongest argument against a K-12 district is we have separate schools,” Burns said.
Both boards voted to accept the study at their respective September meetings.
Stone Harbor board member Dede Harris was the only one opposed.
“A neighborhood school gives a community its soul,” she said.
Avalon and Stone Harbor boards of education each paid $22,000 to date to share the cost of the study.
The Oct. 7 meeting was held to present the study and gain public input; the boards made no decision.