School’s Closing Saves Taxes, Aids Pupils, Larger District Offers Better Resources

SEA ISLE CITY – For several years, Sea Isle City parents thought it would be the end of their idyllic town if their elementary school closed and students transferred to the Ocean City system. They made their strong opposition known through letters and comments replete with predictions that school children would suffer and, by extension life in Sea Isle City.
However, in appraising the results, it seems that a positive outcome has resulted and the city’s example could serve as a best practice for other municipalities.
“We’ve seen nothing but benefit to the school children, our number one priority, as well as local taxpayers,” said Dan Tumolo, president of the school board for four years and prior to that, vice-president for three years.
“We thought we could better serve our students by transferring them to the Ocean City school system rather than have them in classes with as few as three children per class. Ocean City schools are excellent with highly qualified teachers, a terrific program especially for math and science, and great after school programs and sports teams, I checked this out myself, so it seemed like the right move for our children,” he continued.
For example, when Tumolo visited Ocean City High School he went into the computer lab and asked why students were learning on Macs when most businesses use PCs. He learned that the school has two computer labs, one for Macs and one for PCs, “So the students get the best of both worlds, this is something we could never afford in Sea Isle City,” remarked Tumolo.
The city’s transfer initiative took place over a couple of school years with students in grades five through eight making the transfer first in school year 2012–2013 and then those in K-4 this current school year.
“We only sent just seven – nine students in the beginning so it was a bit difficult to blend in but eventually the social skills and interaction with such a diverse group as in Ocean City was a huge advantage for our children,” explained Tumelo.
In analyzing the benefits to taxpayers, preliminary numbers show that a previous tax bill of $584 based on the average home assessed ratable value of $716,000 is now about $274 annually. The school board also has been able to reduce its yearly school budget of about $4 million by nearly half with the remaining couple of million dollars going to pay the tuition of city students to Ocean City.
“Previously we were paying about $35,000 per student per year on average to have them in our schools here in Sea Isle with special needs students costing a bit more. Now in Ocean City we are paying about $15,000-16,000 a year and they are getting a much more enriched education. We also have been able to give the former school building back to the city for a new purpose,” noted Tumolo.
In two years’ time it seems that the local initiative already has paid off and that two important interest groups, the students and taxpayers have both reaped the rewards. Mayor Leonard Desiderio is known to be “thrilled” about what has taken place for the city’s school children; his daughter, a junior, attends Ocean City High School as well.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
This story idea was suggested by a Spout Off:
Sea Isle City – Following years of doomsday letters/opinions stating it would be the end of Sea Isle City if their elementary school was closed, the opposite outcome seems to have come true. The mayor says the city is doing well and lots of tax money was saved by closing the school and sending the children to Ocean City; an added plus was the city received the school property. A follow-up story on the impact of closing the school in Sea Isle City would be informative for other towns.