FAQ'S

What is the Issue? (Budget/ Gap)

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• What is at the heart of the budget challenges that the district is facing?

  • The rules governing school finance are the issue.  State law limits the amount that the district can raise its local tax levy to no more than 2% of the year prior, with a few exceptions that a district must meet eligibility for.  This is the 2% Municipal Cap.  Public schools have very few other revenue streams beyond the tax levy, especially in Fair Haven where we receive a much lower percentage of State Aid compared to many other districts throughout the State.  As you can imagine, every other expense that the district must grapple with far outpaces 2% revenue growth.  Staffing contracts currently at 3.5% annual growth, Health Benefits cost increases of anywhere from 6%-15%, inflation averaging 4% a year for the past 5 years, etc.  Over time, the growth of expenses significantly outpaces the growth of the district’s revenue, which leads to significant decisions having to be made regarding programming.

 

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• What is the State of the Fair Haven Public Schools Budget Projections beginning for the 2025-2026 school year?

  • The district has done well over the years in growing programs for students, however, due to the rise in expenses too quickly outpacing the rise in our revenues, the district is facing a potentially significant budget shortfall.  The district will learn more about the state of its budget towards the end of February when State Aid figures are released, but current projections indicated a budget shortfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

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• How did we get here?

  • The district was facing this same scenario about 9 years ago, however, the State made a change to how it allocates State Aid funding which benefited the Fair Haven school district.  Prior to this change, the Fair Haven schools received significantly less funding, and under the new model, the district saw meaningful growth in State Aide since 2017-2018, which allowed the district to continue to focus on growing programs for students since that time.  Unfortunately, the district is now being informed that not only will State Aid will at least plateau, it will actually likely begin being reduced effective for the 2025-2026 school year.  Additionally, in order to meet its objectives for improving student outcomes, the district needed to fund ongoing expenditures with one time revenue sources such as surplus from the year prior, some monies from reserves, and other sources such as banked cap (banked cap is tax levy money that is still available to the district if at any point within the last 3 years the district did not take the full amount of taxes available to it).

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• What's the budget gap? 

  • This is difficult to formally answer at this time due to the timing and nature of how the State issues critical financial components to school districts.  We anticipate that the budget shortfall will be significant, with a reasonable expectation of $500,000 and possibly significantly more.  The State issues district State Aid numbers in late February, and that will be the time where the district will be in a better position to start to more formally label the exact budget shortfall amount.

 

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• What is the timeline to meet the budget?

  • The State will issue its annual State Aid figures at the end of February.  This is a key moment in the school budgeting process.  Following that, the District is set to hold a public Budget Workshop meeting specifically regarding the 2025-26 district budget.  That workshop meeting is an opportunity for the public to observe the Board doing its work with regard to the budget, as well as to provide input on the 25-26 budget.  Following that, the District will make any adjustments it deems appropriate and will preliminarily adopt the 2025-26 budget at its March 18th Regular Voting Meeting.  The District is then due to formally adopt is 25-26 budget at the April 30th Regular Voting Meeting and Budget Hearing.  Any assistance that is procured by the way of the Ed Foundation would need to be known by March 1st in order for the District to include it as revenue in its budgeting process.

 

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• Is the gap before reserves or after?

  • The gap includes the amount of reserves that the district feels it can responsibly utilize at this time.

 

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What is at Stake? (Impact)

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• What types of programs and services are at risk as a result of the looming budget concerns?

  • As a result of the 2% municipal cap being insufficient to keep pace with modern expenses, the district is in the process of evaluating any and all programming and staffing that could be considered not essential to the State DOE’s definition of what is required to provide a thorough and efficient education.  This means that any and all programs not directly associated with direct classroom instruction will need to be evaluated and prioritized.  Eventually, over time, even direct classroom instruction, such as class sizes, will be impacted by the restrictions the 2% cap placed on the budget process.  Some examples of the programs that will be under consideration to discontinue would be (in no particular order as of yet):

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1. Administration Positions

2. Academic Interventionists

3. 4th & 5th Grade Departmentalized Science

4. Gifted & Talented lead position

5. Instructional Coach

6. Kindergarten Aides

7. Special Law Enforcement Officers

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• How might this impact special education and students with IEP’s?

  • Special Education Services are Federally protected and any services provided via an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) must be provided for by the local school district.  So any items deemed necessary to be included in a student’s IEP due the nature of the child’s disability would be required to be provided by the district.

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• Will the budget deficit impact special education services and RTI?

  • Special Education services are protected by Federal law, so if there is a student whose disability legitimately requires certain services or supports, those services or supports must be implemented and would not be at risk due to any budget challenges.  Response to Intervention can be handled a number of different ways by districts.  The school district is not required to have the human resources dedicated to RTI that it currently has (2 ELA interventionists and 2 Math interventionists), so the budget challenges could cause the district to have to reduce and contract the human resources dedicated to RTI, which would be devastating for our children who need it.

 

What’s the Solution? (Ed Foundation, Schools, Community, State)

 

Education Foundation

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• Why was the new Education Foundation of Fair Haven formed?

  • The long term goal of the new Education Foundation of Fair Haven will be to provide augmentative support to the district for exciting learning opportunities, whether it be to support the sciences, green initiatives that involve student learning, additional resources, and other improvements.  However, the urgency of the Education Foundation currently is to provide immediate and direct support to the district's operating budget so that proven programs that are currently in place can remain in place while the district continues to work with state legislators to find a systemic legislative fix to the 2% municipal cap which is crippling school districts across the State.

 

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• Why is the Education Foundation operating a capital campaign?

  • The Ed Foundation is operating its fundraising as a capital campaign because it is the most effective means by which the district can truly and legally budget in a manner that will account for the funds raised.  We have been very fortunate to have a number of families donate to the district in the past, but by utilizing a formal capital campaign with the Ed Foundation, the district can more firmly formally budget with these funds accounted for. 

 

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• Is there a long term more systemic solution to the issues surrounding school finance and its potential impacts to our local school budget?  If so, what happens with the Education Foundation? 

  • The district administration has been working closely and frequently with State Senator Vin Gopal, who serves as the Senate Ed Chair, and with State Senator Declan O’Scanlon, who serves as the GOP Budget Officer.  Our work with our legislators has been to pass new legislation that would allow for a more modern municipal cap number as well as to offer districts other means by which they could ensure healthy and effective budgets and school operations.  This is a very lengthy and complex process, but one that is worth the work and must be done.  Other legislative options could be for the State to again address the allocation of State funding to provide more funding to schools who continue to receive very little state funding when compared to their overall operating budget.

 

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• Ed foundation - Can you Clarify ways to donate?

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The Education Foundation of Fair Haven currently accepts donations from the following sources:

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• Through our “Give Now” button on our website (www.edfoundationfh.org)

  • Allows credit/debit cards, Paypal and Venmo  (certain platform fees on the donations will apply)

• Checks can be mailed to:

  • Education Foundation of Fair Haven

  • PO Box 6295
    Fair Haven, New Jersey 07704

    • Shortly, we plan to have a check drop box located outside the Board of Education offices at Knollwood School

• Corporate Donations/Sponsorships

  • Please  reach out to us at edfoundationfh@gmail.com for more information

• Corporate matching programs

  • With our 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS – we are eligible to receive matches from corporate programs.

  • We are in the process of registering EFFH on the predominant CSR platforms and adding other functionality to facilitate the corporate matching process

  • In the meantime, please reach out to edfoundationfh@gmail.com for any assistance/support needed requesting matching funds from your employer

• Family Foundations

  • Please utilize one of the options above or feel free to reach out to us at edfoundationfh@gmail.com to discuss a donation/gift

 

 

Additionally, EFFH is working to facilitate other potential donation opportunities, including, but not limited to:

• Donor advised funds through Give Butter

• Gifting of appreciated stock

 

• Will you be willing to take corporate donations?

  • Yes, the Education Foundation of Fair Haven would be excited to accept corporate donations and sponsorships. Please  reach out to us at edfoundationfh@gmail.com for more information.  Additionally, EFFH can support any donor who has the opportunity to utilize a corporate matching program sponsored by their employer. Please reach out to edfoundationfh@gmail.com for any assistance/support needed requesting matching funds from your employer. EFFH is in the process of registering with the predominant CSR platforms and adding other functionality to facilitate the corporate matching process.

 

• Can you make a donation to a specific group/organization/technology within the school?

  • The District has benefitted from private donations in the past, however the District will not accept donations with very specific requests attached to the donation.  The donor is informed that the district, upon receipt of the donated funds, will reserve the right to make the best decision for the use of funds.  Historically, we would accept a rather broad request for consideration such as to support Sickles, or to support technology, but would not accept conditions requesting for something as specific as ipads in KG classrooms, or the pay specifically for an extra staff member for a subject area or grade level.

 

• Can we, the Ed foundation fund staff directly?

  • The District can, and would, utilize any funds raised by the Education Foundation of Fair Haven to support human resources.  The District would likely accept the donations into our general fund and account for it as revenue which would allow the district to use those funds to purchase critical resources for the district thereby freeing up other funds to keep personnel in place for important programming for students.

 

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• Is the Education Foundation of Fair Haven a 501(c)(3)?

  • Yes, the Education Foundation of Fair Haven is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Donations made to EFFH are tax deductible under IRC Section 170.

 

• Will this possible donation need to be done every year?

  • The goal of the Education Foundation is to exist permanently moving forward, seeking donations each year.  The District’s goal is to successfully advocate for a systemic fix to the issues surrounding school finance so that in future years the monies raised by the Ed Foundation can be utilized for more augmentative experiences and resources for our students, as opposed to the baseline support of the district’s basic operational budget.  However, if the State legislature does not implement a more modern and fair solution to the issues surrounding school funding, the Ed Foundation will continue to focus its efforts on supporting the District’s operational budget to support the District in being able to keep effective programs in tact.

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• How much have we raised?

  • To date the Education Foundation of Fair Haven has received donations and pledges of a little more than $189,000.

 

• Has there been any thought of joining the school district with Rumson?

  • Yes.  The District has had conversations over the past 9 years regarding the idea of consolidating the Rumson and Fair Haven and RFH school districts.  This is a monumental undertaking that would involve State level intervention to facilitate.  There would be tax base implications as the amount of taxes paid by Rumson and by Fair Haven would likely need to be reassessed under one regionalized K-12 school district.  Additionally, all 3 entities, the Fair Haven School District, the Rumson School District, and the RFH School District would have to agree to the consolidation, meaning it is not simply up to Fair Haven as to whether this would ever proceed. 

 

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• Does the district have more flexibility where the money goes than the Ed Foundation?

  • No.  The Education Foundation’s mission was written in a manner that provides significant flexibility to how the monies raised can be gifted to and spent by the District.

 

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• Is the money tax deductible if it is donated right to the district?

  • This would be something to discuss with your tax professional to confirm.

 

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• Once the Ed foundation is approved for the 501c3 is the money donated in 2024 tax deductible?

  • Since EFFH is a 501(c)(3) organization, any amount donated in 2024 is deductible under IRC Section 170.

  • EFFH will provide each donor with a tax acknowledgement letter, as applicable, for the 2024 tax year and future tax years.

 

• In terms of this meeting, can we spread the word of this meeting to the other residents?

  • Yes!  We have asked the Borough to please utilize their communication system to help advertise these town halls and should any additional materials be published regarding this important topic, the Borough has indicated they would be happy to share out as well.

 

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• Can the money raised by the PTA be used to help support the Ed foundation?

  • The PTA has a different structure and mission that limits the ways in which it may utilize its funds.  The PTA has been an extraordinary organization for this community for many years, and continues to be!  Historically, once the PTA has accounted for the items it budgeted to provide our students, staff, and community, the PTA will sit with the District to see what else the District could benefit from with any additional financial support that the PTA may be able to provide in a given year. 

 

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Community Solutions

 

• Is there anything on a community level you can do to support the systemic fix?

  • At this time, the District Administration is encouraged by its ongoing access and productive working relationship with the legislature.  There could come a time in the near future when the District may seek a letter writing campaign to the legislature to support our advocacy.  Should that time come, the District would follow up with our community seeking support on that front. 

 

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• Can you elaborate on your meetings with the borough administrator and the mayor and how it can help the school?

  • The District has had productive meetings with the Borough leadership and has always enjoyed a high functioning mutually beneficial relationship.  The nature of the meetings has been to explore any increased opportunities for the two entities to support each other.  Should the District and Borough arrive at new solutions that would be beneficial in the face of these budget challenges, both entities will be sure to communicate these solutions with our community.  These conversations are ongoing at this time.

 

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State Solutions

  

• Why can’t we get more State funding?

  • There is no mechanism that the district can do to procure more State Aid.  The State has a formula that it uses to calculate State Aid.  Over the past 7 years, the State completed a roll up to “fix” the last broken version of the State Aid formula that resulted in positive gains for Fair Haven over these past 7 years.  However, that 7 year “fix” has been completed, and now these funds will remain the same, or as we have been informed, are likely to actually be reduced.  Both of these scenarios, remaining flat or actually being reduced, both result in the district no longer having growth in its State Aid revenue stream that would keep up with rising costs associated with operating a school district.  Part of the district administration's advocacy with our legislators is to also revisit the State Aid formula to try to address this issue.

 

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• Regarding the systemic fix,  how reasonable is that and what would the timeline be?

  • Tough to say.  The Superintendent and Business Administrator have had ongoing meetings with Senator Gopal and Senator O’Scanlon regarding this topic.  Our State Senators have been very accessible and very responsive to discussing our concerns.  They have also been very engaged in the proposed solutions we have put forth. That said, the systemic fix requires State level legislation to be passed and this can be a sluggish process.  The District does not anticipate a legislative solution to be approved in time for this budget cycle, so the reasonable hope would be that we can secure enough support this year to see it through to a more viable solution next year or beyond. The district is encouraged that both Senators recognize that the 2% municipal cap is outdated at this time and continuing on the path as is would be a significant concern.

 

• Do we have flexibility in changing the preschool tuition? Make it more comparable to other rates which is a lot higher.

  • Yes.  The District has the right to set its preschool tuition rates.  The District has progressively increased its tuition and will continue to consider raising rates to be consistent with private opportunities.  When the District considers these sorts of changes, it typically does so with an understanding that there are already families with children in the program so the goal has been to raise the rates in a reasonable manner.

 

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• Is there any sort of grant available to help retain teachers and staff?

  • There are no grants that are available that specifically support the recurring expense that staff represent.  Grants are typically one time awards that the District typically utilizes for one time expenditures so as not to build a fiscal cliff regarding personnel.