The superintendents of Shamong and Tabernacle Township school districts are requesting the community’s help to advocate for a funding formula change.
Both districts serve Pre-K to eighth-graders.
Tabernacle school Superintendent Shaun Banin testified in March before the state assembly’s budget committee about the district’s budget and the impact that S-2 and other budgetary measures have had on students, staff and community. He told the committee that despite the district’s projected state aid increase of $137,142, it’s a “drop in the bucket.”
It’s the first time since the 2015-’16 school year that the district has seen a state-aid increase.
“Our district has seen our aid reduced by over $3 million due to S-2 (the School Funding Reform Act of 2008) and other budgetary measures,” Banin explained. “It has resulted in a 44% reduction in state aid over the same period that enrollment dropped by 13.5%.
“How is this lack of proportionality and the reduction of funding fair?” he asked the committee. “Do the students and community and Tabernacle not deserve the same educational opportunities and care from our state that other communities do?”
During Banin’s six-year tenure, the district, he said, has “continually reduced our staff, reconfigured our schedules and worked tirelessly to preserve the programs we offer our students.”
The costs of health care, insurance and utilities are rising at rates that far outpace how much the board of education can increase the tax levy.
“This year alone, we began the budget process staring at a deficit of $1.4 million,” Banin said.
The Tabernacle school district has added and increased fees for participation in sports and extracurricular activities and cut other programs. Even after years of eliminating positions, it is again faced with a budget shortfall.
“This year, our preliminary budget reduced our certificated, non-certificated and contracted staff by another five to seven staff members,” Bannin reported, “resulting in rising class sizes and fewer support systems for students. “Elementary class sizes of 28 to 31 students cannot be seen as what is best for them.”
Shamong schools are in the same boat.
“Our district is currently facing a $1.4-million budget deficit, driven in large part by ongoing reductions and instability in state funding,” Superintendent Mayreni Fermin-Cannon pointed out in a March letter to Shamong families and the community.
“Over time, these changes have shifted an increasing financial burden onto our local community while limiting our ability to plan and sustain programs with consistency.”
State aid, Fermin-Cannon noted, is intended to support essential components of a strong school system, including classroom instruction, student support services, health-and-safety operations and maintenance.
“As this funding continues to decline or fluctuate,” she added, “districts like ours are left making difficult decisions that directly impact students and staff.”
In a tentative budget presentation, the Shamong district indicated its proposal to restructure the delivery of services will result in a staff reduction of 10.5 full-time employees, including the loss of a curriculum director position. Other cuts will eliminate two secretarial positions and an assistant director of facilities position after a retirement in July, and reduce a business administrator to part time.
The public hearing and final adoption of the 2026-’27 budget are scheduled for later this month. The Tabernacle board of ed’s meeting will he held on Monday, April 27, with Shamong’s the following day.
