Millstone seeks relief from 2006 tuition bill

MILLSTONE — The school district has asked Monmouth County Executive Superintendent Carole Knopp Morris to waive some tuition fees it owes to the Upper Freehold Regional School District (UFRSD).

A representative from Morris' office stated last week that the issue is still under advisement. Millstone, which is a K-8 school district, has a send/receive relationship with UFRSD and pays that district tuition to send students to Allentown High School.

In a Feb. 17 letter to Morris, the Millstone school district asked the county superintendent to waive regular education and special education tuition adjustments from the 2006-07 school year that are now due to the UFRSD. The regular education adjustment totals $445,320 and the special education adjustment totals $144,860. The adjustments come as a result of Millstone underestimating prior to the beginning of the 2006-07 school year the number of students it would send to Allentown High School that year.

The letter to Morris said the Millstone Township Board of Education is requesting the waiver due to a hardship.

"In planning the 2009-10 proposed budget for the Millstone Township School District, it has been determined due to the 4 percent cap on the tax levy, the budget can only grow $1,009,131," the letter states. "In preparing the 2009-10 budget and after reducing staff by two teachers, four instructional aides and three non-instructional aides and bringing all other programs in with no increases, the proposed budget exceeds the estimated cap on growth by $344,037."

The letter states that the proposed budget does not include any increases for unsettled contracts for the 2009-10 school year, which include the Millstone Township Education Association and nonaffiliated personnel contracts.

"Based on the proposed increase in tuition rates for regular education students in the amount of $293 per pupil, an increase in enrollment of 12 regular education students, and an increase in the proposed hourly rate for resource room in the amount of 75 cents, the Millstone Township School District will already have an increase of $363,537 over the current year in these areas," the letter states.

The letter further states that adding the tuition adjustments from the 2006-07 school year to this year's budget would have a detrimental impact on the education of the children of Millstone Township and an impact on the Millstone Township Board of Education meeting its financial obligations during the 2009-10 school year.

At a presentation before the Upper Freehold Township Committee on Feb. 26, UFRSD Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick said his Board of Education would allowMillstone to pay the tuition adjustments over a three-year period. He said he spoke with Morris and told her that agreeing with Millstone would create a hardship for Upper Freehold and Allentown residents.

Fitzpatrick elaborated on the ongoing issue during the March 4 UFRSD Board of Education meeting. He said he spoke with a representative from the Department of Education who said the county superintendent had not yet given Millstone her official answer, but the state would not waive the adjustments because they are for services already rendered.

According to Fitzpatrick, the UFRSD tuition rate is derived from a standard state send/receive tuition formula.

"Millstone can't expect Upper Freehold and Allentown to subsidize them," Fitzpatrick said.