Sen. Beck and colleagues have responded to BOE woes

In a recent article in your paper, Millstone Board of Education Vice President Margaret Gordon suggested that the board is concerned that I and my colleagues Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande have not been responsive to the board’s requests for help.

We wanted to respond by outlining the numerous efforts we have taken on behalf of the Millstone school district, but also to invite all board members and members of the community to contact us directly at any time with their concerns, events or suggestions.

I am disappointed that Ms. Gordon has never contacted our office with her concerns, as we are always happy to work with all of our local officials to aid them in any difficulties they might be having. Most often we hear from Superintendent Mary Anne Donahue or board President Tom Foley, but clearly we welcome each member to contact us at any time. It is our collective and united efforts that will ensure the best outcomes for Millstone.

The Christie administration is only 18 days old, and the Millstone Township School District will be one of the first school districts in the state of New Jersey to meet with new acting Commissioner of Education Bret Schundler. After the election in November, we informed board President Foley that the best course of action for Millstone’s school district was to wait until a new commissioner was in place to advocate for specific policy changes. With that in mind, we have anticipated a meeting date at the beginning of March with Schundler and look forward to a positive and informative forum with him.

In addition to prioritizing the board’s request for a meeting with the acting commissioner, we have also been working diligently over the past year on two separate pieces of legislation that were crafted specifically in response to concerns raised by the district superintendent and board president.

These pieces of legislation are A-1617, which provides increased representation on receiving district boards of education for certain sending districts, and A-1819, which modifies tax levy growth limitation for certain school districts in sending-receiving relationships.

We also arranged for a conference call with the superintendent and one of our colleagues, Assemblyman John Burzichelli, on A-1489, which would have prevented school districts from charging for extracurricular activities. Following that call, we each continued to advocate for a delay of this legislation and were successful in holding up its passage. During the debate and discussion of a new school funding formula, we also organized several meetings with former Commissioner of the Department of Education Lucille Davy to ensure Millstone and our other school districts had an opportunity to make their case directly.

As we enter this new term, we hope that all residents of Millstone and all residents of District 12 will feel encouraged to contact our office directly with any concerns so that we can continue our work of being responsive to the needs of our constituents and of making New Jersey a better and more affordable place to live.
Sen. Jennifer Beck
R-12th District
Red Bank