Millstone wants to validate AHS tuition costs
Reduced spending could result in more state aid
BY JANE MEGGITT Staff Writer
The Millstone Board of Education has called for an audit of the Upper Freehold Regional School District.

Millstone does not have its own high school and has a send/receive student relationship with the neighboring school district. The Millstone Board of Education wants the audit to ensure it is being billed properly for the students it sends to Allentown High School in the regional district.

Millstone Board of Education President Tom Foley said at the board's June 9 meeting that an audit is a standard practice that should occur every few years. He said an audit of the regional district conducted about five years ago resulted in $120,000 worth of savings.

Foley also noted that now would be a good time for the audit because Upper Freehold Regional School District Business Administrator Viola Yosifon is retiring.

"The intent is to simply validate the cost of tuition via a more detailed forensic review effort," he said. "The previous efforts uncovered areas that adjusted the financial picture that more than justified the cost of the efforts. We're looking to validate our costs."

Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Donahue said that 85 percent of Millstone eighth-graders go on to attend Allentown High School. She said Millstone students currently make up 55 percent of the Allentown High School student body.

Foley said that while Millstone respects the send/receive relationship it has with the neighboring school district, the relationship's rules have changed because of the new stateaid formula for school districts.

In an earlier interview, Foley said the new funding formula sets the adequacy level for high school spending during the 2008-09 school year at $11,289. He said Millstone is paying $964 above the state adequacy level for each high school student. The costs of sending 645 high school students to Allentown High School alone amounts to spending $621,780 over the state standard, he said.

"As a result, Millstone was penalized $352,738 in lost state aid," he said. "If we don't address this problem, by state standards, we have a total impact of $974,518 a year."

Foley said, "Hence it forces Millstone, because we are the financially harmed party, to change our approach and to engage in different discussions."

The board asked its legal counsel to review alternatives to the send/receive relationship with Upper Freehold Regional School District.

Donahue saidMillstone has not renegotiated its contract with the Upper Freehold Regional School District in the last ten years.

"We plan to work with Upper Freehold to rewrite a contract this year for a five-year duration," she said.

Donahue said she has not been able to locate a copy of the last contract, but has asked the neighboring school district for a copy. Foley also suggested that the board send surrounding school districts a letter of solicitation regarding a send/receive relationship.

When boardmember Doreen Beaumont said pulling Millstone out of its current send/receive relationship would devastate the Upper Freehold Regional School District, Donahue saidMillstone could not just pull out. Donahue said she is in the process of looking at different send/receive contracts to see what other districts do.

Foley also said there are other cost-saving measures that the two districts could employ, such as sharing a business administrator, which is allowed under NJSA 18A:17-24.2.

"I believe this is a good opportunity to explore a true partnership where the central office is shared," he said. "Although for now we could keep separate superintendents, we could establish a central business office to share services involving the handling of payroll, benefits, purchase-order processing, buildings and grounds, transportation, etc."

He continued, "The benefits of such a move would reduce Upper Freehold Regional School District and Millstone administrative costs. Let's take real steps to being partners."

Foley stated the regional school district has to pursue the value of the proposal, define an alternative plan, or decide that it cannot assist Millstone in mitigating or eliminating its state aid problem.

"I knowitmay sound like tough talk, but the fact is Millstone is the party Trenton handed the problem to," Foley said. "Hence we are the party that has to drive a resolution through submitting proposals that drive additional discussions and/or through other constructive actions that ultimately lead to a resolution.Millstone taxpayerswon't expect anything less fromtheir electedBoard ofEducation representatives."