Time to 'Learn, Vote, Move On' With School Break Up Issue, Resident Says

Editor's note: The following was intended as a comment on the story "Study to Break Up Regional Schools Comes to Mayors Thursday," but was too lengthy for the Patch system to post. It has been submitted as a Letter to the Editor. 

Dear Editor,

I have been very involved in researching this issue and presenting information and analysis publicly about his issue over the past year or so.  Thus, I thought it might be helpful to provide a detailed summary of the process and issues surrounding the potential dissolution of the WMRHSD (the “high school district”).  In addition to being a regular citizen, I am also the Mendham Borough representative to the WMRHSD board, so I want to make clear that my comments contained herein are mine alone and do NOT reflect the views of the WMRHSD or its board.

The first step in researching, and potentially pursuing a referendum regarding, the dissolution of the high school district is to commission a consulting firm to perform a “feasibility study” to assess the feasibility, including any related costs and benefits, both financially and educationally, of the dissolution of the high school district.  This feasibility study is required by the NJ State Department of Education (”DOE”) as part of the process of submitting a petition to place a referendum question regarding dissolution on the ballot.  The feasibility study also informs the decisions about whether or not to petition and what, specifically, to petition for.  In other words, it helps analyze and decide upon alternatives. 

As I understand it, the governing bodies of Mendham Borough, Mendham Township, Chester Borough and Chester Township have agreed to jointly pay for the study.  Each has appropriated money, not more than $15,000 each, as I understand it.  The two consulting firms that are presenting and answering questions Thursday night at the Mendham Township Town Hall are two of the firms that have submitted proposals to perform the feasibility study. 

I understand that,, after more than two years of public discourse, the governing bodies have agreed that the two alternatives to be considered to be proposed as an alternative to the existing high school district – the two alternatives the consultants are being asked to study -- both involve “separating Washington Township from the Mendhams and Chesters” in any new school district.  By NJ statute, such a separation would result in Washington Township being left with a single K-12 school district that includes Central High School.  The first of the alternatives being considered is to simply separate the high schools – create a new high school district (grades 9-12) where Mendham HS would serve the Mendhams and Chesters  -- and leave the Mendham and Chester K-8 districts as they are.  This would leave the overall number of school districts (currently 5) serving these 5 municipalities unchanged. The second alternative is to create a single K-12 district serving the Mendhams and Chesters, which would include Mendham High School to serve grades 9-12.  This would reduce the number of school districts serving these 5 municipalities from 5 to 2.  To be clear, only ONE of these two alternatives would ultimately be placed on a ballot as an alternative to the current high school district.  The feasibility study should help the communities supporting this initiative decide which of these two alternatives should be presented to the DOE for placement on the ballot as the alternative to the existing high school district for voters to decide upon.

The petition, which can include ONLY ONE alternative to the existing school district to be placed on the ballot for public referendum, must be sent, along with a copy of the feasibility report supporting such petition, by the governing bodies of at least 3 of the 5 municipalities that comprise the WMRHSD AND by 3 of the 4 local K-8 school districts that “send” students to the WMRHSD to the Morris County Superintendent for his/her “support” and then sends it to the DOE as an “advisability report.”  The DOE will then decide if the referendum question is to be placed on the ballot.  It is expected to consider a variety of issues – too many to go over here -- when deciding whether or not to allow the referendum question to be placed on the ballot.  Suffice it to say that the DOE generally prefers fewer school districts (more consolidation) to more school districts in an effort to try to minimize administrative overhead in public education in the state.  It’s worth noting that neither of the potential alternatives that might be proposed would increase the number of school districts serving these 5 municipalities.

The voters of all five municipalities, INCLUDING Washington Township, will have the opportunity to vote on this ballot initiative.  It will likely read something like, “Vote YES to dissolve the existing high school district and form a new district as described herein, or vote NO to keep the existing high school district.”  (I’m sure it will be more thoughtfully and carefully worded.)

The ballot question will ONLY be placed before voters from the 5 municipalities.  If BOTH a majority of those voting in EACH of at least 3 of the 5 municipalities AND a majority of ALL of those voting from the combined 5 municipalities vote in favor of the referendum question, then it will pass.  It is NOT true that a majority of voters in EACH and EVERY ONE of the 5 municipalities is required for the initiative to pass.  (There is legitimate reason for confusion on this particular point, but explaining why would entail another long discussion.)  So, just to be clear, if  a majority of those casting a vote in each of Mendham Township, Chester Township and Mendham Borough AND a majority of those casting a vote in all 5 municipalities combined vote to dissolve the existing high school district and reconstitute a new school district serving the Mendhams and Chesters, the referendum will pass.  If EITHER the overall majority of those voting amongst the 5 municipalities, taken as a whole, OR a majority of those voting in each of 3 or more of the 5 municipalities vote against the referendum, it will fail.  Sorry for articulating this rule in such a detailed manner, but this “rule” tends to generate the most confusion about the entire process.

There has been speculation about how individuals from each of the towns would vote on this referendum.  The facts that appear to be most relevant to how people might vote are as follows.  State DOE and WMRHSD data show that, for many consecutive years, the Mendhams and Chesters pay in taxes (it’s part of property taxes we all pay) to the WMRHSD an amount per pupil (about $20,000/year per pupil in recent years) that is approximately twice that of what Washington Township pays to the WMRHSD (about $10,000/year per pupil in recent years).  Moreover, WMRHSD data show that, at least for the past 5-7 years, the annual spending per pupil at Central High School, which serves Washington Township, has consistently exceeded (by about 10% in the most recently completed school year) that spent at Mendham High School, which serves the Mendhams and Chesters. These two financial conditions together amount to a “flow” of tax dollars (I estimate about $6.6 million per in recent years, which amounts to about 1/3 of each high school’s annual budget) from Mendham and Chester taxpayers to Washington Township students that has been occurring for 15-20 years.   A dissolution of the school district would certainly end the flow of tax dollars from the Mendhams and Chesters to Washington Township students because the schools would be funded entirely separately.  In addition to this financial issue, there is also an educational issue that has arisen.  There has been a significant decline in the ranking (within the State of NJ), by any number of independent parties, of Mendham High School over the past decade.  (Although not the only ranking, NJ Monthly publishes the most comprehensive and widely followed ranking – it ranked Mendham High School 4th in the state in 2002 and 45th in the state in 2012, which is the most recent ranking available at this time.)  While there is some disagreement about what has caused this decline in the rankings, many suspect the principal cause is that an inadequate portion of the taxes raised for high school education from the Mendhams and Chesters over the past 10+ years has been spent at Mendham High School.  These are, I believe, the principal financial and educational reasons supporting speculation that voters in the Mendhams and Chesters are likely to vote in favor of restructuring the school district, while voters in Washington Township are likely to vote in opposition to restructuring the school district.  However, I can tell you from first hand experience, that there are some voters (likely a minority in all cases) in each of these communities whose public comments suggest that they might not vote “as expected,” so no one really knows how the vote will go until its conducted.  

One reason that this issue has come up again recently (it has come up once or twice before over the past couple of decades) is that, as of the most recent census and for the first time in about 20 years, the voting age population in the Mendhams and Chesters, exceeds that in Washington Township, suggesting that the likelihood of passing the referendum may now be greater than at any other time over the past 20 years.  Historically, there had been a frustration that “taxation without representation” plagued the Mendhams and Chesters  (the communities that were effectively subsidizing another community were effectively forced by state law to obtain the receiving community’s agreement to discontinue the subsidy, which never happened), but the new census data indicate that this is no longer the case.   In other words, there is a sense that now’s the time to learn, vote and move on.

My understanding is that, if the initiative to dissolve the existing school district and reconstitute a newly-formed school district passes, implementing this change will likely take at least a year, as it will require a significant amount of planning to avoid any disruption to the education of students in the high school district at that time.  My understanding is that the municipalities in the new district would hold elections for a newly constituted school board and to vote on the initial budget for the new school district.

Regardless of outcome, I personally would like for all of us to have the opportunity to learn all of the relevant facts, consider a thorough analysis of the merits, see the process through properly, vote on it and “move on.”  I would like to see the process move faster than it has to date.  Nonetheless, I am happy that the governing bodies have decided to conduct this meeting publicly, so that all can become best informed.  In particular, being able to ask questions of those (the consultants) with the greatest expertise on how the process works will be valuable to all in attendance.  I am also happy that our elected officials will have the opportunity to witness first hand the public’s level of interest in, and, perhaps, general disposition with respect to, what is unquestionably, from both a financial and educational perspective, the most important issue that our communities have had the opportunity to decide upon in decades.  Finally, I applaud the Patch for letting all of us know about this important opportunity to learn about an issue so important to all of us.

I encourage anyone interested in the education of their children, the level of taxes they pay or the value of their property (which is generally driven by these other two issues) to attend the meeting and become better informed.  Hopefully, this process will lead to your having an opportunity to make a very important choice that will effect you and your family in many ways, so I hope that you seize this opportunity to become as informed as possible before making that choice. 

Brian Cavanaugh
Mendham Borough

Letters to the editor can be sent to jason.koestenblatt@patch.com.