IS A SCHOOL FUNDING BATTLE BETWEEN MAPLEWOOD AND SOUTH ORANGE COMING?

Could a school funding fight be brewing between Maplewood and South Orange?

An ad hoc committee created by the South Orange Village Board of Trustees released a report Monday that claims South Orange bears an unfair portion of school taxes.

See portions of the report HERE.

The bottom line is the committee contends that South Orange pays 43% of the school district budget, while Maplewood handles 57%. But the committee adds that South Orange has only 33% of the students, while Maplewood has 67%.

Committee co-chair Richard Vader, a 30-year South Orange resident and parent, said the inequity needs to be addressed.

"We are paying here in South Orange a disproportionate amount of money based on the students we are sending to the district," he told Maplewoodian.com. "I would hope that we could have an equitable apportionment of the cost of education and enrollment."

The South Orange Maplewood School District is an unusual creation, one of just eight "consolidated districts" created via state legislation and under a funding formula that bases the distribution and tax burden on assessed value.

Mayor Vic Deluca cited that formula in his defense of the current situation.

"South Orange has a higher assessed value than Maplewood and therefore under the law pays its fair share," Deluca said via email. "Maplewood would object to any funding formula that treated our towns differently than other N.J. towns."

School Board President Elizabeth Baker, who is Maplewood resident, declined comment. 

Asked for her view, South Orange Village President Sheena Collum emailed this statement:

The next steps for South Orange with respect 

to the report issued by the school funding 

sub committee is to do on our due diligence and 

follow-up on some of the action items presented 

which is what we committed to do on Monday. 

The first step is having our legal counsel draft a memorandum to better understand 

the legal and legislative implications affecting consolidated districts of which we 

are one of only a handful in the state (there are close to 600 school districts). 

We will also be meeting with our Legislative delegation and seeking their advice and input. 

At this point in time, the only formal position the Board of Trustees has taken 

with respect to school funding was passing a resolution about the School Funding 

Reform Act (SFRA) and addressing state aid distribution.

Vader's committee recommended several options, ranging from South Orange seeking to negotiate with Maplewood for a new formula to lobbying state legislators to change the current law.

Stay tuned!