Local school boards have been working for decades to operate efficiently, but they need the state Legislature’s support to improve cost effectiveness, a New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) official testified yesterday before a legislative budget committee. 

Michael Vrancik, NJSBA’s director of Governmental Relations, testified before the Assembly Budget Committee, which invited selected education, government and business organizations to address ways to save taxpayer dollars and increase state government efficiency and effectiveness.  These efforts would include incentives to create more shared-service arrangements and eliminate many unnecessary state mandates. 

“New Jersey’s local Boards of Education have a long history of working collaboratively to share services and reduce the costs borne by local taxpayers,” Vrancik told the Assembly committee. 

He cited an NJSBA survey done 25 years ago that found 178 districts engaging in shared service arrangements with other school districts ranging from child study teams, remedial education, transportation and technology services. By 2001, the Regional Efficiency Aid Program (REAP) identified 677 shared-service arrangements statewide—the majority of which, 352, involved school districts.  REAP, a state incentive to promote sharing of services by local governments, only recognized shared-service agreements created or expanded since 1997.  It no longer operates, but is the type of program that could encourage more cost efficiency at the local level. 

“Districts are cooperating in the areas of transportation, recycling, drug-prevention programs, the employment of art and music teachers, technology positions, child study teams, special education classes, grounds maintenance and distance learning activities,” Vrancik said. 

In recent years, he noted, NJSBA has identified a number of examples of shared services in school districts. In Bergen County, for instance, Northern Valley Regional High School shares special education services with seven elementary school districts and also operates a pre-school program for autistic children, which saves 22 districts significant money over private placement. In Salem County, the Pittsgrove school business administrator’s staff provides services to more than a dozen districts in four counties with costs savings of nearly half of what a district would pay individually. And in 10 New Jersey counties, school districts share services through “educational services commissions”  that provide a wide range of services including special education programming and transportation services. 

“Local school districts have responded enthusiastically to the Alliance for Competitive Energy Services (ACES), a large energy-buying cooperative for the public schools,” said Vrancik about the program, which is coordinated by NJSBA and other state education associations. “The energy-deregulation bill passed into law by the state Legislature authorized NJSBA to form a statewide purchasing cooperative for local school boards. The effort has paid off.  In previous years, ACES districts (over 400) have saved an average of 13.75%, a cumulative total of $5.9 million, off their entire electric bills. 

“This past January, the ACES program was expanded to include natural gas purchasing following the dramatic price increase for this commodity that resulted from Hurricane Katrina,” he added. “Thus far, 225 school districts have signed on as members of the ACES natural gas procurement program. This is just one example of an instance where the State Legislature paved the way for local school boards to operate more efficiently and reduce the burden on local taxpayers.” 

The state Legislature could adopt additional measures to ease financial mandates on local school districts, Vrancik said. 

In February 2004, the Education Mandate Review Study Commission outlined a series of proposals to streamline district operations, improve service delivery and reduce costs. Proposals ranged from replacing certain costly printed materials with Web site postings, as well as more general changes in the areas of business services and data collection. 

For instance, with the adoption of the GAAP standards, the position of the “custodian/treasurer of school monies” is no longer necessary, as the job duties could be reassigned to the board secretary. Eliminating the job would save as much as $3.6 million per year statewide, according to the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials. Other savings could come from eliminating redundant record keeping, simplifying schools’ reporting requirements, and implementing a Web-based Teacher Certification Program.

“Special Education mandates received special mention from the commission,” Vrancik said. “In fact, while noting that extra care needs to be taken to guarantee no weakening of important services, the commission recommended careful study of the 'myriad of federal, state and judicially imposed and interrelated requirements,' which could yield significant local savings.”

The New Jersey School Boards Association, a federation of district boards of education, advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education.