Small School Districts, Big Administrative Costs
By PATRICIA ALEX and CHRISTOPHER SCHNAARS, STAFF WRITERS
The superintendent for the two-school Ramapo-Indian Hills High School district has a compensation package that rivals that of the New York City Schools chancellor.
Alpine’s K-8 school district with all of 123 students spends nearly twice the state average per pupil and bills itself as a "private public school."
Manchester Regional High School in Haledon with fewer than 800 students employs eight administrators with salaries above $80,000, including a superintendent and business administrator who each make more than $200,000.
The expenses of North Jersey’s small districts were detailed in recent data released by the state Department of Education. Those districts are targeted by a state cost-cutting initiative to consolidate districts that aren’t K-12. About half the districts in Bergen and Passaic counties could be affected.
New Jersey is full of small school districts, but Bergen County is likely to be ground zero in the debate. The county has some of the smallest school districts in the state 78 in all. But home rule dies hard.
"I have to be a good salesman," concedes Dr. Aaron Graham, executive superintendent of schools for the county. Graham said he will shortly convene an advisory committee composed of district representatives to begin studying the issue. Ultimately, any plans would have to go to public referendum in each of the districts. Graham is expected to have a plan to the state by 2010.
Dotty Montenegro would seem to be a likely candidate for an idea that purports to save money on schools. A lifelong resident and former mayor of South Hackensack, Montenegro says the town’s small school district has overspent for its superintendent and on a new $13 million addition to its K-8 school. "We’re going to pay for this for years and years," she laments. But would she consider merging with another district to save money?
"Absolutely not," Montenegro, 80, says simply. "We’re a town that has always managed our own affairs."
Others caution that the potential cost savings need to be vetted carefully. William DeFabiis is paid $198,000 as the superintendent in South Hackensack, but he also serves as the business administrator and the school’s principal.
"I know people are concerned about their taxes," said DeFabiis. "But we’re not sure what the savings would be. A town like South Hackensack is a unique situation," he said. "The school is the center of this town. If the school is regionalized … I’m afraid we would lose that."
Memorial School sits sandwiched between noise barriers for Route 80 and Teterboro Airport. It is one of the first schools in the area to be air-conditioned, courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as part of noise abatement efforts. Just over 230 students are enrolled at Memorial School up from 221 in 2006-07, including a few from neighboring Teterboro.
For Grades 9-12, most Memorial students go on to Hackensack High School.
Inside, the school is bright, pleasant and modern, thanks to the renovation completed last year. Class sizes are small, the student body is ethnically diverse, and DeFabiis knows each student. He would hate to lose that environment, he says.
"I think the question is, can we address consolidation without affecting home rule? I think we can," DeFabiis said.
The district is middle class and, according to the state statistics, the per-pupil cost is $16,105. The state average is $13,701.
In Alpine, per-pupil costs soar to $25,260 at the borough’s lone K-8 public school, which bills itself as a "private public school." Superintendent Kathleen Semergieff declined to comment for this story.
While DeFabiis wears a number of hats at his school, proponents of regionalization say there are many districts with overlapping layers of administration.
"Hopefully, it will save some money but also lead to some consistency," said Assemblywoman Connie Wagner, D-Paramus. Wagner, a former teacher, worked in the small district of Bogota for many years. She said regionalization could bring more resources to smaller districts and eliminate redundancies.
She noted, for instance, that most districts employ well-paid curriculum coordinators despite the fact that students statewide are required to pass the same state tests, and therefore should be taught the same things.
"Consolidation will provide for better delivery of services and more consistency in the curriculum," she said.
"We’re not asking to move kids, we just want to streamline administration."
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Cutting costs
A state initiative to merge smaller school districts with an eye toward administrative savings could affect up to half the districts in Bergen and Passaic counties. Here are the10 smallest districts in The Record’s circulation area during the 2006-07 school year.
Total cost Administrative Students Students
District County Enrollment per pupil costs per pupil per teacher per admin.
Alpine Bergen 134 $25,260 $1,668 6.6 34
South Hackensack Bergen 221 $16,105 $1,660 10.7 166.4
Saddle River Bergen 230 $16,149 $1,664 9.3 74.7
Moonachie Bergen 268 $15,946 $1,664 9.4 88
Riverdale Morris 282 $13,892 $1,662 8.4 88.7
Englewood Cliffs Bergen 436 $18,167 $1,660 8.2 161.9
Edgewater Bergen 443 $16,909 $1,471 10.3 121.1
Rochelle Park Bergen 499 $13,502 $1,577 9.6 160
Haworth Bergen 514 $12,878 $1,490 10.8 264
Becton Regional Bergen 523 $17,299 $1,666 10 100.5
Source: New Jersey Department of Education, 2007 School Report Card
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E-mail: alex@northjersey.com
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