School district bashing should not be part of partnership discussion 7/29/05

In reference to the recent article that appeared in The Daily Journal "Parents Urge Board to Veto Partnership" (DJ-7/27), I would like to rectify some glaring misconceptions contained in that article.

All concerned parties should understand that the Vineland School District does not need students from any other district and did not orchestrate the present proposal to initiate discussion regarding a possible merger between the Buena Regional and Vineland school districts.

Vineland has not had a school tax increase in several years and although there have been some warnings about Vineland losing its Abbott status, well informed parties and experts know and understand that a Supreme Court ruling would be needed to make such a drastic change. If you have followed the Abbott cases closely, you come to understand two very important facts.

First, the Department of Education and the court are not predisposed to give any new districts Abbott status. Buena is well aware of that fact. Second, the court is reluctant to deprive standing Abbott districts of their status. So while threatened, Vineland need not immediately worry about its Abbott status.

On the other hand, the Buena Regional School District is in financial trouble. According to news reports, it is a severe financial crisis that cannot be resolved without a substantial increase in their property taxes. At least for now, Buena and Buena Vista residents are not willing to approve such an increase and that is why other funding avenues are being explored. As far as I know, all of us are a long way from any type of merger involving the Vineland and Buena Regional school districts.

I know and respect Ken Soboloski as both a friend and a professional associate. I admire the work he has done at Buena Regional High School and have always considered Buena Regional an excellent school. I am dismayed and disappointed that Mr. Soboloski does not feel the same way about Vineland High School, which the record will substantiate is one of the finest high schools in the country. Presently, Vineland High School offers 14 advanced placement courses and has a number of computer labs that hold more than 800 computers. Our building is equipped to handle any type of technology with televisions, VCRs and the Internet available in every classroom. Our science labs have recently been renovated and our Fine Arts Department is one of the best in the state of New Jersey. Vineland High School and all the schools in the Vineland district are excellent schools, and Mr. Soboloski is well aware of that fact. His daughters attended and graduated from Vineland High School and went on to very successful college careers.

The residents of Vineland, Buena and Buena Vista are very fortunate to have two outstanding high schools. While we have experienced our share of problems, the fact that our students are accepted into some of the finest colleges and universities in the country substantiates that students from both school districts are receiving an excellent education.

In future discussions regarding our two districts, I sincerely hope that all of us will talk about the positive things that help make our schools a tad better than most other places. Down the road, if as neighbors we find a way to help each other and our children, nothing would be better. In the meantime, let's not resort to bashing each other's schools.

Charles D. Ottinger

Principal

Vineland High School South

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New school lounge 7/29/05

J.P. Cleary Middle School's teachers lounge gets a new look after Daily Journal contest

Vice Principal Danielle Sneathen submitted a plea for help to the Daily Journal's redesign contest. 

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Collings Lakes students earn top awards 7/27/05

Collings Lakes Elementary School Principal Daniel J. Benedetto (school principal) presents awards to six students at the Fifth Grade Award Assembly.  (Picture)

For more information go to: http://www.hammontonnews.com

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Government gives local teachers high marks 7/27/05

By the numbers

Percentage of teachers in local school districts who've been deemed "highly qualified" under federal standards:

Bridgeton -- 80.1%

TRENTON -- The majority of New Jersey's teachers are "highly qualified" under benchmarks set by the federal government.

But dozens of districts still have significant work to do to if they want to satisfy the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires all teachers meet that definition by the end of the 2005-06 school year.

The state announced Tuesday it will provide technical assistance to help 58 school districts where less than 90 percent of teachers haven't met the "highly qualified" standard. Those districts include Vineland, Bridgeton, Greenwich, Lawrence, Maurice River, Shiloh and Stow Creek. The state plans to help them map out plans to meet the goal of having 100 percent of teachers deemed qualified.

Statewide, about 94 percent of all such classes in the 2004-05 school year were taught by highly qualified teachers. Data is not available for all states, but most studies show New Jersey has one of the nation's top rates for qualified teachers.

Still, state Education Commissioner William Librera said he doesn't think the federal definition of a "highly qualified" teacher is accurate, but added New Jersey supports having teachers with certain credentials in all classrooms.

The consequences of failing to have qualified teachers in each classroom aren't clear. Teachers who don't qualify do not lose their jobs, and districts don't face any federal sanctions or loss of funds.

Vineland Personnel Director Rusty Phillips said he was unaware of any forthcoming technical assistance from the state and was unsure what that would accomplish.

Teachers were given five years to take the courses needed to receive the standard certifications required to be considered "highly qualified."

Under the guidelines, Phillips said, those teachers have one more school year left to do so. He was confident that most would complete the required coursework in time.

To be deemed highly qualified, a teacher must have a bachelor's degree, a standard certification for which no requirements have been waived and documentation of content area expertise in each subject taught.

Roughly 4,700 of the state's 94,000-plus public school teachers were unqualified, according to those measurements.

Teachers can meet the qualifications by completing college courses, professional development programs or a teacher certification exam.

Staff writers Deborah M. Marko and Jason Alt, and the Gannett State Bureau contributed to this report.

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Parents urge board to veto partnership 7/27/05

BUENA VISTA -- Anxious residents implored the Buena Regional Board of Education on Tuesday to think twice before considering any possible partnership or merger with Vineland's school district.

High School Principal Ken Sokoloski, who lives in Vineland, warned the board that it must seriously and carefully analyze the fallout that could very well occur years down the road if the district ever merges with Vineland.

"Anyone who thinks this is a good idea should visit the Vineland School District and then visit ours," said Sokoloski. "It's a bad idea. It would keep taxes down, but at what price? I get calls from parents in Vineland three or four times a week asking how they can get their kids into our school system. I tell them it's simple -- move here."

The Daily Journal last week reported that the state Department of Education is helping state, school and municipal officials study what would be involved if the Buena Regional and Vineland school districts want to join forces and form a partnership that involves combining some of their operations. Such an arrangement -- which officials said would be a first in New Jersey -- could mean an influx of extra state aid for Buena Regional and a guarantee that Vineland schools won't lose millions of crucial dollars they rely on to operate, proponents said.

Board President John Anderson noted there are no definite plans to meet with Vineland to discuss any kind of collaboration or merger.

"We might do it next month or in September, but nothing is definite yet," he said.

Anderson advised disgruntled residents to discuss it with their local elected officials, either in private or at a public meeting.

Sandy Weber of Union Road said she's upset about the concept of Vineland and Buena Regional joining forces, citing gang activity as a concern.

"If our kids are forced to go to Vineland High, they're going to get beaten up," she said. "It's like farmers going against city kids."

Board member Lynda Gazzara said Vineland "only wanted Buena and its students" to bolster its number of pupils so that it won't lose special-needs status that allows it to collect tens of millions of dollars in extra state aid annually.

Board members Doug Adams and Louise Rainear said they would keep an open mind about meeting with Vineland.

"I'm not going to give up Buena, but if there's something that can help our situation to get the state aid we so badly need, then I'm going to listen to see what can be done," Adams said. "If it isn't beneficial, then we don't pursue it."

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Week marked by triumph and tragedy 7/25/05

The pages of The Daily Journal have been filled in the past week with stories about triumphs, tragedies, innovations, frustrations and milestones. The following items represent our view of the best or worst from each category.

Triumph: In the war against drugs and crime, fitness and responsibility play an important role. The Kids Bolt Running Program, organized by Millville Planning Director Kim Warker, held its first meeting last week, in which children and their volunteer running instructors jogged to Union Lake and back from Wood School. The kids loved it. And what better way to keep them fit and involved in healthy activities than a running club? Could there be a future track star in the making?

Tragedy: The death of the Rev. Wilbert Brett, possibly at the hands of a drunk driver, shocked and saddened Millville to its core last weekend. "The Rev," as he was known, was a giant in the community, as much a fixture in town as City Hall or the Maurice River Bridge. We commend his brother, Claude Brett, for the forgiving attitude he voiced in the wake of the crash, the same attitude by which The Rev. himself lived. We hope the young driver recovers quickly from his injuries so some closure can be found for this tragedy.

Frustration: Yet more legislators from North Jersey have taken aim at Vineland and Millville's special-needs school funding. Hey guys: Pay attention to your own districts and back off of ours! You don't have the first, slightest notion about the challenges faced by our schools and communities.

Innovation: Officials at the Vineland and Buena Regional school districts set a new high bar in forward thinking by agreeing to consider what would be a revolutionary, precedent-setting partnership between the districts. The goal is to provide more funds for Buena Regional's cash-strapped schools and to protect Vineland's special-needs funds.

Milestone: The late Victor D'Alessandro, founder of the long-running Jersey Fresh Festival, was honored with the dedication of an herb garden on the Cumberland County College campus. The festival is gone, but D'Alessandro's legacy will grow.

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Partnership idea merits full scrutiny 7/22/05

The worst problems often require the most creative solutions. And highly creative is the best way we can think of to describe an idea that has been embraced as a possible solution to a pair of very serious issues faced by two local school districts.

Buena Regional School District and Vineland School District are considering forming a partnership that would help both districts cope with major funding issues. Although details about how it would work are as yet unclear, it seems to be a very promising concept that should be thoroughly explored and evaluated.

The reasons behind the districts' search for such a creative solution are these:

In Buena Regional, property-taxpayers are being slammed year after year with huge tax increases because the property tax base in the district, which is locked within the undevelopable Pinelands, cannot grow, while the costs of running the district grow steadily every year. The district and its two primary municipalities, Buena Borough and Buena Vista Township, have appealed to the state commissioner of education to be granted status as a special-needs district, which would open a pipeline of additional state funds. But those appeals have been flatly rejected.

In Vineland, a district that receives tens of millions of dollars each year because of its hard-won special-needs status, education officials are finding that special status under increasing attack from legislators who want to strip away the extra funding. If that were to occur, the pain felt by the city's taxpayers could be excruciating.

William Librera, the state education commissioner, told Buena Regional and municipal officials that a partnership between the two districts could help that district receive additional funds, turning it into a sub-special needs district and blunting the towns' property tax pressure. He also indicated that such a partnership would help Vineland protect its special-needs money pipeline. Librera has assigned an assistant commissioner to develop scenarios about how the partnership would work and to report back next month.

So far, local residents are wary of the proposal. Partnership suggests consolidation, a dirty word in the home-rule state of New Jersey. But it is partly because of that same fascination with, and insistence upon, home rule -- which results in endless duplication of services and much greater expense -- that school districts are finding state funds harder and harder to come by.

Is the jury still out on this? Of course. It will be quite some time yet before the many questions raised by the partnership idea are answered.

Meanwhile, everyone should keep an open mind. Excessive taxation can put the brakes on economic progress. And along with a high quality educational system for our children, we can think of nothing that the Cumberland County region needs more than good jobs and a growing tax base.

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Giordano: Vineland 'willing to sit and listen' 7/21/05

Frank Giordano

VINELAND -- Word of a potential partnership with the Buena Regional School District traveled to Vineland via phone lines.

Buena Mayor Joseph Baruffi reached out to Vineland Mayor Perry Barse on Saturday, who referred Baruffi to Board of Education President Frank Giordano.

This issue is one for the Vineland School District and school board to decide, the mayor said.

"We will work with them," he added.

Barse noted it's far too early in the process to comment because specifics have yet to be spelled out.

However, the mayor couldn't help but point out that Vineland's status as an Abbott school district is in peril.

Vineland is among 13 districts throughout the state targeted to lose the Abbott designation, which is the ticket to millions of dollars of annual state aid.

Abbott districts derive their name from the landmark Abbott v. Burke court rulings that require the state to provide extraordinary help to improve the poorest schools.

That aid amounted to $59.8 million this year alone for Vineland.

Giordano, well acquainted with Baruffi through their shared interest in youth basketball, listened to the proposal for what could be a financial safety net for both school districts, which already have some shared history.

"Years ago, they were a sending district," Giordano said, referring back to 1970s when Buena Regional students attended Vineland High School.

"They are really struggling since they are not an Abbott district and won't be down the road," Giordano said of his neighbors. "And in two or three years, we might no longer have Abbott."

The suggestion to join forces as part of a pilot partnership is a novel idea. Giordano presented the idea to the school board in a closed session Wednesday.

The next move is up to their neighbors in Buena and Buena Vista.

"Right now, we are waiting to hear from them," Giordano said. "They got the ball rolling."

As of yet, Giordano said, there are "no guarantees, no promises have been made."

But, he said, "we are willing to sit and listen."

Board Vice President Jacqueline Gavigan noted the district "owes it to our taxpayers to explore every possibility."

Vineland must consider all angles to salvage its Abbott status, Giordano said.

"When you stop and think about the effects of not having Abbott, I can't even picture it," he said.

Giordano stressed the idea of partnership is just a concept at this point.

"I don't want people in either district to panic that they may possibly be out of a job," he said.

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Joining forces? Buena Regional is considering a trail-blazing partnership with Vineland schools 7/21/05

VINELAND -- The Vineland and Buena Regional school districts are thinking about getting married.

But don't buy presents yet -- they haven't even had a first date.

Officials from both districts and the communities they represent are in the first stage of talks about a proposal that some say could rescue taxpayers from looming financial disaster.

With encouragement from the state's top education official, they're studying the idea of joining forces to form an unprecedented creative partnership.

"It's a revolutionary thing that hasn't been done in the state yet," said state Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-1, a former Vineland school board member.

But if the districts form such a partnership and it succeeds, he said, it could be the model struggling school districts around the Garden State could try to copy.

The proposal is so new, however, that it leaves literally hundreds of questions unanswered.

Among them: Would the partnership mean a joint school board or two separate boards?

And would cost savings achieved through combining some operations mean the loss of jobs?

"If they did this, I believe they would lose their individual identities.

Nelson Rodriguez, 33, Vineland

"If it helps the kids, I'm all for it. It's a good idea."

Maritza Laboy, Vineland

"It's better to work together. It's not like they're against each other -- they have a lot of familiarity with one another."

Rich Tola, 21, Buena

"It's a good idea if it brings money to Buena. Bring on the money to Buena, I say."

Nick Murelli, 18, Buena

"I'm all for it."

Joan Belfi, 73, Buena

Addressing 'rumor'

Such questions have caused rumors and fear to bubble up in Buena Vista and Buena Borough in recent days, according to the mayors who represent those towns.

But they urged people to remain calm and understand that the idea of partnership is anything but a done deal.

In fact, representatives of the two school districts haven't even scheduled their first meeting to sit down and talk with the education commissioner about whether all sides could benefit from consolidating aspects of their school systems.

"We want them to keep their autonomy," Buena Mayor Joseph Baruffi said. "Buena Regional and Vineland will keep their own identities even if they have a partnership."

Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello said: "Fear mongers are telling people that if Vineland and Buena talk, they'll lose their jobs. All this is rumor. I don't want people to be fearful."

Baruffi said he, Chiarello and Asselta aren't trying to merge Buena Regional and Vineland into one school district. And a partnership will only happen, they promised, if it means benefits for all three communities.

Only some residents are sold on the idea.

"It's better to work together," said Rich Tola, 21, of Buena, who's studying to become a teacher.

As for the two school districts, he said, "It's not like they're against each other -- they have a lot of familiarity with one another."

Nelson Rodriguez, 33, of Vineland said a partnership would do too much harm.

"We're paying taxes to separate municipalities, and I think they should remain two separate school systems," said Rodriguez, who has two children in Vineland's school system. "If they did this, I believe they would lose their individual identities. It wouldn't be a good thing to do."

Where it started

Talk of a partnership got in full swing July 12, when officials from Buena Regional, Buena Vista, Buena Borough and state legislators met with state Education Commissioner William Librera.

They wanted the commissioner to promise more financial aid for the school district, which has raised taxes year after year, despite voters' objections, to make ends meet.

The outlook for taxpayers is even bleaker, with owners of homes assessed at $100,000 facing the possibility of $500 annual tax hikes for the indefinite future, Chiarello and Baruffi said.

Officials last week once again asked Librera to designate Buena Regional an Abbott district.

Such districts -- named for a landmark court ruling -- are guaranteed substantial financial aid to help improve their education offerings.

Vineland and Millville are among the state's 31 Abbott districts and have been able to avoid large tax hikes like the ones experienced in Buena Regional, which for years has unsuccessfully tried to get Abbott status.

Local officials said Librera made it clear last week that Buena Regional wouldn't be made an Abbott district because the state can't afford it.

A second option, School Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo told Librera, was for the state to revisit the formula for how state aid is distributed and reinstate increases frozen in 2002. Librera also was cool to that idea.

"Our expenses have gone up, but the money we get from the state has remained unchanged -- about $14 million a year," DeGiacomo said Wednesday.

With those two ideas shot down, Librera expressed sincere interest in a third suggestion: that Buena Regional form a partnership with neighboring Vineland.

He designated an assistant commissioner to research the idea and come up with some scenarios by next month so local officials can determine how they would go about taking that unique approach.

According to the mayors and Asselta, Librera indicated that such a partnership would qualify Buena Regional for some sort of "sub-Abbott" status and could mean more state money flowing into its coffers to provide tax relief.

At the same time, Librera indicated the partnership would protect Vineland's Abbott money against ongoing legislative and administrative efforts to take it away, according to the officials.

And that, they said, would ensure a better educational quality for students in both districts in the years ahead.

Asselta said it would be devastating to Vineland's economic foundation if it lost Abbott funds due to efforts by politicians who believe the money could be spent better elsewhere.

What's next

Even though Chiarello and Baruffi are championing the partnership, they stressed the final decision rests with school officials.

Vineland officials have expressed interest in the idea.

DeGiacomo said she had "no opinion" on the partnership plan for now.

"I'm withholding any judgment until I get all the facts from our meeting next month with William Librera," she said. "We're investigating all the facts so we can determine what's best for the students of our school district. They are my No. 1 priority."

Buena Regional school board President David Anderson said he's open to the idea of talks. He estimated it could take a year or more for the two districts to fully form a partnership if they decide to go in that direction.

Asselta said he also thought it would be at least a year before any such partnership could begin, and noted the summer months would probably be the best time to start such a transition.

Buena Regional school board member Greg McAvaddy said he's keeping an "open mind" about the partnership.

"But I don't have all the facts yet," he said. "So it's hard for me to express an opinion until I know more."

Staff writer Jason Alt contributed to this report.

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State seeks alternatives other than special-needs status to help Buena Regional 7/14/05

Buena Borough Mayor Joseph Baruffi said Tuesday that while Abbott status appears unlikely for the Buena Regional School District, other alternatives are being explored for the district's financial relief.

School and municipal officials have been trying to convince the state to grant Buena Regional Abbott, or special-needs, status. The district has suffered from hefty tax hikes, which officials blame on flat state aid, a small tax base and rising costs.

District residents recently voted down Buena Regional's budget for the fourth consecutive year.

State Education Commissioner William Librera had refused to grant Abbott status to Buena Regional despite a judge's recommendation.

On Tuesday, district officials appealed to Librera directly in a meeting in Trenton.

Baruffi said Librera's decision "remained unchanged today," but added the commissioner promised to meet with district officials next month to explore other alternatives to Buena Regional's financial crisis.

Baruffi said he had no details at this time on what these alternatives would be.

"We want to provide relief to our taxpayers while maintaining a high quality of education," Baruffi said. "Commissioner Librera was very open-minded about this."

Baruffi added that southern New Jersey legislators have been very supportive about Buena Regional's problems.

The meeting's attendees included district Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo, Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello, Assemblyman Jack Gibson, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, and state Sen. Nicholas Asselta a Republican from the same district.

Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, attended the meeting by telephone.
 

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Mayors optimistic after meeting for school aid 7/13/05

"It would've been on my wish list that William Librera had declared us an Abbott district." -- BUENA MAYOR JOSEPH BARUFFI

TRENTON -- A meeting with New Jersey's top education official Tuesday didn't result in a concrete commitment for extra state aid to help the financially strapped Buena Regional School District.

But Buena Mayor Joseph Baruffi, whose cry for help prompted the discussion, said he was pleased with the outcome after he and local officials sat down with Education Commissioner William Librera.

"I feel confident that Librera finally has an understanding of how difficult our situation is," Baruffi said.

Local mayors, school officials and legislators tried to convince Librera that Buena Regional should be designated an Abbott, or special-needs, school district.

Abbott districts derive their name from the landmark Abbott v. Burke court rulings, which require the state to provide extraordinary financial assistance to improve the poorest schools. Thirty-one districts, including Vineland and Millville, currently get that extra help in such forms as state-funded preschool classes and school construction projects.

"It would've been on my wish list that William Librera had declared us an Abbott district," said Baruffi, because that would "ensure that our kids would be getting a good education and our homeowners some property tax relief."

Local officials said Librera pledged Tuesday that he and his staff would work with them in trying to find solutions to the crisis as soon as possible.

Another meeting with Librera is being scheduled for next month, but no date has been set.

"We told him that while we had been able to give our children a good education, it was becoming more difficult to do so because of our tax burden," Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.

Among those joining the mayors at the meeting were Buena Regional Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo, Atlantic County Schools Superintendent Daniel Loggi, state Sen. Nicholas Asselta, and assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Jack Gibson.

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Buenas' children sent to Vineland to get in shape 7/9/05

VINELAND - It's never too early to start toning your body.

That's what 9-year-old Newtonville resident Divine Henderson is finding out at Vineland's YMCA this summer.

For about a month, Henderson and more than 100 other Buena Regional students entering grades four through eight will participate in a fitness program designed to fight obesity among children and improve their general health.

On Friday, Henderson discovered that the fitness program included exercise equipment at the YMCA specifically tailored to children his size.

After stretching, he and about 30 other Buena Regional students took turns at squats, upright rows, leg curls and other exercises on miniature versions of Nautilus equipment for adults.

This "Fit Kids" equipment was purchased from a now-defunct company, but it is perfect for the YMCA's program, according to instructor Anthony Witter.

"There are no free weights on these, so they can't hurt themselves," Witter said. "It's good for kids from about 6 years old through the eighth grade."

From there, the students got into bathing suits for a swim test at the YMCA pool. After the test, they were divided into groups based on their swimming skills for lessons.

"This is fun," said Henderson, moments before plunging into the pool for a kicking exercise.

"The swimming component is something they all like," said YMCA director Lisa Scheetz of the program, which runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. "They're actually taught to swim by certified instructors."

Grant funding from the state Department of Education provides bus transportation for the students, with each student making about two trips per week. The training began earlier this week and will continue through Aug. 5.

The training is one component of the district's Buena Out of School Time, or BOOST program. The program includes educational as well as fitness activities, and will continue to serve Buena Regional students in an after-school capacity when classes resume.

This combination of land-based fitness training and swimming lessons is meant to partly make up for a dramatic reduction in physical education classes.

Scheetz said American Institute of Medicine statistics indicate that daily physical education exists nationwide only at 8 percent of elementary schools, 6.4 percent of middle schools and 5.8 percent of high school.s

"You have 9 million U.S. children overweight," Scheetz said. "That's more than double the percentage in 1980. Encouraging kids to get active in their spare time is more important than ever."

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Pinelands helps school districts navigate project approval 7/8/05

School superintendents are generally pretty adept at negotiating government bureaucracies, but even they have been frustrated by the myriad and complex regulations governing the Pinelands.

In an effort to at least smooth out the process, the Pinelands Commission sent 48 affected school districts a list of guidelines to help them plan their school construction and renovation projects.

The guidelines came after several superintendents met with sate Education Commissioner William Librera and Pinelands Commission Executive Director John C. Stokes to express frustrations in their efforts to get Pinelands approval for school projects.

"It just seemed that they would tell you criteria, you'd meet them, then something new would develop," Buena Regional Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said.

Her district has Pinelands approval for a new middle school but with conditions tied into sewerage service with the Buena Municipal Utilities Authority that have delayed the project.

"It just seemed issues were not clear-cut," DeGiacomo said. "The guidelines will help as long as they're followed and not added to."

Paul Leakan, spokesman for the Pinelands Commission, said the best thing a school district can do is contact the Commission early in the process.

The guidelines recommend that school districts contact the commission's Land Use Office as soon as they begin identifying sites so they can avoid sites likely to have problems. Districts also must be aware that some environmental surveys might take months, or have to be done during specific times of the year.

Greater Egg Harbor Regional officials learned that lesson when a favored site in Egg Harbor City had to be abandoned after the Pinelands Commission said it would likely have environmental issues that could delay the project for years. Another site in the city is now under review.

There are no special dispensations for schools, which must meet the same regulations as any other development in the Pinelands. Leaken said in the last two years, 29 school-related projects have been approved. Three of them were new schools, including the Buena Regional middle school and the new elementary school in Egg Harbor Township.

The EHT school will be located on the same site as the Davenport School but still required Pinelands approval, which was received in March.

Other area districts that received the guidelines include Upper Township, Dennis Township and Woodbine in Cape May County; Washington Township in Burlington County; and Corbin City, Egg Harbor City, Estell Manor, Folsom, Galloway Township, Hamilton Township, Hammonton, Mullica Township, Port Republic, Weymouth Township and the Atlantic County Vocational and Special Services Schools.

Greater Egg Harbor Regional Superintendent Adam Pfeffer said he has seen a change in attitude since the meeting.

"The rules aren't changing, and they are tough," he said. "But there has been a distinct improvement in communication and cooperation."

He said in the past he had waited months for a response on an issue. Recently, he got a confirmation letter on the same day he met with Pinelands staff.

"When I got back to the office, the letter was there," he said.

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School aid bill shocks district 7/5/05

BUENA -- Diane DeGiacomo isn't about to call for less financial assistance for students in poor school districts in Bergen County.

The superintendent of the Buena Regional School District herself has been part of an effort to get additional special-needs aid, in particular for her district in this poor, rural southern New Jersey community.

But DeGiacomo was one of several people shocked when a bill providing $20 million for five districts in and near the northern New Jersey county passed through the state Legislature in just more than two weeks.

The Assembly narrowly passed the bill Friday, meaning districts in Bayonne, North Bergen, Clifton, Hillside and Weehawken will receive special financial assistance because they share borders with three Abbott special-needs districts and meet other economic and demographic criteria. The bill passed in a fraction of the time Buena Regional and several other mostly southern districts have been working to get their own increases.

"I don't want to take money away from anybody," DeGiacomo said Friday. "But we've been working through proper channels for years -- seven years to be exact -- and we're told to wait."

Thirty-one districts in the state, including Vineland, Millville and Bridgeton, are designated urban "special-needs districts" that receive additional state money under the Abbott vs. Burke state Supreme Court decision. The case, brought by the Education Law Center, aimed to raise the achievement levels of these districts by equalizing their funding with that of their wealthier suburban counterparts.

The two sponsors of the measure in the Senate, which passed its version of the bill Monday, are Sens. Joseph V. Doria Jr. and Nicholas J. Sacco, both Hudson County Democrats and mayors in two towns that will benefit. Doria is mayor of Bayonne, while Sacco is mayor and assistant schools superintendent in North Bergen.

The additional aid would increase by 10 percent a year and help lower property taxes.

Buena Regional, meanwhile, must wait until at least August for a decision on their request for special aid. The state Board of Education's agenda for its Wednesday meeting does not include a vote on that request.

"We've had an Administrative Law Judge and the Legal Committee of the state Board of Education agree that we qualify for the additional funding," DeGiacomo said. "This shouldn't be about politics. It should be about what's right for the children in poor school districts."

"We were told to do six more months of studies," she said. "And they get the aid in two weeks. It's just not right."

The vote upset Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-1, who voted against the bill.

"It's a clear example of the counties in North Jersey getting more at the expense of the counties in South Jersey," Asselta said. "This bill just flew through in weeks while we've been working on getting aid for Buena, Commercial, Lawrence, and Maurice River for years."

Especially upsetting to Asselta and DeGiacomo was a claim by the bill's sponsors that the five districts receiving the aid are surrounded by Abbott districts, which receive half of all state aid.

With Buena cutting programs and not replacing teachers who retire, DeGiacomo said her district had similar needs.

"We need it to survive," she said. "We're ringed by Abbott districts, and we needed the aid yesterday."

While Asselta said northern New Jersey has always received preference over southern New Jersey, he claims the situation has become significantly worse since the tenure of former Gov. James E. McGreevey.

"There's been a monumental change in how money is allocated since McGreevey was in office," Asselta said. "We used to get a few scraps. Now we don't even get the crumbs."

Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew, D-1, and Jack Gibson, R-1, both voted against the proposal, which passed the Assembly on Friday by a 41-36 vote.

Van Drew said it would take negotiations with powerful northern New Jersey interests to get a fair shot at additional aid for southern New Jersey School districts.

"Buena's ringed by Abbott districts, too," Van Drew said. "They deserve the same consideration as districts in other parts of the state."

But the bill's lead Assembly sponsor, Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Hudson, called the measure a "triage" aimed to address the most needy districts first.

"This bill is a kind of triage for the five municipalities whose school districts are in the most desperate conditions," Quigley said. "We give a little relief in the area of the most urgent need and when money is available, I'm sure we will give money to the next neediest districts."

School advocacy groups said the measure does not solve all the problems districts are facing, but does help.

"It's not the cure, but it does give a little more flexibility and would help in the budgeting process," said Frank Belluscio, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

The Gannett State Bureau contributed to this report.

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