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Three southern New Jersey mayors have been tapped to be part of a special committee formed by the League of Municipali-ties to develop a united position on school-funding reform.

Stafford Township Mayor Carl Block, Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters and Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello are part of a coalition of more than 17 mayors from across the state.

Mayors have little control over school spending, but they can be lightning rods for discontent because the municipalities mail tax bills, and often 60 to 70 percent of that bill funds public schools.

The state Department of Education is devising a new school-funding formula that it hopes will be fair and affordable. Education Commissioner Lucille Davy has promised a new formula by the year's end. The largest issues involve how the money is distributed and how state and local property taxpayers will divide the costs.

"We hope we can come to a consensus," said Jon Moran, a legislative analyst with the League of Municipalities. "If we can arrive at a consensus, we think we can have significant influence on the final product."

Block, a past president of the league, called the next school funding formula one of the most important funding decisions that will be made in years.

"Obviously mayors are normally not at the forefront of school board issues, but hopefully this participation will have a positive impact," said Block, who added that he would like to see the new school-funding formula have the ability to be entirely funded by the state.

The mayoral representation spans urban and rural areas, as well as small and large municipalities representing a cross section of the state.

Walters said she will be representing a unique demographic on the New Jersey League of Municipalities committee: shore towns with low school taxes due to few school-aged children and astronomical ratable bases.

Stone Harbor, in Cape May County, has a seasonal population of 1,039, not enough to fill half of a minor league baseball stadium. Its kindergarten through eighth-grade school has fewer than 100 students.

Public school funding there makes up a smaller percentage of tax bills than in other areas because of its high ratable base and its large portion of seasonal residents who pay property taxes but don't have children in the school.

"At this point, I haven't come up with anything in particular, but I have to make sure our constituents - and not just Stone Harbor but all the barrier islands - that all of our constituents are being safeguarded," Walters said.

Each year, local school boards establish their budgets and spending plans in a mandated process.

When municipal school budgets are rejected by voters in April, the budgets are reviewed and cuts possibly made by mayors and their respective governing bodies.

In Buena Vista Township, that happened five years in a row, Chiarello said. There was a spate of proposed double-digit tax increases as state aid remained flat. Buena Vista Township is a mostly rural municipality in western Atlantic County.

And officials want their voices to be heard.

"We're the closest to the front-line troops. We're right on the front line in hearing feedback and property-tax complaints and hearing firsthand what the public is thinking," Chiarello said.

"The committee initially wants to have a say in making the funding formula consider all different types of communities and is equitable to all of New Jersey. … We want to make sure whether it's Buena Vista or Atlantic City or Cape May or Asbury Park or whatever town, the formula is fair and equitable to everyone in the mix," he said.

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