By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s Board of Education has approved a new budget for 2021-2022 that keeps the school tax rate stable for the 10th straight year.
Tuition costs and transportation expenses for students to attend other school districts represent the bulk of the spending in the nearly $2.5 million budget, Board of Education President Dan Tumolo said.
The owner of an average home assessed at $711,549 will pay $278 annually in school taxes, Tumulo said.
Sea Isle had been experiencing a downward trend in school-age children for about five years in a row, but that ended this year with the addition of 12 new students. The city now has a total of 91 students, compared to 79 last year, Tumolo said.
Tumolo said it appears the higher number of students this year is the result of more families moving to the shore to escape from the coronavirus outbreak in the heavily populated cities and suburbs.
“People actually moved out of other parts of New Jersey to get here and register their kids in school,” he said in an interview Saturday. “It’s to escape COVID. I think it’s true.”
Sea Isle and other communities at the Jersey Shore are experiencing a red hot real estate market because they are seen as safe havens from the pandemic. Low mortgage rates are another factor in the home-buying spree.
Even with the slight increase this year, the current figure of 91 students is less than one-fourth of the 444 school-age children who lived in Sea Isle in 2000.
The 2021-2022 budget is $106,436 higher than last year’s spending plan, reflecting an increase in tuition and transportation costs to send more Sea Isle students to other school districts, primarily Ocean City.
“Our expenses were up because of the additional kids in school,” Tumolo said.
The Board of Education gave the budget final approval at its meeting on May 4. Overall, the school budget remains in strong financial shape, in large part because of Sea Isle’s robust real estate market, Tumolo pointed out.
Sea Isle closed its public school in 2012 due to declining student enrollment, but it still must pay the expense of sending its students to Ocean City and other school districts for their education.
As Sea Isle’s student population has declined over the years, so has its school budget, which hit a high of about $4.4 million while the public school was still open.
Budget spending fell when Sea Isle began sending its students in grades fifth through eighth to Ocean City in 2010, followed by third and fourth grades in 2011 and first and second grades in 2012. Then the school was closed because there were not enough students to continue operating it.
Over the years, Sea Isle’s school budget has supported a number of education and community initiatives in the Ocean City school district, including mental health counseling, drug prevention, a creativity innovation project and an SAT testing reimbursement program for students.
The Board of Education also has partnerships with the city and the Sea Isle City Chamber of Commerce and Revitalization for initiatives that benefit local schoolchildren.
Meanwhile, Sea Isle officials continue to discuss plans to demolish the old school at 4501 Park Road and redevelop the site for a community recreation center costing an estimated $20 million. City officials are still working with the community on the final details of the project, including its scope and cost, before construction would begin.
