By Stephen Appezzato
SHREWSBURY – Schools opened this week, but some students in Shrewsbury had to find their own transportation. In what a few parents called a “shocking” decision, the Shrewsbury Borough School District will not offer courtesy busing or aid-in-lieu payments to non-public school students for the 2023-24 school year.
Prior to this year, the district offered either courtesy busing or aide-in-lieu to approximately 8% of its school-aged children who attend private schools. But, as Shrewsbury is technically a “walking district” – the borough is small enough that students can walk to the one kindergarten through eighth-grade school in the district – the busing was a courtesy. With busing denied for this school year, parents of private school students had to make other arrangements to get their children to school.
“I’m not sure that I understand why we would eliminate this after all the years that it’s been provided, even if it is a ‘courtesy,’ ” said Keri Gormley, a Shrewsbury parent of a child who attends a private school.
In July, some parents noticed that their B6T forms – state forms used by parents to receive aid-in-lieu – for the upcoming school year were denied. Under state law, districts providing busing for public school students are required to offer transportation to private school students as well. Alternatively, these districts may also offer aide-in-lieu to parents of students not attending the public school – up to $1,165 – if the parent submits the B6T form and opts out of the provided transportation.
However, Shrewsbury Borough School District has never been obligated to provide transportation or aide-in-lieu to students not attending its school. State law requires all public elementary school students receive busing if they live more than two miles from their school. Since the entire borough is only 2.16 square miles, the district is not required by law to provide busing.
Gormley and many other Shrewsbury parents of private school children were upset the notice came just weeks before school started.
“Very late in the summer season we were given notice that my son’s busing was canceled,” said Gormley. “I have to be honest; I was pretty surprised to receive that information so late.”
Upon contacting her child’s private school, Gormley found “they, too, were surprised that they found out so late.”
But, according to Brent MacConnell, Shrewsbury Borough School District superintendent, the decision to end non-public courtesy busing was made earlier in the year at a board of education budget meeting. “Parents were notified of this change as required under the law prior to August 1, 2023,” said MacConnell in a written statement to The Two River Times.
The “difficult” decision was made “after careful deliberation and consideration,” according to MacConnell, and will save the district approximately $40,000 this coming school year.
“As a small District in the State of New Jersey, we face ongoing reductions in state aid, while the cost of doing business and expectations on the District continue to rise,” MacConnell explained.
Gormley and other parents noted 1% of the school system’s annual budget was previously appropriated for transportation. With transportation no longer being offered, “where is the 1% of the budget dedicated to that going?” she asked. “There’s a lack of transparency to me,” she said.
According to MacConnell, that money was “spread out throughout different areas to balance our budget.”
Some parents of private school students also noted they faced tax hikes this year as a result of public school renovations approved last year. In October, Shrewsbury voters authorized a referendum of $22.5 million for major improvements to the borough’s public school. The state will cover $4.7 million of the project costs, which is “money that Shrewsbury residents paid through state taxes that can only be brought back to Shrewsbury to invest in the school through a voter-approved bond referendum,” according to the school district’s website. The rest of the money will come from residents’ current and future taxes.
Renovations include safety and security upgrades, HVAC and air quality systems, a new lunchroom, multipurpose room and three pre-K classrooms.
“I find the whole thing to be terribly shocking and it demonstrates a lack of consideration for what is approximately 8% of the families that have school-aged children that are paying quite a bit to support the school system,” said Gormley.
The article originally appeared in the September 7 – 13, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
