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BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
PASCACK VALLEY AREA, N.J.—The voters of Hillsdale, Woodcliff Lake, Montvale, and River Vale will head to the polls Oct. 2 for a special election on whether Woodcliff Lake should be allowed to withdraw from the Pascack Valley Regional School District.
Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo says his residents want to take advantage of a relatively recent state option to change their school funding formula from one based on equalized property values to one based on the number of students registered, called send and receive.
Rendo said the town’s legal counsel concluded that such a change would save his taxpayers $3 million to $6 million annually.
“It’s simple equity. We’ve been subsidizing the other towns since the law changed. We just want a simple send and receive relationship. We have the least amount of homes, and the least amount of students being sent to the school district, yet we’re paying for the other municipalities to send their kids to the school system,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hillsdale Mayor John Ruocco and River Vale Mayor Glen Jasionowski, whose towns tried to block the referendum in court, said they would campaign against it vigorously.
The district’s Hillsdale and River Vale families are served by Pascack Valley High School. Montvale and Woodcliff Lake families are served by Pascack Hills High School.
Officials from Hillsdale and River Vale pointed out in 2017 that their towns once paid a majority of the district’s costs, explaining shifting demographics and large corporate campuses in Woodcliff Lake and Montvale have shifted property values since the district’s formation.
In a letter to residents June 19, Ruocco predicted that if Woodcliff Lake succeeds on Oct. 2, “the district will need to implement substantial changes at both of its high schools that will detrimentally impact programming and staffing.”
He added, “There is no benefit for the students, the taxpayers or our towns by permitting this to happen.”
Jasionowski told Pascack Press on June 20 that Woodcliff Lake’s effort is “misguided” and driven by “greed and a lack of concern for the best interests of our school children.”
He added its adoption “is not even in the interests of the students and parents of Woodcliff Lake, who will run the risk of wreaking significant damage on what has been a high performing school district that has mutually benefited our students and our communities.”
Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, asked to weigh in on the referendum’s aims and opposition, said over email June 21 he could not comment.
A 2010 study suggested taxes in Montvale, Hillsdale, and River Vale could go up by approximately $380 under district funding alternatives then considered.
The district’s 2017–2018 school year budget is $55.8 million, with $48.8 million raised by levy.
The district’s per-pupil cost as of 2015–2016 was $26,145, according to the state Department of Education.
Woodcliff Lake property taxpayers, in the 2012–2013 school year, paid nearly double per student when compared to Hillsdale taxpayers, according to a January 2013 feasibility study Woodcliff Lake commissioned.
That study showed the district’s average cost per student that year was $21,100, while the cost to specific communities varied: Hillsdale, $15,750; River Vale, $18,050; Montvale, $25,600; Woodcliff Lake, $30,250.
Referendum rules
The referendum will be run by the school district under direction of the Executive County Superintendent of Schools in consultation with the district member towns.
For withdrawal to pass, it must be approved by a majority of voters in Woodcliff Lake, plus a majority of voters in all four towns combined.
The ballot’s phrasing has not been set, so it’s too soon to say if a yes vote would mean withdrawing or remaining in the district.
In any event, Rendo himself expects voters overall to reject withdrawal, as they did by a wide margin in a related referendum in 2010.
“Of course they’re [the other towns] going to vote against it. Their taxes will go up,” Rendo said.
He added that if the vote fails, Woodcliff Lake will then be free to pursue relief through the courts.
The state Department of Education’s Board of Review granted Woodcliff Lake’s petition to pursue this referendum in March 2014. Hillsdale and River Vale filed an appeal, which the New Jersey Supreme Court on Dec. 5, 2017 declined to take up.
Rendo described the court’s move at the time and again June 20 as “a win-win” for his residents.
If the bid to withdraw succeeds, Woodcliff Lake would have a year to come up with an agreement on where its students would be taught.
Rendo said staying with the Pascack Valley Regional School District under send-receive made the most sense and would not harm the district, its offerings, or its reputation.
Jasionowski evidently didn’t get that memo. He told Pascack Press that Woodcliff Lake is “already on notice that we will not accept it on a sending-receiving basis or acquiesce in its goal to save money by shifting the costs of the district to the remaining members and simply permit Woodcliff Lake to return to the district as if it were an equal partner in the district.”
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