“We as a board of supervisors cannot be on the hook for every mandate that expires.”
Gloucester County Board of Supervisors’ vice chair Ashley Chriscoe expressed his frustration with state and federal decisions that impact local budgets at Monday night’s budget work session in the colonial courthouse, where members focused their conversation on funding for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program/food service support and student device replacements.
County Administrator Carol Steele’s proposed budget would require a 4.3 cent tax increase to support general fund operations, but does not encompass additional school and nonprofit funding allocations that the supervisors indicated they would like to include during a meeting held last Monday, April 21.
“What do we cut out of it when we’re already as lean as can be?” Dr. Robert “JJ” Orth asked about the budget.
The CEP program would require a local contribution of $450,000 and beginning the Chromebook replacement cycle at the schools would cost $526,240.
According to the USDA, “schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs.” These programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Individual schools qualify for the CEP program when 40 percent or more of students already receive free or reduced-priced lunch. All GCPS schools now qualify for the program.
Approximately 42 percent of GCPS students across the division would qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches, according to superintendent of schools Dr. Anthony Vladu, if the program were not implemented for all students regardless of household income.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, all students received free meals through the USDA.
“The federal government giveth and the federal government is now taking it away,” said Chriscoe. “And it’s on us again.
“I don’t like being put into the position that I now have to pay for everything that was given and promised and delivered until they take it away and now it’s the board of supervisors’ fault,” continued Chriscoe.
The board also discussed school funding as enrollment decreases every year.
“As you lose students and you continue to fund at that same level, then you are, without actually doing it, you are increasing the funding,” said Chriscoe. “Because if you were to break it down per pupil spending, then we are funding the schools at a higher rate per pupil in [fiscal year] 26 than we were in 22.”
Board chair Kevin Smith pointed out that GCPS loses money per student at the state level when its average daily membership decreases.
“They also have salaries that are going to increase,” said Smith. “They also have insurance that’s going to increase.” The school division also faces inflationary increases, including fuel and maintenance costs.
“If they’re getting less from the state, that’s where they’re saying that we need to match it,” said supervisor Chris Hutson. “To match what they’re losing from state and federal governments.”
The other big issue discussed was starting the Chromebook replacement cycle for the students. Many of the current Chromebooks were originally purchased in 2020 with COVID-19 relief funds so students could learn from home while school buildings were closed or operating on a hybrid schedule.
Now, most of the learning materials that students need are on their Chromebooks, according to supervisor Tony Nicosia who is also a career and technical education teacher at Gloucester High School. Because of the age of the Chromebooks, many are beginning to break down.
“We’ve got to do something with those Chromebooks,” said Chriscoe. “However, again, it falls on us because they got the money, and here we are. It’s four years later, and how do we replace them?”
Hutson expressed his frustrations with the supervisors over-scrutinizing the school board, which is an elected body, when nonprofits also receive county funds.
“We don’t question a dime of what they get,” said Hutson about these organizations.
Conversations then returned to the CEP program, with input from GCPS Deputy Superintendent Bryan Hartley.
“It’s expensive,” said Hartley about the program. “Free’s not free. We’ve communicated that before. We’re not like some other localities that get reimbursed at 100 percent rate. So, our full reimbursement rate stops at about 65 percent and then it drops to 10 percent for the remaining 35 percent.”
According to Hartley, adding three additional CEP schools, which now encompasses all eight schools, cost the division an additional $300,000.
“The year before was also $300,000,” said Hartley about when there were five schools enrolled in the program. “So really that number is closer to 600 [thousand] for all schools. It’s a cost to the division.”
If the program were to be unfunded, students could still apply to receive free and reduced-priced meals at school. Students who do not qualify would have to pay for school meals.
“We haven’t had a typical model in our food service department since the pandemic,” said Hartley. “Because the pandemic set in, everybody was reimbursed the full amount.”
The 2019-2020 school year was the last year the paid model was in place, which was cut short due to the pandemic. Full reimbursements for the CEP program have since ceased.
Chriscoe suggested using the unassigned fund balance to pay for the CEP program, providing the schools with a year to figure out a new food services model.
The board was scheduled to reconvene Wednesday evening to continue budget discussions with potential adoption on the table. The meeting was not held until after press time.