SOS Communications
- 2-5-26 Letter to Senator Gopal & Senator Singleton
- 11-5-25 Advocate to Protect LRHSD Students and Schools
- Sample Advocacy Email: Fair School Funding for LRHSD
2-5-26 Letter to Senator Gopal & Senator Singleton
Dear Senator Gopal & Senator Singleton,
On behalf of our school community, we are writing to formally thank you for your leadership in introducing legislation to reform Special Education funding. By moving away from the arbitrary census method toward a model based on actual student counts, you have demonstrated a clear understanding of the fiscal realities facing our districts.
While we applaud this critical first step, we must also share the "on-the-ground" reality: our district remains in a state of financial emergency. To ensure your legislative efforts achieve their intended impact, we urgently need you to champion broader stabilization measures.
Over the past eight years, our region has faced catastrophic funding cuts. Despite maximizing our local tax levy, the loss of state revenue has forced us to hollow out the student experience:
- Safety & Logistics: We have been forced to eliminate all courtesy and late busing, pushing student stops to main roads.
- Curricular Loss: We have increased class sizes and reduced graduation credit to the state minimum—simply to keep the lights on.
- Staffing: Significant reductions in teaching, custodial, and support staff have stretched our remaining resources to a breaking point.
Special Education reform is a vital piece of the puzzle, but it is not the complete picture. To truly protect our students, we ask for your advocacy on the following:
- Immediate Aid Freeze: We urge you to mandate an immediate freeze on further state aid reductions while the funding formula is re-evaluated. IF an aid freeze is not possible, then guardrails must be implemented to minimize the catastrophic impact of additional funding cuts.
- Fully Fund Extraordinary Aid: Even with actual student counts, the failure of the state to fully fund Extraordinary Aid leaves us with millions in unreimbursed costs for our most vulnerable learners.
- Address the "Local Fair Share" Inequity: Our district is being penalized by an arbitrary calculation that does not reflect the economic reality of our taxpayers, who are already over burdened by double digit increases in their property taxes in recent years.
Senator Gopal and Senator Singleton, you have already proven to be a champion for Special Education. We are asking you to extend that same courage to the broader budget process. We cannot continue to watch neighboring districts expand programs while we struggle to provide basic transportation and a full curriculum.
We need a funding mechanism that reflects the actual cost of education. We look forward to working with your office to ensure every student in our district has a safe, well-funded, and equitable path to graduation.
Please contact us if you have any additional questions. Additional information can be found on our website.
Sincerely,
Matthew Webb
Superintendent
Kara L. Huber
Business Administrator
11-5-25 Advocate to Protect LRHSD Students and Schools
Dear LRHSD Parents and Guardians,
Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) is facing a serious funding crisis that threatens the financial stability of our district and the educational programs, opportunities, and quality education our students deserve.
For years, New Jersey’s state funding formula has unfairly penalized LRHSD, inaccurately assuming that our communities can fully fund our schools on their own. This school year, the State provided ZERO dollars to the LRHSD for general education and funded only 10% of our total budget. The remaining 90% of the school budget falls on you, the local taxpayers.
Why Does This Matter To You?
Without fair state funding, LRHSD could face difficult choices in the future that could directly impact you and your children.
The New Jersey Department of Education recently issued a survey on school funding. Unfortunately, the survey is technical and ambiguous, and some questions could be used to justify the current unfair formula and the removal of the critical funding guardrails that prevented an additional $4.5 million reduction in State funding to LRHSD.
How Can You Help?
We need our parents and community members to speak up. Please email the State Department of Education by November 14, 2025, and advocate for fair funding for LRHSD.
Email: SFRAOutreach@doe.nj.gov
You may use the sample email below to share your feedback. For more information on the State’s unfair funding of LRHSD, visit: www.lrhsd.org/SOS. Completing the State survey is optional and should be considered secondary.
Support Our Students
Your voice is needed to help protect the high-quality education that our students deserve and our local taxpayers fund.
Thank you for standing with our students and schools.
Sincerely,
Kara Huber, LRHSD Business Administrator
Matt Webb, LRHSD Superintendent
Sample Advocacy Email: Fair School Funding for LRHSD
Subject: Urgent Concern Regarding SFRA Survey and Funding Disparity in Lenape Regional High School District
Dear New Jersey Department of Education Officials,
I am writing as a concerned [INSERT ROLE (parent, taxpayer, etc.)] within the Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) to express my serious concerns regarding the potential outcomes of the current School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) survey and its disproportionate impact on our schools.
The current SFRA formula has demonstrably failed the LRHSD, primarily due to the severe application of the “district wealth factor.” This has resulted in a critical and unsustainable financial situation for our students and community.
Key Concerns and Necessary Actions
- Preservation of Guardrails: I urge the NJDOE to ensure that the current funding guardrails are permanently maintained. The State's previous attempt to strip an additional $4.5 million from our budget, reduced only due to the temporary guardrails, demonstrates the immediate and catastrophic financial risk if they are removed.
- Zero Equalization Aid: It is unacceptable that LRHSD receives ZERO dollars in Equalization Aid for regular education programs. This leaves our district to fund core academic support, counseling, nursing, athletics, and crucial facilities maintenance solely through local property taxes.
- Funding Disparity: LRHSD currently relies on the State for approximately 10% of its total budget. This extreme disparity is fundamentally unfair when compared to other New Jersey districts that receive 60% to 90% or more of their budgets from State Aid. Despite the fact that our enrollment has only decreased 5% since 2018, our funding has decreased 35%.
- Impact on Programming: Due to consistent, year-over-year State Aid reductions, our district has been forced to make difficult decisions that include the elimination of positions and critical student programming. Further cuts will directly diminish the quality of education provided to our students.
The State Aid formula must prioritize the educational needs of all students in New Jersey without unfairly penalizing districts by overemphasizing the “local wealth factor.” A revision of the State Aid formula that secures a fair and equitable share of funding for LRHSD is essential.
Thank you for considering my input on this vital matter.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address/Town]
[Parent of Student at High School Name, e.g., Lenape High School]