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NJ Department of Education rejects Millburn School Districtęs demographic projections.
Millburn-Short Hills ă August 8, 2005 ă WeLoveMillburn.com
recently learned of a letter sent from the New Jersey
Department of Educationęs Essex County Coordinator
rejecting the 10-year demographic study Millburn
School District had submitted in connection with
its proposed $40+ million bond referendum. The July
21, 2005 letter directs Millburn School District
to conform its demographic projections to DOE five-year
projection requirements.
WeLoveMillburn.com believes this raises a serious issue about whether the Millburn
Long Range Planning Committees and the Millburn Board of Education were aware
of the existence of state five-year demographic projection requirements when
developing and voting on proposals. Clearly, the community was never informed
of the existence of the DOE five-year projection requirements.
–
Upon a review of the submittals,” the DOE letter said, –Ä[e]nrollment
project[ions] should be in an approved formatÄ see attachment.” The
attachment refers to a DOE spreadsheet template.
According to NJ DOE requirements, school districts must submit enrollment projections
using that spreadsheet template, which appears on the DOEęs website. The school
district also must use the DOEęs demographic methodology for the five-year
template projections, unless the district can demonstrate extenuating circumstances
to support the use of non-DOE methodology. Extenuating circumstances, such
as a community experiencing a rapidly growing population, are rarely proved.
Millburnęs population has essentially not grown in more than 30 years.
The template, moreover, assures the DOE the school district has used DOE methodology.
Millburnę submission did not use DOE-mandated projection methodology and failed
to demonstrate why the projections submitted should be used. Although Millburnęs
construction plans may yet receive approval from the DOE, failure to inform
the community of the DOE methodology nevertheless raises the issue of the data
upon which the construction proposal was based.
In a recent newsletter sent to Millburn-Short Hills residents, the Board of
Education and Superintendent Brodow never referred to the NJ DOE demographic
methodology, nor did it refer to any projections based on that methodology.
In fact, the body of the newsletter relied solely on projections from a report
prepared by the out-of-state BOCES ® the same projections the DOE has now rejected.
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