Transportation Per Pupil Cost Break Down for Berkeley Heights, Chatham, New Providence, Summit, Millburn, Madison, and Westfield

Part Four of our effort to break down the 7-District Budget Dashboard in supporting residents of Berkeley Heights, Chatham, New Providence, Summit, Millburn, Madison, and Westfield provide more informed feedback to their Boards of Education during the upcoming budget process.

Transportation

In light of the District’s recent ACFR, it is worth reexamining last year’s reactions from machine‐backed candidates (such as Deb Terrero), current BOE members (Bradford and Stanley), a sea of former BOE members (most notably Robert Cianculli), the Mayor, and the Council on School Transportation.

For 2024:

• Every district shows an increase in per pupil transportation cost from 2023 to 2024. This suggests a general upward trend in transportation spending.
• Chatham experienced the highest absolute and relative increase, with its per pupil cost rising by $183.83—roughly a 16.2% increase from its 2023 cost.
• Westfield shows one of the smaller increases, with a $41.50 rise (around a 4.5% increase), suggesting a more modest change in transportation service costs.

Berkeley Heights residents can compare this data with some of the more extreme opinions last year.

As we see in the above graph, Berkeley Heights Cost per pupil increases for transportation were in line with other Districts and Berkeley Heights still has the second lowest total spend out of the seven districts:

The same exact position as last year:

Interestingly, the first-year revenue projection for student fees under the new approach closely matched actual figures—the original budget forecast predicted $126,000, and the actual revenue was $112,000 (a 12% shortfall).

The percentage of transportation costs covered by fees from individuals in 2024 was exactly the same as in 2023.

Notably, this outcome was achieved without the last-minute cuts that plagued previous years, while reducing costs for families on a “critical child safety initiative”.

Residents can also keep in mind that, in the past families who sent their children to private schools received $1,100 as per state directive for aid-in lieu transportation costs. Last year the District paid over $75,000 in supporting this aid. The past $1,000 per family pricing for Subscription busing actually penalized those families who were sending their children to BHPSNJ Schools. The current $500 per student / $750 per family cap is a far better approach.

BHPSNJ now has a plan where ALL FAMILIES have access to safe affordable transportation with clear criteria that is stable and in place.

No lawsuits.

No cuts in state funding as a result of this decision.

No mass protests.

This year, it may be more productive for the Mayor and Town Council Members to focus on urgent municipal matters that have been clearly neglected rather than intervening in school matters, providing the laugh sound track during BOE Meetings or participating in petition drives on matters that they know little about. You know… the actual jobs they were elected to do.

Machine connected Board of Education members should prioritize constructive collaboration over sowing discord for electoral gain. Instead of handing over school property to political allies in municipal government—enabling campaign donors to secure more contracts and facilitating a “legacy project” for the Mayor, Council, and Recreation Department.

One question for Summit and New Providence families connects to what is being paid by these Districts for transportation. I am under the impression that neither provide either Courtesy or Subscription bussing. This is especially true for New Providence, which appears to be paying more per pupil than Berkeley Heights.

Revisiting Special Needs

A resident in another community provided us feedback that we should have included Speech and Occupational Therapy Services in our special needs analysis.

With regard to Speech and OT:

• Berkeley Heights saw the largest increase in total cost at 28.13%, with per-pupil costs also rising by 30.75%.
• Summit and New Providence had slight decreases in total cost, with changes of -3.03% and -0.89%, respectively. Their per-pupil costs saw minor increases of 2.75% and 0.11%.
• Millburn was the only district to see a decrease in both total and per-pupil costs, with changes of -3.44% and -2.27%.

When we include Speech and Occupational spending in the overall Special Needs analysis we find that the story changes a bit from the prior article:

• Whereas in the prior dataset, only two Districts reduced spending, we find that only one slightly reduced spending when Speech and OT are added while all others increased spending.

Part One of the Series: Enrollment, Cost per Pupil, Instruction and Administration Spend

Part Two of Series: Administration, Support Services and Legal Services Per Pupil Cost Break Down

Part Three of Series: Special Needs

Supplemental: Three Berkeley Heights Myths About Special Needs Students

Link to 7-District Budget Dashboard

Source Documents for Spreadsheet

See All Articles Related to School Budget

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