Lower Cape May Regional School District

The Lower Cape May Regional School District (LCMR School District) is regional public school district headquartered in Lower Township, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades through from four communities in Cape May County, including Lower Township, Cape May City and West Cape May, with students from Cape May Point attending as part of a sending/receiving relationship.[3][4]

Lower Cape May Regional School District
School district administrative offices
Address
687 Route 9
Cape May, NJ 08204
Coordinates
District information
Grades7-12
SuperintendentJoseph Castellucci
Business administratorMark Mallett
Schools2
Students and staff
Enrollment1,365 (as of 2017-18)[1]
Faculty122.7 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio11.1:1[1]
Other information
District Factor GroupB
WebsiteDistrict website
Ind.Per pupilDistrict
spending		Rank
(*)		9-12
average		%± vs.
average
1ATotal Spending$21,74029$18,89115.1%
1Budgetary Cost16,1182414,58610.5%
2Classroom Instruction9,539318,33914.4%
6Support Services1,959132,114−7.3%
8Administrative Cost1,662241,5616.5%
10Operations & Maintenance2,044261,79813.7%
13Extracurricular Activities64111673−4.8%
16Median Teacher Salary70,4132765,769
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of 9-12 districts with any number of students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=47

The district's board of education consists of nine members, of which seven members are from Lower Township, and one member each from both Cape May and West Cape May. Three members are elect each year to three-year terms of office.[5]

As of the 2017-18 school year, the district and its two schools had an enrollment of 1,365 students and 122.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.1:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "B", the second lowest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[6]

History

As of 2014, the city of Cape May contributed $6.5 million in property taxes to cover the 67 students from the city attending the district, an average of $97,300 per student. Cape May officials have argued that the district's funding formula based on assessed property values unfairly penalizes Cape May, which has higher property values and a smaller number of high school students as a percentage of the population than the other constituent districts, especially Lower Township; Cape May has 6% of students while its share of property taxes for the district is one third. A change to base contributions on the number of students would cut property taxes in Cape May by $1,250 per home and in West Cape May by almost $1,100, while taxes for the average homeowner in Lower Township would increase by more than $400.[7] In 2012, Cape May contributed $6 million in property taxes and sent 120 students to the regional district, an average of $50,000 per student.[8]

In 2013, the Lower Cape May Regional School District received a feasibility study that would look at ways to reconfigure the district, which had been established in 1956. The study considered Cape May City withdrawing from the regional district or the dissolution of the district, converting the existing PreK-6 Lower Township School District to serve PreK-12, as the regional district's school facilities are located in the township. Cape May City and West Cape May could see annual savings approaching a combined $6 million from the dissolution.[3]

Schools and facilities
Lower Cape May Regional High School

Schools in the district (with 2017-18 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[9]) are:[10]

The LCMR district describes its facilities as being in Erma, with the postal address being "Cape May, New Jersey";[13] the schools are not in the Erma census-designated place.[14]

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[15][16]

  • Joseph Castellucci, Superintendent
  • Mark Mallett, Business Administrator / Board Secretary

The district's board of education has nine members who set policy and oversee the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election.[17][18][19] Seats on the board are allocated based on population, with Lower Township assigned seven seats and Cape May and West Cape May assigned one seat each.[20]

References
  1. District information for Lower Cape May Regional School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  2. Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. Johnson, Virgil; and Kirtland, James L. "A Feasibility Study to Reconfigure the Lower Cape May Regional School District", Statistical Forecasting LLC, June 2013. Accessed June 18, 2014. "Cape May City is one of three constituent communities served by the Lower Cape May Regional School District ("Lower Cape May Regional"), a limited purpose school district providing education for the middle and high school students from Cape May City, Lower Township, and West Cape May.... Students from Cape May Point attend on a sending-receiving basis."
  4. Interdistrict Public School Choice Brochure, Lower Cape May Regional School District. Accessed December 24, 2019. "Lower Cape May Regional High School is a four year comprehensive public High School that serves stidents from Cape May, West Cape May, Lower Township, Cape May Point and now Choice School students."
  5. School District of Lower Cape May Regional Comprehensive Annual Financial Report For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2015, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 24, 2019. "Description of the Reporting Entity -The Lower Cape May Regional School District (District) is a Type II school district located in Cape May County, New Jersey and covers an area of approximately 34 square miles. As a Type II school district, it functions independently through a Board of Education. The Board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. These terms are staggered so that three member's terms expire each year."
  6. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed September 22, 2014.
  7. Degener, Richard. "Lower Cape May Regional School District towns to vote on funding formula", The Press of Atlantic City, October 5, 2014. Accessed September 19, 2017. "When that mix makes up a school district, the island towns tend to pay significantly more per pupil than the mainland towns. That’s because the state formula deciding who pays is not based on how many pupils are sent.... Cape May now pays $6,520,338 for its 67 students. Under a per pupil system it would pay $932,754."
  8. Fichter, Jack. "Cape May Paying $50K Per Student to Regional School District", Cape May County Herald, January 4, 2012. Accessed July 31, 2017. "Cape May — Taxpayers here pay $50,000 per year for each student sent to the Lower Cape May Regional High School District, a total of $6 million per year.... Deputy Mayor Jack Wichterman said Cape May was paying $6 million to send 120 kids to the regional school district.... 'We have no say in the formula that's utilized to determine how much money we pay to that school district,' he said. 'There are several formulas that can be used and the one that the Lower Township members of that school board chose to use is the one that penalizes the City of Cape May because our real estate values are so much higher than they are in Lower Township.'"
  9. School Data for the Lower Cape May Regional High School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
  10. New Jersey School Directory for the Lower Cape May Regional School District, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 26, 2016.
  11. Richard M. Teitelman Middle School, Lower Cape May Regional School District. Accessed December 26, 2016.
  12. Lower Cape May Regional High School, Lower Cape May Regional School District. Accessed December 24, 2019.
  13. "Board of Education". Lower Cape May Regional School District. Retrieved 2020-09-28. [...]in the Administration Building, located at 687 Route 9, Erma, Township of Lower, County of Cape May, State of New Jersey.[...]687 Route 9 • Cape May, NJ 08204 - All LCMR School District facilities have the same postal address.
  14. "2010 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP: Erma CDP, NJ" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2020-09-23. - The airport is not in the CDP as per the physical location.
  15. Administration, Lower Cape May Regional School District. Accessed December 24, 2019.
  16. New Jersey School Directory for Cape May County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 26, 2016.
  17. New Jersey Boards of Education by District Election Types - 2018 School Election, New Jersey Department of Education, updated February 16, 2018. Accessed January 26, 2020.
  18. Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the Lower Cape May Regional School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2018. Accessed February 3, 2020. "The Lower Cape May Regional School District (District) is a Type II school district located in Cape May County, New Jersey and covers an area of approximately 34 square miles. As a Type II school district, it functions independently through a Board of Education. The Board is comprised of nine members elected to three-year terms. These terms are staggered so that three member’s terms expire each year. The purpose of the School District is to provide educational services for all of Lower Cape May Regional’s students in grades 7 through 12."
  19. Board of Education, Lower Cape May Regional School District. Accessed February 11, 2020.
  20. Crowley, Terence J. A Response to the Cape May Study to Reconfigure the Lower Cape May Regional School District, Lower Cape May Regional School District, January 6, 2014. Accessed February 11, 2020. "The Lower Cape May Regional District (Regional is classified as a Limited Purpose District.... It is a Type II district and apportions the Board of Education seats based upon the most recent United States Census. It has nine seats on the Board and that are apportioned as follows: Cape May City 1; West Cape May 1; Lower Township 7."
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