N.J. to investigate Chesilhurst school district

State Education Commissioner Bret Schundler has ordered an investigation into Chesilhurst school district's finances after it failed to make $1.3 million in tuition payments to neighboring Winslow school district.

"It is unacceptable that Winslow has not received tuition money that by law should have been paid by Chesilhurst," read a statement from Schundler's office. "There is no justification for withholding funds that are due. We are deeply concerned and are gathering information on why Chesilhurst has not carried out its contractual obligation to pay the tuition."

Up until last year, Chesilhurst functioned as a traditional school district and maintained a single elementary school. In the spring of 2009, the school board voted to close that school and bus its students to Winslow, leaving Chesilhurst to operate in an administrative capacity with a skeleton staff.

Chesilhurst, a small district on the edge of the Pinelands, subsequently was declared a non-operating district by the state and set for closure at the end of June 2010.

The school board has appealed that decision to the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law, but the decision ultimately rests with Schundler, who said he has no intention of allowing Chesilhurst to continue operating and plans to merge the school district into Winslow's.

Chesilhurst Superintendent Abdi Gass maintains the school district kept up with its $3 million in annual tuition payments until March, when Winslow officials would not clarify the terms of the contract that sends approximately 180 students to Winslow each day.

"We really don't know how many students we're sending there. They have all the records. When a student registers for school they go to Winslow," Gass said. "What is really bothering me is why is Winslow not forthcoming."

Gass disputed the amount of money owed but said his staff were still working on determining the figure.

"We can account for all the money. We welcome the investigators," he said.

Winslow school officials did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

Since late last year, Gass and the school board have been campaigning to reopen the elementary school to students.

In December, construction was underway to repair a section of the school damaged by fire and classrooms were being readied by staff with new computers and electronic blackboards.

Gass and the school board citied concerns raised by some Chesilhurst parents about the level of education provided by Winslow, including complaints of large class sizes and school bus schedules that require children to be on the bus for hours each day.

In May, Chesilhurst Mayor Michael Blunt, who has been a frequent critic of Gass and the school board, received a letter from Winslow informing him of the past-due tuition payments.

After discussing the issue with Camden County Superintendent Peggy Nicolosi last month, Blunt ordered the payment to Winslow school district of $316,465, which the borough owed the Chesilhurst school district for property taxes it collected on its behalf.

And Schundler said he was looking into whether the state education funds due Chesilhurst could be redirected to Winslow.

In effect, the two decisions could take away the school district's primary function for being, shuttling the money it receives from local taxpayers and the state to Winslow.

"They are pressuring us," Gass said.