FUNDING FORMULA REFERENDUM REJECTED BY LOWER BOARD OF EDUCATION

A motion to bring a school funding question before local voters never came to a vote on Thursday. The Lower Cape May Regional School District Board of Education failed to adopt a resolution that would ask voters to decide on the local school funding formula. Board member and Cape May resident Gary Gilbert made a motion to ask voters from Lower Township, West Cape May and Cape May to change the basis of the funding formula from property values to enrollment. Gilbert’s motion failed to get a second from the other board members. The current formula costs Cape May residents over $72,000 per student annually, while Lower Township residents pay less than $8,000 per student.