By Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul

National Teacher Appreciation week starts Monday and we want to take this opportunity to recognize teachers for the critical role they play in our children’s lives and in making Monmouth County home to some of the best schools in the state.

In the past two weeks US News and World Report and the College Board released reports that named Monmouth County’s five vocational schools among the top schools in New Jersey. The schools are High Technology High School, Lincroft; Biotechnology High School, Freehold; Monmouth County Academy of Allied Health and Science, Neptune; Communications High School, Wall, and Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Highlands. High Technology High School had the highest average SAT score in New Jersey with an average score of 1,532, just 68 points from a perfect score.

We congratulate these schools and their students, administrators, staff and especially their teachers because schools don’t reach top-in-the-state status without outstanding teachers.

Even as we celebrate their success, however, we are working in Trenton to address the teacher shortage that continues to challenge New Jersey schools.

In a survey conducted just before the start of the current school year, the NJ Principals and Supervisors Association found only 16.3 percent of members had fully staffed their classrooms. Staffing shortages continue to be one of the most significant challenges our school districts face and one of the most significant obstacles preventing them from developing or expanding high quality school programs that meet the academic, social, emotional, and mental-health needs of their students. 

Our schools even feel the impact of teacher shortages during the summer, when teachers who rely on child care subsidies from the state lose them because they work reduced hours. Many of those teachers opt out of teaching in the summer because they have no one to watch their kids and would not earn enough in the summer to make teaching summer school worth it.

That’s why we support legislation, of which Assemblywoman Peterpaul is a primary sponsor, to prohibit the Department of Human Services from deeming certain teachers and school employees ineligible for child care subsidies due to the reduced number of hours worked when school is not in session for students. 

Summer courses and programs can contribute significantly to student success and we need to ensure schools have the teachers available to teach them. Under the current law, teachers must work at least 30 hours a week to be eligible for child care subsidies. Under our bill, A1667, teachers would have to reach all eligibility requirements except the 30 hours as long as they are working outside the normal school year.

Another indication of the success of Monmouth County’s schools hit the news recently, when the state Secretary of Higher Education and the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program recognized the academic success and graduation of 33 Legislative District 11 college students from backgrounds of economic and educational disadvantage. The majority of those LD11 students attend Brookdale Community College. 

Brookdale, like the vocational high schools mentioned earlier, is a great resource for students in Monmouth County. We are proud to support legislation to restore state funds to community colleges that would be cut under the governor’s proposed FY 2025 budget.

Restoring funds to school districts is an important part of the state budget negotiations that have begun in the Legislature and finding a permanent solution to the state's antiquated school funding formula will remain one of our top priorities until we do.

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Dr. Margie Donlon is a member of the Assembly Health and the Tourism, Gaming & the Arts committees. Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul is a member of the Assembly Commerce, Economic Development & Agriculture and the Aging & Human Services Committees. They represent residents of Asbury Park, Allenhurst, Bradley Beach, Colts Neck, Deal, Eatontown, Fair Haven, Freehold, Freehold Township, Interlaken, Loch Arbor, Long Branch, Neptune City, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank, Tinton Falls, Shrewsbury, and Shrewsbury Township in the State Assembly.