Last week on December 4, Manville High School had a very important visitor: Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Fatima Diarra, Sara Sobkowicz, and Kayla Knape, staff writers for Manville High School’s online newspaper, Hoofprints, accepted the position of conducting an interview with Mr. Sweeney. Accompanied by their teacher, Ms. Stefani Levonaitis, the three student reporters, along with administrators, board of education members, Ned Panfile, senator staff and other state legislatures filed into the media center awaiting Mr. Sweeney’s presence. 

The purpose of the interview? To discuss with Mr. Sweeney his plan to help underfunded school districts, which Manville is a great example of. 

In recent years, some New Jersey school districts had been receiving up to 400% of their state aid while other schools, like Manville, had only been receiving 42% or less. Senate President Stephen Sweeney had proposed and had been a big supporter of the S2 bill. This S2 legislation would balance the disparities in school aid. In other words, school districts that were receiving more than their intended state aid will transition to an equitable amount of 100%, while schools that weren’t receiving enough, like Manville, would gain necessary funding. When asked when all New Jersey schools will be fully funded at 100%, Sweeney responded by stating “Another 5 years. We’re on the path to get to 100 percent funding.” Manville schools are currently receiving 62% of their state aid, and in response to the new funds, Beers comically announced that “all the roofs are not going to leak, and all the toilets will flush.” As a result Manville High School has a new performing arts center (auditorium), a media center, and a new gym floor. In addition, A.B.I.S. also has a new gym floor, new lunch tables, and a completely renovated media center. One of the goals of the S2 bill is to also maintain class sizes where educators can teach to the fullest. We can see this improvement as recent as in the past year where nine new teachers were hired at Manville High School.  Over the past two years, Manville High School has added a variety of available courses to all subject areas from the Arts to STEM to World Languages. The AP curriculum has also grown to encompass more accelerated student’s needs in our advancing world. A tour provided by Superintendent Beers, Administrators, and the Board of Education displayed the benefits of Sweeney’s proposed bill on a school like M.H.S. Clearly, Manville schools have tremendously benefitted from the S2 legislation.