Asbury Park district weighs property sales and public-private partnerships to close multimillion-dollar gap

Asbury Park Superintendent Michael Gerbino said the district is "facing a deficit" and presented multiple options to close a multimillion-dollar gap, including selling buildings, consolidating operations and pursuing public-private partnerships.

Why it matters: The board is weighing capital and operating choices that could affect school facilities, staff deployment and the local tax levy. At the meeting the board voted to set minimum bid prices for two district properties and to submit a revised (tentative) budget package to the county, steps the administration said are needed while longer-term revenue options are developed.

Gerbino told the board the district has reorganized operations to save money (moving central office functions, consolidating early‑grade classrooms and expanding in‑district special‑education placements). He said the district has realized direct savings and new revenue from expanded ERI placements — "a net total savings earned income of $1,070,000," he said — and that the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) is being used districtwide and drawing positive attention from the state Department of Education.

But the administration said those gains are not enough to erase a larger structural shortfall. Gerbino laid out building‑by‑building options: several properties (including Thurgood Marshall, Barack…