Schools

Bernards Voters Reject School Budget

Elaine Kusel unseated current Board of Education finance chair Lou Carlucci in the contested election.

The proposed budget for the Bernards school district was rejected Tuesday by a total of 2,939 votes against to 2,523 in favor, a 416 vote margin.

Board of Education challenger Elaine Kusel unseated current Board finance chair Lou Carlucci, leading all candidates for the contested three-year term with 2,801 votes. Current Board President Bill Koch and long-time Board member Michael Byrne were re-elected to three-year terms with 2,552 and 2,699 votes respectively. Carlucci received 2,420 votes.

Audrey Cohen Sherwyn was also elected to serve the remainder of her two-year term that she began serving last year, receiving 2,747 votes in the uncontested election.

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"I would like to welcome Elaine [Kusel] to the Board. I look forward to working with her," Koch said of the newcomer. The Board of Education members also said a sad farewell to their now former colleague, Carlucci, as the election results came in. "I will miss working with Lou [Carlucci] a great deal," Koch said. "On a personal basis we've had great council and discussion, and I've appreciated his input very much. Frankly I'm surprised that he was not [reelected.]"

Carlucci had the difficult task as the Board's finance chair of delivering a presentation on the Board's budget proposal in two public hearings in March. Koch speculated that the decision to vote out the candidate may have been influenced by a "kill the messenger" reaction.

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All of the election results are unofficial and must be verified by the county, but the margins indicate the the results are unlikely to change.

With the budget defeated, the district will have to submit a defeated budget packet to the Township Committee for review.

The district must include the following information, among other items:

  • A line-item budget listing each item by code with a description, including actual expenditures for the previous school year and proposed expenditures for 2010-11, with explanations
  • A copy of the school district's annual progress report, most recent annual audit and applicable portions of the Comparative Spending Guide and School Report Card
  • Complete number of current staff and projected staff for the following school year, and salary schedules for all employees
  • Rationale for the major line item increases or decreases in the budget

Although encouraged to submit the information to the Township Committee by April 22, the district has an absolute deadline of April 28, two days after election results are certified.

It is then up to the Township Committee to review the submitted information and set a revised tax levy amount for the schools to use. School and township officials are required to establish a meeting date to give the district an opportunity to present the rationale behind their proposal, and the Township Committee must decide on the new budget number by May 19.

After the decision is rendered, the Board of Education has full jurisdiction in determining what to items to adjust in order to meet the new budget total.

"Hopefully they realize what we are working with and do the right thing by our school district and our children," Koch said.


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