Schools

School Budget Cuts Final, Major Programs Spared

Full-day kindergarten, third grade strings and band and all four assistant principal positions at the elementary schools will be back for at least one more year.

The eighth Board of Education budget meeting proved to be the last, as the Board voted to approve a list of suggested cuts from Superintendent Valerie Goger Monday night.

Additional savings from teacher retirements, out-of-district tuition students and a reduction in the brokerage fee for district healthcare benefits, among other smaller items, were enough to save full-day kindergarten, all elementary assistant principal positions and third and fourth grade strings and band classes.

The Cuts

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Among the reductions for 2010-11 are:

  • Elimination of four library aides ­– $16,000 savings
  • Postponement of new library book purchases – $80,000
  • Elimination of one data technology teaching position – $55,000
  • Elimination of REACH enrichment program at William Annin – $30,000
  • Reduction of low enrollment clubs – $30,000
  • Reduction in scheduled maintenance expenditures – $50,000
  • Postponement of curriculum writing and purchase of new textbooks – $93,000
  • Reduction in staff training, fewer substitute teachers – $18,000

The total amounts to $322,000, short of the $800,000 in cuts required by the township committee in response to the defeat of the proposed school budget. The rest of the cuts will come from the items listed previously: retirements ($180,000), tuition ($127,000), and the healthcare fee reduction ($75,000) as well as a reduced waste management contract ($7,000), contractual givebacks from the superintendent, assistant superintendent and business administrator ($31,000) and renegotiated leases ($8,000). All together, the cuts total to exactly $800,000.

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The Board members stressed that they will continue to pursue savings from negotiating with the Bernards Township Education Association over teacher contracts, but that the decision is not made unilaterally and savings cannot be included in the proposed budget.

Other Considerations

The superintendent also presented more information to the Board based on questions received at the last meeting on May 17. Among the potential cuts suggested were guidance secretaries, nurses, phone services, staff training, grounds and athletics. None of the suggestions were recommended for a variety of reasons.

There are three guidance secretaries at Ridge High School, serving nine counselors who process over 3,100 college transcript requests, as well as phone calls, parent questions and counseling appointments for students. The middle school has two guidance secretaries in a department which has been reduced recently for budgetary reasons.

The nursing program was also looked at, but large workloads prevented any potential savings. There are two nurses each at Ridge and William Annin, who tend to over 3,000 students combined. There is also one nurse at each elementary school, overseeing 581-767 students. At Ridge, nurses see on average, 100-150 students a day, according to numbers provided by Goger, and they have administered 27,772 medications, not counting over-the-counter medicines like Tylenol, since the beginning of the current school year.

Staff training is budgeted at a $122,000 less than the previous year, and was not recommended for further cuts. The phone plans were looked at, and no increase was budgeted, but further cuts could not be counted on, although they are being looked at for the fall. The school grounds and facilities budget also was looked at, but projects to restore the varsity field complex, Willian Annin soccer field, roof repairs for the summer of 2011 and a few others prevented any budget cuts in that area.

Goger also said that, when looking at athletic costs in the schools, the district already functions on what is a near pay-to-play program. "Our parents are paying a great deal of money, I would suggest we absolutely have a pay-to-play system," Goger said.

Some examples cited were baseball, where parents have to pay a $150 season fee, $340 for a mandatory summer ball program, and at least $450 for bats and cleats and other equipment for their children. Boys basketball carries a $300 season fee, and much of the costs are borne through fundraising. The same goes for most of the other sports and activities, according to Goger, with hockey being the most expensive. Parents of ice hockey players pay a $900 season fee, $200-500 for skates, $360-500 for two sticks, which can break, $200 for a helmet, $400 for protective pads, $100-300 for gloves, $100 for a hockey bag, and if their child is a goalie, they can factor in an additional $1,000 for pads.

"You can be glad that your son doesn't play hockey," Goger said.

Board Reaction

While most of the major programs were spared, the projections going forward call for more cuts in the years to come. Goger predicted that, assuming state aid remains flat, and a 2.5 percent tax cap is imposed this year, another $1.3 million will need to be cut, at a minimum, in 2011-12; as well as $600,000 and $400,000 the following two years.

"That's the multi-year context, and it's a really dire context," Goger said.

All of the Board members supported the recommended cuts, and many expressed relief at having saved the instrumental music program, and the current kindergarten and assistant principal model for at least another year. Several Board members also commented that they were satisfied with the minimal amount of program cuts that were required despite the large losses in revenue. The board also received no public comments on the budget for the first time this year.

"No one is happy about this. The audience isn't happy, we're all in anxiety, but it's a reality that we have a state that is in financial crisis. They have no money," Board member Susan McGowan said. "Even though we are sending them money, we aren't getting much back. What we've been able to preserve this year is pretty remarkable."

In a special meeting between the N.J. Commissioner of Education Brett Schundler and the Bernards school district Monday, Schundler told the Board it should expect to continue to receive the same amount of state aid it was given for 2010-11–an amount reduced by 82 percent from the prior year.

"I think we need to do everything we can to get more funding from the state. I hate to think that our great schools are going to suffer now," Board member Elaine Kusel said upon hearing the news.

What's Next

Bernards plans to form an administrative committee to review more cost-effective education models in other districts for the upcoming year, anticipating larger changes to school operations due to budget shortcomings.

"Once we put this budget to bed, we need to make a lot of decisions and we need to make them in the fall in fairness to parents and people looking to move into this town," Goger said. "We need to change the way we deliver education."


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