School Board Candidates: Meet Andrew Baharlias

Welcome to East Brunswick Patch’s 2011 School Board Election Coverage. Each day this week we will present information on one of four candidates seeking a three-year seat on the school board.

School elections will be held Wednesday, April 27. On the ballot for school board will be incumbents , Todd Simmens and , who are seeking re-election, and Andrew Baharlias, who is hoping to win a seat for the first time.

Voters also will get their say on the district’s $128 million spending plan that calls for eliminating 25 full time teachers.

The budget carries a $108,924,563 school tax levy and calls for a school tax rate increase of 9.88 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 can expect to pay $98.80 more in school taxes next year. For a video of recent school budget presentations, click here.  For more information on the budget, visit the school district's budget information page, here.  

Today we visit with Andrew Baharlias.

A resident for 32 years, Baharlias has one child who is attending Chittick Elementary School.  He is an attorney who received his bachelor's degree in Sports Management from Rutgers University, and his Juris Doctor degree from Seton Hall University School of Law.  He has worked as in-house counsel to the New York Yankees, GE Healthcare and Liz Claiborne.  During the past month, he closed his solo law practice to join the The Pepper Law Group in Somerville.  A graduate of East Brunswick High School in 1989, Baharlias was a violist in the orchestra, participated in Model U.N., and Model Congress and was a member of the IPLE class that represented New Jersey in the We the People competition.  At Rutgers, he was a founding organizer of Rutgers Model U.N. and Rutgers Model Congress.

Baharlias ran unsuccessfully for a term on the school board last year.

1. What are the biggest issues the school board is facing over the next three years?  How to you think the board has handled similar problems in the past?

The most important issue facing this public school system is how to deal with a budget crisis that almost certainly will persist for years to come, unless the State Supreme Court finds Governor Christie’s proposed budget cuts to education unconstitutional and reinstates State-aid at the levels prior to 2009.

I think the board has acted admirably in weathering the storm and while I think their actions represented more of a RE-action rather than PRO-action, I’m not sure any board could have adequately planned for the trio of events that happened in East Brunswick between 2008 and the present (the loss of an elementary school, the state budget crisis and the introduction of the Charter School).

When I decided to run with Dr. Brad Cohen in 2010, our unifying goal was to begin to push the board toward strategically planning for the future despite the crises of the present.  Regardless of the outcome of various litigations, we must start this process now because relying on past practice is absolutely the wrong way to go about it.  What’s needed now is strategic planning by “outside the box” strategic thinkers.

2. How can the board balance decreases in revenue with maintaining a high quality education for students?

I believe our school system is the core of what makes East Brunswick an attractive place to live in New Jersey.  People certainly aren’t moving here for the great shopping! We have an amazingly dynamic public school system that, actually measured on a per pupil cost basis, is only slightly higher than average on a state-wide basis, but because we have so little tax revenue generated by commercial enterprise, our citizens end up paying out-of-proportion taxes to keep the school system running at peak performance.

This problem is something that I believe is more of an issue for the Township Council and not the Board of Education, however.  We have to be realistic about certain things.  The Board of Education can only do so much to generate revenue (or conversely save money) without sacrificing the very thing that makes East Brunswick a town that people want to move to rather than escape from.

If we begin to sacrifice the educational standard of the school district to save a few pennies here and there, we’ll be heading down a slippery slope that will inevitably lead to lower property values, lower graduation rates and a general loss of prestige that makes a graduate of East Brunswick High School an automatically recognized contender in the college-admissions landscape.

3. This year’s school budget calls for cutting an additional 25 teachers.  Last year’s spending plan meant a reduction of 99 school district employees.  The question is, is there a point when laying teachers off is no longer an option?  Will there be a moment when you feel “enough is enough”?

Personally, I feel we’ve already reached that point.  I will be emphatic about my support for the current budget.  WE MUST PASS THIS BUDGET!  

We must pass this budget or the slippery slope I described will begin to take shape.  I will reiterate that the Township Council and the leaders of this community must figure out a way of increasing tax revenues without getting them from the homeowners.  We certainly are in a recession and that must be accounted for, but the township leaders must stop focusing on the “cuts” and start thinking about ways to generate revenue in this town.  Cuts and cuts and cuts will lead to the ultimate destruction of what has made East Brunswick a place for families, and that is our outstanding public school education.  If that happens, we can all start calculating our real losses as our children have difficulties getting into college and our homes increasingly devalue year after year.

4. On the education side, what would you like to see the district focus on to prepare students for graduation, college and careers?

I think something that would benefit our students is more hands-on, real-life scenarios being taught in the classroom.  An example of this can be found in my experience on the T&E Curriculum Committee.  A particular art class that focused on commercial and business aspects of art was discussed for addition into the curriculum.  What a fantastic idea!  Giving students fundamentals in both theory and practice leads to a more rounded education and better prepared students.

I think the district also needs to start focusing on assisting kids who may have economic hardship and strategies on how they can pay for college and what the financial burdens of a college education will be as compared to no college education at all.  Many of us grew up during a time when college education was a right, not a privilege.  We are slowly returning to the days of it being a privilege and we must make sure that the children of the future have the same opportunities that we had. 

Finally, we must also continue to support special education and stay ahead of the curve for recognizing new ways of teaching those with special needs as well as whatever else is called for to make sure they receive an appropriate public education.

5. Tell us in your own words why you would like to run, why you think you will do a good job, and what you hope to accomplish?

My decision to run for the Board of Education stems from a wish to see educational excellence in East Brunswick continue into the next generation and a desire to give back to the East Brunswick community, where I currently serve as a member of the T&E Curriculum committee.  In 2010 I narrowly failed to win a seat on the board, finishing 230 votes behind the third place winner out of a total of 7,400 votes cast. In this difficult time for education both in New Jersey and nationwide, a concerned citizen and parent needs more than 230 reasons to stay at home and watch from the sidelines, thus this second run.

My family moved to East Brunswick in 1974 and I graduated from East Brunswick High School in 1989.  My mother was a school social worker and my father was a school psychologist in nearby Edison, each serving in public education for over 30 years.  I was fortunate enough to be educated through the East Brunswick school system where I participated in the orchestra (violin and viola) and was a member of the 1989 IPLE team that New Jersey sent to the We the People competition.  I also participated in Model Congress, Model United Nations, took part in athletics, and was business manager of the school newspaper in my senior year. My wife and I now have an eight-year old son who is benefitting from East Brunswick’s excellent public schools.

Now, I am an experienced lawyer and administrator, and my goal is to put my skills in strategic planning in the service of East Brunswick. It would be my honor to serve on the board, and to that end I would be privileged to have your support.