Public Speaks About School Plan

About 12 people spoke at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, most in support of the district’s $128 million 2011-12 spending plan.

The district unveiled a tentative budget earlier this month that calls for eliminating 25 full time teachers and carries a 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.

Voters will get their say on the plan at school elections on April 27.

Some of the people who spoke urged the school board to continue funding athletics. Others blasted a plan to cut full-time support staff for special education students, while others came to rail about increasing taxes.

“You should pay more for benefits,” said Constance Lonczak, referring to district administrators. “Why are you punishing the teachers and students when you should be paying more.”

Last year, teachers and administrators agreed to a pay freeze and to contribute 1.5 percent to cover the cost of health benefits.

An earlier draft of the proposed spending plan called for $138,809,177 in expenses, but would have resulted in a $2,755,048 shortfall. To bridge the gap, the district $1,829,349 in teaching staff reductions, including seven full-time teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade, and 16 full-time teachers in six through 12, including four from Hammarskjold, six from Churchill and six from the high school. The district also will be eliminating two world language teachers in grade four, one bilingual elementary school teacher, one counselor, one student assistant specialist and one media specialist.

The district also will eliminate $731,978 in support staff by making 40 full-time school aids and instructional assistants into 80 part timers, and eight full-time school aids into 16 part time positions.

Ruth Davitt, president of the East Brunswick Education Association, urged the board to look carefully at the effects the cuts would have on the schools, pointing out that even the counselor and media specials will be felt.

Joan Hickman, a member of the Executive Board of the EBEA said she too is concerned about staff reductions.

“Positive, productive relationships have been formed,” she said about the full time aids and their relationship with students. She also said those students benefit from consistency, and changing full-timers into part-timers wouldn’t bring that consistency.

The district also expects to save $193,721 by eliminating the Summer Academy and replacing it with support during the school year and $31,500 in home instruction and other costs.

Other expenses include $2,592,823 to purchase supplies and materials for everything from the classroom to the maintenance department; $3,449,609 for gas and electric, $3,979,680 for special education, $4,737,805 for facilities repair and maintenance, and $97,436,161 for salaries and benefits. 

Despite the cuts and tax increase, according to School Business Administrator Bernard Giuliana, the amount to be raised by taxes has changed very little over the last several years, and said tax increases should be blamed on a decrease in state aid, including a mid-school year grab of more than $5 million last year.

Expected revenue in the proposed budget includes $108,924,563 in the amount to be raised by taxes; $15,145,501 in state aid; $1,211,656 in fund balance; $1,074,679 in one time expense refunds, which includes reimbursement for rent paid to use Corpus Christie School; $677,573 in one time Federal Education job Funds, $500,00 in extraordinary aid; and $520,157 in other revenue.

In 2010, state aid was cut mid-year by $5,008,573 when the governor announced that certain school districts with enough “surplus,” or fund balance, should use that money instead. Giuliana said the money needed to make it through the rest of the year wasn’t surplus, but money earmarked for the 2011-12 school year, the same year it's planning for now.

Just a few months later, for the current school year, the district took a $6,633,436 state aid hit, and lost an additional $423,969 to the School Development Authority. It also had to deal with a required $1.3 million payment for a new charter school, and an additional $2.4 million in cuts from the Township Council. The council made the cuts following the budget’s defeat by voters in April.

According to Giuliana, East Brunswick received $20,087,014 in state aid for the 2008-09 school year; $15,527,825 for the 2009-10 school year, a drop of more than 22 percent; and $13,817,220 in 2010-11, a drop of more than 31 percent from 2008-09. For the current year, it expects to receive $15.145 million, an increase from the previous year, but still below previous numbers.

During the same time, the general fund tax levy, the amount to be raised by taxes, has remained largely the same. In the 2008-090 school year it was $106.086 million; in 2009-10 it was $106,086 million and for the current year, it was $106,788 million.

Others who spoke in support of the budget included teachers, parents and students, including senior Julian Quintn. Julian, who announced that he has received a full scholarship to play football next year, said high school athletics is as important to the schools as academics and art. Things such as teamwork, setting goals and countless other lessons can be learned from sports, he said.

“From football I learned teamwork, that’s a lesson I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life,” he said.