I'd argue the point that they have agreed to voluntary pay freeze. Frankly, I do not find this generous at all. A generous approach would be for all administrative positions to take a 5% pay cut. In this time of austerity measures, corporate downsizing and such it is not a commendable act to volunteer for a pay freeze. Although I am employed well, I've seen a continual reduction in income for 3 years now due to the financial position of my firm (and we cut Billions of dollars) and I've accepted that.

Since the budget shortfall is similar in a way, I suggest it would go a long way for everyone to volunteer for 5% pay cuts vs. a pay freeze (which is somewhat meaningless). After all, even Congress (both federal and NY State) have done it as well.

Regards,
David

I would take issue with your definition of "budget gap". A true analysis would show projected revenue with no tax increase on one side, while showing the cost of providing the exact same services as last year on the other side. The difference between the two figures, if one exists, is the "budget gap."

Instead, your definition seems to be the difference between the tax neutral revenue on one side and a cost that include changes, some or all of "wish list", and very uncertain estimates of teacher salary and benefits on the other side.

Perhaps you can consider splitting this into "baseline budget gap" and "wish list budget gap"? This way, the words will more clearly mean the things you want them to. I, for one, have not seen the baseline budget at the meetings yet, and I think that this is what causes many to make presumptions about ulterior motives. If you show us the baseline facts, and indicate ranges that could change depending upon the outcome of teacher negotiations, then we will be much more informed and likely more supportive.

The town should be grateful that we have a NEW Superintendent and a QUALIFIED leadership team that is working hard to fix the current budget crisis in a professional, honest and transparent manner. Compare this to the last administration! Remember, you get what you pay for.

Crikey! It seems that few residents have been involved in budgeting. For the government, revenue is (roughly) fixed, so providing the same service requires cost cutting in the form of doing without or cutting services provided. There's very little elasticity on salary or benefits because of the collective bargaining process (and would be a topic worthy of weeks of public debate in itself). That leaves service to be cut - courtesy busing and some capital expenditures seem to be the only ones with any impact (>$500k). Not prepaying insurance will help in 2011, but that cost will return (perhaps higher) in 2012 as the prepaid amount goes missing.

I think the headcount reduction amounts have been understated, they seem to only include base salary and omit loaded salary amounts. But if there's a headcount reduction, you're looking at missing "extras" (languages, music, sports) or larger class sizes (remove 1 team in the middle school). Good luck fighting that one in a way that pleases even a majority of people.

The only multi-million dollar expenditure on the budget with any room to move is benefits (seriously, salary's a non-starter). Negotiating that is outside the scope of this budget discussion. How do we get public input on the collective bargaining process? And I'm not trying to instigate a union bashing tirade... this is an area where the public can save money by adopting commercial HR policies. Anyone...? Bueller...?

Thanks for the lecture on the meaning on words. We heard you the first time...

.."But only weeks later, Trenton reversed itself and indicated we could indeed hire at the market rate, so we adjusted the salaries to that market rate. "

But wait minute, didn't they "agree" to work for $150k? It seems as though that was sufficient to hire them -- they could have declined. Why did we spend $30k/year when we did not have to? And you wonder why taxpayers in this town are a little cynical? That pay raise was an indication that fiscal discipline continues to be a challenge for this Board and the super.

Thank you to everyone who's joined the conversation! This relatively new method for communicating has its limitations, but I think (hope) the pros will greatly outweigh the cons. A few thoughts in response to the various comments posted so far:

1. The point about $$ saved/head is a good one, and the figures used MIGHT be slightly understated, but it's important to remember that seniority and tenure kick in when positions get cut, so those who lose a job are often (unless we have sufficient retirements) on the lower end of the pay scale.

2. I like the idea of portraying the "gap" in two ways--the first how it has been presented to date (that is, after asking budget managers for their requests), and the other in a way that simply looks at how we could duplicate exactly what we have this year, nothing more and nothing less. We will work on that for the 2/14/11 BOE meeting.

3. One of the dangers of getting so deep into budget cut deliberations is the possibility of losing sight of the big picture. Millburn has not had to discuss "budget gaps" (however one prefers to define that phrase) of this magnitude before. The fiscal paradigm has changed, so we now join other districts in contemplating very real and painful cuts. But the big picture remains intact--that is, the Millburn schools provide an amazing education for the community's children and have a track record of excellence that is unsurpassed anywhere in the state. That is a good thing, and something to preserve.

Let's applaud Dr. Cristfield for engaging here. But lets also all realize that his ultimate responsibility is the the BOE and it is them who will ultimately make the decisions. So lets not go off and expect Dr. Cristfield to say things in public that he is duty bound only to say to the Board in the form of formal recommendations. Nor should we expect (or want) him to negotiate with the teachers union in public or to tip his hand here.

Let's not forget that our taxes are also unsurpassed anywhere in the state.

I applaud Dr. Crisfield for writing this article and joining in Patch discussions. It shows he is really listening to the community across all avenues we have. I also think it would be helpful to show the "baseline budget" - i.e. - keep everything exactly the same year over year, and then compare to revenue with and without the 2% tax increase as that is up to voters and uncertain. It would be great if this could be posted on edline prior to 2/14 BOE meeting so folks could review and print/bring with them to the meeting. That way, we all have the facts in front of us.

In addition, I think it would be helpful to see the historic teacher salary and benefits in this district... in past contract negotiations, what has been given? In addition, what are the facts on how Millburn compares to surrounding high performance districts in teacher pay and benefits (Summit, Chatham, Madison, Livingston?)

I agree that Dr. Crisfield's openness on this budget is welcomed and a reminder that he has done an incredible amount of work in the short time he has been here. I raised the issue at Sunday's meeting about the need for a strategic plan. I asked about this at a BOE meeting last year and the response was that there was a strategic planning committee set up by the BOE, but it had only met once. I was also told that there was a Visions Committee some years ago that included interested citizens and they developed a plan. But I have been unable to find this plan or any other to date. Hence, with all respect intended, I asked my question on Sunday. Would it be possible to post this plan, although outdated, on the district website?

Wish list budgeting is BS. Kudos to Dr. C for acknowledging this and promising to start looking at zero cost increase budgeting. The wish list concept is something that even Gov. Cuomo (a Democrat) acknowledged is the sneaky, slick way that unions continually get what they want at the expense of the suckers, aka taxpayers. Teachers, like the rest of us working class stiffs do not need or deserve a salary increase or a salary freeze - cuts should be considered...and especially so with all the Cadillac benefits and perks they get. Tenure should be on the table and they should get rid of their guaranteed pension plans - those went away for the rest of us in the 90's. Good luck in your battle Dr. C.

The 'going rate' theory of new hire salaries has to be abandoned. In this case, the employees had agreed to the lower salary. It was irresponsible to give them an instant raise, and an excellent example of 'more of the same' management that needs to be changed-now.

Damian and Pucci, well said. Although, I think I'd use a term stronger than irresponsible. Once again, I ask why he hasn't proposed cutting his own (and all administrative staff) salary and benefits. And, regarding the upcoming negotiations with teachers, the starting point should be converting the pension plan to a cash balance plan (just like IBM, DEC and many others have done) - this will cut benefit costs by a minimum of 33% (This is PROVEN math) and have the teachers and administrative staffs pay for healthcare and prescriptions...and lastly, thank goodness Christie capped tax increases at 2% otherwise the answer from this board would be to simply increase taxes by 10-20%...

Please note the local BOE does not negotiate the pension plan. The pension plan is run by the state.
Personally I think it commendable that Dr Crisfield has decided to model positive leadership and already agreed to a salary freeze.

Do we really believe that we should cut teacher's pay? I can see freezing salaries. I can see making changes to their benefits plan to catch it up to what the rest of the world currently pays, regardless of the job (e.g. $20 copay instead of $5 amongst other areas). But, let's not forget that teachers are one of the most important jobs out there and are paid at a fairly low level to begin with. These are the people teaching our children. Do we want them to be totally disgruntled and worrying about how they make ends meet at home? Really? I'd like to see what the budget would look like if:

1. we hold all spending year over year. No "wish list". This is not the year for wishes.
2. we freeze teacher and admin. salaries
3. we change teacher benefits program to better reflect what is customary across public service jobs.

Then, let's look at those numbers and decide what needs to be done.

David, its easy to write a post and say what you think should be accomplished but I think you are discounting what an extraordinary accomplishment it would be for the BOE to get the NJEA to agree to a 5% paycut. As a matter of fact I don't think any district in NJ has accomplished any % paycut since the economic meltdown in 2008. If you know of any District who have gotten any pay cuts, please post the name of the district. That would be very useful information. And to get a 5% paycut and a major reduction in benefits, that would be hitting the Trifecta..not impossible but not likely either. Finally, are you aware if the 2 sides don't come to agreement, the negotiation goes to a mediator and the mediator decides what the resolution is? Historically the mediators have favored the NJEA.

MomSH: In item #3, did you mean to say teacher benefits should reflect what is customary across "PUBLIC" or "PRIVATE" service jobs?

MomSH Teachers' benefits are comparable to other public sector workers in the state and I think many would point that out as "a problem". Public Sector workers have insurance benefits last seen by the private sector in the 1980's. even for like salary.. ...The unions say they traded better benefits for lower salaries and historically the NJEA has dug its feet in at the mention of changing benefits....but I believe, for instance David above and many others in the state, are saying the benefits should be compared to what people working in the private sector get for benefits. Huge discrepancy in that case, even at similar salary levels.

Historically it should be noted that around 2000/2001, the District was having trouble recruiting new teachers as the District's pay scale was not perceived as competitive. In 2002, the pay scale was revised to make it much more competitive and the District's recruiting problems were solved.
Its not true that teachers will come here just because we have strong students.

Noreen -- Prior to 2000 when teachers were compensated less, was Millburn students' academic performance worse? Did the students prior to 2000 not get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other good colleges because of lower paid teachers? Is there any documentation demonstrating that the higher paid teachers have improved Millburn students' performance? Has there been a reduction in private tutoring since the district started paying teachers more? What substantive academic improvements can one document solely as result of higher paid teachers?

Oracle - a quick Google search revealed a number of websites where you could do some research to find the answers you pose. I did not find data yet as far back as 2000, but did find 2002-03 which showed Millburn High as #26 in the state, and in 2008-09 it was #19 via same database. Here is the link:
http://www.schooldigger.com/go/NJ/schoolrank.aspx?level=3&sortexp=SCHOOLNAME&sortdir=a&year=2003&findletter=M

There are several other databases which use different ranking metrics. Perhaps this will help address your questions.

Oracle, you do make a point here. How many children are tutored in this township? Do the test scores that were just posted on patch, truly reflect how well these children are being taught, or how well they are being taught and tutored?

Oracle, I think you are on to something. Perhaps the gold-plated benefits and excessive pay raises have sapped our teachers' motivation. (let's not exclude administration from this, either).

Clearly when the focus of teachers is all about themselves -- vs. our children -- bad things happen.

I would love to see the statistics on how many prospective teachers reject job offers with Millburn for pay reasons.

A few thoughts on the string of comments:

1. Really appreciate the open mind and the willingness to receive and acknowledge feedback that Dr. Crisfield demonstrated here. We may have a point of view and disagree with his methods or comments but the fact that he is willing to engage in a public dialogue is is my view commendable.

2. Thanks also to Ms Brunini for her giving us an insider perspective from the vantage point of being an ex BoE president.

3. There have been comments on asking Teacher's to take a salary cut and/or benfit cut and that a pay freeze is not enough. I work in the Financial Sector and let me tell you bonus pools are up year-on-year this year. Also, it reminds me of the adage "if you pay peanut you will only hire monkeys". We as a family decided to move to Short Hills because of the schools and it is teachers who really make the school. Do we really think that a median teacher salary of $79k is a big deal? A Junior Associate in my firm, three years out of college makes that much. If you look at countries like Finland which are highly rated on K-12 education, teacher salaries are at the top end of the market.

4. Comment about tutor versus teacher. Is it only students in this township who get tutored? I think not. I have friends whose children go to Princeton High School and they get tutored, so this is not really anything new. The world is competitive and you need to invest in having your child get all the assistance he or she can get.

You obviously assume that everyone is this town works in finance. You are mistaken. I actually saw several of my colleagues loose their positions last year and we as a company were tracking well. They are still looking for full time work. In addition, competitive or not, its sad that you also assume that every family can invest in $100 plus per hour per week. Also, why is it necessary, the lessons should be taught, reviewed and reviewed again in the classroom. Perhaps with homework to reinforce the lesson taught. You might also want to go see the Race to Nowhere. Kids do break down under too much pressure.

Lastly, I am from the area, and with or without these wonderful teachers, SH/MS has always been competitive and done well. A lot has to do with the support of the community and their parents.

Anne - conceptually you are correct that education in the schools should be enough, and there is no need for extra tuition, but remember when a student is applying to an ivy league college he or she is not just competing with children from the US but students applying from across the globe who have been provided all types of extra assistance.

Oracle - you miss my point. The point was not about recruiting for my company but that we should not short change our teachers. They are the key resource we are depending on. In my view it is a simple issue - instead of paying for private school I am willing to pay the high property taxes to get private school levels at a public school.

SS -- It appears that you're new to town, so a few observations / recommendations:

1. Change your Patch handle immediately. SS has all the wrong connotations, especially in this community.

2. Millburn's extraordinary educational reputation has spanned the past 40-50 years. Nothing new here. Our children have done well and have been accepted to the best colleges throughout.

3. Following your hypothesis regarding teacher pay, if the formula for better education is simply paying teachers more, then we can very quickly solve the educational problems in the low-performing districts within this state by just paying those teachers more.

4. What makes this community special is our families and the calibre of the children who are interested in learning and succeeding. Chances are that your child's peers in the classroom, and their families and values, are more important to your child's success than anything else.

5. It is admirable that you're willing to pay more. Nothing is stopping you from contributing above and beyond your tax obligation to the taxpayer.

6. It is good to hear that you're successful in your career, but none of us are that arrogant to believe that the gravy train will run forever. You may want to share your good fortune with Down the Block, a volunteer group here in Millburn/Short Hills that helping township residents pay their bills.

http://www.downtheblock.org/

Hey--I just have to pipe in and say to Oracle that there is just NO need to be snarky and/or personal. I don't necessarily agree with SS but my mouth was hanging open reading your rude reply. He may be "arrogant" but he came across much less angry and disenfranchised than you did..... Your very valid points really will get overshadowed when you lead with vitriol.

It's IMPORTANT to hear from everyone in the community. If you start attacking people personally for viewpoints that differ from yours, you essentially encourage folks to stay away from the debate. I don't perceive that SS was doing anything other than stating his reality. If you care to educate him about yours, may I suggest a more civil tone?

We are all neighbors, after all, and purportedly, we are all raising our kids together.

Just saying.

newleaf -- you are right. Many apologies to SS. There was no intention to be snarky or personal and that were not my intentions.

SS said: "In my view it is a simple issue - instead of paying for private school I am willing to pay the high property taxes to get private school levels at a public school." That says a lot about your sense of community. I imagine that you only intend on living in M/SH until your kids graduate?

As a taxpayer with no kids attending school, I am only willing to pay for a public school education for your children. If you want a private school for your kids, send them to one.

Pucci: You bring up interesting points. People coming here just for the schools, supporting inflated school costs, supporting outlandish taxes, then leaving after his kids graduate HS, does beg examination.

What does this do to our community? What has that done to our tax structure? How about home value? When does this model break? Or has it already?

newleaf - Thank you, could not have said it better.

To SS, I also work in the financial sector.. but you must work at Goldman or one of the mortgage giants (who helped significantly in the destruction of our economy over the past few years) in order to say that bonuses are up year over year.

For most of us in the sector, bonuses are flat, hiring freezes are in place, and likely cuts are coming based on coming revenues. Regarding paying a junior associate more than a teacher, that is a choice that your firm has made and is not an appropriate comparison. Just as in top law firms paying someone with zero experience $160,000 a year.. it's not relevant to the discussion.

People who pursue a career in education do so for varying reasons, but one is not to be a "master of the world"...most people on wall street are a fairly arrogant lot and the $$ they get paid is pretty unjustified...

May I just ask where is Dr. Crisfield in all of this? We haven't heard from you lately. As this is your forum, perhaps you would like to give us your view points on all of this.

As for the last comment that Oracle made, perhaps its time to really look at what is currently in the budget ( that was created by past administrators) and decide if it is all educationally necessary or sound. We are all strieving for the best school system but sometimes, having the best doesn't mean the most expensive either. Quality doesn't always equal quantity.

Actually the public is the ultimate budetary authority. Remember, you can either vote for it or against it. If voted down, it then goes to the Township and they decide what will be dealt with.

The BOE will advise the public on what they propose, but again as voters, we decide in the end.
As for the BOE finding his comments acceptable or not, isn't the issue here. The BOE has fiduciary responsibilites to the public not to the adminstration.

Dr. Crisfield was hired by the BOE in their position as elected representatives of the voters. He reports to the BOE, not the public. The BOE reports to the public. He must be circumspect about what he says, especially on an online forum like this. He cannot comment on every posting here and I would not expect him to.

Mark DS, that is not what you said. I answered you in reference to the budget authority, not to whom Dr. Crisfield reports to. I am quite aware of that. I am also not asking him to speak indiscrimately on line about things are being discussed behind closed doors.

I just asked why we hadn't heard from him, since he did start this forum. A simple question, that's all.

I also, do not expect him to pipe in on all this banter either.

Please refer to Dr. Crisfield's first column about his ability to respond to comments. There are times he cannot address certain things. http://patch.com/A-cYBw

I don't like the tone of some of the things being posted in here, so I'm going to step in here and remind everyone to be respectful of each other when posting. Everyone wants Millburn to have a great education system, but it's just that everyone doesn't have the same opinion on how to get there.

Good Morning to all. Please don't take my absence from the comment stream as a measure of my interest. It's hard keeping up with all of you! I do read all of the thoughts posted (I have them sent to my email) and have found the forum to be very enlightening. I would like to encourage all comers, rookies and veterans to the Patch online community alike, to participate and I like the comment above about keeping comments respectful and civil. Disagreement is totally fine, of course, but let's ensure everybody feels like participating and that they can be honest and open.

The big cost drivers in this year's budget (frankly, every year's) are salaries and benefits. All the other items combined can be talked about and pared down, but in the end, it comes down to these two categories. The former is entirely determined by collective bargaining, which is going on now, and I am quite certain both sides understand the new fiscal paradigm that has arrived over the past couple years. Frankly, the range of outcomes there is not wide, but whatever is agreed to will reflect the current economic reality (of course, there are varying opinions as to what that is--just see the above posts!). The key is in the other slice of the budget pie--"benefits." This includes health benefits (which are entirely locally determined) and pension benefits. The two need to be separated for the sake of this analysis (see next comment).

Health benefits are also an outcome of collective bargaining, and as I was saying above regarding salary, I do believe both sides see the need for adjustment. Pension benefits, however, are determined by the state. Local school budgets absorb the cost of the employer's share of pension payments for non-certificated (PERS) staff, while the state pays the employer's share of the pension payment for certificated (TPAF) staff, which covers teachers and therefore most of our employees. You may have read the state hasn't made that required payment for years, but that's another story for another forum.

Locally, when we say "benefits," we're largely talking about health benefits. There are some other, minor benefits such as dental insurance (minimal cost and coverage) and tuition assistance (again, minimal in the grand scheme of things), so for the purposes of our current budget deliberations (and to an extent the ongoing collective bargaining), "benefits" really refers to health benefits coverage.

Anyway, hope that helps clarify the terms used in our ongoing budget deliberations, if just a little bit.

Jen...we seem to be missing the last few days of comments from others (they've been on the sidebars, but not with this story)???

No surprise that the "loud voices" continue to emerge in all aspects of our community. And no surprise that its so easy to point fingers and blame our teachers for our state of affairs. So now, it seems the success of our students is directly correlated with the tutor's invoice -- not! Yet, god forbid, your little one did not get so and so for his/her teacher this year... what are we to do? how will he/she perform now? Need to write a letter...!
Please remember that the entire community reads these comments and that for the most part Millburn has incredible teachers, regardless of their salaries. Just ask your kids. They do a terrific job each day and should be treated with the respect they deserve. After all how would you feel if some stranger just wrote your "annual review"?

I would love clarification as well..... I took it to mean (and correct me if I got it wrong) the following:

- Loud voices: People mobilized and got the half day kindergarden option off the table--at least that's the perception going around.
- Blaming the teachers: all the commentary on here and throughout town that it's the NJEA and the teachers' unwillingness to scale back benefits.
- Annual Review: Some of the commentary here about the value of teachers--ie comparing our results to Livingston and some of the comments about teachers being interchangeable for lower salaries.

AT least that is what I took from it----now let's hear from Ana and see how I did on my quiz!! :-)

Clearly too much time on my hands today!