BOE Budget Discussion to Continue Tuesday

The Board of Education wasn't ready to vote on a 2010-11 proposed budget Monday night and planned to extend its meeting to Tuesday night to do so.

The board voted to reject a proposal from Schools Supt. Richard Brodow Monday morning and not send it to the Essex County schools superintendent for review. Monday was the deadline to file a proposal with the county superintendent. Brodow said before Monday night's meeting the board has until Friday to file a budget.

Board President Noreen Brunini said at the start of the meeting Monday night there there was no budget document complete for the board to vote on during the meeting. The hope was for the budget document to be complete on Tuesday.

Rather than adjourn the meeting Monday night, the board planned to recess the meeting and continue it on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Education Center. It would be during the Tuesday night portion when the board would vote on the budget. Brunini said the board needs to give three days notice of a meeting, which is why they decided to recess rather than adjourn Monday's meeting.

Brunini said there were some technical matters that need to be considered and worked out with the budget proposal. The board does want the classroom to be the last place to be harmed, she said, and it asked certain items to be returned to the budget Monday morning.

"We ask for your patience as we go through this process," she said. She said she understands people are frustrated and it can be upsetting to school employees, but school officials do not want to fan the rumor mill.

One of those rumors coming home to parents is the schools do not have supplies like staples, crayons and glue sticks, Lisa Chapman, a board member said. Those rumors aren't true. She asked people to stop rumors rather than spread them.

In addition to Monday morning's meeting, the board held an emergency budget meeting on Friday morning to discuss the budget and the loss of $3 million in state aid. The minutes for the meeting were available at Monday night's meeting, which states the 2010-11 budget included $2.5 million because of an anticipated 15 percent cut in aid.

The minutes also state there was a discussion about using $1 million in surplus generated during the 2009-10 school year, reducing budget items by $1.5 million and "tax levy considerations."

Brunini said state officials should be fair and change the voting calendar for the school budget if they are going to make the changes they are to school funding. Every district is struggling with aid issues.

"It's a nightmare for all of us," she said. "It's an awkward situation."

Scott Kamber, board vice president, said the board is working together to create a sustainable model for the future while maintaining the district's programs. It's not the test scores or the colleges students go to that make the district special, he said. It's the unique relationship students have with their teachers. "We need to make sure we deal with the cuts so they don't upset that unique relationship," he said.

A sustainable economic model is needed, though, so the district can work into the future no matter what state officials do now or in the future, Kamber said. Plus school officials should not have to rely on tax increases.

Jeff Waters, school board Finance Committee chairman, said state officials have given school officials across the state a short time to make "a very important decision" on their budgets. They're decisions that will affect children's educations and people's jobs. "It's a very unreasonable thing to ask," he said.

The board wants to protect the classroom and employees, but it needs to make sure it does not squeeze infrastructure like technology equipment and the physical plant too far.

It's a new era for the district, he said, and school officials won't always be able to say yes into the future. It means school officials need to bring their cost structure down, which could mean difficult decisions.

Few people spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, but one topic was the decision for South Mountain and Wyoming elementary schools to share a technology instructor.

Lisa Levine, of Clinton Avenue, said she understands everyone needs to make sacrifices, but the two schools are treated like one school when they have their own issues. The two schools have a combined population of 650 students, which is more than any other school.

Additionally, she said, the two schools have the highest number of English as a Second Language students. Wyoming has the highest number of students with special education individual education programs.

"These are two populations with the most needs," she said. And the two schools are asking to make do with the least resources. The system needs to be more fair, she said.

Debra Fox, a board member whose children attend South Mountain, said the children at the two schools are entitled to a full education and people feel that is not happening. She understands cuts need to be made, but every school should live with them.

On the topic of other cuts and changes, Marissa Christmas, of Millburn Avenue, said the board should not consider charging for regular education students to attend the integrated preschool and South Mountain Elementary School. The intention is to integrate the classroom of special needs students with regular education students, and that wouldn't happen with such a plan.

Even with the vote this week on the budget, Brunini said school officials can make changes before a public hearing scheduled for March 31. It's at that meeting the board would make its final budget vote before sending it to voters for final approval on April 20.