Parents, board angry at councils’ cuts to budget
Board president says Aberdeen should stop new development
ABERDEEN — Although the community at large voted the school budget down by a 2-to-1 margin, some parents reacted to the cuts to the $46.7 million school budget with anger at the loss of full-day kindergarten and other programs.
After shouting matches among Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Board of Education members and the refusal of both municipal councils to remain in the meeting room after the board refused to suspend its policy of videotaping its meetings, the members of the public who were present finally got their say.
Many residents pleaded for the board to do anything in its power to keep full-day kindergarten, which the two councils put on the chopping block, accounting for $420,000 of the $914,000 in total cuts to the $46.7 million school budget.
"I personally am very disappointed with the idea of losing full-day kindergarten," Linda Lassen, Matawan, told the board.
She then asked the capacity crowd in the room for a show of hands for those who came to implore the board and the councils to leave that program in place. Nearly all the hands in the capacity crowd went up in response.
"The foundation really starts in kindergarten," said Aberdeen resident Sharon McCoy, who added that the full-day kindergarten program, which was instituted five years ago, has contributed to rising test scores at the elementary school level.
"We are going to do the best we can for you, I promise you that," said Board President Gerald Donaghue.
The school board said that it intends to appeal the cuts made by the councils to the commissioner of education. School board officials urged those in the crowd to write letters to save the programs which were cut in hopes of influencing any decision made in Trenton.
"Adults are supposed to be a positive influence, and from what I saw here tonight, that is not the case," said high school sophomore Chris Brady, who asked that cuts to the high school tennis team be reconsidered.
Although that program was not recommended for cuts by the councils, school officials said that it was necessary to cut $1.2 million from the budget, including high school tennis, before it went to the voters in order to meet the state-imposed spending cap.
Aberdeen resident Donna McQuaid said residents should attend council meetings to express their displeasure with the cuts to the budget and over the behavior of the officials at the meeting.
"As an adult, I’m embarrassed at how this meeting began. Attend the council meetings and let [Aberdeen Township Manager Mark] Coren know we are the taxpayers, and it is our town," she said.
Dorothy Bagley, Aberdeen, said the community must work together to fight the state funding formula for schools.
"Everyone holds a part in what is happening now," she said.
Bagley said that in light of the problems with the state funding formula and the freeze in state aid to school districts this year, the councils could have been more considerate of the impact that large cuts would have on the district despite the fact that the budget was defeated.
Donaghue said on Friday that the cuts would have a heavy impact on the school district and blasted the Aberdeen officials in particular for the way they handled the process leading up to the cuts.
"If they feel strongly enough to take $914,000 away from the schools, then I suggest they stop building," he said.
"If they keep taking money away from us, what are we supposed to do with the kids that come out of these developments?" Donaghue added.
Donaghue said he was also disappointed in the Matawan council for agreeing to the cuts.