in the right direction
School board moving
in the right direction
We have, in years past, criticized the East Brunswick Board of Education for not being in touch with the community or not listening to its wishes with regard to the budget and the ever-increasing tax rate.
The tax rate may still be increasing, but school officials at least deserve credit this year, for a number of reasons.
Clearly, they are scouring the budget to find line items that can be cut. They are making unwanted sacrifices — field trips and band camp are out, for example, now to be funded entirely by the parents on a "pay to play" basis.
And residents should take note that district officials have apparently heard the familiar call to seek savings by cutting administrative positions and expenditures. The board is looking to cut several positions and will reconfigure a group of other positions to save several hundred thousand dollars. It will trim the legal budget and eliminate expenses for supplies and materials, though such cuts make little to no difference with regard to the tax rate.
In fact, residents won’t exactly see a difference on their tax bills by the elimination of funds for band camp or by a $6,000 cut to lawyers’ fees, but the fact that programs and expenses are being cut shows that school officials are in touch with today’s economic climate and understand that some things will just have to go.
The East Brunswick board also seems to be among the few that, deep into March, continues to meet each and every week to discuss ways of cutting the budget. It is conducting an open process that is now even televised on the local cable channel. And members continue to hold spirited, sometimes heated discussions on what to spend and what not to spend.
They are doing this in the face of significant pressure, both from residents who don’t want or can’t afford another tax increase, and from a community adamant on keeping the quality of education exactly where it is.
It is difficult to cut a budget that has already been cut. Last year the district lost $3 million after the budget failed, and the Township Council responded by making cuts. What makes it even more difficult is that one must cut $400,000 in order to bring a 1-cent tax rate reduction.
It should be noted that board member Michael Danatos, in particular, has been an advocate of making even greater cuts to the budget. Danatos said he would like to see an outside auditor hired to find ways to save money, something that should be explored, perhaps even next year, before the board begins work on the next budget.
School taxes will keep increasing for most area school districts as long as it’s a property tax-based system, and as long as the state doesn’t lend a hand with increasing expenses. With more students, higher teacher salaries, escalating insurance costs, special education mandates, etc., homeowners will continue to pay more every year.
In some districts, this holds true more than in others. And it is up to school officials to think of ways to limit the consequences of a growing budget.