last year, plan for
Eng, Sobel, Miller win seats
on Marlboro school board
After rare defeat of budget
last year, plan for ’03-04
is approved by voters
By jeanette M. eng
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — The votes are in and the town can welcome two old faces and one new face to the K-8 Board of Education as well as a budget for the 2003-04 school year that was approved by voters.
Raymond Eng, Bari Sobel and Andrea Miller were the top three vote-getters in the April 15 election, winning by comfortable margins. They will be sworn in to three-year terms when the board holds its annual reorganization meeting on April 29.
Eng, a former board member, led all candidates with 2,074 votes. Sobel was elected to her second consecutive term with 1,799 votes. Miller won election to her first term with 1,824 votes.
Failing in their bid to win a seat on the board were Stacie Stoy (1,290 votes), Steven Wolfson (1,196 votes) and Catherine Wersinger (911 votes).
After rejecting the 2002-03 budget a year ago and sending it to the Township Council for review and reduction, Marlboro voters gave their assent to the school board’s 2003-04 spending plan, passing it by a count of 2,078 to 1,947.
The board’s $61.7 million budget for 2003-04 will be supported by a local tax levy of $47.5 million. The budget will raise the K-8 school tax rate from $1.57 to $1.66 per $100 of assessed valuation, according to figures provided by the board.
That means the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 will pay $2,490 in K-8 school taxes in 2003-04, up from $2,355 in the current year. The owner of a home assessed at $250,000 will pay $4,150 in K-8 school taxes in 2003-04, up from $3,925 in the current year. The owner of a home assessed at $350,000 will pay $5,810 in K-8 school taxes in 2003-04, up from $5,495 in the current year.
The K-8 school taxes are one portion of the overall property tax paid by Marlboro property owners. The total tax bill also includes municipal government taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes and Monmouth County taxes, among others.
Voter turnout was 18 percent, not exactly a high number, according to board President Terry Spilken, who did not seek re-election.
"This is something that affects 6,000 children," he said. "That means there should be 9,000 or 12,000 votes. Not even every parent is voting."
Spilken said he is appreciative of those voters who supported the budget, but hopes to witness more parental involvement in the future.
Spilken said he believes this year’s introduction of Project 3000, a budget outreach effort led by Superintendent of Schools David C. Abbott and the Project 3000 committee, had a lot to do with the passage of the budget.
"This was definitely part of getting residents involved and enlightening the voters," he said. "I’m positive that some form of this outreach will continue."
The newly elected board members also focused much attention on the budget, in some cases more than on themselves.
"It was critical that the budget passed, more important than my getting elected," Miller said.
Reflecting on the burden of last year’s budget defeat, Sobel said she is relieved not to have to deal with that situation again.
"We can jump right into what we have to do instead of still trying to pass the budget," she said.
Eng, however, noted that the budget’s passage was not overwhelming (a margin of 131 votes) and recognizes these times as difficult ones.
Support for all who ran was expressed among the three winners. Each said they were impressed with the pool of challengers and believed that any combination of candidates would have served the board well.
Of course, however, they were glad that they had won.
"I’m pleased and I certainly wanted this opportunity to serve," Miller said.
With a background in employee relations, she is used to finding ways to collaborate with teams of people to achieve goals and solve problems.
"I want to see a collaborative process between the board and parents, teachers, administrators and even students," Miller explained. "I want to get different views on how we can make improvements, not because there is a problem, but because there is always room for improvement."
Sobel looks forward to a second term where she will feel more comfortable and can use the learning experience of her first term."I had great role models in Terry Spilken and Martin Karasick and look forward working with Mr. Eng and Ms. Miller and learning from them," Sobel said.
Her focus remains on keeping taxes down while educating the students at the level that they need.
Having been involved in the town for 30 years with roles in recreation, as a teacher and even in the Marlboro Players, Sobel hopes to bring that "little bit of everything" aspect to the board.
"I’m very up and very positive," Sobel said.
Eng, on the other hand, is not so much excited as he is sobered by his renewed responsibility to the community.
"I don’t see this as a celebration," he said. "I have a job ahead of me to serve the community that acknowledged me. It’s a tremendous amount of responsibility and I take it seriously."
Eng said he believes his past experience on the school board will be valuable, as he has already "gotten his feet wet" and can recognize mistakes that have been made before.
"People tend to get excited about things that they haven’t tried," he explained. "I know the questions to ask instead of simply buying into someone’s ideas."
Miller, Sobel and Eng all expressed gratitude to their supporters.