Final Hillsborough school cuts approved

New plan keeps additional teachers needed at high school.

By:Sally Goldenberg
   The Hillsborough Board of Education reinstated five new high school teachers in the 2003-04 budget, which was approved by a 7-1 vote Tuesday night.
   When a budget ad hoc committee — comprising board members and district administrators — initially mapped out $1.16 million in reductions from the defeated $85.3 million school budget, the teaching positions were slashed for a savings of $248,270.
   But several parents and board members publicly opposed the cut on May 19, stating new teachers are necessary to handle a projected enrollment hike of 141 high school students next year.
   Board member Wolfgang Schneider, who expressed concern over inevitable class size increases, said he was pleased the positions were reinstated.
   "I think it’s going to affect high school class sizes in a positive manner," he said at Tuesday’s meeting.
   In order to offset the reinstatement and reach the $1.16 million target set by the Township Committee, the board identified $42,510 in savings by eliminating three alternative high school placements for special education students.
   Superintendent of Schools Robert Gulick said one of the students is graduating and the others are ready to re-enter Hillsborough High School classes.
   He said he originally budgeted for more money than is necessary because he was unaware the status of those students when he drafted the budget.
   Savings, rather than cuts, were apparent in other categories: The board reduced its legal fees by $60,000 and will save $85,897 in medical and dental premiums. On May 19, the board identified $27,611 in savings for the latter.
   Assistant Superintendent for Business Thomas Venanzi said the reduced premium price is news.
   "We just received information from our broker about our renewal rates," Mr. Venanzi said at the meeting. "We were able to stay in our budget and have a little extra."
   But resident Hal Brown, a frequent critic of the school budgets, said the board padded the budget with additional funds so if it failed, the board could cut unnecessary funds instead of core expenses.
   "I’ve always felt that the budget is a wonderful work of fiction," Mr. Brown said in a telephone interview yesterday. If the budget was meager, then the board should have appealed the Township Committee’s cut, Mr. Brown said.
   When school budgets fail, municipal governing bodies must review them to determine cuts, which school boards can either accept or appeal to the state education commissioner.
   "That budget is constantly padded in all sorts of areas and if they were really seriously hurt by the million dollars that the Township Committee had cut, then they would’ve filed an appeal," Mr. Brown said. "I think that they didn’t speaks volumes."
   The board opted to accept the cut because an appeal allows the state to make deeper cuts, members have said.
   Despite the board’s decision, Dr. Gulick said the budget is minimal. "The budget is stripped down below a level that I am comfortable with," he said.
   Taxpayers who feel overburdened by the $55.6 million tax levy should consider the Hillsborough’s predicament, he said.
   "Part of our dilemma is the state is unable to fund education the way it should," he said, and added that Hillsborough has few commercial ratables — only about 15 percent of all ratables — to offset the tax burden on homeowners. Ratables are properties that are apportioned for the purpose of collecting taxes.
   The budget, which the board approved by a 7-1 vote, will raise the total school tax levy by about 8 percent. That translates into an average increase in school taxes from $5,247 to $5,405 for taxpayers whose property is assessed at the township average of $325,000.
   The school tax rate will drop from $1.749 per $100 in assessed value to $1.663, but due to increased property assessments, most homeowners will see larger tax bills.
   The defeated budget, which voters rejected 1,922 to 1,347 on April 15, would have raised the total tax levy by about 10 percent to $56.8 million. Board member David Kanaby said he opposed the proposed budget cuts because the cuts should have hit more areas in smaller chunks, he said after the meeting.
   "There’s so much creative financing that can go on," he said, pointing to small cuts to existing athletic programs as an example.
   In addition, he said he disagreed with cutting a new $46,863 computer technician who would have joined the district’s four-person team.
   "We have computers that are sitting idle," he said.
   He also thought the board erred in slicing the $148,962 K-2 world language program, which is state-mandated.
   Resident Jim Siverly painted Hillsborough’s dilemma of two consecutive failed school budgets in terms of the economy.
   "Growth in our economy suddenly stopped," he said in a telephone interview yesterday. But families continue to move into Hillsborough and send their children to public schools, creating an increased tax burden, he added.
   Given the situation, the board succeeded in cutting the budget, he said.
   "It just seems like right now it’s a necessary evil. I think they’ve done a good job with doing what they can with little money," he added.
   But the board should reveal the total tax levy hike from the outset, he said.
   "If the board really wants to get public support they need to give all the information," he said.
   In addition to the savings approved in the special education costs, medical and dental premiums and legal fees, the board also approved dropping the proposed high school varsity ice hockey and volleyball teams, and a track and field team for the middle school.