Voters overwhelmingly defeat school budget

Voters reject school budget which included a 26-cent tax rate increase for East Windsor residents and an 18-cent tax rate increase for Hightstown residents.

By: Marisa Maldonado
   HIGHTSTOWN — In a year in which the school district has held forums to articulate its vision for better schools, voters turned down the proposed $66.6 million budget by a crushing 61-39 percent margin Tuesday.
   Hightstown voters, who traditionally vote down the budget, voted against it by a margin of 40 votes: 135 to 175. But in East Windsor, where voters usually pass the spending plan, 628 voters supported the budget and 996 rejected the proposal.
   Incumbents Suzann Fallon and Susan Lloyd defeated challenger Randy Shuler to win re-election to their second terms on the board as Hightstown representatives. Unopposed incumbent Alice Weisman also won re-election in East Windsor, receiving 719 votes.
   A.J. Groves, a write-in candidate for East Windsor, received 157 votes.
   The budget would have increased the tax rate by 26 cents in East Windsor, resulting in a $3.08 tax rate per $100 of assessed property value. Hightstown residents would have seen an 18-cent tax rate increase to $3.19 of assessed value.
   The Borough Council and Township Council now will review the budget in a joint meeting with district officials. The joint council will approve cuts or additions to the budget.
   The municipalities must submit a final budget to the Mercer County Board of Taxation and Mercer County superintendent of education by May 19. The school board may appeal the decision within 10 business days of its submission to the county superintendent.
   The large margin of failure surprised Board of Education President Bruce Ettman, who said a word-of-mouth campaign in East Windsor against high taxes helped lead to the budget’s downfall.
   He said the school board should look at ways to better connect to the community — although it already has made efforts in the past — so such debates can take place in the public eye and withstand public scrutiny.
   "If it’s just a matter of public apathy, there’s not much that’s going to happen," Mr. Ettman said. "We have to look at ourselves and see if there’s more of an effort we can make."
   Mr. Ettman said the budget last failed about nine years ago by 12 votes.
   Superintendent Ronald Bolandi said the district still will accomplish its goals despite the budget’s failure. But he will have to hold off on hiring some new faculty members as he waits to see if the councils will allow him to replace at least five retiring faculty members.
   While Mr. Bolandi said he understands and shares the frustrations of residents who turned down the budget, he said a low voter turnout means the decision is not necessarily a reflection of resident opinion.
   "We have 5,000 kids in East Windsor Regional School District," Mr. Bolandi said. "If they only had one parent, we’d probably have at least 3,000 voters."
   But the turnout was large compared to last year, when 7.5 percent of the district’s voters turned out to approve the budget by a narrow margin of 593-513. This year, 316 Hightstown residents and 1,338 East Windsor residents voted, almost 11 percent of the district’s 15,245 registered voters.
   Ms. Lloyd, who received 167 votes in Hightstown to win election to a second term on the board, said the 26-cent tax rate increase in East Windsor caused more residents to rally against the budget. In Hightstown, residents were not as angry about the tax increase.
   If they had been, she said, it is difficult to say if she and Ms. Fallon would have won re-election.
   "I’m not sure how many people would have risen to the challenge," Ms. Lloyd said. "Obviously, Dr. Shuler did a very good job."
   Dr. Shuler, who received only 21 votes fewer than Ms. Lloyd, said he was thrilled that the budget did not pass, citing the increased tax rate.
   He said residents probably re-elected Ms. Fallon and Ms. Lloyd because they do not see the board as holding responsibility for the budget.
   "The school board approved that budget," Dr. Shuler said. "People don’t see that. The administration came up with (the budget), but the board has the final say on what came across."
   Dr. Shuler said he hopes to stay involved in district affairs through working on a committee, possibly one on budget planning.
   Many voters agreed with Dr. Shuler, citing an increased tax rate as a reason why they voted down the budget.
   Richard Simmons and his wife, Cathy, both voted against the budget. They said the municipalities should cut "anything that doesn’t teach the kids how to read and write" from the budget.
   While their son, who graduated from The Peddie School in 1995, had some quality teachers at East Windsor, many teachers do not live up to those standards, Ms. Simmons said.
   "Tenure should be abolished," she said. "They just move them from school to school," she added, referring to what happens with teachers whose performance is sub-par.
   Some residents cited the lack of quality education for their families as reasons for voting down the budget.
   John Motyka, a Hightstown resident whose son graduated from the district in 2000, said he does not think his niece, who needs additional academic support, receives enough help from the district to warrant such a high increase in taxes.
   "(The budget) just seems a little excessive," Mr. Motyka said. But he added that he would vote for a more expensive budget if it included programs that would help his niece.
   Other residents said the high taxes were worth it if they helped create a better district.
   Lisa Ernst, a Hightstown resident who said she has attended several of Mr. Bolandi’s forums, said she voted for the budget to support the vision that has been articulated.
   Even though she’s noticed a change of attitude in the Board of Education and teachers due to Mr. Bolandi’s presence, she said it might be too soon to tell how the changes will affect test scores. But she still believes in the district, she said.
   "(Mr. Bolandi) has taken ownership — he believes strongly in our teachers," said Ms. Ernst, who has two children in the district.
   Both Mr. Ettman and Mr. Bolandi said more people might have voted for the budget had they seen the district’s plans at the vision forum, a concern shared by newly re-elected board member Suzann Fallon.
   Ms. Fallon said residents who participated in the budget process early had an impact on funding allocations. She hopes residents follow the process the budget will undergo in the near future.
   "I have been here when budgets have been defeated in the past," Ms. Fallon said. "It is a very frustrating experience, going through the post-defeat process, trying to find things to cut."