BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer
The Marlboro K-8 Board of Education has rejected the specific cuts that the Township Council recommended for the defeated 2005-06 school budget and made its own cuts totaling $150,000.
The budget cuts unanimously approved by the board on May 24 are to cut all busing from the district’s two middle schools after 4:15 p.m., which would reduce costs by $24,000; and to cut four of the world language instructional assistants at the two middle schools, which would reduce salary costs by $96,920 and health benefits costs by $29,080. The total of all of those items is $150,000.
According to information provided by Superintendent of Schools David Abbott and the board, instead of employing six bilingual instructional assistants for special education students taking Spanish at both middle schools, the board will employ one floating bilingual assistant at each middle school.
The instructional assistants are not part of any special education student’s individualized educational program (IEP) or mandated by the state or federal governments. According to the board, the assistants were hired at the recommendation of Abbott in order to help the special education students have a better chance of earning the 10 credit hours of a world language required to enter high school. However, the requirement for next year will be reduced by the state to five credit hours.
The revised K-8 school budget for the 2005-06 school year is $69.27 million, with a general fund tax levy of $51.3 million. The tax rate to support the operation of the school district will be $1.832 per $100 of assessed valuation, which increases the tax rate from last year by 10.7 cents.
The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay $3,664 in K-8 school taxes for the 2005-06 school year. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 will pay $5,496 in K-8 school taxes in the upcoming year. The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 will pay $7,328 in K-8 school taxes for the 2005-06 school year. The owner of a home assessed at $500,000 will pay $9,160 in K-8 school taxes for the 2005-06 school year.
The 2005-06 spending plan includes a general fund totaling $62.96 million and a debt service tax levy of $3.9 million to support an overall debt service budget of $4.7 million. The amount of state aid the district will receive for the upcoming year is approximately $10.2 million and the surplus applied to the 2005-06 budget is $908,000.
According to information provided by Abbott and the board, the line item recommendations made by the council on May 19 could be supported by the board for the following reasons:
• The council’s recommendation to reduce the custodians’ salary by $90,000 cannot be implemented because “reducing the custodian and/or maintenance staff would put at risk the community’s large investment in buildings and grounds, which in turn could affect the district’s fine record of cleanliness, reliability and safety.”
• The council’s recommendation to reduce the administration new staff orientation by $15,000 cannot be implemented because between 18 and 20 new teachers will be added to the district in August. Therefore, the orientation program is necessary to “assure that new staff members know and understand our expectations, how they will be held accountable for their instructional performances throughout the year and how they become aware of the district’s professional evaluation system.”
• The council’s recommendation to reduce the office supply for the assistant superintendent recruiting software by $5,000 was rejected by the board because the software will allow the district to “receive and send applications online, thereby saving the cost of paperwork, copying and setting up paper files in the central office and at each of the respective schools as necessary. It can provide for the immediate viewing and selection by various administrators via the computer and therefore contribute to a more cost-effective personnel operation.”
• The council’s recommendation to reduce the substitute nurse’s salary by $10,000 was rejected because the board previously approved hiring a registered nurse vs. a certified school nurse as a second nurse at both of the middle schools, which saved the district $20,000. The board believes it is necessary to have two nurses on duty at all times at the middle schools and implementing the council’s recommendation could leave at least one middle school short a nurse on many days, which would put many of the students and the district at risk.
• The council’s recommendation to reduce the contracted services of a physician by $15,000 cannot be implemented because it is required that each Board of Education appoint at least one school physician. The board believes the school physician is fairly paid for the services provided and there is no opportunity for a reduction. The district physician is paid a salary comparable to others in the area, according to the board.
• The council’s recommendations to reduce the number of issues of the School Notes newsletter by cutting $5,000 from the community relations account was rejected because the board does not believe this is the time to cut back on communication with parents, guardians and residents.
• The council’s recommendation to reduce the salary of the professional staff on Saturdays by $10,000 cannot be implemented because the board believes the need for the Saturday suspension alternative has been well-established because the students who receive this punishment do not usually repeat their actions. The alternative to the Saturday suspension would be out-of-school suspension, which is looked at as a reward and is not particularly effective, according to the board.