Peter Martin, a certified public accountant whom the three municipalities have hired to help them with the defeated budget, is scheduled to present recommendations at the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at Timberlane Middle School’s cafetorium
By John Tredrea
The joint meetings involving officials of the three municipalities and the school board to address the defeated school spending plan are slated to continue tonight (Thursday) at Timberlane Middle School.
Peter Martin, a certified public accountant whom the three municipalities have hired to help them with the defeated budget, is scheduled to present his recommendations at tonight’s meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at Timberlane Middle School’s cafetorium.
The first meeting on the defeated school budget was held at Timberlane Tuesday night. That meeting, called to obtain public input on the budget, seemed to stir about as much public interest as the election in which the budget was defeated not much.
About 50 residents attended. About 15 those spoke during the public hearing. The residents who did speak were about evenly divided between those who urged the municipal leaders to cut the budget and those who said to leave it intact or cut it minimally.
The first speaker was Bernadette Schetler, veteran teacher at Central High School and president of the district’s teachers union, the Hopewell Valley Education Association (HVEA). She said the union supports the budget as it stands that is, in the form defeated by the voters. "Any further cuts in program and staff would significantly" harm the district, she said.
A Hopewell Township man with children in the district felt differently. He said the district’s educational program is "very fine . . . but it’s really important to listen to the voters. To not reduce the budget would be a mistake." He added: "I think it’s time to say football is something we can’t afford. It really hasn’t caught on here." He noted that the district started football after the voters overwhelmingly rejected funding for it in a ballot question.
The football funding rejection vote, mentioned above, took place on April 17, 2001, when voters said no to a separate ballot question, which applied to the 2001-2002 school budget year only. That question asked voters to OK: the start of an interscholastic football program at Central High School the following year, for $53,494; a boys lacrosse team at Timberlane Middle School, for $11,97; and a freshman girls softball team at Central High, for $8,556.
After that vote, the local nonprofit HIKE (Hopewell Involved in Kids Enrichment) was formed and helped pay for the CHS football program the first few years. Under an agreement with the school district, HIKE paid all costs of football for the 2002 and 2003 seasons and 75 percent in 2004 (with the school district paying 25 percent). In 2005, the district and HIKE split costs evenly. For the 2006 and subsequent seasons, the district is expected to pay all costs.
"Over four years, HIKE has contributed in excess of $215,00 to support the CHS football program, which has been part of the district’s interscholastic athletic program now for four years," John Nemeth, school board secretary/administrator, said Wednesday.
KRIS KLEY of HIKE thinks football should stay and disagreed that it hasn’t caught on. "Thanks for your support of football," she told the assembled leaders and residents. "It’s a big part of the lives of the 340 kids in Pop Warner football and 100 players in the high school program."
The municipalities have until May 19 to certify a school budget. They cannot certify it unless all three towns agree on the dollar amount of the budget, which they can leave intact or cut. If they do not certify the budget, it goes to the state commissioner of education for a decision. The school board has the right to appeal to the commissioner cuts made to the budget by the municipalities. The county superintendent of schools offers a dispute resolution process intended to avoid appeals to the state commissioner from local school boards.
Among the other residents who spoke Tuesday night was township resident Anthony Arnone. He said he was not surprised that few senior citizens attended the meeting. Referring to the school board, he said: "Part of the apathy is that you don’t listen to the voters, anyway. Seniors who don’t vote in the school election have said to me: ‘Why should I vote? They’re going to do what they want anyway?’"
As he has at other public meetings, Mr. Arnone commented on the district’s starting football and building fields at Back Timberlane (with private donations) after questions on both were rejected by the electorate. Noting that costs of instruction, or teachers’ salaries and benefits, is the biggest item in the budget, he told the municipal leaders: "Look at the instruction budget and cut it."
The effort to seek voters’ financial support for fields at Back Timberlane was unsuccessful in 2002. On March 12, 2002, a $1.86 million Back Timberlane referendum was defeated. The Back Timberlane project called for nine new athletic fields on 48 acres on the western end of the grounds of Timberlane Middle School. Since that time, money to build fields at the site has come from nonprofits, such as the Hopewell Valley Recreation Foundation.
SEVERAL SPEAKERS gave the district rave reviews. Peter McDonough of Pennington said he moved to this district three years ago with his wife and three school-age children. "We couldn’t be more pleased with the schools," he declared.
Kim Bruno of Hopewell Township made similar comments. She said cutting as much as $1 million from the $70 million budget would have a minimal effect on taxes while having a significantly negative effect on the educational program.
Jim McGuire of Hopewell Township said the district does a very good job, but issued a warning on the recent turnover of administrators. "It would be a mistake to take a broad ax to the budget," he said. Noting that the district has its third superintendent in a few years and that there has been "high turnover" in other administrative posts the high school principal has just given his resignation after two years here Mr. McGuire said: "There is an issue with management retention." He said a negative financial impact inevitably results from high turnover of administrators.

