Board irks Mironov as $490K is trimmed
By: Dick Brinster
EAST WINDSOR The last thing Mayor Janice Mironov wanted to hear was criticism by the Board of Education that municipal officials here and in Hightstown are not supportive of the school district.
And the last thing the board wanted to hear was that there was any fat in the defeated school budget.
So the mayor became incensed after some board members insisted that the combined councils should not have cut nearly a half-million dollars from the budget at the final of two public hearings on the $79.2 million spending measure.
The mayor, who ran the hearing May 18 at Kreps Middle School, was at first complimentary toward the board, thanking it and Schools Superintendent Ron Bolandi for hard work and pledging continued support of education.
But things changed after the combined councils decided by 11-1 to shave $490,250 from the budget. Board member Susan Lloyd thanked Hightstown Councilman Patrick Thompson for the only no vote, and most others criticized or did not credit the governing bodies for their backing.
"Next year, I hope as support continues to increase and everything continues to get stronger and more positive under Mr. Bolandi, that we might have some public support from both the governing bodies in terms of the budget," Ms. Lloyd said.
The school board voted unanimously to accept the cuts, but President Alice Weisman said she did so reluctantly.
"I want it to be clear that my voting for this new budget doesn’t mean that I think there was any waste in the old one or that we didn’t need every bit of that money," she said.
Those and other board comments were enough for Mayor Mironov, who earlier this month established a Web site where residents could petition Trenton for property tax relief aimed at making it easier to pass school budgets.
"I will not sit here, nor will I seek to have any members of my governing body sit here, and I suspect the same thing is true about Hightstown Borough, and suggest that we are anything but supportive of education in this community," she said. "We have been there for you, we have been there for the children of this community and the residents of this community.
"The people voted on April 18 and they did vote no. You may have thought that was not appropriate, you may have felt that it was not just."
But she said the people spoke and the governing bodies simply did what they thought was best.
The mayor did not like what she said was the board’s attitude that voters were uninformed because they don’t attend board meetings. She also suggested that board members reach out more often and more effectively to the public.
"I would suggest that you remember who your friends are, who your partners are," the mayor said.
Mayor Mironov did reserve a compliment for Bonnie Fayer, however, thanking the board member for her sensitivity.
"The two councils should never be put in this position where they have to vote on our budget," Ms. Fayer had said. "They have two weeks to work on a budget we spent a year working on. I would not want to be in their position."
But Ms. Lloyd said more positive input is needed from the councils.
"I think that could go a long way in influencing the public to realizing that there are no frills in this budget," she said.
East Windsor Councilman Marc Lippman said the morning after the meeting that he didn’t care for the posture of some board members.
"Although I personally voted for the budget, it amazes me that this Board of Education feels a vote of confidence is defined by ignoring a public no vote," he said. "They should understand that one receives a vote of confidence when a budget is presented, promoted and passed by the public.
"It also saddens me that a board would have such tunnel vision as to disregard such a wide range of contributions that this mayor and council do for the schools all year-round."
Ms. Weisman said she didn’t understand his point, and declined comment on it.
Board Member Ric Perez predicted more trouble for 2007, when he thinks voters will again turn thumbs down on the budget.
"We will be here again next year if the state doesn’t fix the formula," Mr. Perez said, alluding to the method of funding school budgets. "That’s guaranteed."
Mr. Thompson, who insisted from the moment the budget was rejected until the final meeting that he would not cut a cent, echoed that sentiment.
"The devil wasn’t in the details of this school budget," he said. "The devil was in the funding system."
Stu Dolgon, a former board member, said at that body’s meeting Monday night, that a suggestion he made three years ago to establish a liaison to the governing bodies might be worth revisiting. He said there was no discussion at that time and he did not pursue the issue.
"I think it’s important that the board maybe now would want to talk about some type of liaison," he said. "When there is no or minimal communication between the councils and the board it creates misunderstandings."
Voters in the East Windsor Regional District defeated the budget for the second year in a row. The subsequent reductions by the councils trimmed about 1.5 cents from the school tax rates in both the township and the borough. That action, on average, will save taxpayers in the township about $8 and those in the borough about $12 from the assessment in the rejected budget.
The amendment means homeowners assessed at the township average of $130,000 will pay about $299 more in school taxes. A homeowner in Hightstown will absorb an increase of about $168 on an average assessment of $120,000.
The cut makes the school tax rate increase in East Windsor $3.27 per $100 of assessed valuation, a rise of 23 cents. It will go up by 14 cents to $3.30 in Hightstown.
The reduction lowered the budget to $78.7 million and the amount to be raised by taxation to $52.4 million. The money came from capital outlay projects, with a $250,000 item for replacing the ventilation system in a room that houses the high school pool the largest line-item cut. Also slashed from the budget were three buses at a total of $160,000.
Mayor Mironov also suggested several areas the board could further explore in an effort to save money.
Mr. Bolandi, questioned by the mayor on several issues, said he has been working to upgrade education in the district while doing all he can to keep costs down. He said one of the methods he has used is to bring in education consultants in lieu of administrators in transition periods, noting that consultants do not receive any benefits.
Mr. Bolandi said he took some money from the basic skills program and related elementary school programs, after test scores dramatically improved, and established salaries for six staff developers, classroom teachers vital to enhancing education. He called them "an absolute gold mine" for the community.
"They didn’t cost this district one tax-increased dollar," Mr. Bolandi said. "It was a redeployment of funds."
He said changes he has made at the administrative level have not added to the budget. He said salaries have gone down because some senior people have left the district.
And Mr. Bolandi, who has said all along that unfunded but mandated programs from the state have cost the district $10 million over the last five years, insisted that the cost for its 14 administrators is extremely low. Prior to his arrival, the total administrative cost was $941 per pupil, he said.
"Today, with all these change we’ve made, it’s $925 per child," he said. "Now, the state average is $1,235."

