Bolandi: New state cap would force staff cuts

Superintendent wants $4M waiver

By: Dick Brinster
   Superintendent Ron Bolandi says some existing teaching positions and programs will be lost in the East Windsor Regional Schools unless he convinces the state to grant a waiver allowing the district a $4 million spending increase.
   His comments came about a week after the state announced that the East Windsor district would get a $749,423, or 4.4-percent, increase in aid, the first increase since 2002.
   Pending legislation that calls for a 4-percent annual cap on the local school tax levy rather than on expenditures would allow the district to appropriate $70 million for current expenses, down from $74 million last year, according to Mr. Bolandi.
   He has taken his case for restoration to state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy.
   "I am asking for a review at your level because of the catastrophic effect it has on the students in our district," Mr. Bolandi wrote in a letter Wednesday.
   Last year, the district’s tax levy to East Windsor and Hightstown was $52.4 million, which included a $4 million capital budget that used $2.5 million from surplus to complete a building program. Mr. Bolandi says the tax levy would be $51.2 million for 2007-2008 if Gov. Corzine approves the new cap, which has been OK’d by both houses of the Legislature.
   In essence, Mr. Bolandi says the district is now being penalized for having moved surplus funds to capital – something the state approved despite dropping surplus below its allowable limit – and thus lowering last year’s necessary tax levy. And he says he needs the $4 million difference just to get to last year’s total.
   "They’re saying because of all the capital projects we’re not doing anymore, we don’t need the money," he said. "Those projects had nothing to do with current expenditures, so we got penalized in that deal."
   Mr. Bolandi said there is no way the district can recoup the $4 million on its own if the new cap becomes law, and it can’t restore the surplus, which dropped from $2.1 million to $660,000 last year.
   "If I had known there was going to be a revenue cap I never would have done it (moved the surplus)," he said, while acknowledging, "At that time, they (the state) didn’t know it either."
   But that’s of little comfort to him now.
   "I don’t think the state people know what they did," he said as he continued to work on a budget he plans to present to the Board of Education on Monday night. "They did a good job of almost destroying the East Windsor Regional School District.
   "There will be staff reductions and program reductions if the state does not give us a waiver to allow $74 million."
   Mr. Bolandi said he could not say how many teachers or what programs would have to be axed to reach the $70 million figure.
   The superintendent had planned to recommend that the district hire nine new teachers and a social worker, and make capital improvements to items such as roofs and roadways.
   "That’s all gone now, history, over, done, finished," Mr. Bolandi said.
   Mr. Bolandi also said getting no relief from the proposed tax levy cap would result in class sizes slightly exceeding recommended state standards.
   Now, he says, he must concentrate on figuring out a way to maintain as much of the current school structure as possible.
   "It’s like a nightmare in progress," Mr. Bolandi said.
   On Monday, he wrote to DOE representatives for Mercer County, saying that even with a freeze on all current expense spending, the district will not be able to make it to $70 million without considerable sacrifice.
   In his letter to Michael Klavon, the DOE’s schools superintendent for the county, and Marie Goodwin, the department’s school business administrator for the county, Mr. Bolandi said a change in the funding formula from an expenditure cap to a revenue cap penalizes the district for being fiscally prudent.
   "I am also requesting relief because we opened a new elementary building (Ethel McKnight school) ahead of schedule in September 2006," Mr. Bolandi wrote, adding that the early opening was not a reality in March 2006 during budget preparation. "Therefore, we could not take the significant SGLA (spending growth limitation adjustment) for opening a new school ahead of schedule.
   "The urgency of this situation cannot be understated," he wrote. "In the past two years, EWRSD has made dramatic strides in improving student performance. Continued growth will necessitate your timely and favorable response."
   "The only resolution to bring us back to current levels of spending and programs is to restore the $4 million capital outlay reduction from the tax levy," Mr. Bolandi wrote.