Budget issues are prime in school board races

Candidates stake out their positions as week remains before vote

   April 17 is the day of decision for school board candidates as they seek voter approval, and budget issues are among their major concerns.

   There are races for board seats in Princeton Township, Montgomery and West Windsor. In Princeton Borough and Plainsboro a single incumbent is running unopposed for re-election.

   Here is a rundown of candidates and their positions in the three Packet-area school districts:
Princeton Regional
   Budgets, books and technology top the agenda of several school board candidates vying for two seats in Princeton Township and one in Princeton Borough.
   In the township, incumbent JoAnn Cunningham faces challengers Dorothy Bedford and Naomi Perlman for two vacant seats, while current school board Vice President Alan Hegedus is uncontested in the borough. The candidates will take part in a forum sponsored by the district’s Special Education Parent Teacher Organization 8 p.m. tonight in the John Witherspoon Middle School library.
   If re-elected, Ms. Cunningham would garner a third three-year term on the school board. She currently serves on the program, personnel and negotiations committees. She also is a school board representative for the Riverside Elementary Parent Teacher Organization. Ms. Cunningham could not be reached for comment.
   A parent of a John Witherspoon Middle School student, Ms. Bedford has two other children, both of whom attended Riverside Elementary School and then attended private institutions. An advocate for "low price-tag" technology, Ms. Bedford convinced the school board in 2005 to gradually incorporate soundfield equalization equipment in classrooms, which includes the implementation of surround-sound for lectures.
   The technology, she said, allows students with and without hearing disabilities to participate, and it also increases teaching time because instructors no longer have to repeat anecdotes and facts.
   "As a board member, I (would) feel strongly that without breaking out the check book in a wonton manner that the board should be working with the staff to encourage looking at the possibility of small increments of technology that could have a direct impact on the delivery of education services in the classroom that would also benefit our teachers," Ms. Bedford said.
   Ms. Bedford, who is chairwoman of the Princeton University Store board of trustees and the former executive director for the Christine Todd Whitman Excellence in Public Service Series, said if elected she would also aim to retain Princeton’s quality of education while working within the state’s budget caps. Looking for new revenues, Ms. Bedford said, is part of that process.
   A mother of two students at Littlebrook School, Ms. Perlman is a 10-year resident of the township and an attorney who specializes in special education and disability law. She has been a member of the district’s Special Education PTO and was vice president of fundraising for the Littlebrook PTO. She is also on the board of directors at the Jewish Center of Princeton, serves as its chairwoman for youth programming and is a former participant in the Mercer County Juvenile Conference Committee.
   Highlighting Ms. Perlman’s agenda are budgetary issues and establishing uniformity in textbooks throughout the district.
   "There needs to be long-term strategic planning put into place," Ms. Perlman said of school district funding. "There is no short-term solution, and its going to be a long-term problem."
   To address school funding, Ms. Perlman said the district should look for more creative ways to support its budget, and inform its citizenry of the constraints imposed by the state.
   "Given the constraints that the school board had before it and the expenditures from past years, I feel the budget was handled in the best way possible for this year," Ms. Perlman said.
   Mr. Hegedus, a board veteran vying for his third term representing the borough, said the district’s financial constraints also tops his agenda. As the current chairman of the board’s finance committee, Mr. Hegedus said his task is to maintain quality of education given the property tax issues the state faces.
   "It is a worsening circumstance, and we’re really in a position as a school board to fight upstream and against the legislators in Trenton, who are first bankrupting the state and then have the audacity to tell us how to teach our children," Mr. Hegedus said.
   As a retired businessman and a grandfather of two in the district, Ms. Hegedus said, he has the experience to address these issues.
— Courtney Gross
Montgomery



   Exercising financial restraint while maintaining the quality of education in a community that has experienced surging property taxes is one of the important issues in the school board election, according to candidates.
   The pressing issues in the April 17 election and the candidates’ positions on them are expected to help decide which of five candidates receive three seats on the school board.
   The candidates, incumbents Andrea Bradley and Reginald Luke and newcomers Matthew Galvin, Yiping Wang and Thomas McGrew said solutions to growing financial concerns were of the highest importance to them.
   "My primary goal as a member of the school board is to ensure the district provides the best education possible for all students, while responsibly limiting the financial impact on taxpayers," Ms. Bradley said. "The Board of Education must be accountable to all taxpayers for limiting the impact of rising property taxes to finance the excellent education expected by Montgomery residents."
   Ms. Bradley has experienced the financial repercussions of the school district herself, having lived in town for 10 years, and serving as first president of the Village Elementary School PTA.
   She said she recognizes the district must partner with the township and other similar municipalities to pressure the state to provide more funding to reduce the impact on Montgomery taxpayers.
   Ms. Bradley has experience with finance, having practiced corporate security and finance law after graduating from law school at the University of California at Los Angeles.
   Newcomer Mr. Galvin said these fiscal responsibility and school budget issues were also of great concern to him.
   "The Montgomery School District is now forced to live with a 4-percent cap on expenditures and we need to take steps to live within the limitation," said Mr. Galvin. "I believe this is possible without having to resort to additional fees, as is currently proposed, or diminish our academic excellence."
   Mr. Galvin has lived in Montgomery for three years, and currently has four children ready to go through the Montgomery district.
   He said he feels his business experience while working as executive vice president of the RDC Golf Group would be of particular help to the school board, especially while making difficult budget decisions.
   Mr. Galvin said he would institute a system where the administration would have to justify each and every dollar spent on an annual basis at a zero level, rather than using the previous year’s budget as a basis.
   Ms. Wang, a Rutgers University research faculty member and mother of two Montgomery students, said the district couldn’t continue to rely on public funding, but could research grants and other new sources of revenue to reduce the impact on taxpayers.
   "This would create an infrastructure that will creatively, diligently, and continuously leverage existing resources and generate external funding for providing quality programs," said Ms. Wang. Ms. Wang had experience with developing revenue sources while working on a school board in Cincinnati, where she served as vice president and chairwoman of the diversity committee.
   Candidates said they believe maintaining good communication during the cleanup of the contaminated former North Princeton Developmental Center site is very important to the community.
   "The Montgomery community, the parents and staff of the Village Elementary School have resoundingly expressed their concern about protecting the school children during the remediation process," said incumbent Dr. Luke. "The Montgomery Board of Education must continue its diligent and cooperative role with the Township Committee."
   Dr. Luke, a longtime member of the Montgomery school board and dean of science, mathematics and health technology at Middlesex Community College said this role has yielded results.
   These results include a demolition schedule taking place during summer vacation and increased monitoring of the former NPDC site.
   The other incumbent, Ms. Bradley, said she wants to continue the communication between the board and the community and other entities.
   "The board has demonstrated its commitment to being receptive and responsive to residents’ concerns with forums on issues such as transportation, the Skillman Village remediation work and this year’s budget," Ms. Bradley said.
   Ms. Wang, who moved to Montgomery two years ago to take advantage of the schools, also said the board’s ability to communicate during the NPDC cleanup will continue to be important in the coming years.
   She said she would make the board’s planning more strategic if elected, creating a better opportunity to deliver 21st century education.
   Ms. Wang also said the ability of the students to work in the increasingly diverse and globalized world should be important in the board’s planning.
   "Our children need to develop social awareness, adaptability and resilience," said Ms. Wang. "They need a strong ability to adapt."
   To this same end, Ms. Bradley has pushed the district to develop ways of measuring achievement besides the usual SAT scores and college admission results in order to evaluate how the district is preparing students for the 21st century.
   "The objective is to teach the district’s students to actively participate as problem solvers and creative thinkers," Ms. Bradley said.
   Mr. McGrew, an 18-year-old Montgomery student and school board candidate, could not be reached for comment, although he has spoken out at board meetings against fees for extracurricular activities.
   He has said previously that the fees might hurt participation. All of the candidates will present their positions at the Meet the Candidates forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Upper Middle School auditorium. The League of Women Voters will moderate the Montgomery High School PTA-sponsored event.
— Greg Forester
West Windsor-Plainsboro
   In the campaign for seats on the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education, candidates’ perceptions of the current performance of the district vary.
   While some give the district high marks, others cite room for improvement.
   Incumbent board Vice President Robert Johnson is among the former.
   "From my perspective — I don’t think it’s a universal perspective — things are going pretty well," he said. However, he said all current board members are definitely concerned about one issue.
   "If they’re not concerned with a way to control costs, then they’re entirely out of touch," he said, noting that the board will have to deal with the "difficulties in budgeting" created by the state-imposed budget cap.
   "You have to be very careful about how you use your surplus," he said, noting his belief that the board has done a good job at "operating on a reasonable basis over the last several years" by avoiding costly new programs and by not pursuing "cutbacks that would cause an outcry."
   He said he thinks the hiring of a new superintendent will result in a "smooth transition."
   "I don’t see that as anything that’s really a challenge to the district," he said.
   Incumbent board President Hemant Marathe agreed with Mr. Johnson to a certain extent.
   "The biggest challenge in front of the district in the coming year is of course … the hiring of the new superintendent," he said. "And the constant struggle with the budget."
   Mr. Marathe said the biggest tool to deal with both issues is experience.
   He said the board has handled the budget well "because of the leadership the administration has shown and the guidance the board has given them."
   He added, "With my experience, I can help the next superintendent to be successful. It’s a fairly steep learning curve for new board members because there are a lot things going on that you don’t necessarily realize when you’re not on the board."
   In addition, "the parents and various interest groups seem to be satisfied with the direction of the district," he said. "I don’t hear a lot of complaining."
   Candidate Brett Boal does not necessarily agree.
   Although he acknowledged that "some honest good stuff is happening in the district," Mr. Boal said "there’s no desire to prod, push, understand what the issues are."
   He added, "The centerpiece of my campaign is the concern about complacency," noting his belief that there is a "self satisfaction with the way things are going."
   Specifically, Mr. Boal said that while the district has a high achievement rate, some students aren’t getting the opportunity to participate in advanced classes because of "arbitrary limits" placed on programs like pre-algebra and honors science.
   He said the high percentage of district students that test above the national average prohibits many students from taking classes appropriate to their learning level.
   "Here, they’re held back simply because there’s so many (gifted) kids," he said. "There are a lot of kids who would be best served being at that level."
   In a similar vein, candidate Michael Donnelly said he would focus on making sure certain students don’t fall through the cracks.
   Although he said the district is performing well, he said many students with learning disabilities like attention deficit disorder or dyslexia may go undiagnosed, but still need services.
   "I think it’s prevalent," he said. "I want to make sure we’re keeping an eye on it and we’re doing what we can."
   He said that although he thinks the school district is performing well, there are "several challenges for the board and for the school district" ahead, including the hiring of a new superintendent and the budget process.
   "The budget is going to be difficult," he said, citing the state cap as a major concern. "I want to start working on the budget early and make sure we’re looking at these things down the road."
   Candidate Jay Bryant said he will focus on providing "better professional development for the teachers, better use of technology" and "increased digital literacy."
   He added, "I think that if West Windsor-Plainsboro is going to maintain their leadership position in the state, they need to work on better implementation of new technology."
   He said he would try to increase the time allotted for professional development for teachers from the current two days to four.
   "A large majority of our teachers in the district have been there for 15 to 20 years," he said. "We need to get them up to speed."
   In addition, he said next year’s budget is a concern, and he plans to ask a few specific questions when dealing with the issue.
   "Are we spending the right amount of money in the right place?" he said. "How do we maintain the value … in education that we provide to students?"
   Incumbent Ellen Walsh is the lone candidate running in Plainsboro, and was unavailable for comment.
   A forum featuring all six candidates will be held 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Grover Middle School Auditorium, 10 Southfield Road, West Windsor.
   Each candidate will give a two-minute opening statement, and will then be given one minute to respond to each question submitted by the audience. A representative from the Princeton Area League of Women Voters will moderate the forum.
— Nick Norlen