Budget OK’d; staffing cuts still possible

Voters reject $910K, all-day kindergarten

By: Dick Brinster
   With the East Windsor Regional School District’s budget having gotten a passing grade from voters for the first time in three years, Superintendent Ron Bolandi says saving staff positions is now his top priority.
   "We know what the budget is and know what we have, and now we’ll look at who is to be reduced and where," he said Wednesday while declining to predict how many people might actually lose jobs. "We have to look at retirements, people transferring out and that sort of thing."
   In the weeks leading up to Tuesday night’s 500-plus-vote approval of the $77.4 million budget, Mr. Bolandi had said a reduction of 28.5 positions —including seven teaching slots —was a certainty unless voters approved at least one of two additional ballot questions. Mr. Bolandi tried to save 13 teaching positions with one referendum question, but it was defeated along with a proposal for an all-day kindergarten that would have added seven more teaching slots.
   "Now, we’ll have to submit those questions to the mayors and councils of East Windsor and Hightstown," he said.
   Under law, the combined councils can permit the vote to stand or add a portion or all of the $2.4 million that would have been spent on the staffing and kindergarten proposals.
   While there may be pressure on local government leaders from the school district, Borough Council President Walter Sikorski said he has no intention of adding money to the budget.
   "As far as I’m concerned, the election is complete and the voters have spoken," he said.
   Last year, the councils slashed nearly a half-million dollars from a defeated $79.2 million budget after reducing the 2005-2006 spending measure by $1 million.
   Approval of the 2007-2008 budget and a narrow win for a $680,000 "courtesy busing" program will mean the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $132,500 will save $11 from 2006-2007. In the borough, where the average home assessment is $120,000, the school tax bill will rise by about $21 for 2007-2008.
   The budget was approved 1,767 to 1,196 Tuesday night. East Windsor voters were for it by 1,498 to 968. In Hightstown, the tally for the spending measure was 269-228.
   "Obviously, I’m pleased that the budget and courtesy busing was adopted," Mr. Bolandi said. "But I’m equally disappointed that the questions on staffing and all-day kindergarten were defeated."
   He said he is particularly upset that voters could not see the wisdom of approving the staffing question in view of the district’s stunning improvement over the last two years in state testing scores.
   "These staff members were not extras (new)," he said. "They were slated to go into programs we need as we try to continue to move forward."
   The $910,000 staffing question — beaten 1,566 to 1,394 — would have restored 13 teaching positions from among 50.5 overall staff slots pared from the original 2007-2008 budget as a result of new state law that changed the school funding formula from a 4 percent annual cap on spending to a 4 percent cap on tax revenues.
   As part of the formula, the state Department of Education last month reduced East Windsor’s revenue tax base from 2006-2007 by $4 million, the amount the district spent on capital projects. But, just hours before the board adopted its budget on March 29, the DOE allowed a waiver to expand the tax base by about $2 million, a move that permitted the district to save 22 positions.
   Mr. Bolandi again blamed the governor and the Legislature for the tough financial positions of East Windsor Regional and many other districts across the state. He also said he doesn’t understand why, in his mind, the majority of voters don’t put enough stock into the recent improvements in the district.
   "We have to convince the community that education needs to be the number one priority," Mr. Bolandi said, noting that the budget itself represented a tax cut for both communities. "Still, there were 968 people (in East Windsor) who voted against it, and I think that’s significant.
   In a reference to the defeat of the supplemental ballot questions, he said, "There are two reasons people vote no. Either the administration and the Board of Education didn’t do a very good job convincing others of the needs of 5,000 kids or all they care about are taxes."
   "We have an obligation to maintain a dedicated and talented staff, and when we can’t the kids have to live with the consequences of that," he said. "I didn’t spend three years of my life bringing good people into the East Windsor School District just to accept mediocrity."
   Voters approved the nonmandatory busing question, which means elementary school children living 2 miles from school and high school students within 2 1-2 miles can continue to ride. It also provides for after-school activities transportation. The vote was 1,541 yes to 1,420 no.
   Board President Alice Weisman said voters recognized the importance of the busing question, the adoption of which also means children will not be forced to cross busy and dangerous roads to get to school.
   "I call it hazardous busing rather than courtesy busing," she said. "It’s something we considered removing from budgets in past years, but kept it in because of the safety issue.
   "This year, we had no choice."
   She said as a parent she was hoping others like her would understand the need to protect their children.
   "I am relieved," she said of the vote.
   The all-day kindergarten program lost 1,905 to 1,060, perhaps making the concept a long shot for support in the near future unless the councils decide to override the will of voters who said no to a $1.5 million expenditure.
   "Full-day kindergarten was so overwhelmingly defeated, I don’t know what we’re going to do with that," Mr. Bolandi said.
   As a result of the busing question adoption, the average East Windsor homeowner will receive a school tax bill of $4,295, up $55. It would have been $4,465 had all questions been approved. The school tax rate in the township with the two approvals is $3.23 per $100 of assessed value, down about a penny from 2006-07.
   In Hightstown, approval of busing added $51, bringing the bill of the average homeowner to $3,980. Approval of the other questions would have raised that to $4,161. The borough’s school tax rate now will be $3.31, up nearly 3 cents from 2006-2007.
Managing editor Vic Monaco contributed to this story.