By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
Presentation gives summary ahead of March 9 introduction
This year’s school budget will be a “budget of cuts,” district Superintendent Edward Forsthoffer vowed at Monday’s Board of Education meeting, with the administration struggling to create a plan that doesn’t strain taxpayers or affect students’ education.
”The budget that I am still creating will most likely have them (cuts),” Dr. Forsthoffer said. “We will have to do more with less.”
Dr. Forsthoffer gave a presentation on developing the 2009-2010 school budget at the meeting, highlighting the challenges this year’s budget would face. The budget will be introduced at the board’s March 9 meeting, will final approval set for March 23. Voters will weigh-in on the budget on April 21.
Last year, voters approved a $106,282,590 school budget for the 2008-2009 school year, setting the tax rate at $1.96 per $100 assessed value. The portion of local property tax bills for schools totals $7,350 for the owner of a property assessed at $375,000, the average assessment figure used by Dr. Forsthoffer in Monday’s presentation.
The presentation included general information about areas that could see cuts — including staffing — but did not include specifics on the cuts.
To achieve the state-set limit of 4 percent on additional spending — which would involve a 1.6-cent tax rate increase per $100 of assessed value, making the school portion of the property tax bill go up $60 next year for the owner of a property assessed at $375,000 — the district would need to cut $2,283,753 from its budget.
Dr. Forsthoffer noted a 1-cent tax rate increase, which would increase the school portion of the property tax by $37.50 in 2009-2010, would require $2,736,753 in budget cuts, and to have no tax increase, the district would need to cut $3,939,753 from its budget.
”Unfortunately, the school budget is the only budget voters and taxpayers vote on,” Dr. Forsthoffer said during his presentation. “I think there is a misconception that we have a lot of fat in our budget, so we are trying to make it as transparent as possible.”
Noting the dour economy and financial burden many residents face, the administration instituted several practices to save money this year, intending to transfer the saved money into budget surplus. The surplus could then be used to alleviate district costs in the 2009-2010 budget.
These already-instituted measures include a freeze on discretionary spending, applying for several School Development Authority grants to fund school improvements to reduce capital project costs, examining current staffing trends, and identifying further cuts to bring the planned budget to the 4 percent cap, Dr. Forsthoffer said.
He also recommended, to Personnel Committee chairman David Lin, that he receive no salary increase next year in an effort to reduce district costs.
Approximately 77 percent of the budgeted items — including costs associated with general education, benefits, special education and transportation — increase at rates over 4 percent annually, an unsustainable growth given the budget cap, Dr. Forsthoffer said.
Cutting funds from various areas isn’t as cut-and-dry as it seems, however, he noted. Once a district nixes funds in an area or otherwise changes an area to save money, the cuts or changes can become permanent — it becomes harder for districts to convince voters to spend money to bring the changes back. Certain cuts, particularly potential staff cuts, can affect class size as well, and it’s often hard to maintain quality programs with less money.
In addition, the administrators are unsure about funding the district will receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed last month, and, Dr. Forsthoffer said, Hillsborough is under funded by the state’s funding formula.
The anticipated cuts brought questions from board members, who asked about the source of the cuts and the effects students would see.
”It’s clear that the lower we go in terms of a budget increase, there’s going to be some pain,” Marc Rosenberg said. “At what point in there do the cuts start to affect the kids?”
Mr. Rosenberg’s question followed board President Neil Hudes’ question regarding the source of cuts made to reach the 4 percent budget cap.
Cuts to get to the cap come from the “principals’ wish lists” — items that are not necessary for running schools, but would be nice to have, Dr. Forsthoffer said in response to Mr. Hudes. While none of the potential situations affect current class size, the cuts would have some impact on school operations, Dr. Forsthoffer said, in response to Mr. Rosenberg.
Board member Judy Haas asked whether the situations, particularly the steep cuts needed if the district does not go to the 4 percent cap, would allow the district to operate, and handle any surprise expenses — such as an influx of students whose parents could no longer afford private school, or any state mandates that would force the district to increase spending.
”I’m a little bit incredulous about all of this,” Ms. Haas said. “The state cap is an acknowledgement that there are certain cost-of-living increases. Everywhere you look, gas prices increase, health benefits increase … and it’s more than 4 percent. How are we going to do this?”
Estates Boulevard resident and Hillsborough Education Association President Barbara Parker built on the sentiment, noting tax increases would make residents on fixed incomes unwilling to approve a budget, but the cuts necessary for a budget with no increase could convince parents unwilling to approve a budget. Since the Township Committee would make additional cuts after a budget gets voted down, Ms. Parker asked whether the district could maintain the district’s quality.
”The reality becomes, what happens when the budget fails,” Ms. Parker said. “… When we are already walking on very thin ice, that is a reality and a possibility. We, at that point, will not have a quality school district that we have seen before.”
Sheppard Court resident Carol Cropley wanted specific information regarding the cut areas, particularly staff cuts.
”It is clear to me that there are going to have to be staff cuts,” she said. “There is no way you can tell me it will not affect the students. Can you share any specific updates on what or who will be cut?”
The administration’s task would be prioritizing the cuts to create the least impact on the classrooms, Dr. Forsthoffer said.
”The question’s going to be how we can prioritize that to have the least impact,” he said. “The $2.2 million (in cuts) is going to happen regardless … Unfortunately, even if we were to take it (the budget) to cap, there would still be some cuts, even though I think we could minimize it.”

