The Matawan-Aberdeen Board of Education, faced with an anticipated 13 percent cut in state aid, is looking at cutting more than 70 employees for the 2010-11 school year and a possible increase in the tax levy.
Superintendent Richard O’Malley discussed the midyear school budget and future impact on the district in a presentation at the Feb. 22 Board of Education meeting at Matawan Regional High School.
“I don’t take this lightly, and I don’t like to speak for members of the Board of Education, but this is not what most of the board members sign up to do,” O’Malley said. “When you have something like this proposed in front of you, nobody gets a good feeling making any of these choices.”
On Feb. 18 the New Jersey commissioner of education advised all school districts to anticipate a 15 percent decrease in state aid revenue in preparing their budgets.
Gov. Chris Christie has also directed that all school districts use their surplus funds to replace withheld state aid. The governor has announced a plan to cut $475 million in state aid to school districts, part of his plan to deal with the state’s $2 billion budget gap.
O’Malley estimated that the cuts of $1,027,829 to the 2009-10 budget are being calculated from two areas: excess surplus and various funding reserves, leaving the district with “financial challenges” for the upcoming academic year.
Under the proposed 2010-11 budget, 78 employee positions would be eliminated and the tax levy would rise by 2 percent, assuming a 13 percent cut in state aid, O’Malley explained.
“Not only are we losing state aid, but we are losing a large amount that is projected for the upcoming year,” board President Charles Kenny said during his address.
“As a result of these decreases, our district has been left with inadequate funding to support our current staffing and programs. As a result of that very unfortunate situation, the board has been working with the superintendent to create enough funding while limiting the tax increase to, hopefully, 2 percent.
“In an effort to continue to provide an appropriate level of education for our students, the board will be meeting with the local bargaining units to find a solution whereby we can avoid personnel cuts and program cuts, while keeping our tax revenue to 2 percent.”
He added that the new board goal would be to create a budget that will provide quality education to the students while maintaining all programs in the district.
During Christie’s special session of the New Jersey Legislature regarding the state budget, he said many school districts in New Jersey have surpluses that are not a part of their fiscal year 2010 budgets.
“This is because they were either not anticipated— so-called excess surpluses — or were placed in a reserve account — so-called reserve surpluses,” Christie said on Feb. 11.
The Matawan-Aberdeen district has $550,000 of excess surplus, O’Malley said.
“We are allowed to have a 2 percent savings account,” O’Malley said in an interview following the meeting. “Anything above 2 percent goes into a legal reserve for taxpayer relief, which is called excess surplus, which becomes a revenue source for 2010-2011. It is anything above 2 percent. Anything above that must go to taxpayer relief.”
Other areas, such as capital reserve, emergency reserve and unreserved funds, were cut by 25 percent in each category, totaling $477,829 in cuts.
The district had approximately $1.2 million in capital reserve, which is a legal reserve for long-range facility projects. The remaining capital reserve is now $951,034, with a cut of $317, 011.
“We anticipate doing two things with that money,” O’Malley said at the meeting. “One is replacing the boiler at Cliffwood Elementary School and then some ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] work throughout the district.”
The district’s emergency reserve —used for health benefit increases — had approximately $250,000 total. The remaining amount of money is $187,505 after a 25 percent cut of $62,501.
In the unreserved fund, which consists of extraordinary aid and other services, the district had approximately $98,316 cut, leaving $294,948.
Given the funding cuts, the 2010-11 academic year will present new challenges to the district, he said, which has seen improvements in student academic performance, technology and facilities over the last two years.
Factoring in the 13 percent state aid cut and the 2 percent tax levy increase, the proposed 2010-11 budget revenues will total $56,603,235, down from $58,421,586.
The district is proposing an additional $5.2 million in personnel and program cuts, eliminating employees and possibly 17 programs.
Some of the program cuts being considered include stipends for clubs and athletics, work-study programs, curriculum writing and summer school.
Of 78 employees, 37 jobs would be eliminated and 32 would be layoffs, which would save more than $2.7 million if the cuts are made. Five retirements out of the 37 would not be replaced.
The other job cuts being considered include 36 custodial positions. O’Malley proposed to privatize the district’s custodial staff, creating a savings of $700,000 in the second year. Each school building in the district will also lose a lunch aide.
He noted that the board must place a fiscal focus on maintaining as many programs, staff and financial opportunities as possible for 2010- 11.
Several board members expressed concerns that the district could regress academically.
In 2009 all six schools achieved Adequate Yearly Progress status under the federal No Child Left Behind Act for the first time in six years, and the board wants to continue their progress.
“We’ve made some progress over the last couple of years, and things are moving pretty well,” said board member Gerald Donaghue. “You don’t want to dismantle a ship when it’s out on the ocean.”
He cited concerns that the cuts could negatively affect the morale of students and faculty but explained it would be an opportunity to teach young people about reality in the “real world.”
“They have police departments laying off people, fire departments laying off [people] … you know,” Donaghue said. “We need to work together, and I really mean that. I’d like our community and our kids to be involved. This situation is real.”
Board member Joey Warren suggested classroom electives — like ceramics, child care and television production, among others— be considered carefully when evaluating the budget.
He said 80 high school juniors were identified as at-risk for not passing the HSPA exam, and the district should keep its focus on academic essentials such as mathematics, language arts and science.
“When one-third of our students are having difficulty meeting basic levels of reading, writing and arithmetic, TV production sounds like a luxury,” Warren said. “This budget isn’t finished yet, and my preface to tax increases would be to take a look at some of these programs.”
The board’s student representative, Andrew Monagle, disagreed with Warren’s comments and explained that students need opportunities for career exploration, eliciting applause from parents in the audience.
The board met with the Monmouth County superintendent on March 1 to present the proposed 2010-11 budget. The governor’s budget message will be delivered on March 16, and state aid numbers will be released on March 18.