After the Millstone Township and Upper Freehold Regional school districts’ budgets failed April 20, bus drivers in both districts started fearing for their jobs.
After both school districts learned that their state aid would be slashed this year, they proposed outsourcing school bus routes to save money. The officials in both districts reversed their decisions after outcry from parents but warned that the issue may be reconsidered should the budgets fail.
Drivers attended Millstone and Upper Freehold Township Committee meetings last week, because the budgets did fail and governing bodies have been charged with coming to an agreement on the total of their respective school budgets and tax levies.
At the April 21 Millstone Township Committee meeting, bus driver Joe Mennino asked the committee to look at the budget as a whole when proposing cuts, and said that people want the transportation department. He noted that the Board of Education had proposed selling the district’s fleet of buses.
Mayor Nancy Grbelja said the school district previously tried subcontracting busing, which “fell flat on its face.”
“In every district I know, it’s not a savings,” Grbelja said.
Committeeman Gary Dorfman called outsourcing bus routes to save money “budget gimmickry” since it would be a one-time revenue source. Grbelja noted that many of the district’s drivers live in town, and this factor provides more of a safety net in transporting the children.
This is the sixth year in a row that the Millstone school district’s proposed budget has failed at the polls. Grbelja noted that the Board of Education has not always followed through making the cuts that the governing body recommends.
“If the Board of Education doesn’t like the cuts we suggest, they can make their own cuts for the amount of money we feel the tax levy should be,” she said.
Grbelja said the board could also appeal the Township Committee’s budget decision to the Monmouth County executive school superintendent or the state Department of Education.
During the March 22 Upper Freehold Township Committee meeting, Upper Freehold Regional School District bus drivers told the governing body that they had already made many concessions during the budgeting process.
Spokeswoman Teresa Nixon said the drivers declined a raise for the entire year, noting that teachers deferred their raise to January. When the district began considering outsourcing its bus routes, the drivers were told that they would have to cut $150,000 from the transportation department to maintain it. Nixon said drivers condensed runs and brought back runs that had been contracted out to find the savings.
N
ixon said the school district told drivers
to make an additional $50,000 worth of cuts. She said the drivers are willing to give up 7-8 percent of their salaries to pay for their health benefits.
Due to the township’s own fiscal woes, the governing body decided this year to no longer fund courtesy busing to students living within two miles of school that do not have a safe walking path to school. Last year, the township paid the school district $85,000 to provide this service. Nixon said that the district plans to offer affected students subscription busing, which should generate $123,000 in revenue. She said she would like to see that money go back into transportation, and not the school’s general fund.
Mayor Stan Moslowski Jr. pointed out that most of the bus drivers live in town, and it’s helpful for everyone who lives in Upper Freehold to have jobs. Moslowski, a 1982 graduate of Allentown High School, recognized one of the drivers from when he was in school.
Committeeman Steve Alexander said township employees had to take a 10 percent pay cut last year and wouldn’t receive a raise this year. He commended the drivers for their willingness to cut salaries.
“I hope everyone who works [in the district] hears this,” he said.
Although the governing bodies of both communities will make recommendations as to what their respective districts should cut to adhere to the total budget and tax levy they decide, the boards of education will make the final decisions on what line items should be reduced or eliminated. The governing bodies must review the budget and suggest their changes by May 19 for county superintendent approval.
Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick said that the Upper Freehold School District will not know what to cut
until it knows the depth of and Allentown will want it to make.
“At this point we’re looking at lots of different things, such as staff reductions at all levels and in all departments, which will impact class size,” he said. “We’re looking at the privatizing or outsourcing of bus transportation. We’ve already put in fee-based activities athletics, but they’re both still on the list for further reductions.”
Fitzpatrick said that the administration would continue to analyze if outsourcing or privatizing the bus routes would provide savings.
“We are trying to do an analysis of transportation and costs,” he said. “Bus drivers receive benefits, so it’s not a matter of just salaries.”
Fitzpatrick said that school district officials started talking to the Millstone school district a year ago about the possibility of consolidating routes and sharing transportation departments for savings. He said talks about such efficiencies and with the transportation department would continue.