Students from Manalapan High School delivered heartfelt pleas to the Manalapan Township Committee in an effort to prevent teachers from being laid off, as municipal officials review the Freehold Regional High School District’s 2010-11 budget.
Committee members listened to more than an hour’s worth of public comment during their meeting at town hall on April 28. The students urged municipal officials to do what they can to save jobs at the high school, while some adults who spoke implored the committee to reduce the amount of the FRHSD tax levy that went down to defeat in the April 20 school election.
On April 20, voters rejected the FRHSD Board of Education’s request to approve a $118.2 million general fund tax levy to support a total budget of $177.7 million for the 2010-11 school year.
On the same day, voters in Manalapan and Englishtown rejected the Manalapan- Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education’s request to approve a $51 million general fund tax levy to support a total budget of $77.8 million for the 2010-11 school year.
Both budgets would have raised taxes on local property owners.
Members of the municipal governing body must certify a tax levy (the total amount to be collected in local property taxes) for the upcoming school year by May 19. Judging from comments made at the meeting, the municipal officials will certify a tax levy that is lower than the amount proposed by the two school boards, and that will lead to certain items being cut from the school district’s budgets.
A lower tax levy could still include an increase in property taxes, but not at the increase that was proposed by the two school boards.
Manalapan Committeewoman Susan Cohen said officials in all eight of the FRHSD’s sending municipalities are in favor of reducing the tax levy to some amount that is less than the requested and rejected $118.2 million. Discussions about the high school budget are expected to continue this week.
The students who spoke at the April 28 committee meeting asked Manalapan’s elected officials to save the jobs of teachers at the high school.
Manalapan High School senior class President Cory Bolotsky spoke in support of the teachers and praised the dedication he said the school’s staff members show to the 2,200 students. He asked the members of the committee to remember the outstanding teachers they had when they were in school as they review the FRHSD budget.
“Please do not cut money out of the 2010-11 budget. Think of the 2,200 students who walk into Manalapan High School every day and what we need,” he said.
A Manalapan High School freshman acknowledged that the student walkout earlier in the week to protest cuts in school aid “was maybe a little ignorant, it was a little pushback, but what else can we do? We are trying to reach out. This is our life. This is our future.”
Still another student asked Manalapan’s elected officials to do what they can to save freshman sports, which the students at the high school believe could be the victim of budget cuts.
Adults had their say as well, and while some of the adults who spoke praised the students for their eloquence and commitment to their teachers, they asked officials for tax relief.
Resident Ray Kalainikas said he believes that when a school budget is defeated, the tax levy for the upcoming school year should remain the same as the tax levy in the current school year.
Resident Gloria Close noted that the six people who are the supervisors of extracurricular activities in the FRHSD cost a combined $743,000 in salaries. Close asked the committee members to take a careful look at the district’s administrative staffing levels and costs.
Resident Mark DeGennaro mentioned the administrative salaries in the FRHSD and in the Manalapan-Englishtown K-8 schools and said, “We need some relief from the taxes we are paying for schools. Take a look at everything, not just the little things.”
Resident Beth Ann Fazlibegu said the high voter turnout for the school election and the results of the election mean that “keeping the budget as it (was proposed) is not an option for this year.”
Resident Butch Budai suggested that in the future the committee members might want to consider bringing students into the discussion of how the budget is developed.
Cohen said she would be willing to meet with Manalapan High School students and Principal Jeff Simon to review the budget and explain the process that is now being undertaken by the municipal officials in the FRHSD.
Committeewoman Michelle Roth said there is a duplication of administrative positions across school districts within a county. Changing to a county-wide school district could be one way to eliminate certain administrative positions that are duplicated, she said.
“I challenge the governor and the Legislature to go to a county-based system of school districts. I believe that is what people are saying,” Roth said.
Contact Mark Rosman at [email protected].