HOWELL — The recent vote to defeat the tax levy portion of the Howell K-8 School District Board of Education’s proposed 2010-11 budget was not a mandate from the public, the president of the Howell Township Education Association (HTEA) said recently.
Although Gov. Chris Christie urged voters to reject school budgets in districts where teachers had not accepted a salary freeze for 2010-11, the budget defeat in Howell this year was routine, William J. O’Brien said at a special Township Council meeting on May 18.
“It happens in Howell every year,” said O’Brien, the president of the HTEA, which represents Howell’s teachers. “Every year we vote down the budget. The people in Howell didn’t give any signal when they voted for the budget. Howell wasn’t particularly receptive to that call.”
O’Brien and many others who packed the Howell Memorial Middle School auditorium on May 18 urged the council not to cut the budget any further than the more than $9 million already gone from spending down surplus (savings) and a nearly $5 million reduction in state aid.
The council was charged with certifying a tax levy for the 2010-11 school year after voters rejected the board’s proposal for a $66.2 million general fund tax levy to support a $108.2 million budget.
“I implore you to have the courage to stand up and say enough is enough,” O’Brien said to the council members. “You don’t need to cause any further damage. Let us work with the Board of Education to repair what used to be a great district.”
But in the end, Mayor Robert F. Walsh and the council members voted 5-0 to cut $1.9 million from the Howell K-8 School District’s requested tax levy and $4.5 million from the Freehold Regional High School District’s requested tax levy.
The Howell school board was expected to meet this week to determine how to achieve the cut in the tax levy that was ordered by the council.
The FRHSD budget is likely headed to the state because municipal officials in the high school district’s eight sending municipalities could not agree on the amount of the reduction in the tax levy.
Nearly 40 people spoke during the sometimes contentious special council meeting that lasted more than three hours.
“I can tell you now, we have a governor who is going to balance the (state) budget,” Walsh said. “And balancing the budget means making tough decisions. Sixty percent of the people in Howell (who voted on April 20) voted against the (school) budget. That is the bottom line at the end of the day. So we are going to have to make some very tough cuts.”
The bleachers at Memorial Middle School were filled to capacity on May 18 by members of the HTEA who wore neon orange T-shirts with the letters “HTEA” printed on the front.
Howell Board of Education President Mary Cerretani said substantial cuts had already been made in the budget and asked the council to come up with “a zero cut or a $1 cut.”
“I can tell you right now my vote is not going to be for a dollar,” the mayor said.
Walsh said he was “not happy” that the board members had not come up with any additional items that could be cut from the budget since the tax levy was rejected by voters a month earlier.
“To be told ‘We offer you nothing’ was like spitting in my face and spitting in the voters’ faces,” the mayor said.
Walsh said he was upset that the HTEA had not made more concessions.
“I was disappointed, very disappointed as a citizen, taxpayer and as a mayor that the union didn’t come to the table and offer something,” he said.
Walsh also said he had heard that the New Jersey Education Association did not want the members of local unions voting on givebacks such as salary freezes.
“That is despicable, if that is true,” he said. “I think everybody should pony up. Nobody should be out of this game right now.”
O’Brien never mentioned a salary freeze or asking HTEA members to pay toward the cost of their health care premium, but he did say the union was open to further talks with the board.
“We have been in discussions with the board since the minute that 66.5 of our people were let go,” the union leader said. “It takes a long time to put a contract together. I have no experience taking one apart. Let me make it crystal clear. The employees of Howell schools have sacrificed in the past and are willing to step up to the plate again.”
Gail Marinello, whose son is in one of the district’s special education classes, said parents — not all taxpayers — should pay if their children participate in middle school interscholastic sports.
“People in Howell have been spoiled over the years,” she said. “Has the union asked the teachers to pay a portion of their medical costs to save the jobs of their colleagues? What are the unions doing to help the town in its financial crisis?”
Grace Abramov said she spoke for the silent majority of senior citizens who live in Howell. Abramov said she cannot afford to retire.
“I hope I can continue to stay here,” she said. “That is my dream. I was married here. I raised my children here. I hope to die here. I hope everybody calls Gov. Christie to support him for his bravery.”
Former longtime Howell Board of Education member Patricia Blood urged the council not to make any cuts to the school budget.
“You believe you have to make the cut … because the taxpayers have spoken,” Blood said. “I challenge you to not make that cut any more egregious than the cuts that have already been made. School will open in September, but school will not look the same in September.”
More than 400 Howell school employees received a notice in recent weeks that informed them they may not have a job after the current school year ends.
The exact number of employees who will lose their job is still not known. Cerretani said on May 24 that the board’s labor committee is planning to hold further talks with the HTEA.
Factors that could determine how many employees are let go are retirements and individuals moving from one position to another, based on seniority, and “bumping” someone out of a job.
Walsh said at the special council meeting that he respects the teachers in the district, some of whom helped his autistic son during the youngster’s elementary school years.
“It’s about money,” Walsh said at one point. “Let’s cut to the chase. There is no more tiptoeing through the tulips. We are going to have to make some very hard decisions about what is a necessity and what is a want. I need a solution, folks. There is no more aid coming from Trenton. You may not like it, you may not think it’s fair, but it’s going to happen.”
Councilwoman Susan Schroeder Clark said before the council voted to reduce the K-8 school district tax levy for 2010-11 that the decision was “very difficult.”
“I have an obligation to respect the voters, whether I agree or not,” she said.