Howell Board of Education President Mary Cerretani was stunned and surprised when the Howell Township Council voted last week to slice $1.9 million from the amount of money that Howell K-8 School District administrators wanted to collect in local taxes in 2010-11.
“Absolutely, absolutely,” Cerretani said on May 23. “They could have put money into the budget. There doesn’t have to be a cut. There can be an addition.”
But no addition to the tax levy was forthcoming from the council, and now the board will be left to determine how to trim the amount of money to be collected in local taxes.
Voters in Howell turned down the proposed $66.2 million general fund tax levy portion of the K-8 school district’s $108.2 million budget on April 20. A reduction of $1.9 million in the tax levy means that the general fund tax levy for the upcoming school year will be about $64.3 million.
Mayor Robert F. Walsh gave Cerretani a hint of things to come at the May 18 special Township Council meeting that was held so officials could certify the school district’s 2010-11 tax levy.
Cerretani spoke during the public portion of the meeting and suggested the council not cut anything or cut only $1 from the tax levy portion of the $108.2 million budget.
“I can tell you right now my vote is not going to be for a dollar,” the mayor responded.
The council’s action to trim the tax levy by $1.9 million bore out Walsh’s statement that a token reduction was not in the cards.
The board’s labor committee, which consists of board members Timothy O’Brien, Jeanette Smith and Suzanne Brennan, will meet with representatives of the Howell Township Education Association (HTEA) as soon as possible, Cerretani said.
“We would like to give the union the opportunity to decide what they can and cannot do,” the board president said. “As soon as we are able to tell the public, we want to tell the public. Our administrative team is really working very closely with the union right now. We have made some significant strides with the union. We have a positive relationship with them. Because we have a positive relationship, I think we’ll be able to go somewhere.”
The HTEA, which represents Howell’s teachers, is the only union in the district that has not agreed to accept a salary freeze for the upcoming school year.
“They really weren’t given the opportunity to go to a salary freeze,” Cerretani said. “The reason for that is because of the time frame.”
Central office employees, nonunion department heads, principals, vice principals and supervisors all previously agreed to a salary freeze, according to the board president.
“We want a lot from them,” Cerretani said of the HTEA. “We would like to see them give us more than they are willing to give us. It’s people’s livelihoods. The district is going to certainly work with the HTEA to see if there are any other cuts that can be made, before making any other changes.”
The budget the school board adopted and placed before voters called for the elimination of 75 employees, including eight administrators, 15 custodians, instructional teachers, teaching assistants and guidance counselors.
After voters turned down the tax levy in the school election, throwing the entire 2010-11 budget situation up in the air, administrators mailed reduction in force (RIF) notices to 311 teachers, nine members of the district’s administrative staff and 105 support staff employees to notify them that their jobs could be in jeopardy.
The RIF notices were sent to comply with contract terms that require employees be given 60 days notice that their jobs may be in jeopardy, Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden has said.
Assistant Superintendent Karen Jones said at a recent school board meeting that the actual number of layoffs will be nowhere near the number of RIF notices that were mailed to employees.
Neither board members nor administrators have provided an exact number of how many positions will be lost in the Howell school district prior to the start of the new school year.