Stephanie Vaccaro

By: centraljersey.com
They knew a budget shortfall was coming. Now the members of the Princeton Regional Board of Education is seeking the input of the public at an open forum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at John Witherspoon Middle School.
"We expect approximately a $2 million gap," Superintendent Judy Wilson said of the 2011-2012 annual budget.
"We’ve known for quite some time that we were heading into a budget gap, and we’re asking for suggestions from the public about how to cut our budget," Board President Rebecca Cox said.
The forum is a chacne for the public to share recommendations on cost savings, efficiencies and new revenue streams, prior to the development of the annual budget. Ideas and suggestions will be gathered and used to inform the board as it makes another round of decisions in the budget development process.
The budget is to be presented to voters on Tuesday, April 19.
"We aren’t going to be talking about any other ideas that the board might be considering," Ms. Cox said. The purpose of the forum, moderated by the head of the board’s Finance Committee, Charles Kalmbach, is to get ideas from the community. It is not a time where ideas the board has been discussing are to be shared, Ms. Cox said.
The board has already taken the following cost-saving steps, Ms. Wilson said. Debt has been refinanced to get lower interest rates, and the school district has joined several consortia for insurance and purchasing. Dozens of part-time jobs have been created to replace full-time jobs with benefits and the district has changed healthcare brokers in the last 18 months. Night cleaning crews have been privatized, and all HVAC systems have been updated for energy savings, she said.
"Over the last years we have implemented many cost savings measures and, sadly, have also cut some programs and many staff positions," Ms. Wilson said. "Continued dismantling of academic and co-curricular programs is not the answer for our school system."
The forum will be held right after a meeting of Save Our Schools New Jersey (SOSnj), located in the same room, and we’re hoping that people who attend that meeting will come to the forum as well, Ms. Cox said. The SOSnj meeting will begin at 7 p.m.
"People should come to the 7 p.m. meeting to learn about Save Our Schools NJ and what they can do to save New Jersey’s excellent public schools," founding member Julia Sass Rubin said.
"This brief meeting is an introduction to Save Our Schools NJ (SOSnj), a nonpartisan, grassroots organization of parents and other concerned residents who believe that all New Jersey children should have access to a high-quality public education," Ms Rubin said.
"The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the threat to our public schools and SOSnj’s policy agenda, to explain how individuals can get involved in saving public education in the state, and to answer questions," Ms Rubin said.
For those unable to attend the public forum but would like to make a suggestion, the board of education welcomes recommendations via e-mail at [email protected].
For more information about Save Our Schools New Jersey visit http://sites.google.com/site/sosnewjersey/