CRANBURY: Suggestions for balancing school budget debated

By David Kilby, Staff Writer
   CRANBURY — As the school district faces a shortfall of about $500,000, a 2 percent tax levy cap, cuts in state funding, increased pension liabilities and increases in health-care costs, the Board of Education looked to the public for ideas for how to reduce the school budget.
   On Tuesday, despite the oncoming snowstorm, about 30 Cranbury taxpayers gathered in the large group room for Cranbury School’s “first ever pre-hearing hearing” on next year’s school budget, said Lynne Schwarz, board president.
   School officials have said everything the school has to offer is on the table when it comes to finding ways to reduce the budget.
   Suggestions from those attending the hearing ranged from ignoring the 2 percent cap to paying for extracurricular activities to asking for volunteer tutors to asking owners of the many warehouses in the township to kick in financially.
   Parent Nancy Brendel, of Parkview Road, said class size is definitely important to her. Her son in first grade is already in a class with 26 students, she said.
   ”It’s like an inner-city crowded school,” she said.
   ”We’re going to be in this for a long time,” said Lynne Fox, of Liedtke Drive, regarding the budget situation. “All of our boards and committees should be thinking collectively. There are creative solutions we can come to in order to support each other.”
   She said Cranbury is a unique town with many residents who have the opportunity to volunteer and tutor.
   ”There are lots of resources to be tapped into,” she said.
   ”We have some mandates we can’t expect the public to meet,” Ms. Schwarz said in response.
   She also mentioned cutting funding from programs isn’t the only way to resolve the budget problem, though.
   Carlene Reyes, of Bergen Drive, suggested parents pay for any extracurricular activities their children want to participate in.
   Regarding sports programs, Diana Heilbronn, of Scottsdale Court, said they’re “something we’ve paid for for many years, and it doesn’t affect education.”
       Nick Kafasis, of Scottsdale Court suggested ignoring the 2 percent cap set by the state since the school isn’t receiving any state funding.
   ”There are some little things we can do before moving to essentially revolution,” said Austin Schraudenbach, vice president of the board, regarding Mr. Kafasis’ suggestion.
   If the tax rate goes up, Mr. Kafasis estimated he personally would have to pay about $300 more per year, and he said he would be fine with that, but the board members understand how many residents won’t be able to afford to be so generous.
   Another suggestion to help the budget was to start a campaign asking owners of the many large company warehouses in Cranbury to lend the school some money. Ms. Schwarz said that is a campaign that could be spearheaded by the Cranbury Education Foundation.
   Blasé Toto, of Petty Drive, suggested looking at the tuition of other area high schools.
   Tuition for Princeton High School accounts for at least a quarter of Cranbury’s school budget.
   ”If you really want to do something (to help the budget), see if another school could be competitive with Princeton,” he said.
   Parents also have been concerned about the distance to Princeton High School.
   ”Our contract (with Princeton) is a 10-year contract,” Ms. Schwarz said. “But if funds got tight, nothing is off the table.”
   The contract was just renewed so it will expire in 2020.
   ”As a K-8 district, we still have to provide education for kindergarten through 12,” Ms. Picariello said. “In order to do that, we have this agreement with Princeton saying that they are our district’s high school.”
   ”We have a send-receive relation with Princeton. There are many districts with this kind of relationship,” said Joyce Picariello, school business administrator.
   Many small school districts have similar deals with nearby larger school districts. It is, however, uncommon in Middlesex County where there’s a denser population, Ms. Picariello explained.
   ”Regional high school towns vote on two budgets,” Ms. Picariello said. “When the voters in Cranbury vote for (the) Cranbury budget, they vote for one budget.”
   School officials also mentioned how Cranbury has developed a great relationship with Princeton High School over the past 23 years, and changing high schools wouldn’t be an easy fix since the board would have to get permission from the commissioner of education in Trenton.
   ”Princeton tuition is out of our control,” Ms. Picariello said. “It’s based on tuition rate and amount of students we send.”
   Cranbury is sending 268 students to Princeton High School this year, and that number is expected to slightly decrease next year.
   The board took no action on any of the suggestions. The formal public hearing on the budget, once it is introduced, will be in March before the vote on the school budget Wednesday, April 27.
   ”Maybe this is something we can do annually,” Ms. Picariello said of the hearing held Tuesday. “I think it’s a good idea to solicit input from the public.”
   The hearing in March will be the last opportunity for the board to hear from the public until the election so the board wanted to provide another chance for the public to share its concerns.
   New Jersey is the only state that has its residents vote on their town’s school budget, Ms. Picariello said.
   In the 2009-10 school year, the school district received $603,251 in state aid, a decrease of $165,791 from the year before. This year, the school district will not receive any state aid, making the total loss of state aid over the past two years $769,042.
   Ms. Picariello shared with the public other factors impacting the budget and school services that would be tough to cut spending from.
   School transportation accounts for about 5 percent of the budget, but it will be tough to cut that because gas prices are expected to go up, Ms. Picariello said.
   She mentioned the school looks for opportunities to share services with other towns. Also, when Cranbury teachers heard state funding would be cut, they were among the first in the state to make concessions in their salaries, saving the school about $135,000.
   Cranbury teachers agreed to cap their salary increases at 2 percent rather than the planned 4 percent increase. They also agreed to eliminate the $50,000 put aside for college tuition and the money for student workshops, Ms. Picariello explained.
   ”School is a service industry,” Ms. Picariello said. “You have a dedicated staff and a community that supports it.”
   The school has been placing money in its surplus, but as the budget gets tighter, it’s been tougher to do that, Ms. Schwarz explained.
   The board can only give ballpark amounts for its budget at this point. It estimates a budget of about $17 million with a shortfall of about $500,000. The budget this year is $17,799,366. The owner of a house assessed at the average of $617,439 pays $5,817 a year in school taxes.
   ”We’re building a budget on shifting sands,” Ms. Picariello said.
   In general, taxpayers at the forum were happy to pay about $200 to $400 for activities their children participated in, but they were not happy to see their taxes to go up the same amount.