By Linda Seida, Staff Writer
Municipal officials in South Hunterdon Regional High School’s three sending districts have failed to reach a consensus with regard to how much to trim from the school’s proposed budget of $10,096,116.
In the absence of an agreement, the school’s budget would be sent for review to the county superintendent of education.
Late Wednesday, the Lambertville City Council, Stockton Borough Council and West Amwell Township Committee scheduled a joint session Friday at 6 p.m. at the Union firehouse at 230 N. Main St. in Lambertville to amend the resolution certifying South’s tax levy.
Lambertville’s mayor and City Council on Monday voted 4-1 for a $100,000 reduction. Mayor David Del Vecchio cast the dissenting vote, favoring a higher amount of $117,190.
Tuesday, Stockton officials also agreed to a $100,000 cut.
Also Tuesday, the West Amwell Township Committee voted 2-1 for the higher cut of $117,190. Committeeman George Fisher voted against the resolution.
The South Hunterdon board will meet tonight (May 19).
Subcommittees from the three governing bodies last week agreed to support the larger budget cut. If officials’ votes this week all had agreed with the subcommittees’ recommendation and maintained the $117,190 cut, it would have meant a flat budget with no increase for taxpayers.
A public outpouring in support of the school — specifically its agriculture and the Future Farmers of America program — swayed some officials to vote for the lower amount.
About 75 people showed up at the Justice Center in Lambertville on Monday night to have their say.
School officials contend trimming the full $117,190 would eat into programs. A possible target is the agricultural program and its related FFA activities.
Some municipal officials disagree. They said it doesn’t have to harm programs, and they have outlined other areas where they think the savings can be achieved.
By law, a defeated school budget is given to the governing bodies of the sending districts, who then decide whether to restore it as it was presented to voters or recommend an amount to slash from the spending plan.
Last month, voters shot down South Hunterdon’s budget for the fourth consecutive year, 734-598. At the same time, they approved a ballot question asking for $50,000 to pay for a feasibility study of regionalizing the high school and its three elementary sending districts into one K-12 district.
Meetings with the school district to discuss the defeated budget were conducted by subcommittee. No quorum was present, meaning the meetings did not have to be conducted in public in accordance with the Sunshine Law.
However, a vote by any of the governing bodies on a resolution concerning the budget cuts must be done in public.
Municipal officials, who were present at a meeting with school representatives last week, said the school’s representatives insisted if the $117,190 cut was not reduced, the school would have to cut the agricultural program and FFA.
”We said, ‘You guys are crazy,’” West Amwell Committeeman Zachary Rich said. “I can’t believe they would stick the FFA in our face. If they cut the FFA teacher, then the program disappears.”
”I still believe it could have been done without affecting the program,” Mayor Del Vecchio said Tuesday morning of the larger budget cut, dissenting from the council’s opinion.
The school board last week declined to renew the contract of its agriculture teacher and its industrial arts teacher. Both had been with the district for about two years.
The issue has generated a lot of heat in the community, particularly West Amwell, where agriculture is a part of the township’s long history and a strong and honored thread in the fabric of the community.
”That’s huge for us,” Mr. Rich said. “That’s who we are. That’s who West Amwell is. You’re trying to fight development. You’re trying to hold on to agriculture.”
Mayor Del Vecchio said, “I would think before they do that, they need to look harder at everything they have.”
He suggested paring the secretaries in the administration or opening up the teachers’ contract.
Municipal officials are adamant the full cut can be made by paring down the administration. They said they never recommended — and do not advocate — cutting the agriculture program and the FFA.
”We’re focused on: How can we do it without affecting students?” Mr. Rich said. “And that means looking at our administrative structure.”
Superintendent Nancy Gartenberg said cuts to administration would be harmful. She said the district’s administration already is doing more with less, more than other districts around the state.
Mr. Rich, a South Hunterdon graduate, remained skeptical, saying, “Cutting a secretary is more harmful than cutting the FFA?”
He pointed out the cut is just a small portion of the more than $10 million proposed budget, which includes debt service.
”We’re not the bad guy,” he said. “It’s just financial accountability. We thought anything under $117,190 was financially irresponsible on our end.”
Ms. Gartenberg said the board “has no desire to cut programs” and is looking at ways to increase revenue while cutting costs.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the FFA and ag courses will not continue, according to Ms. Gartenberg.
”We are not discontinuing it,” she said.
The school hopes to continue as well as expand its agricultural offerings, but there are a number of factors that will affect the decision. Among them is the fact fewer students signed up to take the courses, she said. The agriculture program may be transformed into a “less than full time” offering, Ms. Gartenberg said.
”We need everybody to assume a full-time teaching load,” Ms. Gartenberg said. “One of our concerns was that there was a decrease in enrollment in agriculture.”
The school is advertising for a new agriculture teacher, but would not say why it did not renew the contract of the one it had, citing personnel issues. It also is planning to change the types of agriculture offerings and “grow the program,” Ms Gartenberg said.
Today’s students are not as interested in horticulture and landscaping as yesterday’s students. Their interest has turned to organic farming, biotechnology and similar types of courses, Ms. Gartenberg said.
”Since the election, we were able to come up with $80,000 in potential cuts,” said Marie Collins, who represents Lambertville on the school board.
She broke the cuts down as follows:
Twenty-five thousand dollars would come from the salary difference between a retiring teacher, announced after the election, and her expected replacement.
Thirteen thousand dollars would come from renegotiated banking services.
Thirty thousand dollars would come from finding another way to fund an asbestos abatement project.
Twelve thousand would come from the elimination of a part-time maintenance position.
The remaining $37,190 is the amount in contention.
Ms. Collins said, “Yes, the municipalities asked us to cut an administrative position to reap the difference. Their thinking was that doing that would not hurt our program. They are wrong. South is now running with the minimum administrative structure needed to move the school forward. In past decades, the district made the decision to run with less than this, and we are still working to get out from under the neglect that ensued. Further cuts to the administrative area will hurt all programs and all kids.
”Today, our administrators are working (some on 11-month schedules and working without benefits and raises) to write curriculum that brings all of our programs into the 21st century, to raise teacher quality in such a way that all of our kids learn and to facilitate a seven-year strategic growth process that moves the entire school forward. And they are doing that on top of the day-to-day work of running the school. The board is not willing to give that up. Good schools require good leadership.”
As a result, the board is “left with the difficult decision to prune our educational offerings, and that can only happen in areas outside the core program dictated by the state. We will not give up quality to have quantity. Our community deserves to have the best school possible under these circumstances. If it means that we have fewer offerings, what remains will be top notch.”

