HILLSBOROUGH: District’s budget not set in stone

Some board members want more spending

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Write this number in pencil: $81,528,217.
   That is the amount the Board of Education voted Monday night to ask the voters to approve in April as the tax levy for the 2012-13 school budget.
   But don’t carve it in stone. At least three members of the school board want to spend more — prudently, of course, in their view.
   So while the board introduced the $113.7 million school budget by a 4-3 vote, it may add money to some items before or at the March 26 public hearing.
   The public will say yes or no to the $81.5 million in local property taxes to support the budget April 17. Right now, the tax bite for schools would rise 0.4 percent, or about $9 for each $100,000 of assessed value. The owner of a Hillsborough house assessed at the average of $368,700 would pay $32 more than last year.
   Because the borough saw a decrease in ratables, Millstone residents would see their tax rate rise more than 6 cents per $100 of assessed value; the average homeowner would see an increase of $204 a year.
   The budget benefits from increased state aid and a higher amount paid by staffers for their health coverage. The budget would fund curriculum revisions, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese in the elementary grades, smaller class sizes at the middle and high schools, technology (such as tablet computers for teachers) and the training to use technology wisely and efficiently.
   The proposed 2012-13 budget does those things and is still more than $1.1 million below what the school board is legally allowed to spend this year. And that was the rub for some school board members and school staffers who spoke from the audience.
   Members Marc Rosenberg, Judy Haas and Christopher Pulsifer all said the board would be wiser using some of the allowable cap space. They said it would help the schools catch up following slashes in the 2010-11 budget when cuts in state aid led to the layoff of 66 staffers, among other things.
   Dr. Rosenberg asked why only one-half of a high school guidance counselor position was funded, yet there was full funding for an additional physical education teacher. There was money for another social studies teacher, he said, but the budget cut an information and communications technology teacher while demand for the course was rising.
   He also wondered why a nursing position could not be fully funded (a half-time job is in the budget) and if the school could not increase the amount it pays for substitute teachers by more than the $5 or $6 per day that was proposed. Several people said Hillsborough had the lowest rate for subs in the area and, consequently, had a hard time attracting reliable people.
   While the administration had started the budget process in October and drafts went to the board’s operations, education and human resources committees in December, it finally was thrashed out in a long session last Saturday. There were long discussions on many items, and the Operations Committee talked through multiple scenarios before agreeing to a balance, said Thuy Anh Le, one of the members in that session.
   Others in that Saturday session were operations Chairman Greg Gillette, Jennifer Haley and board President Steve Paget. Voting against it were Dr. Rosenberg, Ms. Haas and Mr. Pulsifer. Ms. Haley and Thomas Kinst were absent.
   Dr. Rosenberg said he thought the chairpersons of the three committees, rather than the Operations Committee, might better form the group that defines the final draft.
   When the vote came Monday on the draft that emerged Saturday, voting for it were Dana Boguszewski, Mr. Gillette, Ms. Le and Dr. Paget. Voting against were Dr. Rosenberg, Ms. Haas and Mr. Pulsifer. Ms. Haley and Thomas Kinst were absent.
   Mr. Gillette said the highest priority recommendations from the Personnel Committee as well as the two others had been included in the draft. He also reminded the board it added such things as a fourth vice principal, world languages and projectors and laptop technology during the past year.
   Superintendent Jorden Schiff said there was clear compromise at the committee level and said what teachers are hired may wait until the master schedule of classes is drawn after students choose courses in the spring.
   Mr. Gillette said he knew the draft was not close to restoring positions cut two years ago.
   ”If we were not in the fifth year of the worst recession in 70 years, I would add more,” he said.
   But people are hurting.
   Ms. Haas was chagrined Dr. Schiff’s opening presentation quickly focused on the tax rate rather than what the school district stood for.
   ”I’m not prepared to vote for something that doesn’t stand for my values,” she said.
   She also raised the prospect of gasoline prices, more money for fuel oil consumption in colder winters and declining ratables as reasons to spend closer to the state’s cap of 2 percent on any property tax rise. She said there are facilities projects that were needed, too.
   ” When you cut the allowable cap, you pay for it for years,” she said.
   Enlarging the guidance counselor’s position to full time would add about $28,000 in salary, Dr. Rosenberg said.
   It also would add about $15,000 in benefits, Dr. Paget said after the meeting. But Dr. Rosenberg said it had been argued for by high school administrators, and it shocked him it was not fully funded.
   ”If it was restored, I could go quietly,” said the six-year member, who chose not to seek re-election.
   Barbara Parker, president of the 1,000-member education association, told the board she was extremely disappointed the budget did not go to cap, adding she thought it was strategically very dangerous. She said the association made a $3.2 million concession lasts year, and the staff would be extremely interested in what happened to that money.