By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
School board members switched employee health plans at the final gun, leading to a unanimous vote Monday night for the 2016-17 school budget.
The move brought the $123 million budget within the 2 percent cap on property tax increases and allowed all eight members present to vote yes. Board Vice President Jennifer Haley had voted against the budget’s introduction on the principle of staying within the cap. Member Judith Haas had abstained.
The board withdrew from the New Jersey State Health Benefits Plan and joined the Horizon BlueCross/Blue Shield of N.J. Plan. The move helped reduced next year’s total budget by $841,000 to a total of $117.8 million in the operating fund. The net tax rate increase will be about 0.8 percent.
That brought the projected tax increase down to about $5 for the “average” assessed home of $350,000. At budget introduction, it had been estimated at a $71 increase in Hillsborough. An increase remains at $153 in Millstone, which educates its students in Hillsborough schools.
The public hearing on the budget took place against the background of continuing negotiations for a new contract for the more than 1,000 employees of the Hillsborough Education Association. For the second meeting in a row, the Auten Road School cafeteria was filled by perhaps 200 association members wearing blue solidarity T-shirts.
The contract for teachers, support aides, secretaries, custodians and other workers expires at the end of June.
The original budget took advantage of an option to invoke a waiver of $841,000 from the 2 percent cap. HEA members asked questions in an apparent attempt to figure out how much money would be saved, but no answers were forthcoming at the meeting, except to say the total medical costs in the 2015-16 budget were about $18.7 million.
One HEA member remarked that private health care plans are rarely better than public ones, and wondered if the school board would switch back once they realized a one-year benefit.
Mr. Kinst said “changing our carrier is a first step in controlling costs.”
In a public portion of the meeting, one member of the HEA said she wanted the board to withdraw from provisions of Chapter 78, a 2011 state law that changed the rules and percentages public employees and the state government would pay for retirement and health benefits.
Board President Thomas Kinst stopped her and reminded her that board and HEA had agreed not to discuss negotiating items in public.
Other HEA speakers referred to how their take-home pay has been limited, or even eliminated, by the law’s changes. As speakers made the point, dozens of HEA members in the audience held up pieces of paper with dollar amounts of decrease in take home pay over the years.
HEA staffers have come to recent meetings to remind the board of community service and extra duties that often perform without compensation.
A decrease in the number of students will enable the school district to reduce staff positions next year, according to the details of the budget. Overall, the district anticipates 90 fewer students in elementary (K-4) schools, said Superintendent Jorden Schiff at the March 14 school board meeting. Last year, the budget estimated the October 2015 school population would be 7,249 pupils.
The new budget will lead to a reduction of six elementary-level teachers, he said Monday, and three at the high school (in the English, math and social studies areas).
In the current school year, the school has added a total of almost eight fulltime positions, including 5 and one-half instructional assistants. The school plans to hire for only a few jobs in the next budget, including a parttime sign language teacher as a world language option.
The overall net decrease is seven-tenths of a fulltime position, Dr. Schiff said. Most of reductions will be accomplished by attrition, he said he anticipated.
In a related matter, the board accepted a bid to redesign, repair and repave the middle school parking lot that is at least $200,000 less than anticipated. The project, along with replacement of the artificial turf on the high school athletic field, will go out to bonding in order to qualify for a 40 percent state aid debt service grant.
The $1,077,141 bid of Stilo Excavating was accepted. Four bids were received, with the highest being $1.43 million.
Board architect Gregory Somjen said the turf field project would be advertised for bidders by May 19.
Other highlights in the budget:
– Bring American Sign Language into the curriculum as an option in the world languages curriculum;
— The school’s curriculum emphasis will be on science, said the superintendent, with funding materials, supplies, curriculum writing and training.
– More Chromebook tablets will be bought for the 3rd and 4th grades.
– More high school courses will be offered for community college credit.
Hillsborough spending is $920 less per pupil than the state average, according to Dr. Schiff. If the district spent the state average per pupil, it would have to raise an additional $6.6 million, he said.
