To keep at cap, officials had to make employee and program cuts.
By John Tredrea
Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education voted 8-1 in favor of final adoption of a $62,973,207 budget for 2005-2006 after continuing to debate and change the numbers as Tuesday night was about to turn into Wednesday morning.
The budget represents the full amount the district is allowed to spend under the state’s cap law, which restricts the amount by which a budget may be increased over that of the preceding year.
The budget is up $3,762,831, or 6.36 percent, from 2004-2005.
Ed Gainsborg of Hopewell Township was the board member who voted no "reluctantly," he said as the roll was called.
"This budget as written decimates the practical and fine arts and I cannot support it," he had said a short time earlier.
Under the budget, 14.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, 7.1 of them teachers, will be laid off. The FTE standard is used because many of the district’s employees are part-time. Also marked for layoff or being left vacant are positions for 1.5 administrators and 6.0 paraprofessionals, or teacher’s aides. The layoffs will save the district $711,000.
Program cuts, including summer school, field trips and other items, will save another $323,300. Other reductions, including elimination of three courtesy bus routes, will save $212,750.
Almost all the cuts were vigorously and repeatedly opposed by district staff and residents during lengthy public hearings Monday and Tuesday night.
The board did make some changes in response to those comments, but in the end had to comply with the cap law, as board member Carl Swanson and Acting Superintendent Judy Ferguson noted just before the final adoption vote.
"We don’t want to take anything out. We’d rather add things, but we have no choice," Dr. Ferguson said. "If we put something back in the budget, we’ll have to take something else out," was how Mr. Swanson put it.
The budget must be approved by the county superintendent of schools prior to the April 19 school elections. If approved by the voters in its current form, the budget would bring an estimated school tax rate hike of 19 cents per $100 of assessed property value in Hopewell Borough. This would bring the annual school tax bill for a property assessed at $197,719, the borough average, to $4,423, up $372 from 2004-2005.
In Hopewell Township, the budget would bring a tax rate increase of 9 cents for the owner of a property assessed at $279,500, the township average. This would bring the annual tax bill for the owner of such a property to $5,450, up $252 from last year.
In Pennington, approval of the budget would bring a tax rate increase of 11 cents. Pennington’s estimated tax-rate increase went up from 10 to 11 cents when the board decided, just before approving the budget, to add $32,082 to the budget’s bottom line, thus bringing the spending plan right up to the maximum amount allowed by the cap law. The 10- cent increase would have brought the owner of a Pennington property assessed at $231,200 the borough average, an annual tax increase of $231, to $5,364 for 2005-2006. With the 11-cent tax-rate increase, the estimated tax increase is $254.32, and the estimated 2005-2005 bill, $5,386.96.
Adding the $32,082 did not affect the estimated tax rates for Hopewell Township and Hopewell Borough. As has been the case for years, the different tax impacts for the school district’s three constituent municipalities result from state-mandated use of an equalization formula that takes into account discrepancies between market values and assessed values of properties.
The budget’s bottom line includes a $57,797,925 general fund, $4,404,030 in debt service and $771,252 in general revenue, which is mostly state and federal grant money.
Teachers marked for layoff under the budget include 1.0 each in elementary music, high school social studies, high school wood shop and secondary (grades six-12) world language. A high school fitness monitor and theatre manager, both full-time positions, also will be laid off, as will be 1.5 high school special education teachers and 0.4 music teachers from both the high school and Timberlane. In addition to laying off six paraprofessionals, the vacant supervisor of wellness position will not be filled under the budget and the supervisor of science position, which will become vacant this summer, will not be filled until 2005-2006 school year is half over.
The proposed cuts to staff were higher Monday night. Before Tuesday night’s meeting, the board responded to comments from staff and residents the night before by restoring 4.8 staff positions to the budget. Restorations included a 1.0 sixth-grade teachers, 1.0 K-five special education teachers and 0.5 music teachers at Timberlane.
On Monday, many students implored the board not to cut the music program.
"Please don’t lay off any music teachers," pleaded a Timberlane girl. "They have inspired us so much."
On Tuesday, Bernadette Schetler, president of the Hopewell Valley Education Association, thanked the board for restoring 4.8 positions but continued to be harshly critical of laying off staff.
"Why is the classroom always targeted?" she demanded. "You have targeted the essence of what makes our district so special music, world language, and industrial arts."
Some residents, including Lee Herman of Pennington, said the district should cut more from athletics and less from academics.
"I appreciate the restorations you have made since last night," Ms. Herman said Tuesday. "But I still feel you should cut more from athletics and restore more teaching staff."
School district Business Administrator John Nemeth said the budget includes a 14 percent cut for high school athletics from 2004-2005 and a 15 percent cut for other high school extracurricular activities.
Many other staff members and residents made similar comments to those of Ms. Schetler, including longtime high school band director, Gary Suabidessen, who said, "I don’t think these cuts reflect the community. This community is a strong supporter of the arts and deserves a more creative solution."
Four courtesy bus routes, three for Stony Brook Elementary and one for Toll Gate Grammar, were eliminated under the budget, saving $100,000. This drew protests from many parents. Another $15,000 was saved by eliminating late buses on Friday.
Teresa Castonguay of Brandon Farms was one of many parents to protest the elimination of courtesy bus routes. She said she would drive her children to school as a result.
"You’re going to have 300 cars at Stony Brook Elementary every morning," she predicted. "It’ll be a disaster, an accident waiting to happen."
In response, the board agreed that the $32,082 added to the budget just before the adoption vote might be used for courtesy busing relief. Otherwise, it will go into the undesignated teacher salary account, in anticipation of an enrollment increase of 100 students next year.
Several parents said they would be willing to pay courtesy busing costs themselves, estimated at $500 to $600 per student per year. Board member Kevin Doran urged parents to be proactive on this idea. "Step up to the plate," he said.
The same also might be done with late busing, he and other officials said. Late busing, used primarily for students in afterschool clubs at Timberlane Middle School, costs an estimated $155 per year for student. During the public hearing, several parents said they would be willing to pay for it out of their own pockets rather than lose the service.
Program reductions included $89,300 from extracurricular activities and athletics; $34,000 for summer school; $70,000 for field trips; and $23,000 for professional development. Mr. Nemeth said the 7.1 teachers marked for layoff represent 1.86 percent of the district’s total faculty of 381. The 1.5 administrative positions that will be left unfilled by not hiring a wellness supervisor and not hiring a science supervisor until January represent 6.25 percent of the district’s total administrative staff of 24. Laying off six of the district’s 77 paraprofessionals equals a 7.8 percent cut in that area.
A comment from board member Linda Mitchell of Hopewell Township just before the vote echoed sentiments expressed repeatedly by other members both nights when they voiced chagrin, anger and dismay over having to make cuts solely in order to comply with the cap law.
"We have agonized over this, individually and as a group," she said. "It’s not just something being presented to us by the administration to be rubber-stamped."