Upper Freehold and Allentown officials have until May 19 to determine a total school budget and supporting tax levy.
The governing bodies started looking over Upper Freehold Regional School District’s budget documentation last week after voters defeated the proposal to raise $19.1 million in taxes to support a $37.9 million school budget this year.
The 9.88 percent tax levy increase failed in both communities in a 1,679-681 vote. The levy would have increased taxes on an average of $402 in Allentown and an average of $868 in Upper Freehold.
The Upper Freehold Township Committee and the Allentown Borough Council will now have to agree on a budget and tax levy. Members of the governing bodies started meeting with district officials last week to clarify questions about the proposed spending plan, appropriations, balances, line items, salary guides and other financial information, according to Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick.
If the governing bodies reach an impasse, the Monmouth County executive superintendent of schools would get involved in the budgeting process. If the parties involved still cannot come to an agreement, the New Jersey commissioner of education would make the final budget determination.
The Board of Education may refuse specific line-item-cut recommendations made by the governing bodies but would have to make other reductions that total their exact amount. Any reductions must come from non-statemandated programs and staff, such as kindergarten, athletics/co-curricular activities,music lessons, supervisors, librarians and guidance counselors.
The district is considering multiple costsaving options, such as further reducing staff, privatizing transportation, increasing activity and athletic fees, and further reducing athletic costs, according to Fitzpatrick.
“We won’t know the depth of the cuts until we know what the municipalities expect,” Fitzpatrick said.
For example, if the towns require the school district to cut $1,022,000 to achieve a 4 percent tax levy and the district decides to cut personnel, an additional 16 positions (eight in grades K-8 and eight in the high school) would be eliminated, according to Fitzpatrick. He said a total of 15.5 positions have already been eliminated, 9.7 of which were instructional. The district also decided not to spend $580,000 earmarked for additional personnel to staff the new middle school, which will open this fall.
The estimated class sizes as a result of the additional staff cuts would be 28 students in first grade, 31 students in second grade, 29 students in third grade, 29 students in fourth grade, 30 students in fifth grade, 35 students in sixth grade, 32 students in seventh grade and 35 students in eighth grade. Class sizes at the high school would not be able to be determined until students register for fall classes, according to Fitzpatrick.
“We have no intention of scaring anybody,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have tried to be fully transparent since the day we started the budget. We don’t want people to feel that we never told them what the outcome would be.”
When asked how increased unemployment costs would affect this and future budgets, Fitzpatrick said employees pay into an unemployment insurance fund through a payroll reduction, but the district is responsible for paying unemployment once that fund runs out.
Fitzpatrick said, “The amount we have set aside will run out soon and this will continue to be an obligation of the district.”
He noted that Gov. Chris Christie hoped election results would force more teachers to retire this year, allowing districts to hire entrylevel teachers at a cost savings. Out of the 17 currently eligible for retirement, three have given notice, he said.
The school administration plans to continue talkswith district employees about freezing their salaries and paying a percentage of health care costs. However, Fitzpatrick does not believe that the unions would reopen their contracts again this year.
“We appreciate the teachers were willing to make a salary adjustment and we know the effort of our employees to give back $500,000 this year is significant,” Fitzpatrick said, noting that the local unions reopened their contracts to postpone their salary increase for six months before the governor started making his recommendations.
If further cuts are necessary, Fitzpatrick said the district would continue to try to reduce spending across the board, rather than fully eliminate programs.
“We want to try to give kids the ability to participate in activities and sports that really draw them to school,” he said.
The possibility of sharing a superintendent and/or a transportation department with neighboring Millstone Township School District has also been considered for cost savings but wouldn’t happen immediately, Fitzpatrick said.
“These things take time,” he said, “We can’t just dissolve contracts. People on both sides have contracts. These are issues the board has been talking about. Maybe these efficiencies will be a reality soon, but it was not happening between January and the election in April.”
Keeping the new middle school closed is not an option either, Fitzpatrick said, due to overcrowding, air quality and other environmental concerns at the current elementary/middle school.
“It’s not a matter of not being responsible to a cost-savings measure,” he said. “We need the school for space and for an appropriate learning environment for kids.”
To compensate for a 25 percent increase in health benefit costs, other fixed-cost increases and a 35 percent cut in state aid, the district cut $3.9 million in staff and services to achieve the proposed budget and tax levy increase. The district also decided to implement extracurricular and courtesy busing fees to provide additional revenue sources.
“We worked hard to cut as many items in the budget that were not people, trying to maintain class size,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that increased class sizes decrease a teacher’s ability to provide differentiated instruction and individual help in a productive learning atmosphere.
“The students would be directly affected,” Fitzpatrick said. “Is that anything that anyone wants for kids?”
Any further cuts cannot affect the district’s overall stability and operation. All districts in the state must have the ability to provide a thorough and efficient education, Fitzpatrick said.
“We will continue to do everything possible to educate our kids as responsibly as we possibly can,” Fitzpatrick said. “We care deeply about maintaining all that we have been able to achieve — the significant increase in achievement and higher performance on measured state testing. In all of these things, we’re showing tremendous growth and we plan on continuing toward the goal of doing our best for kids. We understand and are trying to respond to the economic issues in our state.”