Council wrestles with E.B. school budget

Council wrestles with E.B. school budget

Decision must be

made by May 20

By Vincent todaro

Staff Writer

If East Brunswick Township Council members were already confused about what to do with the defeated school budget, they became twice as confused during the council’s Monday night meeting.

During the public portion of the meeting, the council heard just about every conceivable opinion on what it should do with the budget, as well as what is right and wrong with the schools and what it should do regarding state funding of education.

By a slim margin, the speakers favored cutting the $100 million-plus budget in order to save taxpayers money, as well as abiding by the democratic process, something for which the council drew fire for not doing last year. Much of the speakers’ ire was aimed at the Board of Education and school administration, both of which were lambasted by residents.

The council has until midnight of May 20 to make a decision on whether or not to cut the defeated budget, according to council President Donald Klemp.

Anthony Riccobono, a former East Brunswick councilman who is running on the Republican ticket again this year, actually praised the council for its questioning of the board last week during an open budget meeting. He feels the council is leaning toward making a cut in the defeated tax hike. The proposed increase would cost taxpayers about 35 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

"It’s nice to see democracy back in East Brunswick again," Riccobono said. "It was nice to see change from one-man rule.

"It’s been a long time in the coming," he added.

Riccobono said Superintendent of Schools Jamie Savedoff is to blame for some of the budget problems and that Savedoff should have already found areas in which to scale back.

He also said the board has been "callous and insensitive" about the economic times faced by residents.

Township resident Hyam Merson, a senior citizen, lashed out at the board, saying the reason it will not provide a full, line-by-line copy of the budget is that it has something to hide.

"What’s the big secret?" he asked.

Merson said he was told by a school official that a copy of the budget would be available at the East Brunswick Public Library. However, there was none there when he looked, he said.

"They don’t care. They only care about satisfying themselves," he said of the board. "They must be hiding something. They’re definitely hiding something."

Merson also asked the council if it had gotten answers regarding questions it asked of the board and administration after last week’s meeting.

Klemp said that the answers were given but that he was not satisfied with all of them.

Council Vice President Saul Fink said the council submitted a list of 27 questions it wanted answered from the school officials.

Joan Hickman, a member of the East Brunswick Educational Association, read from a prepared statement and urged the council to refrain from cutting the budget, however.

"Our schools need adequate staff and instruction materials to remain quality schools," she said.

She said the items included in question two, including custodians, playground aides and some teachers at Churchill Junior High, need to be kept.

One resident suggested the council hire an outside consultant who could serve as an expert and analyze the school budget.

Robert Tagliente, a resident, said he wanted a more thorough description of what was in the budget. He wanted more information on specific courses, and also to know how much is spent on state mandated courses and programs.

The board may have added extra items to the budget so that, if it was voted down, there would be areas to cut that would not leave the district in a bind. Tagliente said the council should acknowledge that and look for those areas.

"When someone goes into negotiations, it’s always prudent to ask for more," he said. "When you come back down, you compromise; essentially, you meet your original goals.

"Just, in that logic, you should be able to cut the budget without having any negative impact on the Blue Ribbon status of our schools," he said.

There are items in the budget which are not really needed for education, he said.

Councilman Jeffrey Simon said many of the questions people were asking about the budget should have been directed to the board before it voted on it. The board is a separate and autonomous body from the council, he said, implying the council only had so much power to dictate school decisions.

Tricia LaDuca, a parent and East Brunswick school teacher, said the council is in a position to either help the district continue to improve, or set back its progress.

"It took years to get our schools to their present level," she said.

It is important East Brunswick schools strive for excellence because of the increasingly extremely difficult world children are entering, she said.

"Aren’t we depending on them to determine the future? The world we’re giving them to grow up in is a tough world. It’s complex; we all know it," she said. "It’s mind-boggling when I even think about it."

Many children need the special attention they get from a top-notch school district because their parents are unable to help them with homework, she said.

She asked that the council make its budget decision "with the total picture in your mind."

Nora McShane, a senior citizen and resident, echoed the sentiments of others when she asked the council to get its chief financial officer, L. Mason Neely, to help it analyze the budget.

Neely was critical of the school budget last year.

She said the council needs to make sure it abides by the will of the voters this year, and stand up to the district’s bloated budgets.

"Enough is enough," she said.

Michael Opaleski, a resident and former township employee, said the council should not allow the second question to stand.

If the council does cut the $2.4-million question, the district has no ability to appeal it. That would shave about 6 cents off the tax increase.

John Kish, a music teacher in the district and leader of band camp, spoke in defense of the custodians whose jobs are on the line, arguing, as did others, they help keep the school safe for teachers and students.

Christi Calvano, one of the three people running as Republicans in the November Council race, said the governing body needs to take a strong look at the budget and make some cuts.

"Just as we need to be efficient with our municipal budgets, I think we need to make sure that the budget for the school is also efficient," she said.

Mayor William Neary, who used to work as a substitute teacher in the district, addressed the council after residents spoke. As mayor, Neary votes only to break a tie.

"The bottom line is how difficult a situation you’re in and the system is in," he said.

He said the regressive nature of New Jersey’s method of funding schools needs to be changed. Because it has been in existence for so long "we’ve all taken for granted that’s the only way we should do it," he added.

He said there were not a lot of specific details provided by residents about where the "fat" of the budget is, and complained the district only receives state aid for about 18 percent of its budget.

By state law, it is supposed to receive 40 percent, he said, but that money is used up by Abbott districts, (special needs districts) which sometimes have 90 percent or more of their budgets funded by the state.

"People on fixed incomes are asked to fund these increases," he said. "I have a feeling many people could vote for or against the budget not even knowing what it is."