Your View: Budget Should Go Down; Board Still Optimistic

Over 58% of readers say in an 07080 web poll that they will vote "no" on this year's school budget.  About 41% held the opposite view, saying they will support the budget when they go to the polls.

The $52 million budget will raise taxes about four percent, which means a $100 increase for the average home assessed at $122,000.  The jump would have been higher but for a correction that will appear on this year's tax bills.  The mistake occurred a few years ago when officials over-taxed residents by several hundred thousand dollars.  

As it stands, the budget includes staff and program cuts caused by a drop in state aid.  It will result in 33 layoffs, and several sports programs are being eliminated, including all freshman sports, winter track, competition cheerleading, swimming, and fall weight training. The district also cut summer school and the adult high school.  

But according to Business Administrator Richard Guarini, the budget also includes money for pay increases.  Guarini announced at Thursday night's budget meeting that over $1 million is set aside for teacher raises. 
Board member Carol Byrne supports the budget and hopes it passes:  "I am always hopeful about our budgets passing.  This year, the Governor has handed us an awful dilemma. We have to cut areas that will harm our educational effort. What upsets me is that there are cynics who think this is all a farce, and that, by voting the budget down, they are somehow going to force the Board of Education into finding 'hidden money.'"

Byrne said the Board has been diligent in seeking ways to "mitigate" the aid cuts, and she points to cost savings that will take affect shortly.  These include savings from changing health carriers and from a new state requirement that teachers pay 1.5% of their salary toward healthcare costs.  She said state mandates prevented the Board from putting these savings in the budget.

In a letter to a local paper last week, school-board member Debbie Boyle criticized the lack of information she and other board members received.  She said she and another member spent 15 hours poring over the budget and looking for ways to cut costs without cutting staff and programs.  Their efforts, she said, were met with resistance by the administration.

At the budget vote Boyle said she could not support a tax increase, especially in this economy.  She also disagreed with the areas the administration chose for cuts, saying she would not support teacher cuts and cuts to sports and extracurricular program..

Bob Jones, whose term ends this year, also wrote to a local paper criticizing the way the budget was handled.  Jones said administration estimates about additional teacher cuts if the budget goes down are inaccurate.

He also disagreed with Byrne, saying that the budget should have included a $400,000 savings from healthcare costs now that staff is required to pay 1.5% of their salary toward these benefits.  He also questioned the need for more staff or program cuts if the budget fails, saying that the healthcare savings and other savings, as well as administrative cuts, could be used to bring the tax rate down.

While the budget is the main issue on this year's ballot, residents will also elect three school-board members. Three candidates filed this year, Boyle and newcomers Christopher Hubner and Gary Stevenson.

07080 has not yet received responses to e-mails seeking comment from other board members and the schools superintendent.  We will update this story when additional information becomes available.