Schools

BOE: $3.35M Personnel, Purchasing Cuts Projected

Flat state aid options laid out at Board of Education meeting.

Offsetting a flat increase in state aid, district officials laid out proposed staffing and purchasing cuts for the 2010-11 budget.

Superintendent Daniel Fishbein described cuts to close a potential $3.35 million budget gap given zero increase or decline in the state's allocation.

"None of these cuts are good cuts," board member Sheila Brogan said. "The bottom line here is $3.3 million is a tremendous amount to find in a budget... This is not something we're choosing to do."

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An estimated $2.14 million would be in salary cuts with the remaining $1.4 million stemming from supply reductions.

In total—with flat state aide—the district projects about $87.8 million in revenue. With a 25 percent increase in health care benefits and other costs, the initial budget totaled about $91.2 million. With numerous cuts, the district got that total in-line with revenues—a 2.29 percent total budget increase.  

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The salary reductions affect the three levels of schools:

  • Elementary schools: $81,738
  • Middle schools: $282,813
  • High school: $224,944

Fishbein would not comment directly on specific schools or personnel, but said the affected employees would be notified in the coming days.

Additionally, staff cuts would strike instructional improvement ($311,000), school administration ($222,000), and the Resource Center ($360,000).

Despite the gloomy forecast, the prediction isn't even the worst-case scenario. Although Gov. Christie may allocate flat aid to New Jersey schools, some districts may receive more or less funding.

"I'm not as confident that our aid will be flat as I used to be. Ridgewood is $8 million more than adequate, but we're under our fair share. Two strikes and you're out in this model," Fishbein said.

Speaking from the public, school board candidate Charles Reilly called the state's adequacy amount "a phony number. The number is not line with what's reality... It's really just a phony, cookie cutter approach to shift the blame."

Reilly, a school board member from 1990 to 2005, spoke on the budget as did two staff members.

High school teacher and resident Michael Yannone talked about an all-staff meeting held Monday at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. He criticized the district for not providing the staff with cuts disclosed last night for their own meeting.

"Here's the info we wanted... I'm really blind sided by this. It just seems suspicious that this wasn't online," he said.

Fishbein said the cuts had to be shared with the school board first.

Travell librarian Donna Antonellis spoke for a contingent of peers and asked the board to reconsider the $207,000 in cuts to library staff.

"This comes at a time when families are dipping into their own savings to fund projects," she said, also pointing to the new libraries called for in the referendum. "We respectfully ask you to reconsider these plans."

Still in its preliminary stages, the budget will become clearer following Christie's March 16 budget message. Currently, the district is trying to squeeze savings from other sources. Fishbein said officials are looking into alternate health insurance options.

Board Vice President Robert Hutton said many "magic bullet options" other districts are attempting are already implemented at Ridgewood schools. Plans like outsourcing custodial or food services are already in place.

"Ridgewood was ahead of the curve, and we don't have those things to try," he said.

The district will address the budget in two workshops, tonight—7:30 p.m. at George Washington Middle School—and tomorrow—1 p.m. at Ridgewood High School. The high school HSA postponed its meeting to accommodate the workshops.


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