Determined to keep taxes from rising this year, Mayor Mark Smith convened the Board of School Estimate on April 2, the first of two final meetings that will determine how much to cut from the proposed $122 million 2009-2010 school budget.
Although the night was primarily designed to allow the public to express their concerns over the proposed cuts, the meeting also showed tension between city and school officials over the potential reductions.
In Bayonne, where the public does not get a direct vote on the budget, a Board of School Estimate, made up of the mayor, two City Council members, the board president, and another school board member, makes the final decision on how much the budget will be. This body can recommend areas of the budget where cuts can be made. But the final decision is made by the Board of Education, which must somehow cut the budget to match the amount approved by the Board of School Estimate.
The proposed cuts to the pre-school, adult school, and gifted and talented programs would save the district about $590,000 over the next school year.
Main controversy
The primary tension between the city and the schools involves state aid and the city’s wish to tap some of the additional money the state has given the school district over the last two years.
Because the state failed to provide adequate aid in the past according to its own formula, last year Gov. Jon Corzine agreed to give Bayonne three payments of $8 million in additional aid over three years.
Elected officials – including Mayor Smith – felt the school board should have kicked some of this aid back to the city to help reduce the tax burden. School officials, however, said aid needed to be applied to school uses, not tax relief.
To get around this restriction and to force the school board to give the city some of the funds, Mayor Smith has proposed charging the school district rent for use of property such as Veteran’s Stadium and for water, sewer and trash services.
“I tried to get the school board to be involved with shared services with the city, but the school board hasn’t responded,” said Councilman Anthony Chiappone, who, along with Councilman John Halecky, serves as the City Council representative on the Board of School Estimate.
Chiappone blasted the board for increasing its operating budget by more than $17 million over the last year to match the increase in state aid.
But Board of Education Trustee Louis Healy said the fact that the state agreed to pay an additional $8 million in aid to the district for three years showed that the district was not spending enough. He said the district faces the budget problem this year because the state went back on its promise.
Board President Will Lawson, however, said the reason for the increase of $6.3 million this year is because the board had anticipated an increase of $8 million and received only $2.5 million. Doll said this was combined with a stiff increase in health costs, contracted salary increases, and a spike in school operational costs. This means that taxpayers could see a tax increase of $4.2 million this year.
Since Mayor Smith has vowed to avoid a tax increase in the school and municipal budgets this year, the Board of School Estimate is expected to slash the budget significantly, leaving the school board to make the specific cuts.
Among the programs that could see the axe this year are the Community Adult Education Program, all day pre-school programs, and the fourth grade implementation of the gifted and talented program at P.S. No. 14.
Parents came out to protest the cut in the pre-school and gifted and talented programs, saying that students would be adversely affected.
Linda Taylor of the Philip Vroom School P.T.A. read a prepared speech she had previously given the Board of Education, saying that the pre-school program should be maintained.
She said President Barack Obama cited the need for such a program to be implemented nationwide, and that Gov. Jon Corzine had vowed to require all schools in New Jersey to provide the service once funding became available.
Doll, however, said the all-day pre-k at Vroom had been used as an incentive to draw in more students from elsewhere in the city because three years ago, the school had space. But since then, the school population has filled out, and the incentive is no longer needed.
“It used to be that municipal workers made less than the taxpayers who paid their salaries. Now, municipal workers make more.” – Leonard Kantor
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Leonard Kantor, arguing on behalf of taxpayers, said the budget should be cut more deeply in order to provide tax relief.
“It used to be that municipal workers made less than the taxpayers who paid their salaries. Now, municipal workers make more,” he said.
Ted Zientek also argued that the school board needs to take into account the tax impact on people with fixed incomes.
“I want kids to get a good education, but not at the expense of the taxpayers who are having a tough time,” he said. “I know people who are not taking their medications. Some of these people have worked all their lives to finally retire, and now they can’t afford to live here.”
Neil Barton questioned why school employees do not share in the cost of their own health insurance, and said that this should be an area that the board pursues.
Stan Marco, Laura DePinto and Robert Kopac also spoke on the hope that the board would show some fiscal restraint.
DePinto said the fact that the superintendent and the two assistant superintendents have agreed to a salary freeze this year was “a wonderful gesture.”
DePinto, who also has a son in the gifted and talented program, said the district should provide similar classes in every school in the district.
The Board of School Estimate is expected to recommend cuts at its April 7 meeting, which will be taken back to the Board of Education for review.