Consumer Science Program Among Proposed Cuts in School Budget

The elimination of the family and consumer science program is one of the cuts presented as part of Bedminster Township School District's preliminary 2013-2014 budget.

The preliminary budget was introduced Wednesday in advance of the requirement to submit it to the county superintendent—but the administration emphasized that this is in no way the final draft of the budget that will come for a public hearing and final adoption March 28.

With additional costs for sending students to Bernards High School and special education students to be included in the 2013-2014 budget, the district took a hard look at programs and other aspects of the budget to find places to cut for the coming year, while still remaining under the 2 percent cap limit.

The 2013-2014 budget is currently set at $15,728,123, an increase of 5.2 percent over the 2012-2013 budget of $14,904,995.

Residents with a home valued at $419,944 will pay $2,894.46 in taxes, an increase of $173.36 over the year before.

Business administrator Philip Acosta said there were three cost increases that have greatly effected the budget, the first of which being salaries for teachers and staff. At this point, he said, they have signed a memorandum of agreement for the contract with the Bedminster Teachers Association, but salary guides have not been finalized.

But there will be increases, Acosta said, based on the projections.

From there, Acosta said, the district is dealing with an additional 32 students being sent to Bernards High School, and, at almost $17,000 a student, that is another $369,000.

Finally, Acosta said, they are paying extra costs for additional special education students and out-of-district placements totaling $388,000.

"These are putting us in over a million dollars," he said.

In attempts to offset these costs, the district has proposed a number of cuts in the budget, including the loss of salaries for two retirements, reductions in teacher supplies, reductions in electric expenses, reducing student activity expenses and reducing athletic supplies.

Acosta said they are also making cuts in the capital budget, assuming that they will dip into emergency funding if any facilities improvements absolutely have to be made.

From there, the administration is proposing some bigger cuts, which interim superintendent Ron Bolandi labeled as either enrollment reductions or programmatic reductions.

In terms of enrollment cuts, Bolandi said, they are proposing reducing a speech teacher position by a certain number of hours, and doing the same for a child study team member. The positions themselves, he said, are not being eliminated.

“When someone says there are not enough students to be serviced, we can reduce the position by a percentage, and that’s an enrollment reduction,” he said. “There are not enough case management or students, so a reduction can take place.”

From there, Bolandi said, there are two programmatic reductions being recommended. The first, he said, is reducing the librarian position from full time to 0.8 time.

And finally, Bolandi said, they are recommending the elimination of the family consumer science program, which eliminates teacher Pat Palmeri.

“How will people become educated about this if we don’t have programs like this?” Palmeri asked of the elimination of the program. “I teach more than just cooking, I teach life skills. I teach social skills, time management and conflict resolution.”

“I think you’re making a mistake,” she added. “This program is tremendous for students, and I think it’s a shame that you want to eliminate something that makes you very unique.”

Parent Eve Ryan also questioned the elimination of the program, and the reduction in time for special education teachers. She said the two programs are part of what made her keep her son in the school years ago.

“It is what most special needs kids need, and we are taking away a vital part of what the school is,” she said. “That’s what my child needs to survive in the real world.”

Ryan said she is also concerned that reducing the time for the speech teachers will mean her son will not get the service he needs.

But, board member Jennifer Johansson said, that is not the case because of his individual IEP.

“If the IEP says he needs a certain amount of speech, we can’t change that by law,” she said.

Bolandi emphasized that the recommendation was made by the administration because there are not enough students to justify the two full time teachers. Instead, he said, their time is being reduced commensurate to how many students need them.

Former board of education member Caitlyn Parker said she actually sees some good in the decision to eliminate the family and consumer science program.

“I am so supportive of the programmatic changes,” she said. “I think there are three problems, increase in the budget, test scores where we don’t want them to be and the increase in requirements for teachers to do more each day. I would like to see more academic time in the classroom and less time spent on extracurriculars each week.”

Acosta said that this will create about $200,000 in cuts to the budget, but with an additional $916,000 in tuition costs, $131,000 for benefits and $64,000 for special education, the district was still looking at an increase of $785,000 in the budget over last year.

The district, Acosta said, did see an increase of $40,000 in revenue, which still left $745,000 unaccounted for.

First, the district opted to increase the tax levy by the full 2 percent, adding an additional about $280,000 into the budget. From there, the district still had a $400,000 shortfall.

To account for that, Acosta said, the district looked to its cap bank from the previous two school years.

The cap bank, Bolandi said, is basically the difference between what residents would have been taxed at a 2 percent increase each year, and what they were actually taxed.

Because the district came in at less than 2 percent in each of the previous two years, they managed to bank $535,486 from 2011-2012 and $77,120 from 2012-2013.

“If it’s lower than 2 percent, whatever that number is, that’s paper money, and the state says you can bank that and, at a later date, you can make it real money,” Bolandi said.

This year, the district is looking to use the $400,000 from the cap bank to alleviate the shortfall in the budget, leaving about $200,000 in the bank for future years.

Teacher Cheryl Mitchell said she doesn’t understand why the district isn’t looking to use that remaining $200,000 to help the budget instead of cutting programs and staff.

Board member Brian Haggerty said if they used the full cap bank, the tax increase would be larger, up to about 8 percent, because of having to collect all the money needed in that bank.

And board president Louis Casella said they want to make sure there are funds for the coming years when the budget could, and probably will be, in a similarly bad situation.

“What do we do next year if we have used up all the money this year, we’ll have the same discussion,” he said. “The state let us do a little bit here and a little bit there. There has to be a balance, and taxpayers are on the budget. We think we’re close to that balance.”

Bolandi said residents need to remember that this proposed budget is in no way a final draft, and will be edited leading up to the adoption March 28. He said they will be working on it for the next three weeks, and, most importantly, are looking into several different possible revenue streams that could change everything and eliminate some of the proposed cuts.

First, Bolandi said, they are speaking with the Somerset Hills School District about tuition costs and the possibility of reducing them in some way. In addition, he said, they are looking at the possibility of sharing transportation services with Hunterdon County Educational Services Commission.

“They might be able to take our children on the same routes with the same services, the only different is the bus will say Hunterdon County,” he said.

Bolandi said they are also talking to their insurance broker, because the person who handles the health benefits gets a percentage of 2.95 percent. They are looking into getting that reduced since Bedminster is a small district.

Finally, Bolandi said, they are discussing special education costs with Somerset Hills because Bedminster is charged an additional cost for those who are classified and in need of extra help.

“We are looking at that and possibly reducing that, and making sure all children there are properly classified and [staff is] properly utilized,” he said.

If these four options come to play, Bolandi said, that would mean more revenue for the district and more opportunities to eliminate some of the proposed reductions.

Bolandi said it is important to remember that this is not a final draft of the budget, and, with answers coming in, there could be changes in the coming weeks.

“This is a living document, and will continue for the next three weeks,” he said. “The board still has revenue streams we are looking at the fact that, if they come to fruition, the reductions could be reduced.”

“This is a delicate balancing act, and we have to do what’s right for the programs and right for the taxpayers,” he added. “The process is tentative, and what you have heard is not locked in stone.”