District Approves Preliminary $86.77M Budget, Doesn't Expect Any Layoffs

The Ridgewood Board of Education says it doesn't plan on eliminating any staff positions for the 2011-2012 school year and on Monday night it unanimously approved an $86,775,809 budget reflecting that sentiment, which will now be sent to the county Executive Schools Superintendent for review.

The district received word last week that the state would be returning a small but significant fraction of its state aid, and that to cover the $650,000 budgeted shortfall . Though it's not by any stretch the final budget, officials said it's a stark contrast to a year ago.

"This is the exact opposite of last year," Superintendent of Business Angelo DeSimone said, a period in which the district had expected to lose a portion of its state aid but not the whole shebang. Instead, like 58 other districts in the state, it awoke to a massive hole to plug with no state aid. Suddenly, Ridgewood was staring down a $6 million hole, which resulted in program cuts and unprecedented layoffs.

Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein had a slightly different prospective to the unexpected aid return. "It's a temporary restoration," he said without a smile, adding that Ridgewood provided $16 million to Trenton in income tax but received "a small fraction of that" in return.

Other than retirements, every staff member currently in the district "has been budgeted for" although there should be no expectations to add staff, DeSimone said. It's good news staff that had been targeted in early cut proposals last year and were likely to be among the first casualties in 2011-2012 if there was little wind beneath budgetary sails.

Officials declined to provide a figure on what the tax levy cost would be per homeowner under this preliminary budget. The 2010-2011 tax levy maximum allowed under the 2 percent cap is $81,323,178. Fishbein said revealing such a projection would be "too soon" given how many variables still must be factored in the ongoing process.

However, Fishbein said the district will also be able to incur a "breakage" savings in hiring lower-salaried teachers to replace the longtime, costly educators that are retiring. Four more long-time educators announced their resignations in the past few weeks.

The biggest cuts proposed in Monday's budget presentation are in guidance (down $150,000), child study teams ($121,000), library services (down $118,000), and instructional staff development (down $144,000).

All in all, regular instructional programs will be down from $29.63 million in 2010-2011 to $29.04 million, special education from $4.91 to $4.79 and school administrators will see a modest drop of roughly $20,000. The high school cut athletics by $14,000 but co-curricular activities will be up about $10,000 in total.

Because building heads submitted their budgets without great specificity–department heads were told budgets should be flat–the board still isn't sure exactly what devils are in the details, as they were given simple line items. Health costs are estimated to increase 12 percent but ultimately, officials say that too is just an educated guess.

"There's a lot we still need to find out," longtime school board member Sheila Brogan said.

Federal education funding could also be cut, which would impact special education busing, Brogan later added. Board Vice President Bob Hutton reminded the rest of the board one large, unknown cost for 2011-2012–teacher salaries. "48 percent of the total budget is assumed at zero percent increases."

The district is currently in negotiations with the Ridgewood Educational Association (REA), whose contract expires at the end of June. The union has said in previous requests for comment it would not publicly discuss the matter and neither would the district on the status of the contract negotiations.

The district does know, however, that Costs are expected to rise in personal services and employee benefits (which was not broken down in terms of union/non-union) from a cool $12.75 million to $14.06 million.

Additionally, nursing costs will rise about $25,000, there will be a $200,000 increase in grounds maintenance costs, higher "improvement instructional services," and a $283,000 basic skills instruction (BSI) bump.

The board has roughly a month before it submits its budget for a public hearing on March 22, in which it can continue tinkering with its budget. School board member Laurie Goodman earlier said on her blog that the budget "is not set in stone."

Still, there's room for optimism on the part of school officials and perhaps even taxpayers given the drab initial expectations for this upcoming budget.

In conclusion, Brogan said if the projected budget holds true it would be the first time in recent memory "we really present a budget without any cuts."

If you have a question about the 2011-2012 proposed budget, the district is encouraging you to e-mail budget12@ridgewood.k12.nj.us.