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Letter from the Sparta Schools Board of Education President Jennifer Derricks ”How our students were affected by the cuts in State aid last year” Excerpt (Some of the “highlights” of the budget cuts):“79 staff members eliminated-including; 1 Elementary Principal, 4 Guidance Counselors, 1 Assistant Director of Special Services, 2 Custodians, 1 Technology Teacher, 1 Substance Abuse Counselor (leaving us with None), 19 Elementary Classroom Teachers, 5 Secretaries, 21 Aides, 5 Child Study Team Positions, 2 Curriculum Supervisors (leaving us with a department of 1!- no Supervisors, no Department Chairs, no Reading Specialist…NONE),3 Physical Education Teachers, 1 English Teacher, 1 Social Studies, 2 Elementary Music Teachers, 1 Nurse, 1 Librarian, 2 World Language Teachers, 2 Gifted and Talented Teacher (leaving us with None).
Our Pre-K through 2nd grade school saw their music, art, physical education and world language teachers and librarian eliminated. Those duties would fall to the classroom teacher. (These positions were restored in the middle of the school year thanks to the Federal Ed Jobs money but that will not be available next year!) In addition, we had to close a school which increased class sizes, eliminate courtesy busing and institute subscription busing @$437 per pupil, and eliminate all co-curricular funding in the Elementary and Middle schools. We had to institute activity fees at the High School @ $325/athlete per season for athletics and marching band, $200/play to perform in a theatrical production, and $25 all other clubs and activities…”
Letter from Madison Schools Board President Lisa Ellis (excerpt “On a wing and a prayer” – this is now the phrase that best describes the way suburban school districts in some of the “wealthiest” communities in New Jersey are operating. Some of the finest public schools in the country, which year-in and year-out foster the best and the brightest young minds – our future as a nation – are being systematically “dumbed down.”)
Montclair Times ‘Public meetings to focus on school funding’ "...The debate over the cost of public school education and how to pay for it will take center stage this week at two public meetings in Montclair: The superintendent's budget report is at the top of the agenda for the Montclair Board of Education's public meeting which will be held in the atrium of the George Inness Annex of Montclair High School, 141 Park St., today, Monday, Feb. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m.; On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the scene will shift to the Charles H. Bullock School, 55 Washington St., where Montclair resident Christopher Cerf - the state's recently named acting commissioner of education - will join several local officials in a discussion of the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act at Township Councilwoman Dr. Renée Baskerville's monthly 4th Ward community meeting..."
FYI - In addition to members and interested citizens, GSCS sends information on this website out to the Statehouse - legislative and executive branch staff and officials, as well as to the media, on a regular basis.
Letter from the Sparta Schools Board of Education President Jennifer Derricks to Senator Barbara Buono re: Edison Hearing on School Funding Aid Loss ”How our students were affected by the cuts in State aid last year”
Dear Senator Buono,
The Sparta Board of Education members received an invitation to your event on January 20 in Edison, from the Garden State Coalition. Unfortunately we were not able to attend.
Please accept this letter as our testimony as to how our students were affected by the cuts in State aid last year. It must also be stated that the negative rhetoric from Trenton had much to do with our budget defeat. You will see that ultimately the budget we have in place for this year is lower than 2008-09 yet it was defeated by a 70-30% margin. In 2008 the same budget was passed by a 70-30% margin
As we began our budget process last year we had to eliminate $2.3 million to get to the 4% levy cap. The cut to our state aid represented $2.7 million. We sought waivers for loss of revenue, 10% Health Insurance increase and an adjustment for the newly renovated High School. The Executive County Superintendent required an addition $1 million cut from our budget to lower the tax levy. ($6 MILLION cut from our budget so far)
We attempted to eliminate all Co-curricular funding, equaling $1.1 million, but the Executive County Superintendent said that we had to restore it according to a formula for T&E. We put back $500,000 or 40%. The ECS approved that.
We negotiated a new contract with our teachers’ union in two marathon sessions. After some preliminary preparatory discussion, the local leadership of the teachers’ union asked if we could negotiate face to face, with neither our attorney nor their state NJEA representative in the room. They felt that state NJEA representative had proven to be an obstacle to the negotiation process before we even began. They felt this was because the local union wanted a contract with a wage freeze and the state organization did not. I mention this because it is important to understand how well our district functions.
Prior to the budget vote we were able to negotiate one year wage freezes with five of our bargaining units. At that time fewer than 20 districts in the state had any freezes at all.
Another piece of news we received prior to the vote but after the budget hearing, was that due to the huge number of staff we were eliminating and the extension of unemployment benefits, Sparta’s unemployment obligation was to be $1.2 million. So we knew before the budget vote that we had yet another $1.2 million to cut from our budget.
The budget was defeated by a 70-30 margin. The Township Council decided to eliminate $600,000 from our budget, despite fully understanding that we had an additional $1.2 million to cut.
Some of the “highlights” of the budget cuts:
79 staff members eliminated-including; 1 Elementary Principal, 4 Guidance Counselors, 1 Assistant Director of Special Services, 2 Custodians, 1 Technology Teacher, 1 Substance Abuse Counselor (leaving us with None), 19 Elementary Classroom Teachers, 5 Secretaries, 21 Aides, 5 Child Study Team Positions, 2 Curriculum Supervisors (leaving us with a department of 1!- no Supervisors, no Department Chairs, no Reading Specialist…NONE),3 Physical Education Teachers, 1 English Teacher, 1 Social Studies, 2 Elementary Music Teachers, 1 Nurse, 1 Librarian, 2 World Language Teachers, 2 Gifted and Talented Teacher (leaving us with None).
Our Pre-K through 2nd grade school saw their music, art, physical education and world language teachers and librarian eliminated. Those duties would fall to the classroom teacher. (These positions were restored in the middle of the school year thanks to the Federal Ed Jobs money but that will not be available next year!)
In addition, we had to close a school which increased class sizes, eliminate courtesy busing and institute subscription busing @$437 per pupil, and eliminate all co-curricular funding in the Elementary and Middle schools. We had to institute activity fees at the High School @ $325/athlete per season for athletics and marching band, $200/play to perform in a theatrical production, and $25 all other clubs and activities.
The effects of this budget crisis were compounded in Sparta because we have, for so long, been fiscally responsible. Last year we spent approximately $12,400 per pupil, this year it is just over $11,000. We are spending $2500 LESS per pupil than the state average! We would have to add $10 million to our budget just to reach the average. I urge you to look over the comparative spending numbers for our district to see for yourself.
Our district is hurting, our parents are paying more out of pocket and in taxes, traffic is a huge problem because of elimination of courtesy busing-we CANNOT endure another round of cuts. In fact I need you to understand our 2nd graders are no less deserving of an art, music, physical education, world language teacher and a librarian than a 2ndgrader in Newark. Our pre-teen Middle School students are no less in need of co-curricular activities, a seat on a bus, and guidance counselors than a 7thgrader in Paterson, and our High School students preparing for graduation and college are should not have to pay $325 to play a sport while our tax dollars allow students in Camden to be funded at more than double the per pupil rate than in Sparta.
The spirit of the Abbott ruling has been distorted beyond recognition, bringing us to this situation; a funding formula that sends most of the State Aid for Education to fewer than 30 districts, while we are forced to dismantle our school district. I have attached several supporting documents but please feel free to contact us if you would like additional information.
Thank you for listening.
Jennifer Dericks
President, Sparta Board of Education
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[TO: Lynne Strickland, Executive Director, Garden State Coalition
Dr. James Dwyer, Interim Superintendent, Madison Board of Education, has asked Kim Coleman to forward this letter to you for dissemination to members of GSCS. Thank you.
This letter from Lisa Ellis, Madison School Board President, was sent via email today and will be sent via regular mail to all legislators who represent Morris County and a few select members of the assembly and senate who are involved in education.]
This letter from Lisa Ellis, Madison School Board President (excerpt “On a wing and a prayer” – this is now the phrase that best describes the way suburban school districts in some of the “wealthiest” communities in New Jersey are operating. Some of the finest public schools in the country, which year-in and year-out foster the best and the brightest young minds – our future as a nation – are being systematically “dumbed down.”)
By way of introduction, I have been a member of the Madison Board of Education since 2003, and its President since 2005. I am also serving in my second year as President of the Morris County School Boards Association. Since January of 2008, I have also been an active member of the Madison Downtown Development Commission, which is committed to maintaining the vibrancy of Madison. I am a parent of five young adults ranging in age form 16 to 27 – all good students, athletes and citizens. I have been a resident and taxpayer in Madison for over 26 years.
Today I write from the heart, and from the breadth of my experience, which I hope has earned me at least the time it will take you to read this in full.
In March of 2010, the Madison school district received the news that 100% percent of our state aid would be cut and that we would also lose 15% of our debt service aid that represented the state’s promised contribution to our successful 2005 referendum project. In April, Madison lost its first school budget election in 15 years, spurred by the damaging rhetoric emanating from the governor’s office regarding teachers’ salaries.
I wrote to a number of you in May, expressing the difficulties Madison faced after the budget failure, and the subsequent process with the Borough Council. My letter also highlighted my concerns at the time regarding the proposed 2.5% tax levy cap.
I never received a response to that letter – and then summer came, and what a summer it was. Trenton, virtually unchallenged, passed a new 2.0% hard tax levy cap with limited exceptions, most of which either do not apply to us or, given last year’s budget failure and the divisive nature of the conversation about property taxes, could not even be considered.
As the summer went on, “The Race to The Top” debacle grabbed the headlines – a complete embarrassment to this state, and another blow to our financially stressed suburban schools. Then the conversation became all about charter schools, school choice, and the $100 million donation from Mark Zuckerberg to the Newark schools; nary a whisper about the hundreds of millions of dollars taken from suburban school districts.
Then, on September 20th, Madison, like many other suburban school districts in Morris County and around the state, was dealt another blow when we learned that our share of the federal “Education Job Fund” monies would only be $52,637 – money, though we are grateful for, is not even enough for us to restore one full time teaching position. When the math is done on the distribution of these funds it becomes apparent that there was little thought given to equity in the process:
Madison only saw 3.3% of its aid restored. The restorations in the Abbott districts ranged from 30% -73% (excluding Hoboken, which only got 13%), averaging 56%. Morris County
averaged about 9%.
Perversely, the greater the percentage of state aid lost, the lower the percentage restored.
The average $/student restored was about $190. Madison received $25/student. The high (excluding Allenhurst which has only 2 students) was Asbury Park at $780 per student. The Abbott Districts averaged $500, Morris County $71.
For many years, suburban districts have tried to rise above the “us versus the Abbotts” mentality. But the numbers do not lie, and I know that Madison (as well as, I’m sure, many suburban districts across Morris County and the state), has had enough.
Madison is a district which serves approximately 2000 students, as is Asbury Park, an Abbott District. Madison’s 2009-2010 operating budget was $34,934,642, which represented a total comparative per pupil cost of $14,247. Asbury Park’s 2009-2010 operating budget was $65,627,590, which represented a total comparative per pupil cost of $26,782. The following table illustrates the comparison of scores (taken from the NJ DOE website) on the 2010 High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) between the two districts:
2010 HSPA LANGUAGE ARTS SCORES
DistrictPartially ProficientProficientAdvanced Proficient
Madison1.0%56.1%42.9%
Asbury Park52.4%47.6%0
2010 HSPA MATH SCORES
DistrictsPartially ProficientProficientAdvanced Proficient
Madison7%44.2%48.7%
Asbury Park81%18%1%
Though I do not profess to be a mathematician or an educator, even I can clearly see that allowing the Abbott Districts to spend nearly twice as much per pupil is not producing educational success. We all understand that the problem is far more complex than that, yet someone needs to finally stand up and say that the system is broken, and have the intestinal fortitude to find the real cure instead of applying more and more “band-aids” to an ever widening wound.
Madison sends tens of millions of dollars to Trenton in income taxes, and a healthy amount through the sales tax as well. Yet our return on the dollar has consistently decreased over time, and is now at an all time low. We are now being forced to cut programs, services, and capital improvements which will, over time, have a serious negative impact on both the quality of education we deliver to our students and the quality of life we offer our residents. Ultimately it will result in significant damage to our property values. This is a scenario that is being echoed across the state in every seemingly idyllic suburban town. What will New Jersey look like without these towns and their ability to draw residents to the state? Is anyone even asking that question?
The Madison School District has consistently worked to produce a budget that considers both the needs of our students and the associated property tax burden placed on our citizens. But now we are reaching the financial breaking point. Our surplus is seriously depleted as we had to use a large portion of our 2% allowable surplus to help close the budget gap last year when our state aid was cut. We are now carrying a surplus of approximately 1%, which will not be enough to cover a catastrophic failure of a roof or a boiler or unanticipated special education placements. We have no capital reserve and no way to fund some pressing infrastructure needs. Thankfully, Madison does have the potential income from the anticipated sale of the long-closed Green Village Road School in the coming year, but that money has been spent theoretically too many ways to count, and the sale has not yet even been posted. This is the fate of suburban schools all across the state, and why those of us at Board of Education tables are forced to focus on how to preserve the status quo and to keep facilities operational, rather than how to improve achievement and broaden opportunities for all students.
Madison has always prided itself on striving for excellence in all disciplines – academics, the arts, athletics – but we have now been put in a financial vice that threatens everything we deliver to our students. In all communities like ours, the cost for things like athletics, music and art, technology, etc. are being shifted to our parent populations through fees, direct solicitation, and appeals to district educational foundations – yet our communities still have not seen any reduction in their property taxes. This year, our school district operating budget was $750,000 less than that of the previous year, numerous programs and positions were cut, and yet, because of the loss of state aid, property taxes continued to rise.
As we approach the 2011-2012 district budget preparation in the face of the 2.0% tax levy cap, we know we will again be facing cuts in excess of half a million dollars, fueled primarily by those cost drivers that were excluded from consideration in the new tax levy cap – energy, special education tuition and transportation, increased pension contributions, etc., all of which we have little or no control over.
Our district has been doing everything it can, exploring shared services, new revenue opportunities and trying to do more with less. Our staff at all levels has worked hand-in-hand with us, showing full understanding of the new reality. Our teachers recently agreed to a new contract with settlement numbers that will stand up as a model to the entire state.
Last August, our superintendent of schools chose to retire and collect his pension in New Jersey and take a job as a superintendent in Pennsylvania. Though we thanked him for his years of service and wished him well, we also dreaded the thought of approaching a search in the face of the new superintendent salary caps proposed in Trenton. The numbers used having nothing to do with anything the job demands – the time, passion, expertise or experience – but instead are based on the “official salary” of the governor who, as everyone is well aware, is lucky enough not have to live on that salary after taxes, especially with four children in private schools in Morris County.
The reality for Madison was that what we could offer our superintendent in the way of salary was coming down anyway as a direct result of the 4% tax levy cap. We were finding that we were unable to fulfill the salary increases in our former superintendent’s contract. The new 2% tax levy cap will force districts to further hold the line on all salaries. These salary caps just create artificial limits with no basis in anything tangible, will reduce New Jersey’s ability to compete with neighboring states for quality candidates, force retirement and limit migration of more experienced administrators, lower the quality of management which will have a negative financial impact on districts, and ultimately lower the standard of education delivered. And for what? A savings of $9.8 million dollars statewide? Really? That cannot be what this is about, but I have yet to hear what other benefit will result. Madison is just hoping that a great community and smart kids will be enough to draw our next superintendent.
“On a wing and a prayer” – this is now the phrase that best describes the way suburban school districts in some of the “wealthiest” communities in New Jersey are operating. Some of the finest public schools in the country, which year-in and year-out foster the best and the brightest young minds – our future as a nation – are being systematically “dumbed down.” And why? Because this state and those who have been elected to guide it have consistently overlooked the real problems, sidestepped the tough questions, shirked the responsibilities they were elected to bear, and tried to shift blame and chosen to spout useless divisive rhetoric rather than work hard, work smart and work together to find real solutions.
For over a year we have been hearing about “tools” – where are they, what do they look like and are they even the right ones for the job? We are tired of waiting while we sit and watch the schools – and eventually the communities – we have all worked so hard to build be taken down brick by brick. We have been “doing it right” with very little help from Trenton for too many years to count. We did not have to be told to try and do it better; we always looked for new ways to inspire and challenge each new generation of students. We have always valued every dollar that was ours to spend, and when we made mistakes we worked quickly to right them. Can Trenton say the same?
It’s well past the time to “stop the madness.” Tackle pension reform, tenure reform, the achievement gap, the broken funding system. We can clearly no longer finance public education on a system that relies so heavily on property taxes. Fund or eliminate all the “unfunded mandates.” Address the concerns of both the parents and the districts in the area of special education. Please, just stand up for the students and the taxpayers of New Jersey and do something.
We are out here waiting to help.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Ellis
President, Madison Board of Education
President, Morris County School Boards Association
Montclair Times ‘Public meetings to focus on school funding’
Monday, February 7, 2011
BY GEORGE WIRT
‘…The debate over the cost of public school education and how to pay for it will take center stage this week at two public meetings in Montclair: The superintendent's budget report is at the top of the agenda for the Montclair Board of Education's public meeting which will be held in the atrium of the George Inness Annex of Montclair High School, 141 Park St., today, Monday, Feb. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m.; On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the scene will shift to the Charles H. Bullock School, 55 Washington St., where Montclair resident Christopher Cerf - the state's recently named acting commissioner of education - will join several local officials in a discussion of the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act at Township Councilwoman Dr. Renée Baskerville's monthly 4th Ward community meeting…’
The debate over the cost of public school education and how to pay for it will take center stage this week at two public meetings in Montclair.
Schools Superintendent Frank Alvarez is expected to shed more light on the Montclair School District's proposed budget for the 2011-2012 school year.
The superintendent's budget report is at the top of the agenda for the Montclair Board of Education's public meeting which will be held in the atrium of the George Inness Annex of Montclair High School, 141 Park St., today, Monday, Feb. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m.
The board is nearing the deadline for the formal introduction of its proposed speeding plan for the 2011-2012 school year. Faced with a projected $6.7 million budget gap, the board has discussed numerous cost-cutting measures including shutting down schools, outsourcing teacher aides, reducing school busing service and imposing fees on students who participate in sports or other in extracurricular activities.
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, the scene will shift to the Charles H. Bullock School, 55 Washington St., where Montclair resident Christopher Cerf - the state's recently named acting commissioner of education - will join several local officials in a discussion of the proposed Opportunity Scholarship Act at Township Councilwoman Dr. Renée Baskerville's monthly 4th Ward community meeting.
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The Opportunity Scholarship Act, which is currently before the state legislature, would dedicate $340 million in funding for scholarship assistance to as many 40,000 children in the state's lowest performing public schools.
The bipartisan bill was introduced in the Trenton last March by state Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak, a Democrat, and Senate Minority Leader Thomas H. Kean Jr., a Republican. Its supporters include E3, the Excellent Education for Everyone school reform organization, which has said the act will give a "lifeline" to children trapped in bad schools.
The bill's detractors, which include the New Jersey Education Association, argue the measure would divert up to $1 billion in tax revenue away from public schools and into the hands of private and parochial school operators.
Other speakers scheduled to appear include state Sen. Nia Gill and Montclair Board of Education President Shelly Lombard.
Contact George Wirt at wirt@montclairtimes.com.
