Budget cap puts N.J. schools on edge
N.J. law leaves little room to maneuver as taxes rise.
By Kristen A. Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer

Talk about your tough sell. Superintendents are telling voters who will head to the polls Tuesday in New Jersey's school elections that this year's is the tightest budget anyone has ever faced and that steep tax increases just can't be avoided.

Skyrocketing fuel prices are to blame. So are higher health-care costs and more students in pricey special-education programs. Flat state aid for five years is a huge factor.

But most administrators are wringing their hands over a law the Legislature passed two years ago, one designed to give homeowners property-tax relief but now producing an unexpected consequence: squeezing districts, which must pass bigger bills on to the taxpayers the law was designed to help.

Schools have had to cut teachers and programs and, in some cases, turn off the heat on winter days.

S-1701, as administrators refer to the law through gritted teeth, required districts to reduce surpluses from 6 percent to 2 percent to achieve property-tax relief. But it also reduced the budget cap - the amount a district's spending can rise from year to year. It makes it harder for districts to transfer line items within budgets, save unused spending for future budgets, or have much latitude in administrative spending.

"With all the corruption in our state, they're coming after our schoolchildren, and that's wrong. It's just wrong," said Gary Dentino, superintendent of Waterford schools. "Ultimately, kids will suffer. Our test scores will suffer."

Districts in the area report feeling a big-time squeeze because of the law.

Haddon Township told the New Jersey School Boards Association that it cut 5.5 teaching positions last year because of S-1701, resulting in larger classes. Cinnaminson axed its high school industrial-arts program, its culinary arts program at the middle and high schools, and the jobs of seven certified staffers and four instructional aides.

Logan Township eliminated two positions and cut its speech staff. Pitman slashed five teaching positions. Medford doubled its athletics and activities fees.

On some days during the winter, the Marlboro School District in central New Jersey encouraged students to dress in layers to offset a budget shortfall caused by high gas prices and the pinch of S-1701. It first lowered thermostats, then turned off the heat completely.

In Bergen County, Paramus' bond rating fell because of its smaller cash reserve.

Waterford has three schools and a $22 million budget, and a 2 percent reserve that gives it the slimmest of margins with which to operate, Dentino said.

"Oftentimes, we have an emergency, and what are you going go do? Are you going to borrow money? Are you not going to make payroll? Are you going to just not fix the boiler? You can't do that - you run the risk of hurting a child or an adult," he said.

Dentino said he didn't mind increased accountability; under Waterford's eight-year efficiency plan, the district has bought paper in bulk, purchased a different quality of pencils, and looked at other practices, all for a documented savings of $1.3 million. Still, senior citizens vote against budgets and move out of town because they can't afford to fund schools, and S-1701 isn't helping, he said.

As in most districts, any money that may have gone to property-tax relief is long gone.

Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said the law was baring its teeth in more frequent second ballot questions.

In previous years, they might have asked for new playground equipment. "Now districts are just trying to hold on with their second questions," Yaple said. "They're just trying to maintain existing staffing - classroom teachers, aides, social workers, guidance counselors."

Clementon is asking to keep courtesy busing, Haddon Township to keep preschool, Magnolia to retain athletics and field trips, Cherry Hill to keep instrumental music and art, and Medford to keep basic-skills and gifted-and-talented teachers.

In Washington Township, Superintendent Cheryl Simone knows this is a difficult year.

"We have a big increase," she said, "and this is just a maintenance budget. We've had a 147 percent increase in fuel costs. We haven't put in any new programs, and we still have a huge increase in money."

Even with a 5 percent increase in the budget, Washington Township students still wouldn't get to take field trips. Although administrators had hoped to add some money in the budget to pay for them, things were just too tight.

"It's not good," Simone said. "If you just say '1701,' it doesn't mean anything to most people. The general layperson doesn't know what it means, what the effects are."

To help voters understand the connection between S-1701 and these lean times, Washington Township has provided a page of links on its Web site. Simone hopes people educate themselves.

Statewide, other districts are going further, with PTAs organizing to lobby for movement on a bill - passed by the Assembly but stuck in the Senate - that would amend S-1701 to give districts more breathing room.

Activists are at work elsewhere, too. An online petition urges legislators to repeal the law. And a group called New Jersey Citizens Against Local Legislation S-1701 has organized parents to telephone the governor's office in droves.

Mount Laurel Superintendent Antoinette Rath said her district had been relatively lucky: Taxes would rise only 2.9 percent, thanks in large part to a generous tax base.

But there is $948,000 in surplus, and one payroll is $1.6 million. Educating one special-education student in an intensive out-of-district placement might cost $80,000, and educating two might constitute a financial emergency for the district, Rath said.

"It truly does limit your ability to handle some emergencies," she said. "Our ability to transfer is what I find most pinching."

In this economy, Rath said, everyone has had to tighten the belt. She doesn't mind that, she said, but worries that belt-tightening has come at the expense of education.

"We haven't had to choose between programs for kids," she said, "but I know that our time will come."