SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Thanks to the approved use of banked cap, the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education was able to save four elementary school faculty positions, but big staffing reductions are still coming to Columbia High School.
On March 21, the BOE passed the $125 million school budget on first reading with an 8-1 vote, with board member Johanna Wright being the sole dissenter. The board also passed a resolution allowing the district to use the $409,103 in banked cap in a 7-2 vote, with Wright and board member Donna Smith voting against it. Smith said she was “voting against there being no other option.”
With revenue sources such as local taxes, state and federal aid and programs, debt service, tuition, fund balance, and capital reserve — and now the addition of banked cap — district business Administrator Cheryl Schneider said the proposed revenue for the 2016-2017 school year is $125,740,404, which is $2,145,624 more than that of the current school year.
Under state law, local taxes cannot increase more than 2 percent for the operating budget. This of course leaves the frequently used loophole that it can exceed the 2-percent cap for other areas of the budget.
At a 2-percent operating budget, the tax levy cap would be $111,317,574, but with the added debt service of $3,844,298 and the banked cap, that percentage bumps up to 2.43, according to Schneider. At this estimate, based on 2015 figures, the average Maplewood household would pay approximately $226 more per year in taxes, while the average South Orange household would pay approximately $249 more, though Schneider explained in February that these numbers would likely equalize after the appeals process. According to the district, the average Maplewood home will be paying approximately $15 more per year than the 2-percent cap and the average South Orange home about $18 more per year.
Earlier in the budget process, Superintendent John Ramos had said that using the banked cap would be a “painful option” for the district, as it would add to the operating budget — an addition that would likely need to be maintained the following year without that banked cap on which to rely. The $409,103 of banked cap from the 2013-2014 school year, if the board had not decided to use it, would have disappeared after this year, as there is a three-year limit on banked cap.
Despite raising taxes and using banked cap, there are still some drastic staffing cuts coming. While the district had originally been discussing cutting 19 or 20 staff members, the banked cap was able to save some of those jobs, specifically at the elementary school level. Nevertheless, the district is planning to reduce its workforce by 15 positions.
At the districtwide level, two supervisors and one secretary will be cut, while a learning disabilities teacher consultant is being added to deal with increased special education referrals; this leaves a district net reduction of two positions. At the elementary school level, one instructional coach is being cut, but three classroom teachers and one special education teacher are being added, leaving the elementary level with a net increase of three positions. At the middle school level, two teachers and one media specialist are being cut, with one behavioral specialist being added; this leaves a net reduction of two positions at the middle school level.
And, at the high school, there will be no additions, just a net reduction of 14 positions, including nine teachers, one guidance counselor, one media specialist, one dean and two deans’ secretaries.
At the March 21 meeting, several residents came out to oppose the cutting of the two library media specialists, including Janet Clark, president of the New Jersey School Librarians Association; Janine Poutre, a library media specialist at Marshall School; and Elissa Malespina, a former librarian at South Orange Middle School.
An online petition to “Save the SOMSD School Libraries,” now closed, managed to garner 726 signatures. Additionally, the American Library Association sent a letter to the board decrying the proposed library media specialist cuts and encouraging the district to look for other options.
Many residents also criticized the reduction of so many teachers, saying that this will negatively impact education at the middle and high school levels.
None spoke more vehemently, however, than Nina Kambili, the non-voting student representative to the board.
“I’m obviously just extremely dissatisfied with this,” Kambili said, saying her dissatisfaction stems from the fact she does not believe those making the budget decisions truly know what happens inside the schools on a day-to-day basis. She wanted more consideration of what the schools and students need, as opposed to administrators. She wanted to know why the district is supporting “this bloated administrative structure that we’re spending so much money on, but we’re cutting teachers.”
An online petition calling for the district to “Cut Costs Don’t Cut District Teachers” has 137 supporters.
Not everyone was displeased with the staff cuts though. Donna Upton, co-president of the Seth Boyden PTA, praised the board and district for “making hard but necessary choices.” The approved banked cap will be used to restore two academic intervention specialists to Seth Boyden, a focus school with a high population of students who need free or reduced lunches.
Nevertheless, many appeared disheartened by the concessions made to keep taxes from rising beyond the legal limit.
Board President Elizabeth Baker encouraged everyone who had come out to oppose the cuts to join the board and the district in the future as they lobby in Trenton for increased state aid, saying that the SOMA schools do not receive a fair level of funding when compared with other New Jersey districts. While school districts across the state are working to change this, the change does not appear to be happening quickly enough to protect foundering districts.