In a surprisingly quiet start to the Moorestown Township Board of Education’s series of community budget forums, members of the BOE and district officials presented the 2011–12 school budget to the public, along with district plans for the next four years.
Before presenting budget numbers tonight, officials warned of the painful cuts that lay ahead not only this year, but also for subsequent budgets leading up to 2015.
It is by 2015 that the Board hopes its Vision 2015 initiative will have shaped a smaller, more efficient organization through a series of interlocking strategies that include restructuring, redesigning, reconnecting, revenue generating, and reinvesting district operation.
Restructuring, officials said, is the painful part. The start of it was announced tonight.
“It is a budget filled with difficult choices we would prefer not to make, but they are unavoidable,” Superintendent John Bach said.
Even though the district received a $617,070 increase in state aid this year, the impact of last year’s massive $3.5 million cut is still being felt. Married with increased costs in health benefits, declining student enrollment, a declining ratable base throughout the township, a smaller surplus, and a new law that does not allow the district to raise the amount to be raised through taxes more than two percent, the district continues to face challenges, according to officials.
As the numbers stand, when residents head to the polls this April, they’ll vote on a tax levy that bears a net increase of $695,983, or 1.19 percent, over last year. The tax levy is budgeted to the 2 percent cap, but is offset by a debt service decrease of $366,711. According to district Business Administrator Lynn Shugars, the district’s debt service,which includes money to be paid from old bond referendums including principal and interest payments, is beginning to decrease.
As a result of the budget’s proposed tax levy, residents in the average assessed home of $534,100 would pay an increase of $80 per year, or $6.67 per month, in school taxes,
The budget includes the elimination of 31 full time equivalent positions for the coming school year, reductions that will result in elimination and modifications to programs across the district.
Reductions include the elimination of two full time equivalent teaching positions in the elementary schools based on enrollment projections, one auditory impairment interpreter because the program is being eliminating across the district, one teacher and one paraprofessional position due to the elimination of the pre first program, one challenge program position, and one world language teacher.
At Moorestown Upper Elementary School, two FTE teacher positions and one secretarial position will be nixed due to enrollment projections and efficiencies. A technology teacher will be eliminated, modifying technology as a stand-alone program, and one world languages teacher position will be eliminated.
At the William Allen Middle School, one family and consumer science position will be eliminated, in addition to one careers teaching position, and one world languages position.
Cuts at Moorestown High School include the elimination of a secretary position, one building manager position, and a family and consumer science position.
At the administrative level, one transportation secretary, a technology administrator, an assessments and evaluation administrator, and an education supervisor will be eliminated. In addition, six buildings and grounds positions will be outsourced. The cuts also call for the elimination of the auditory impairment program, nixing all of the interpreter positions across the district.
To offset costs, and in an attempt to generate revenue for the long term, the district plans to implement a student activity fee for the first time ever. Fees will be capped at $600 per family.
According to the Board’s presentation, the fee schedule includes a $200 fee for each high school sport a student plays and a $200 annual fee for each student that participates in the theater programs at the high school.
Middle school sports will cost $100 each and there will be a $100 annual fee for theater. The UES will also incorporate a $50 annual fee for theater.
Board members noted the fees do not cover all of costs associated with sports and activities that the district pays. For example, they said, it costs an average $799 per student for high school sports.
Resident Richard Booth, one of the buildings and grounds workers whose position is slated for outsourcing next school year, spoke out against the board’s proposed spending plan tonight.
Booth said current employees know Moorestown students and interact with them on a daily basis. He said they have helped student start their cars when they wouldn’t start, have changed flat tires, and have even assisted when students have gotten hurt.
“Our faces are ones (students) recognize and trust,” Booth said.
Booth stated possible risks that may come along with outsourcing buildings and grounds jobs to a sub contractor, including a changing regiment of employees and the possibility that those employees could be untrustworthy.
“Who do you want around your children? Someone who takes pride in the district? Or a sub contractor who just wants to make a quick buck?” Booth said.
There were few other public comments at the meeting, a stark comparison to initial budget meetings last year when similar proposed cuts evoked emotional comments and pleas with the board to keep programs and staff in place from residents, teachers, and Moorestown students.
Officials handed out comment cars to those who attended tonight’s meeting. Questions and comments will be collected, aggregated, and, as themes emerge, will be compiled into a question and answer collection and posted on the district’s Web site, Bach said.
The numbers presented in the preliminary budget are subject to change, officials said. Last year, Board members modified the cuts outlined in the preliminary budget after hearing and considering stakeholder comments and suggestions. Officials are encourgaing the same type of interaction and feedback for the 2011–12 school budget.
The next budget meeting is scheduled to take place on March 15 in the auditorium of the William Allen Middle School. Another is scheduled for March 22 at Moorestown High School.
