Parents struggle to deal with impact of budget
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - Sometimes people simply do not hear you unless you scream.

Such is the case with members of the Freehold Borough Board of Education and school district administrators who are pleading with anyone who will listen to help the district get the funding it needs to keep its 1,400 students in the loop and on top of their studies.

Parents are dealing with the news that the board's proposed $16.7 million budget for 2007-08 will cost them more and give students less. The budget as introduced at a March 12 meeting proposes a local tax levy of $7.4 million and an increase in the K-8 tax rate from 66.7 to 74 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Residents will vote on the budget in the April 17 school election.

The proposed budget will cut personnel, including a guidance counselor, a librarian, an art teacher, a music teacher, a math supervisor, one fourth grade teacher, one fifth grade teacher, three school office assistants and two custodians. The budget will eliminate school-sponsored sports and all extracurricular activities.

"Don't think we are happy about any of this," board President Jim Keelan said. "This budget is not sitting well with any of us at all."

Administrators said the impact of a new law which limits the amount of money that may be raised in local taxes is having an impact on the district.

The budget will have to add a full-time and a part-time World Language teacher by state mandate and will also need to add two first grade teachers in order to reduce the size of incoming classes to 21 students, according to Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth O'Connell.

O'Connell said she also needed two more kindergarten teachers but could not add them into the upcoming budget.

Keelan said board members and district administrators have had many discussions with state legislators and county officials over the last two years, with some of those discussions as recent as this month.

"We have pleaded our case to all of them and have been told, 'I hear you, but there are no discretionary funds. I cannot help you,' " Keelan said.

Keelan said state legislators are trying to enlist Monmouth County to help with funding for Freehold's public schools. He said the county has $53 million worth of tax exempt property in the borough. He said the tax exempt status of the county property puts more of a burden on taxpayers.

Keelan said the board may consider putting a second question on the April 17 ballot which would raise an additional $62,000 in property taxes and restore the school-sponsored sports and arts programs. He said the board is considering hiring a private investigator to make certain that all children who attend school in the borough live in town.

The board will be asked to decide about the second question before the March 26 public hearing on the budget takes place. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Park Avenue school complex.

During a recent meeting, parents expressed their concerns and fears about a budget which will cut programs and staff members. They said the changes will hamper their children's ability to compete in their own area, the state, the country and the world.

Ed Blocker asked if the school district was in jeopardy of becoming an Abbott district.

New Jersey's Abbott districts are 31 school districts that have been deemed to be the state's poorest school districts. Those districts receive the bulk of their funding directly from the state, as opposed to non-Abbott districts which

are largely supported through local property taxes.

In Monmouth County, Neptune, Long Branch, Asbury Park and Keansburg are Abbott districts.

O'Connell said that was a political question and one she could not answer. She said that to her knowledge, the state is not designating any new Abbott districts and will soon be taking a comprehensive look at the existing ones.

O'Connell said the Abbott districts should all be looked at and that the ones that no longer qualify should be removed from that status. She said some of those 31 schools districts now have condominiums selling for $3 million and should no longer qualify as an Abbott district.

Maria Chaffer, who has children in the Park Avenue Elementary School, referred to the English as a Second Language program and asked if the district could "switch gears and move to full immersion."

"We've tried teaching Spanish-speaking children in bilingual classes, separately. We have also taken a lot of roads with this problem and I have not seen a tremendous change over the last 12 years," Chaffer said. "I am tired of hearing Spanish spoken in the parking lots, in the hallways, in the offices. I am not talking about the parents talking to their children. I am talking about staff members speaking to the students in Spanish.

"We are sinking thousands of dollars into these programs. They are supposed to be learning English here. It is not me and my child who should have to adjust. If, however, we choose this route, then I think that kindergarten students should be learning Spanish. They should have the same opportunities as the bilingual children. We need to figure out how to get equitable distribution of funds and not just provide these funds to just a certain percentage of our children," Chaffer said.

O'Connell agreed that World Language should be offered to all English-speaking students.

Some parents asked what would happen if the budget is defeated by voters on April 17.

O'Connell said the budget would go to the Borough Council, which would review the spending plan. The council could recommend cuts in the budget, leave it as the board proposed it or take no action and send it to the Monmouth County superintendent of schools for review.

Diane Galatro said she believes the district has a 50 percent Spanish speaking student population, yet, "I don't see anyone here representing the Hispanic population. They are not represented here tonight at this very important meeting. I encourage their advocates to reach out to their community members and have them represented at these meetings as well."

O'Connell said the board members "think like parents."

"Therefore," she said, "the day we needed to make these cuts it was heartbreaking to us, but we must provide students with items [the state says are required for a] thorough and efficient education, therefore, we can only cut non-T&E items. I don't disagree that World Language needs to be a part of our program and I didn't want to do it by decreasing art and music."

The superintendent, who is a school board member in Howell, said she had no choice.

Board member Ron Reich said he voted to approve the introduction of the budget but "with explanation."

"I am not happy about this," Reich said. "No one here is."

Reich said he was aggravated by many things that had dictated the course of the 2007-08 school budget. He cited unfunded state mandates and an inspection by state education representatives that forced administrators to add another $1 million into the budget.

"And they did not in any way offer to help us get that (extra) money," he said. "We have tried to get grants, we have shifted things around and we were able to accomplish that last year and now it has all been for naught."

Reich commended teachers for the "marvelous" job they do even though "each year we take more and more away and they must do with less." He said the board members are paying the same taxes as other borough residents and he wants those residents to know they do not make these decisions lightly.