Second ballot question amount rises to $1.8M
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN - With rising costs a tide that will not turn in the taxpayers' favor, Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education President Anthony Manisero said he foresees a day when The Commerce Bank Elementary School may be a school near you.

Manisero said that name or a variation thereof may be a distinct possibility given that fed-up Garden State taxpayers want a solution, any solution, to the problem of ever-increasing school costs and rising property taxes.

Manisero told an overflow crowd of students, staff members and parents who attended the board's March 20 meeting that he sees the day coming, "not that far off," when corporations are allowed to put their names on schools - as a revenue generator for school districts - in much the same way they now put their names on sports arenas and performing arts centers.

The students, staff and parents had turned out to speak as pretty much one voice in a protest against staff reductions contained in the board's proposed $71.8 million budget for the 2007-08 school year. A public hearing on the budget was held March 27. Residents will vote on the spending plan in the April 17 school election.

The 2007-08 budget proposes the elimination of all school sponsored sports, afterschool activities and 10 staff positions. The initial budget called for 17 positions to be eliminated.

In order for those afterschool programs, sports and staff to be reinstated in the budget, voters will be asked on April 17 to approve a separate ballot question. That ballot question has increased from $667,619 to $1.8 million in additional taxation within the past week.

The impact on property taxes of the primary budget proposal and the second ballot question were expected to be available after the March 27 public hearing.

Speaking at the March 20 meeting, resident Jack Coughlin told board members their budget as introduced was "blackmail." He said the board should look to make cuts in administration.

"You need to address excess staffing, too many duplicates, rather than face-to-face [staff] in the classroom," he said.

According to board member Joseph DePasquale, the second ballot question will now ask voters to approve the additional $1.8 million in local taxes if the district is to reinstate all school sponsored (interscholastic) sports, afterschool extracurricular activities, playground replacements and gym floor replacements, along with one bus mechanic, five guidance counselors and two computer technicians whose positions have been eliminated along with the programs.

Regarding the future of the proposed budget and the program and staff cuts it contains, DePasquale said, "Voters need to get out and vote, otherwise it goes back to the governing bodies of Manalapan and Englishtown and they have the opportunity to cut the budget."

Constance Bryson is the school district's director of information systems. Bryson came to the March 20 meeting to protest the computer staff reductions when the number of persons being let go was still at 17, before being amended to 10 staff reductions, two of which are computer technicians.

Bryson said she questioned whether board members understood the duties of the computer technicians and the value of the services they provide.

"They're not just computer repairmen. There is so much more they do," Bryson said.

Coughlin remarked on the proposed cuts of the two computer technicians, saying, "Today, Google is more important than the Dewey Decimal System."

According to Bryson, at present, the district has a total of seven computer technicians who provide their services to more than 5,500 students and 700 staff members.

Speaking on behalf of the guidance counselors was Barbara Rosenblum, who said she has been a guidance counselor with the district since 1977. She, too, said she questioned the board's understanding of the importance of maintaining an adequately staffed guidance department.

Rosenblum said the proposed cuts would not only constitute a detriment for the students, but to the district's reputation as a whole.

Manisero said the board was faced with a difficult decision, but cuts had to be made because, "you can't keep spending $1.50 when you're only taking in $1."

Board members have said the difficult position in which the district finds itself is the result of a new state law which limits the amount of money that can be raised in local property taxes.

Business Administrator Joseph Passiment said the rising cost of almost every item associated with the operation of the district - including salaries, benefits, fuel and electricity - has placed the board in this position. He blamed the increased cost of doing business for eating up an approximate $1 million increase in state funds the district will receive next year.

The 2007-08 budget totals $71.8 million; up about $2.5 million from the 2006-07 budget of $69.3 million.

Manalapan Mayor Andrew Lucas and Manalapan Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth were present at the March 20 meeting.

Following a dialogue with Manisero it was decided that a meeting would be scheduled between Passiment and township administrator Tara Lovrich in order for municipal and school officials to work on identifying areas where a shared services agreement could be developed in order to cut costs for both entities.

In other school news, district representatives are presently interviewing candidates to replace Maureen Lally as the superintendent of schools upon her retirement in June.

While declining to provide names, DePasquale said the board is presently conducting interviews from a field of seven applicants, two of whom came from within the district.

DePasquale said the board will reserve a decision on Lally's successor until after the April 17 election so that the new board members who will work with the new superintendent are in place.