West Windsor-Plainsboro school officials are reportedly preparing a revised budget to present to members of the West Windsor Township Council and Plainsboro Township Committee next week.
The budget will be presented at two meetings, first to West Windsor officials at the West Windsor Township Council’s meeting on Monday, May 9. They will make the same presentation to members of the Plainsboro Township Committee on Wednesday, May 11.
According to West Windsor Council President Kamal Khanna, the meeting does not have to be held jointly, although members of both governing bodies have to review and make a decision on the budget.
“On Monday, we will have our meeting, and hopefully, we’re going to try to finish everything up on Monday,” said Khanna. “Plainsboro is going to have their own on Wednesday and finish their review on Wednesday.”
Khanna said the May 9 meeting will feature a presentation by the school board, followed by public comments, council discussion, and, hopefully, a vote.
“We have given the general guidelines to the school board,” said Khanna. “They have to do something without hurting the level of education, without any direct impact on the classrooms, and absolutely without affecting special education.”
“We have told them the bottom line is that the budget did get defeated, and they have to do something to come up with a better budget, which they will,” Khanna added, saying West Windsor officials are expecting the board to come with cuts already made. “How much? We don’t know.”
Plainsboro Mayor Peter Cantu said officials from both townships discussed the process with school officials. “Their intention was to have a meeting and presentation from school officials,” he said, adding that the Township Committee in Plainsboro will start its meeting earlier than usual on May 11, after which there will be the presentation from school officials.
“We met with them to clarify the procedures and agree on a process,” Cantu said. “At the same time, the request to the school was, in anticipation of the meeting, to review their budget and look at areas they can suggest for potential cuts, and at the same time, not do damage to the educational product. We expect that to be reflected in the presentations.”
Cantu says he expects the presentations to both communities to be similar. “We’ll see what happens in West Windsor, and we’ll have that as a backdrop in Plainsboro. The best of both worlds is that there can be an agreement, and I hope that would be the case.”
Cantu said that both townships have to certify a reduction number. “All of us recognize the quality of the product the school provides to the communities,” Cantu added. “At the same time, you have to respect the fact that there is concern with the numbers. It’s trying to achieve dual goals.”
While Plainsboro voters passed the budget, 521-481, on April 27, West Windsor voters had enough “no” votes, 1,120-992, to turn it down.
The WW-P budget defeat bucked both state and county-wide trends. At the state level, budget approvals increased significantly from 60 percent last year to 80 percent this year, according to published reports. WW-P’s budget was also the only spending plan in Mercer County to be defeated at the polls.
It is the first time in more than a decade that WW-P voters defeated the budget (it was defeated by five votes in 1999). The proposed $158.55 million budget, by law, must head to the West Windsor Township Council and the Plainsboro Township Committee, where officials will decide what to cut, if anything.
According to Larry LoCastro, the district’s comptroller, the townships will have to agree and certify the tax levy by Thursday, May 19.
Officials in both townships are able to suggest where to cut or where the district should budget more revenue. That translates into a revised tax levy amount, or officials can elect to keep it, or even increase it, though that’s obviously unlikely to happen.
While the governing bodies can make suggestions for places to cut, what they will have to agree upon is a revised tax levy amount. “If the municipality makes any reductions, it must back up its decision by identifying corresponding reductions in school expenditures,” according to William Dressel of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. “The board is not bound by these particular spending cuts, but it must live with the tax levy certified by the municipal governing body.”
There is, however, an avenue of appeal for the school district. Where the board of education does not dispute the reduction made, the county superintendent will determine whether there is sufficient funding for the district to provide a thorough and efficient system of education. Where it disputes it, the executive county superintendent will schedule a combined meeting of the board and governing bodies to come to an agreement.
