Amid a mixed crowd of supporters of the WW-P school district’s $158.55 million budget and opponents who said the budget vote was a mandate to cut taxes, the West Windsor Township Council voted to trim $503,000 from the spending plan.
The cuts were proposed by WW-P school officials, who made a presentation to the West Windsor Township Council on May 9 and to Plainsboro Township Committee on May 11.
After West Windsor voted to accept the $503,000 in proposed cuts, Plainsboro followed suit. The cut will reduce the tax levy from $140 million to $139.5 million.
A special meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 17, when the WW-P school board will vote to change the tax levy amount, as recommended by the two governing bodies. This will enable the school district to have its revised budget to the county superintendent by the deadline on Thursday, May 19.
Because the budget was defeated on April 27, state law required the townships to review the school budget and agree on a tax levy by the deadline. Officials in both townships are able to suggest where to cut or where the district should budget more revenue. While the governing bodies can make suggestions for places to cut, what they have to agree upon is a revised tax levy amount.
While Plainsboro voters passed the budget, 521-481, West Windsor voters had enough “no” votes, 1,120-992, to turn it down, 1,601-1,513.
In voting to accept the $503,000 in cuts, most council members in West Windsor said it was a balancing act to save taxpayers money but also to ensure education would not be harmed. They also called on school officials to do a better job next year.
“There has to be a balance,” said Councilman George Borek. “I’m happy with what the school board has put forth, but we need to do it better.”
Among the cuts was a $235,000 reduction in non-personnel school expenses, which includes teaching supplies, media center materials, and funding for student participation in national competitions, which would result in higher parent contributions to those trips, said Superintendent Victoria Kniewel, who made the presentation.
Kniewel said the school district subsidizes up to $150 per student to attend national competitions, but that practice would end. Students could still attend; they would just have to pay their own way.
Kniewel said the reduction would most likely result in the district foregoing hiring a replacement for a guidance counselor who is leaving and also cause a restructuring of the department.
These cuts struck a chord with residents who supported the original budget.
Resident Douglas Larkin said the district already cut the Outdoor Education program last year, and parents and members of the PTA had to raise money to offer the program. Making cuts and having parents shoulder the burden is “agreeing to tax one segment of the population,” he said. “Public education is everyone’s responsibility.”
He also said that the amount of money that was cut is “far less than the money we’ve had to set aside for PIACS,” he said, referring to the school district’s requirement to send $1.2 million to the Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS), which is scheduled to open in September and draw students from the WW-P, Princeton, and South Brunswick districts. “We are also a district that other districts look to see what they can aspire to be,” he added.
“If our school district’s reputation goes down, so will our property values, and so does the tax base,” said resident Susan Roy. With regard to cutting guidance counselors, she asked, “Is that really the solution we’re looking for?”
In addition, Kniewel said the district would cut $30,000 from athletic and co-curricular stipends, reduce its support staff by $50,000, including the possible cut of a cafeteria aide, and reduce its capital expenses by $108,000. That cut would result in reductions in technology purchases and carpet replacements.
“We are trying to follow the advice and direction of the finance committee,” Kniewel said.
Kniewel said that when they made their recommendations, school officials considered responses from the community forums held over the winter, where residents, students, and other community members said they wanted WW-P to avoid making any cuts that would affect the classroom.
“We believe we are a cost effective, high-performing district,” said Kniewel.
Some West Windsor residents, however, said the budget being defeated for the first time in over a decade is a sign that residents cannot sustain the current system and its costs.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” said Rebecca Esmi of Woodmere Way. She said other entities around the country and around the region are also cutting back on expenses. “Hopefully clear heads will prevail.”
“When you have great schools, another benefit to the taxpayer is the value of your home is maintained,” she said. But if those taxes become “too exorbitant,” and it is keeping people out of the community, it is a bad sign, she said.
Shapoor Vali of Village Road West said that in most institutions of higher education, there have been salary freezes, 15 percent contributions to healthcare from employees, and other cuts. “This is being replicated in most places,” he said. He said budgetary restraint does not have to mean layoffs. The failed budget is “an indicator that our residents have reached the conclusion that our current situation cannot be sustained.”
Resident Ed O’Mara said he also felt more money could be cut from the budget and that, like many other seniors living in West Windsor, he relies on social security, which has been frozen for two years. Yet, the cost of his healthcare premiums and his taxes have gone up.
He said he felt the “school board got suckered by the union” when the union agreed to a salary freeze for six pay periods in turn for a contract extension of one year that called for a 3.38 percent increase in salary. He said he thought the district would have been able to save a lot of money if it looked into freezing salaries and asking for more healthcare contributions.
Resident Pete Weale said that “$500,000 is not even close” to what should have been cut. “I’m looking for a minimum of $10 million,” he said.
He also referred to the salary increases over the last three years. “This is completely off the wall,” he said, adding he also wanted to see cuts of three central office positions and great contributions from staff toward health insurance.
Resident Susan Roy and other supporters of the budget said that education has been the main priority for the community. “I absolutely disagree with the statement that the defeat of the budget is because the townspeople could not sustain the current situation,” said Roy.
She said she has talked to most residents of the township who assumed that because the budget passed every year, that it was safe, and they did not bother going to the polls. Those community members had been “lulled into a false sense of complacency.” They did not expect their neighbors would “put other priorities ahead of our schools,” she added.
Two brothers, Jesse and Jeff Yu, and students in the district, urged the council to maintain the quality of education in the district. Jesse Yu said his teachers have had a big impact on his life. Many hold graduate and doctoral degrees and could have taken their expertise elsewhere for more money. Yet, they chose to teach in WW-P, he said.
“That’s the smallest they receive for what they do,” he said. He also referred to the township’s 20 percent population growth over the past decade. “If it’s going up, it means there is something here that people want.”
Jeff Yu said the issue was more than just numbers. When voters turned the budget down, the “well-being of the students in the district was put in the back seat,” he said. “Let’s make sure we make it clear — in West Windsor, we value our students. In West Windsor, we put our education first.”
But resident Bob Murray said that, despite the small voter turnout, “the people who voted, voted, and like it or not, we defeated the budget.” Therefore, the only logical answer is for the council to cut it, he said.
Councilman Charles Morgan asked school officials a number of questions, specifically as they related to the surplus within the school’s budget, and whether there was any more that the district could squeeze to put back for tax relief.
While the general fund balance at the end of June, 2010, had just under $20 million, about $1 million makes up encumbrances — money the district has already spent, but because of billing and payment cycles, had not been paid. After that, there is about $8 million set aside to capital reserves — for capital expenses, maintenance, and emergencies.
The remaining $11 million is the surplus, of which the district is only allowed to retain $3 million. By law, a district can keep no more than 2 percent of its entire budget for surplus. The remaining $8 million is used already for tax relief, they explained. Almost $6 million was used in the current 2010-’11 budget, and $2 million more will be used to offset a portion of the tax levy in the upcoming year.
Morgan also asked whether the district could track what he called “free riders,” who move into West Windsor or Plainsboro for the schools, and then move out as soon as their students graduate. While the per pupil cost in WW-P is around $13,000, not all residents pay that much in school taxes, which means some of the other residents are paying for these families to send their children to school, he said.
“These folks are putting up our property taxes on our dime,” he said. “We have a legal problem addressing it.” However, he said, “it’s an opportunity for cutting our taxes” if officials can figure out a way to get them to pay their full share. He acknowledged that a study would need to be done, and officials might have to look to state officials or legislators to make a change. Still, he asked the board to look into what could be done.
Morgan said in his 12 years on council, this is the first time the budget was defeated. “That’s kind of a wake-up call,” he said, noting, though, that some people voted for candidates but did not bother to vote either way on the budget.
“I don’t feel equipped to study this budget at the level this board and administration did,” he said. Morgan noted that in the private sector, companies often have a board of directors that may require management to make cuts. “Our voters are our board,” he said. “Our board has directed we do something.”
He took the example of the guidance counselor. When he was in high school, the guidance counselor’s job was to help students decide where to apply to college. Now, with technology, that need may be nonexistent, as students can access that information on the Internet, he said. “Do we have a system that is based today on an old system?” Morgan asked.
Borek said the world had changed over the past three years, but values do not change. At the township level, the council did not touch the core services it provides. “We haven’t reduced our senior center because we feel that’s a value to our community,” he said.
“The pressures are tremendous right now, but do we sacrifice our children for the future?” he asked. “The school board has made some recommendations. We need to take those recommendations that they put forth.”
He said he was hopeful a newly proposed healthcare reform bill, which would require all public employees to begin paying for 30 percent of their healthcare, would help resolve some of the issues.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers echoed that sentiment, saying the bill “would be a major windfall” because it has the potential for saving the district millions of dollars. “I think we should look into areas for cuts outside of the classroom.”
“Are you comfortable that the recommendations and cuts will not affect the quality of education?” asked Councilwoman Diane Ciccone.
Kniewel said that everything has an impact. “Will we continue to grow and prosper no matter what? Yes,” she added.
She said that officials had a short time to try to find areas to cut before the meeting. “If all these things were tied up very nicely in a bow, that would have been done a long time ago,” she said. “We promise you we will work to mitigate any impact.”
Kniewel also said that the cuts might not look exactly as they did on the PowerPoint she presented during the meeting, as officials will need to tweak it in the future to make it work within the district.
“I’m OK with the budget as is, or with minor cuts,” said Council President Kamal Khanna. “Having said that, everything can be done better.”
He said economic conditions are not getting any better, and new goals will have to be set as officials move forward. But “I think the number one goal has to be to produce world-class students; everything else is number two to me.”
Plainsboro officials asked similar questions about the surplus, the process, and the impact the cuts would have.
Committeeman Ed Yates asked whether it made sense to put off technology purchases until the following year. Larry Shanok, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance, said that the schools have “been giving fair attention to technology” and that this would be a cut they could sustain.
Weale, a West Windsor resident, took his comments to Plainsboro, saying the board could find savings by not hiring a new person to replace assistant superintendent Russell Lazovick, who announced his resignation this month (see story at right). He also said he has had trouble getting financial statistics from school officials throughout the budget process.
He also said he did not agree with the $503,000 in cuts that West Windsor adopted on May 9. He said sarcastically that the board could have suggested it cut funding for “one box of paper clips and three bags of potato chips,” and the West Windsor council would have given “lip service” and said the board did its “due diligence.”
“Why doesn’t Plainsboro go along with it?” Weale asked. “Your constituents don’t have any problems with it.” He implied that West Windsor officials kept this in mind when they voted for the $503,000 in cuts, knowing it would head to Plainsboro, where residents voted for the budget.
Plainsboro resident Quentin Walsh, who opposed the budget publicly, reiterated what he has been saying throughout the process — that the district understands that since the cap only applies to the general fund and taxpayers have previously approved the district debt, they can not revoke those commitments in future years. While the general fund stays under cap, the debt service tax has steadily risen, further burdening taxpayers, he said.
Walsh suggested that exactly $4,651,583 should be cut from the budget — the amount set aside in the district’s enterprise fund for Community Education. He said this money is “unrestricted surplus” that has accrued over the years. “I feel this is money that has been earned by the taxpayers.”
Walsh, the husband of school board member Ellen Walsh, said he understood it was a one-time deal, but it would help taxpayers this year without affecting the Community Education program.
However, Shanok said the enterprise fund is self-sustaining and had been built up over time by users of the program. The money is set aside for emergencies and is supported only by fees.
Other Plainsboro residents who spoke at the meeting supported the budget. Parker Road resident Thea Burke said she was “very saddened and appalled by the lack of turnout” to the polls. She said she was concerned that, while she is also an instructional aide in the district and could be affected by the cuts, the cuts would hurt her children.
She said she wanted to remind Plainsboro officials that “Plainsboro did, in fact, pass the budget and any cuts” and that any cuts to education should be “minimal.”
Kim Evans, whose son is a student-athlete at South and who serves as president of the basketball booster club and is on the curriculum committee of the African American Parent Support Group, encouraged the district to find a replacement for Lazovick, who she said has made a difference in the two years he has been with WW-P. She also asked about the money set aside for the Princeton International Academy Charter School in the event it did not open. “Could we replace some of the things taken out of the budget?”
Township Attorney Michael Herbert said that, by law, the money could not be used to replenish what had been cut by the governing bodies. It would go to tax relief in subsequent years.
For the most part, the Committee was supportive of the district. Committeeman Neil Lewis said he felt the board was being “responsible to go back and see where you can still make cuts.”
Yates said he believed the process was flawed because township officials only get two weeks to review the budget. He said he had five children go through the district and have gone on to do well. “I would like to see that level of excellence continue,” he said.
Lewis said he moved to the community years ago because of its quality school system, and despite its large growth, the quality has not been damaged. He called the voter turnout “disgraceful.” He added: “I am prone to support the recommendations raised by the educational professionals.”
Committeeman Nuran Nabi said he also believed in quality education. “We have to make a balance.”
Mayor Peter Cantu thanked the district but said the budget was voted down, and school officials needed to respect that. “It is incumbent on this school district in the future to ensure they work as diligently as possible to minimize the impact on taxpayers.” He told them to “maximize opportunities” to save money in upcoming negotiations with its employees (all contracts expire next year) with regard to healthcare and pensions.
Board Reorganizes. Following the April 27 election, the WW-P school board welcomed two new members, Dana Krug and Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz, who took their oaths of office on May 10.
Richard Kaye was sworn in for his third term on the board. Current board members also said goodbye to Alapakkam Manikandan, who was not re-elected. Hemant Marathe retained his post as board president, while Robert Johnson was selected as the vice president.
