While the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District’s $155.9 million budget passed its biggest hurdle — getting voter approval — officials are now faced with hammering out the details to compensate for a significant loss in state aid.
They will have to decide the final reconfigurations and cuts to staff and programs to keep the budget within the spending limits imposed by voters, who narrowly approved the budget, 2,862-2,667 — a difference of only 195 votes — in the April 20 school election.
The flat measure reflected a $7.56 million loss in state aid this year that had officials struggling over the last month to make cuts. To cover that gap, the district has estimated it will need to eliminate some 50 teachers.
“Now the hard work begins,” said Board President Hemant Marathe, who was re-elected to one of two West Windsor seats on the board. Incumbents Robert Johnson and Ellen Walsh also retained their seats for West Windsor and Plainsboro, respectively.
“We have put a number on the paper,” said Marathe. “By state law, we can’t exceed that number. We have to figure out exactly which programs we will cut.”
West Windsor voters approved the budget, 1,947-1,807. In Plainsboro, where taxpayers will be hit the hardest, the budget passed by a narrow 55 votes, 915-860, district officials announced.
Plainsboro incumbent Ellen Walsh got the vote of confidence from her constituents, who chose her over challenger, Harshad Tanna, by an overwhelming count of 997-529, school officials reported.
In West Windsor, incumbents Hemant Marathe and Robert Johnson also won the approval of voters who selected them with votes of 1,696 and 2,103, respectively. Challengers Scott Powell received 1,545; Rakesh Kak received 493; and Vijay Kanchi received 484 votes.
Prior to the election, Superintendent Victoria Kniewel described a “scalpel approach” to whittle down the underutilized courses and co-curricular programs, as called for in the budget — a task that will now take center stage.
Specifics regarding the individual teachers who will be cut, and where other teachers will be moved, are still answers the community is awaiting. The district is still making those determinations, said Marathe, who said he expected the reconfigurations to continue into June and beyond. Officials have maintained that the reductions and consolidations of classes will be spread throughout the district.
Kniewel alluded to the ongoing reconfigurations at the April 27 board meeting, when she compared the process to navigating “white water rapids.”
A large number of retirements and resignations — expected to be a key factor in the district’s reconfigurations — has already been approved over the past two meetings on April 20 and 27.
Included in that list are longtime district employees, including 18 instructional employees, most of whom have more than 20 years of experience — and some with over 30 years — in the district.
They include Linda D’Orlando, a guidance counselor with 20 years in the district; Lynn Fisher, a guidance counselor with 28 years; Anne Geremia, a second grade teacher with 7 years; Ann Marie Gominiak, a nurse with 26 years; Gina Hopkins, a teacher of reading recovery, with 33 years; Irene Jones, a social studies teacher with 25 years; Maryann O’Mahony, a guidance counselor with 12 years; Barbara Prezlock, a math teacher with 22 years; Elizabeth Riley, a fifth grade teacher with 23 years; Susan Rovner, a health and physical education teacher with 21 years; Thomas Stuart, a social studies teacher with 31 years; Cynthia Tantum, an IRLA teacher with 24 years; Joyce Turner, a first grade teacher with 23 years; Helen Tyson, a social studies teacher with 20 years; Donna Wyllie, a media specialist with 37 years; Alice Eckel, a special education teacher with 23 years; and Ann Mika, a language arts teacher with 23 years.
Also included in the list of retirements are five administrators, including Mary Ann Fornal, assistant principal at Town Center; Nancy Icenhower, the district’s director of guidance for K-12; Mary Ann Isaacs, principal at Millstone River; Stephanie Leroux, assistant principal at Community Middle; and Miriam Robin, the supervisor of science of grades 4 through 8.
Marathe pointed to two more administrators — Dutch Neck Principal Jeanine Heil and Sam Hendrickson, assistant principal at Village — who have accepted jobs in other districts.
“There have been a lot of retirements,” said Marathe. “Once we know everyone who is staying and who is retiring, then the administration has to determine” how that will impact the cuts.
“There are at least seven in the administration ranks who have retired or taken jobs elsewhere,” Marathe added. The budget calls for only five administrative positions to be cut. Marathe said he did not know whether the seven resignations will increase that number to seven, or whether those positions will be filled.
“We continue to work on those details until probably at least June, if not beyond,” Marathe said.
The resignation list also included the resignations of maintenance and custodial workers, most of whom submitted their resignations in March. Those workers included William Davis; Joseph Magga; Raymond Sharpley; Solomon Tucubal; and Warren Mernone, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of privatization at meetings over the past few months. He is also a member of the WW-P Service Association’s negotiation team. Wayne Bayous and James Graham were also included in the list, but submitted their resignations in 2009.
The list also included Deborah Schwartz, a secretary at High School North; Kathleen Herbert, a secretary in Buildings and Grounds; and Patricia Fritts, a bus driver who is the first vice president of the WW-P Service Association. Six other secretaries, an instructional assistant, and one other bus driver were also on the list.
Prior to the school elections, the school board re-negotiated contracts with the teachers, which included a three-month salary freeze and other concessions, saving the district more than $1 million.
The negotiations were still unable to offset the state aid reduction, meaning taxes will be going up next year. Under the approved budget, Plainsboro’s rate will increase by some 10 cents to $1.549, while West Windsor’s will increase by 4 cents to $1.34 per $100 of assessed value this year.
Under those numbers, the owner of a Plainsboro home assessed at the township average of $395,000 will pay an average of $6,119 in school taxes, an increase of about $400 over last year.
In West Windsor, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $534,787 would pay a tax bill of approximately $7,171, based on a tax rate of $1.34 per $100 of assessed value. Both the school’s numbers and the township’s numbers reflect that figure.
But the school district and the township have different methods of determining the tax impact.
The township’s methodology calculates an increase $198 over last year’s bill. But school officials say that looking at the numbers in that way is incorrect. Using last year’s assessment of around $549,000 and applying it to the formula would show an increase of only $8.
“We are really glad and thankful that the budget passed,” said Marathe. “I want to thank the people of both communities. It’s not an easy year to pass the budget.” Marathe pointed to the 50 percent of budgets that failed in Mercer County on April 20.
Despite the tight vote on the budget, the incumbents won re-election by a larger margin. “This certainly shows a vote of confidence in all three of us,” Marathe said. “It’s very important to have stability on the board because of the difficult situation we are in.”
Marathe said he believed the diversity of reasons residents gave for voting on the budget played a large factor. “There is no single conclusion to draw from this,” Marathe said. “Some people voted against the budget because [Governor Chris] Christie said so,” said Marathe. “Some people called me and told me they were voting against it because they were voting against the charter school.”
The vote against the charter school is one example of misguided anger at school districts around the state, Marathe said. Boards do not have control over charter schools, which are regulated by the state, and voters often think they can send a message to the state by voting against the budget, he said.
“One of the things I found is that people have a lot of perceptions that are very difficult to change,” he said.
Still, when it comes to property tax increases, “every year the same group of people asks the same question, and they get the same answer,” he added. “The basic problem is how education is funded in New Jersey. Voting ‘no’ on the budget is not a way of answering that question.”
Unless legislators makes changes to the way public schools are funded, this ritual will continue every year, Marathe predicts.
