Despite coping with two unforeseen circumstances in the past year — Hurricane Sandy’s damage and the need to rethink school safety — the WW-P School District has again prepared a budget that falls within the state-mandated 2 percent cap and also holds the total tax levy increase to zero.
Larry Shanok, assistant superintendent for finance, presented the preliminary 2013-’14 budget at the February 26 board meeting. Shanok explained that the spending in most of the categories remains similar to last year’s budget, with the notable exception of the Operations and Maintenance budget, which will include an additional $500,000 to be spent on school safety and insurance increases as a result of Hurricane Sandy. By contrast, the largest budget category, “regular instruction,” decreased from last year.
However, Shanok said, “this does not mean we are spending less on educational programs. This decrease reflects the fact that we no longer need to allocate money in our budget for the proposed charter school, which is now effectively dead.”
Shanok explained that the “total tax levy increase will remain at zero. We worked very hard to present a budget that both ensures a high level of education as well as fiscal restraint, so that there would be no increase in the total tax levy.” State aid figures released February 28 showed a $0 change for the WW-P district for 2013-’14.
The total budget represents a change of less than 1 percent over last year’s budget of $161,033,044. The total preliminary 2013-’14 budget amount, which includes the total general fund, the total special revenue fund, and the total debt service fund, equals $162,447,168.
The board was scheduled to vote on the preliminary budget at its February 26 meeting but could not until state aid figures were announced. “We can’t officially approve the preliminary budget until the next board meeting on March 5,” Shanok explained. “The rest of the schedule will remain the same. March 12 will be the review of the proposed budget, and March 27 will be the public hearing.”
Board President Hemant Marathe added, “I know people have asked why the public meeting was scheduled during spring break. That is not our doing — the schedule is set by the state and we have to follow it. We have no choice.”
As part of the budget process, the district took into account projected enrollment for 2013-’14 and class size. Enrollment and staff size are projected to remain relatively flat, so the district may realign some staff to ensure the academic integrity of certain classes. The budget anticipates 18-22 students per class in kindergarten; 22-25 students in grades 1-5; and 24-26 students in grades 6-12.
The remainder of the budget presentation was devoted to the new safety procedures that will be implemented. The preliminary budget includes capital expenditures of $500,000 for safety improvements. Deputy Superintendent David Aderhold said that “some of these improvements will be immediate. Our top immediate priorities are visitor controls, facility improvements, training and intervention, and staffing. We are going to implement measured security procedures.”
Examples of immediate security steps include practicing drills during non-traditional times, such as lunchtimes; and continuing to work with West Windsor and Plainsboro police on drills and other safety measures;
Establishing a security-minded culture by increasing education of security measures for parents, students, visitors, substitute teachers, and staff; and establishing a PTA security advisory committee;
Reviewing the building use policy to determine the extent to which outside organizations can use the schools;
Improving signage on front doors; expanding front-door communications and buzzer systems; and updating visitor entrance procedures;
Updating the Extended Day Program security protocols;
Purchasing additional walkie-talkies, megaphones, and whistles for quick communication;
Buying secured key boxes and lockdown magnets for doors so that they can be both locked and opened from the inside;
Upgrading PA systems; realigning cameras for better viewing of people entering buildings; and considering additional camera installations inside schools;
Considering additional interior barriers during nighttime building use; and investigating pull gates and alarm systems;
Purchasing front door bollards such as benches or planters.
Some of these items will be implemented during the remainder of this school year; others will be included in next year’s budget. The projected cost of the access door control system upgrades and additional camera installations are $120,000 and $45,000 to $60,000, respectively. Costs for some of the other significant capital safety improvements, such as bollards, intercom systems, and pull gates, are still to be determined.
In addition, Aderhold explained that “two schools will be selected for a pilot Eyes on the Door Project to run from April to June so that the district can review current procedures and develop changes to help make the school entrances more secure. We will also increase random police presence, continue to enhance staff training, and potentially develop a second alarm system to be used during lockdowns and emergencies. However, we don’t want the alarms to be WW-P-specific; we want them to be uniform with other districts, so we will be working with the Department of Education on this.”
Another agenda item was the proposed building expansion of Village Elementary School at 601 New Village Road. Board member Anthony Fleres said that the Finance Committee had recommended “to expand and reconfigure Village School to house the new central office, as well as build more conference and multi-purpose space.”
