WOODBINE – Woodbine Board of Education held a budget hearing April 26 at the elementary school.
Focus was on the school’s 2016-17 budget of $5.8 million. The average taxpayer will pay about $100 more annually to fund the school.
According to the district website, loss of $768,801 in ratables, increased tuition of $498,844, and “stagnant state aid” over the last two years of $2,920 were factors cited for the levy hike. Also noted was that the district is “ranked in the bottom half in spending, and the lowest in Cape May County.”
The current tax levy is $1.6 million with a tax rate of $0.9044 per $100 of assessed value. The new estimated tax rate will be $0.9912 per $100 of assessed value.
School Business Administrator Darren Harris outlined shared services that have been put into place to improve the budget situation.
“We share transportation services with Dennis Township and have saved $40,000 by doing that. We also are sharing purchasing services and our music teacher with Dennis as well as the cafeteria manager while having outsourced the cafeteria service, itself,” he explained.
“We’ve reached a 1:1 ratio for electronic devices for all students in grades 3-8 and hope to bring that same 1:1 ratio to grades 1 and 2 in the next fiscal years. We’re looking closely at how and where to offer intervention support for math and language arts especially when we look at PARCC standards (“Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers,” the state-mandated education testing series).
“And we’re trying hard to fund supplemental materials for social studies which is often neglected but that can enrich science and language arts programs,” he continued.
Harris moved into specifics of costs maintenance by noting “We are in a very dire fiscal situation. We have started as we do each year with a zero-based budget process that we began in November. We don’t just use last year’s numbers but look at everything as zero including salaries and health benefits.
“We have decided upon a tax rate levy increase of 8.2 cents with a debt rate increase of .2 cents which totals an 8.4 cent increase. On a quarterly payment basis, which is how property owners pay taxes, this works out to $25.66 per quarterly payment on a home at the average Cape May County assessed value of $121,600.”
The board unanimously approved a motion to introduce those increases.
Personnel
Next the board considered personnel decisions:
- Staff rehires of tenured certificated staff.
- Staff rehires of non-certificated staff.
- Staff rehires of non-union administration and support staff.
- Abolition of certain full-time and part-time elementary aides.
- Non-renewal of elementary full time and part time aides.
Seven individuals who would be affected under that last item attended and each spoke emotionally and often through tears as to why the board should not approve the recommendation.
“You cannot understand how important our jobs are to the children. Many of them come from difficult home situations and we have provided continuity for them from pre-K and as they got older. These children will fall through the cracks if you outsource our jobs as has been planned. New aides will not know our children, will not be committed to them or the community the way we are; you need to speak to communities where outsourcing has been tried and you will hear that our school will lose so much by this action,” said one aide after trying to compose herself for several minutes.
“The effects of privatization on our school will decrease the pride our children have in Woodbine Elementary and destroy the personal and loving relationship we have with our students. We buy them all kinds of things, clothes, books, cleaning supplies, things for the classroom because their families simply don’t have the means to provide for them,” said another current school aide.
“We are between a rock and a hard place, and no one in Trenton cares. This is a statewide problem and there is no money to meet state mandates. Wildwood, for example, has a deficit of $4.3 million for their schools. You have said come walk in our shoes so we can see the difference you make, but I say please understand the huge problem we are facing on the board. We all care just as much as you do about the children but we have no choice but to make cuts; without these cuts in a year or two we won’t even have a school here in Woodbine,” said board President Melissa Rodriguez.
Summing up Rodriguez said, “The school aides who will be terminated will be offered new jobs with the outsourcing company. We expect the rate to be about $100 per day and we don’t know about health benefits yet. We can’t negotiate directly with the aides since they are covered by the teachers’ union and contract which is under ratification at the moment. In any event, we need to take action because if not, May 15 the state will make automatic cutbacks.”
The board then voted, passing the first four items.
Several board members abstained from voting on non-renewal of aides. Thus it failed, and the state monitor said he would render a decision on its outcome within a week.
Visit the school’s website to view the User Friendly budget and slide presentation.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
