Proposed School Budget Cuts "Extremely Painful"

A drastic reduction in the number of instructional aides. A 10 percent cut in activity and athletic stipends at the high school. Courtesy busing only for those 1.5 miles or farther from school.

At Monday night's school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Frank Alvarez outlined a dozen reductions in the proposed 2011-2012 budget—painting a picture of what would be a changed school district.

And the proposal assumed Montclair would receive the same level of state aid as it did last year—or $3,974,764—which is far from guaranteed.

"This is extremely painful," said School Board President Shelly Lombard. "This is unpleasant. But we have to push through."

Here are the 12 proposed changes/reductions and the estimated cost savings:

1) Instructional aides; the district would retain only kindergarten and special education aides, and even those would be outsourced—$1.7 million

2) Changes in courtesy busing from 1 mile to 1.5 miles, staying within the state guideline of 2 miles—$400,000

3) Out-of-district transportation—$200,000

4) Central Office—$280,000

5) Supplies across the district—$120,000

6) Athletic/student activity stipends at the high school—$100,000

7) Curriculum specialists—$399,000

8) Middle school security and guidance—$256,000

9) High school security and support—$110,000

10) Overtime—$35,000

11) Cost recovery from MFEE, MFA, and the Adult School—$116,000

12) Savings from the retirement this year of 20 teachers—$800,000

In addition, high school students would be asked to pay a "pay-to-participate" fee regardless of what activities or sports they're involved in, a proposal that could generate $200,000 in revenue.

In all, cuts would total about $4,516,000 and would result in a 1.4 percent reduction in the tax rate. However, if Montclair receives no state aid, there would be a 2.1 percent increase in the tax rate. Indeed, another $2 million would have to be cut from the budget in order to arrive at a 0 percent tax increase.

For the most part, board members said they were uncomfortable with the direction the district was headed, particularly with cuts impacting the high school.

"I am really not comfortable taking security away from the high school," said Board member Robin Kulwin.

But the picture could grow a lot more bleak.

Lombard asked Alvarez to come back to the board with a budget reflecting no state aid at a public meeting scheduled on Feb. 15.

The school board has to approve a tentative budget at its Feb. 28 meeting so that a final budget can be adopted and forwarded to the Montclair Board of School Estimate by March 14.

Unfortunately, the district won't find out whether it will receive any state aid until within 48 hours after Gov. Chris Christie presents his budget address on Feb. 22.

"If we get state aid, taxes will be down 1.4 percent ... if we don't they'll go up by 2.1 percent," Lombard said. "Another $2 million would have to be cut if no state aid is received to get to a 0 percent tax increase."

She and others pointed out that—if forced to make another $2 million in cuts—the school system would be seriously impacted.

Alvarez even noted that the idea of closing schools would be back on the table.

At previous school board meetings, a wide variety of cost-cutting measures were discussed, including the closing of schools.

"We can't cut another $2 million from the budget without seriously hurting the core program," Lombard said. "Certainly if you do away with the courtesy busing you destroy the magnet system."

The district's business administrator, Dana Sullivan, said the proposed budget already is down by 3.5 percent when compared with the 2010/2011 budget.

The 2011/2012 budget is $109,049,941 compared with $113,035,705 in 2010/2011.

She also noted that the state—at current aid levels—is funding only 4.3 percent of the budget compared with 25 percent in 1981.

"We're virtually not supported at all by the state anymore," she said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, many people spoke in favor of keeping the aides.

Indeed, a special "crisis meeting" for teachers and aides has been scheduled on Feb. 28 at the Montclair High School.