CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget
Post new topic   Reply to topic    [http://cranbury.info] -> News | Events
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Guest 2
Guest





PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 4:55 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
What if we don't replace Mr. Haney? Wouldn't we save about $200k in salary and benefits?


I asked a school board member that and was told that there is some State requirement that dictates his position, something about requiring two administrators or something. I am only pasisng on what I heard and have no specific knowledge of the requirement.
.


According to APP web site, we have a Chief School Administrator, School Business Administrator, Assistant Principal and a Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services- 4 positions making $460k in salary and probably costing about $625k with benefits. If we could go down by one position, we could save about $150k.


Other personnel questions...
Do we need a full time school psychologist and a school counselor and a school social worker?

Do we need 2 school nurses?

Can the library pay for the school librarian?

What is a "Resource Program In-Class"?


Child Study Team is mandated by State law -- we must have a school psychologist, social worker and school counselor. These professionals evaluate children's needs. This includes ALL town residents (think of preschoolers & older children who are developmentally delayed or handicapped -- speech, autism, etc, etc.) These children receive services as deemed appropriate by the Child Study Team. Some children are educated in district with appropriate modifications to program (that may be In Class support -- or a separate resource room - or they may need to be placed out of district in a specialized setting to address their needs -- for example - we don't have an autism program here in Cranbury). The theory is (and I'm sure you would agree) that children should be evaluated by professionals in the various fields. Outsourcing this would be FAR more costly.

Several years ago, the district added a pre-school program for children to help address developmental delays in district so that we could A - keep children close to home and B - save money.

Yes special ed costs are rising -- two reasons -- 1- state and federal law, 2 - greater knowledge and understanding of learning disabilities and the ways we can help students achieve at higher levels and hence be more productive and independent adults.

As far as two nurses -- that is not unusual given our student population -- there must always be a nurse in the building (some students have medication and monitoring needs) -- so two is not unusual.

As for the librarian --- let me as you -- would you pay for your neighbors lawn to be cut? The town library has a separate budget and mission. They are not educators.
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 7:01 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

The counter point on the Library comment above is that the State already mandates a certain level of funding for the Library that is in excess of its operating costs. So they have a surplus. And since every taxpayer is already paying for the school budget anything that would reduce the costs and thus the tax asessment would help taxpayers regardless of whether they have kids in the school. If there is a way to legally use Library surplus to offset school costs that helps everyone.

So the lawn argument isn't really applicable. The more accurate analogy is you already are helping pay for someone to mow your neighbors lawn and it turns out you are over-paying to mow your own lawn, so if you can use that over-payment to reduce the cost of mowing your neighbor's lawn you have reduced your own expense.
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 7:04 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Again and again in these comments you read "state requires." If we really want meaningful tax reductions the state needs to roll-up its sleeves instead of suggesting its all the work of the local townships.
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 7:39 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
What if we don't replace Mr. Haney? Wouldn't we save about $200k in salary and benefits?


According to APP web site, we have a Chief School Administrator, School Business Administrator, Assistant Principal and a Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services- 4 positions making $460k in salary and probably costing about $625k with benefits. If we could go down by one position, we could save about $150k..


So before we hire a replacement for Mr. Haney, is there any reason we MUST re-hire, or can we go down a position an save $150k-$200k?
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 8:32 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
What if we don't replace Mr. Haney? Wouldn't we save about $200k in salary and benefits?


According to APP web site, we have a Chief School Administrator, School Business Administrator, Assistant Principal and a Supervisor of Pupil Personnel Services- 4 positions making $460k in salary and probably costing about $625k with benefits. If we could go down by one position, we could save about $150k..


So before we hire a replacement for Mr. Haney, is there any reason we MUST re-hire, or can we go down a position an save $150k-$200k?


Good question. The twp. just did this to save us money, perhaps the school could do the same. As no new building is going on our town should see a decrease in population as kids age out and parents remain. Not every house turns over when the kids leave the school system.
Back to top
Guest 15



Joined: Mon, Nov 22 2010, 8:14 am EST
Posts: 4

PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 8:35 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

In the budget, the child study team is $375,000 and guidance an additional $80,000. Is this just the salaries for the school psychologist, social worker and school counselor? Even if these positions are mandated by the state, I find it hard to believe that we can not find qualified people for less money.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Guest






PostPosted: Tue, Nov 23 2010, 10:16 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest 15 wrote:
In the budget, the child study team is $375,000 and guidance an additional $80,000. Is this just the salaries for the school psychologist, social worker and school counselor? Even if these positions are mandated by the state, I find it hard to believe that we can not find qualified people for less money.


ever hear of tenure?
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 12:10 am EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Can we sell something to raise money?
What does the town own that they don't need anymore?
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 8:54 am EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
How many students live in the affordable housing in town?


20 kids? 16 17k a kid = 340k
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 11:32 am EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

[/quote]The counter point on the Library comment above is that the State already mandates a certain level of funding for the Library that is in excess of its operating costs. So they have a surplus. And since every taxpayer is already paying for the school budget anything that would reduce the costs and thus the tax asessment would help taxpayers regardless of whether they have kids in the school. If there is a way to legally use Library surplus to offset school costs that helps everyone.
Quote:


The public library appropriate is down, and their budget has to be cut , too. There is no "extra" money there. The mandated minimum level for public libraries amount is about 1% of tax dollars, and fluctuates with the economy.
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 2:00 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:

The counter point on the Library comment above is that the State already mandates a certain level of funding for the Library that is in excess of its operating costs. So they have a surplus. And since every taxpayer is already paying for the school budget anything that would reduce the costs and thus the tax asessment would help taxpayers regardless of whether they have kids in the school. If there is a way to legally use Library surplus to offset school costs that helps everyone.


The public library appropriate is down, and their budget has to be cut , too. There is no "extra" money there. The mandated minimum level for public libraries amount is about 1% of tax dollars, and fluctuates with the economy.


Down to last year, but isn't the library budget still up roughly 50% vs. before the 2006 re-assessment?
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 2:26 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:

The counter point on the Library comment above is that the State already mandates a certain level of funding for the Library that is in excess of its operating costs. So they have a surplus. And since every taxpayer is already paying for the school budget anything that would reduce the costs and thus the tax asessment would help taxpayers regardless of whether they have kids in the school. If there is a way to legally use Library surplus to offset school costs that helps everyone.


The public library appropriate is down, and their budget has to be cut , too. There is no "extra" money there. The mandated minimum level for public libraries amount is about 1% of tax dollars, and fluctuates with the economy.


Down to last year, but isn't the library budget still up roughly 50% vs. before the 2006 re-assessment?


Yes that is correct.
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 2:28 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Is a child study team a resource we can share with another small district, or perhaps a service we can contract with princeton for less money?
Back to top
Guest 2
Guest





PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 3:24 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Is a child study team a resource we can share with another small district, or perhaps a service we can contract with princeton for less money?


I think you would be surprised at how busy the child study team is. These professionals work with a large group of children (approx. 100). That 100 only includes the students that are deemed to require services. No doubt many more are evaluated and found NOT to require services. The amount of paperwork per student is MASSIVE. Annual reviews of plans -- periodic reviews --- all reviews requiring input from teachers/specialists/parents and that material must be analyzed and documented. No small task.

I'm not saying it's not worth investigating . . . but I'm doubtful.
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 4:50 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

You are right. I did not realize 20% of our kids require the on-going services of the child study team. I don't know what a typical student:study team ratio should be. If our set up is typical, we're probably staffed reasonably. If districts twice our size are using the same resources, there is probably an opportunity for shared services.

The other question I have is, is "Resource Program In-class" a job classification for "teacher"? If so, it looks like we have about 7 teachers per grade. Is this typical?
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Wed, Nov 24 2010, 4:55 pm EST    Post subject: Re: CRANBURY: School Board to ask public for help on budget Reply with quote

Guest wrote:
Guest wrote:
How many students live in the affordable housing in town?


20 kids? 16 17k a kid = 340k


Doesn't the state give us money to offset this cost?
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    [http://cranbury.info] -> News | Events All times are GMT - 4 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 3 of 4