>Tax Levy Up, But Spending is Relatively Flat
As one Board of Education member, I would strongly urge the public to vote YES on the school budget this Wednesday, April 27. I completely understand the economic times we have and continue to face. As one who has been in transition for 10 months and just landed a new employment opportunity, I know those realities firsthand. The presented budget is within the state-mandated cap and will raise the school taxes by 2%. If not for the Governor’s partial restoration of state aid for the 2011-2012 school year, we would have faced even more cuts.
If you have seen or read through Dr. Fishbein’s budget presentation, you’ll know that the BOE is asking for $81,323,178 in tax levy for our next school year. That amount reflects a 2% increase over last year’s request, but half the increase requested last year. Please refer to the very basic chart below:
School Year Total District Spend Tax Levy
2009-2010 $86,094,691 $76,758,275
2010-2011 $84,836,380 $79,728,606
2011-2012(Wed’s vote) $86,775,809 $81,323,178
Incr — 09/10 to 11/12 .79% 6%
I believe it is very important to point out that our district’s total spend has only increased by less than 1% from two years ago. I acknowledge that our tax levy has increased by the allowable cap – 4% last year and 2% this year. If we were to keep taxes flat in that same period, we would be forced to cut an additional $4.7 million on top of the nearly $3.0 million in cuts required by the state aid cuts we incurred last year. That is not a tradeoff the BOE wanted to make given the standards we aspire to in the Ridgewood schools.
In short, our total spend for public education in Ridgewood is only slightly higher than it was 2 years ago. At the presentations by Dr. Fishbein that I have attended, several citizens asked to see our budget numbers presented differently. To that point I would like to make two comments. First, public education and its finances, rightly or wrongly, are dictated by the state — public education in NJ is a highly regulated industry. Secondly, all the available comparable data shows that Ridgewood’s per pupil spend is one of the lowest and below the state average while our test results are consistently in the state’s top 5, both given our district’s size. As one board member, I believe Ridgewood has an outstanding value equation.
Lastly, the presented budget contains two major assumptions, both of which are on the bargaining table with our largest collective bargaining unit, our teachers. That is where they properly belong. One of those assumptions is a zero percent increase in teacher salaries. We cannot assume anything less by law. We must also bargain with teachers to manage the cost of health care for this year and into the future. To make the current budget a total reality, major work is still to be done on these two issues.
As a member of the BOE’s negotiating committee, I implore you to vote YES on the budget to allow us to focus our energies on the bargaining table.
Thank you.
Bob Hutton
Vice President, Ridgewood Board of Education
