8 towns fail
to agree on
budget cuts
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer

Municipal officials in the eight towns that make up the Freehold Regional High School District (FRHSD) have failed to reach a consensus on how much to cut the high school district’s defeated $126 million 2002-03 school year budget.

The tax levy to support the budget was pegged at $81.58 million, divided as follows: Colts Neck, $8.12 million; Englishtown, $458,609; Farmingdale, $343,686; Freehold Borough, $2.98 million; Freehold Township, $15.86 million; Howell, $16.97 million; Manalapan, $16.5 million; and Marlboro, $20.35 million.

The FRHSD budget will now be forwarded to the Monmouth County Superintendent of Schools for review. The county superintendent is the local representative of the state Department of Education.

Within the past week the governing bodies in Colts Neck, Englishtown, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township and Manalapan each passed a resolution calling for the FRHSD Board of Education to cut $1.54 million from the spending plan voters rejected on April 16.

The Howell Township Council was expected to concur with that cut on Monday.

The deadline for municipal governing bodies to act on the district’s defeated budget was Monday.

Farmingdale Acting Mayor John Palmer said the Borough Council voted to cut the FRHSD budget by $2.8 million. He said officials later came to understand that some information that had been provided was "flawed," and said the council would reconsider the matter on May 21.

On May 16, the Marlboro Township Council passed a resolution calling for a $2.64 million cut in the FRHSD budget. Councilman Barry Denkensohn said, "It makes sense for the town with the highest proposed tax increase to make a higher cut."

In voting to cut the FRHSD budget by $1.5 million, Manalapan Mayor Rebecca Aaronson said, "The biggest challenge with the high school budget was getting eight towns in the same room at the same time. To my knowledge that never happened. I think at most, they had five towns at the same time."

Aaronson said a meeting had occurred the previous week which included representatives from Freehold Township, Marlboro, Howell and Manalapan, as well as FRHSD Superintendent of Schools James Wasser and Business Administrator Dr. Joan Nesenkar Saylor.

"They agreed with the cuts we came up with," Aaronson said. "They added up to $1.5 million. The expressed concern was not cutting programs and not impacting the education of the kids."

Aaronson said she didn’t want to see proposed new guidance counselors lost because that would increase the ratio of students per counselor and that ratio is already too high. The mayor noted that only three of the needed six guidance counselors may be hired, a savings of $150,000, but an increased case load for each counselor.

Aaronson also said that salaries for new teachers would be set at $42,000, instead of the planned $45,000.

"They could really not live with less than $42,000 for new teachers," said the mayor. "That was strictly the salaries without benefits."

Manalapan Committeewoman Beth Ward said she could not believe the amount of excellent work being performed by one particular guidance counselor.

"She is wonderful and I don’t know how she’s doing the job she’s doing," Ward said. "I have a problem (cutting proposed guidance counselors) because that’s something that’s really needed."

Englishtown Mayor Thomas Reynolds said Wasser had informed him that guidance counselors are filling out college financial forms.

"Maybe they could eliminate some of the time-consuming tasks," Reynolds said. "If they did one perfect one, then the families could make duplicates."

He said there would be more time for the students and noted that the financial aid form is the same for every college. Reynolds said the guidance counselors are doing more work than they should be doing.

According to Reynolds, Wasser was checking to see how many financial aid reports were being generated.

Aaronson said she had a problem with having guidance counselors handle 300 students each.

"The standard is 200," she noted.

An addendum was added to the Manalapan Township Committee’s resolution asking FRHSD administrators to find a way to hire six new guidance counselors instead of three new counselors.

According to a resolution prepared by the Township Committee in Freehold Township, the $1.54 million in FRHSD budget reductions will be made in the following areas:

• Engine Analyzer for auto shop, $25,000. The district will be receiving vocational education funds and will purchase this equipment with the grant money.

• Special education teacher, $150,000. The district will be receiving federal funds and will pay these salaries with the grant money.

• Assistant principals, $200,300.

• Nurses, $90,000.

• Secretaries, $71,850.

• Subject supervisors, $130,000.

• Health benefits, $104,676.

• Retirement breakage estimates, $390,000 (replacing staff members who are retiring with new staff at lower salaries).

• New guidance counselors, $150,000 (hiring of three new counselors instead of six). Existing staff of 42 guidance counselors will absorb estimated enrollment increase of 530 students.

• New custodians, $46,000.

• New employee, $33,000.

• Health benefits, $48,000.

• Telephone expenses, $100,000.

"My main feeling is indignation that the state has not maintained the level of support so that the homeowners and taxpayers in the suburbs are picking up the extra burden," said Freehold Township Mayor Gene Golub. "We met with the school board and staff and agreed on the $1.5 million reduction which the Township Committee approved."

The six schools in the district currently enroll about 9,700 students. Enrollment is expected to exceed 10,000 students in the next school year.

The tax increases proposed in the eight communities were:

• In Colts Neck, from 46.4 cents to 63.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation (increase of 17.2 cents).

• In Englishtown, from 36.7 cents to 48 cents per $100 (increase of 11.3 cents).

• In Farmingdale, from 44.6 cents to 52 cents per $100 (increase of 7.4 cents).

• In Freehold Borough, from 52.2 cents to 61.7 cents per $100 (increase of 9.5 cents).

• In Freehold Township, from 44.3 cents to 57.4 cents per $100 (increase of 13.1 cents).

• In Howell, from 49.3 cents to 62.8 cents per $100 (increase of 13.5 cents).

• In Manalapan, the FRHSD tax rate will rise from 59.6 cents to 72.4 cents per $100 (increase of 12.8 cents).

• In Marlboro, the FRHSD tax rate will rise from 58.3 cents to 73.6 cents per $100 (increase of 15.3 cents).