2011 Board of Education Election Guide

After two months of campaigning and numerous letters to the editor, meetings, coffees, resident debate and forums, the power is now in your hands. Wednesday is the 2011 election for the and the referendum on the proposed school budget. Seven active candidates are seeking three seats on the Board of Education and a proposed $91.9 million budget is up for approval. Westfield Patch has put together a guide for voters to use in casting their votes for seats on the board and budget that oversee and spend two thirds of the property taxes collected in town.

Polls open at 7 a.m. on Wednesday and close at 9 p.m. Only registered voters can cast ballots in the election. If you have a question on your registration status you can contact the .

For a list of polling places,.

Member of the Board of Education (Three Seats)

Members of the Board of Education are the governing body of the Westfield Public Schools. Nine members are elected for three year terms to oversee and set policy and budgets for the school system. Board members oversee the Superintendent of Schools, approve curriculum and handle personnel issues. Board members set policy for the system and do not handle day-to-day operations. Board members are not compensated for their service.

This year’s election has been one of the most active in recent years, with eight candidates originally coming out for the race and seven active candidates continuing to the election. Two incumbents – and – have both announced they are not seeking reelection to the board in this year’s race.

Below Patch has included a summary of each candidate, along with a link to the questionnaire each answered, the camapign Facebook page and a page containing all letters to the editor directly relating to the candidate. Attached to this article are videos of the opening and closing statements each gave at the candidates’ forum.

Candidates are listed in . (Editor's Note: A copy of the official sample ballot issued by the county clerk is attached to this article as a PDF.)

Rosanne Kurstedt

Rosanne Kurstedt is a first time candidate for the Board of Education. She is an education consultant professionally. She is a member of the Westfield Education Fund board and has been active in education related committees in town.

Rosanne Kurstedt Letters to the Editor

Karym Hoens

Karym Hoens is a first time candidate for the Board of Education. She works in special education. She has been active in the PTC Special Education Committee.

Karym Hoens Letters to the Editor

Ann Cary

Ann Cary is an incumbent member of the Board of Education and the current board vice president. She is seeking her third term on the board. Professionally she has worked in public relations and marketing. She has been active in a variety of civic groups, including those related to the arts.

Ann Cary Letters to the Editor

Keith Hertell

Keith Hertell is a former member of the Board of Education, serving one term in the 1990s. He is retired from the financial services industry and has been active in a number of civic groups, including the Soccer Association and as a member of the Recreation Commission.

Keith Hertell Letters to the Editor

Joseph Miceli

Joseph Miceli is a first time candidate for the Board of Education. He is a retired educator who served as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent of schools in several districts.

Joseph Miceli Letters to the Editor

Mark Friedman

Mark Friedman is a first time candidate for the Board of Education. He works in e-marketing and has been a CPA. He has been a longtime coach in the Baseball League.

Mark Friedman Letters to the Editor

Jennifer Silva

Jennifer Silva is a first time candidate for the Board of Education. Professionally she worked in advertising. She is active in the Tamaques School PTO and the Family Readiness Group at the Armory.

Jennifer Silva Letters to the Editor

Important Election Notice Regarding Jessica Blessing

Jessica Blessing filed to run for the Board of Education in March and in early April she that she was her candidacy. Due to the ballots already being printed by the county clerk’s office, Blessing’s name remains on the ballot and votes can be cast and counted for her. She has indicated that she is not actively seeking a BOE seat or votes in the election.

In the event that Blessing does win the election, she will be given the option of filling a seat on the board. If she declines the seat, the BOE will then appoint a board member to serve a one-year-term. There would then be a special election for the remaining two years of the term in April of 2012.

School Budget

On Wednesday, voters will be asked to approve an $85 million property tax levy to fund the Westfield public schools for the 2011-2012 school year. Combined with other funds, this tax levy comprises the bulk of the $91.8 million budget proposal.

The question on the ballot will relate to the tax levy specifically, but in practice it relates to the overall budget, since the tax revenue funds the lion’s share of the overall budget.

The budget proposal comes after Westfield saw state aid to public schools rise to $1.293 million. This figure represents a slightly over $800,000 rise in state aid from the $448,000 in state aid for the 2010-2011 budget. The $448,000 in state aid is the lowest state aid in decades received by Westfield, part of Gov. Chris Christie’s 2010 budget proposal, which included state aid reductions for school districts across New Jersey. Westfield’s aid represented a 90.4-percent cut from 2009-2010.

The proposed school budget is the first in three years that does not include any program or personnel cuts. The budget includes a 1.3-percent increase in school district spending and a two-percent property tax increase. The two-percent tax hike is the highest allowed under the new state imposed property tax cap, which is in its first year.

Appropriations

The budget proposal has the highest spending increases in the area of instruction, an increase of $1.9 million, which includes teacher and administrative salaries. Administration, extracurricular activities and nurses, guidance and libraries received spending increases as well. Other budget categories received spending decreases in the proposed budget.

The proposed budget includes several areas of miscellaneous revenue, including funds from the new health insurance contribution from employees, the new student activity fee, tuition, interest, the new integrated Pre-K program and gate receipts. The health insurance contribution is part of the teachers contract ratified last year, which increased the health insurance giveback from teachers. The student activity fee was implemented as part of last year’s budget to continue funding for several athletic and extracurricular programs that were on the chopping block. The integrated Pre-K program at Lincoln School is in its first year and includes both special education and general education students in the same class. General education students in the program are required to pay tuition to attend.

Miscellaneous Revenue

Several of the reductions in the budget proposal include savings in transportation from special education students being in the district, a decrease in residential tuition spending for special education, a new phone system in the district, the energy conservation program, the refinancing of bonds and employee givebacks.

Reductions in Proposed Budget

BOE Cost Savings Measures

District officials have touted the district’s continued pattern of spending less per pupil than comparable school districts. The BOE has released data showing a decrease in per pupil spending, using districts in the same district factor group as Westfield and a similar district factor group. The per pupil spending figures were compiled by the state Department of Education and district factor groups are decided by the state. The BOE developed the chart released as part of the district’s budget package.

The budget includes $210,000 in changes to the teachers contract. These include less funds being allocated for tuition reimbursement and conference travel. BOE President Julia Walker said that the discussions with the Westfield Education Association did not include conversations about changes to the 3.9-percent annual raise that was included in the teacher’s contract that was approved last year. WEA President Kim Schumacher has long resisted calls to discuss changes to the salary provisions of the contract.

Among the issues during the budget writing process was the school district’s capital reserve account . In December, the school district’s auditor to board members that more funds be deposited into the fund, which is used to fund capital projects in the school system. The BOE had not deposited money into the fund for a decade, preferring to use bonds to fund capital projects. The capital reserve discussion centered on how funds could be placed in the fund in the proposed budget, with several board members saying funds could not be placed in the capital fund without making cuts to another area of the budget. The BOE decided to have the facilities committee to fund and explore ways to deposit more funds in the budget. School district officials said that among the ways the district plans to find funds for the capital fund includes looking at surplus funds at the end of the fiscal year and money left over in old bond accounts.

The budget was passed by the Board of Education by a . BOE member Mitch Slater voted no on the spending plan, citing concerns with the process used to adopt the budget. Slater said there were three areas he had concerns with in the budget writing process. He said he would have liked to have seen all of the information provided to finance committee members on the budget, along with proposals for a budget containing a lower tax increase. He said he wanted to see more funds deposited into the district’s capital reserve account and for the BOE to have approached the Westfield Education Association about a salary giveback. Slater has long been an opponent of the raise.

BOE member David Finn voted for the budget, but expressed several concerns with the budget, including many of the same ones voiced by Slater.

Walker, the chairman of the board’s finance committee, said in an interview with Patch that the finance committee did not consider budgets containing lower tax increases after finding out that a two-percent increase did not have to contain any program or personnel cuts in the district. She said her committee decided this would in the best interest of the district. Walker also said she believes that Slater had a “misunderstanding” of the role of the budget writing panel.

“Finance is the committee where the superintendent vets her recommendation to the board,” Walker said. “That recommendation was to not cut any programs. To not cut any program meant the tax levy is two-percent. Finance was unanimous.”

Walker stressed that Dolan recommended to the committee that there be no cuts.

“We agreed with her as a finance committee that it was best for the school district not to cut,” Walker said.

Walker stressed that the vote that Slater dissented on regarded setting the $85 million tax levy and not the actual budget. She said the board sets the tax levy, which combined with non-tax revenue builds the amount of funding available for the budget, which is then constructed by the board. She said she did not hear questions from Slater on the tax levy and potential lower cuts.

Slater said he did ask about lower tax rates and he was not shown information on that. Walker said this was because the committee agreed with Dolan’s recommendation and no budgets were prepared for the lower tax rates.

Overall Comparison with 2010-2011 Budget

Editor's Note: All material in the charts was obtained from public information materials on the budget released by the Board of Education.