Christie Education Cuts Could Cost 50-60 BOE Positions

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan said one worst case scenario to tackle the Gov. Chris Christie's decision to cut $4.22 million in state aid from Westfield could be laying off between 50 and 60 Board of Education staffers.

In a briefing to parents at Thursday morning's Parent Teacher Council meeting, Dolan discussed the process being used to identify cuts based on the figure announced by the Christie Administration on Wednesday. Dolan and BOE budget officials have been working with the knowledge of more massive cuts than originally planned since word leaked of the governor's proposed budget on Tuesday morning. A budget has to be presented to the county schools superintendent on Tuesday, with final adoption on March 30.

Dolan, who briefed Westfield schools staffers on Wednesday afternoon, said she has been determining worst case scenarios and looking for ways to avoid those. Based on the average salaries, she said one doomsday scenario would be the massive layoffs, something she said she wants to avoid. A layoff of 50-60 staffers would average out to five to six staffers per school building. Just over 700 people work in the Westfield public schools.

"I don't think we have buildings that could lose five to six people," Dolan said. "I don't want to do this. I'd be cuting staff and programs and increasing class size."

Dolan also noted that any layoffs would increase another budget line for the district, the unemployment insurance. She said the state would also take a hit from the loss in state income tax revenue based on layoffs. During a round of budget cuts last year, the district laid off 24 staffers and closed 41 extracurricular activities.

Dolan said she calculated the numbers on another worse case scenarios, the elimination of all clubs, musicals and sports teams. This cut would only bring in a savings of $1 million and Dolan said she wants to avoid this because of the impact on quality of life and education quality.

"Picture the Westfield schools without any teams, any musicals?" she said.

Dolan said the total cuts she is looking for is roughly $3.5 million. The BOE had already prepared for the previous worst case scenerio outlined by state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, an up to 15-percent loss in state aid. The new cut, announced Tuesday, is based on five percent of the overall budget. The new cut equals a 90-percent loss in state aid from last year.

In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, Schundler declined to comment on the reason behind the change in how state aid would be calculated. He had previously stated the 15-percent cut at the beginning of March during a meeting of suburban education leaders in Summit.

"I've gone through the grieving process," Dolan said. "I was truly in denial. They said two weeks ago it would be state aid. Less than one percent of our budget will be paid by the state now."

Dolan spent Wednesday in meetings with the district's administrative staff and union leaders looking for cuts. She said department heads have been told to look at the overall picture and not look to protect the work of their individual departments. She has more meetings with adminsitrators and union heads on Thursday. Dolan said the unions have been helpful in working on the budget.

Dolan said she has been inviting all staff members to contact her with suggestions for where to cut and any waste in the district. She repeated the comment to parents, saying she is open to all ideas from the community on any ways to cut the budget. Dolan said comments can be called to her office.

Dolan said the ideas from the district staff have been placed on the table. Several are under serious consideration, while several have been placed in the long range planning pile. She noted she's been appreciative of the suggestions.

"I can't go to the ladies room without being handed a list," Dolan said.

Dolan said the budget cutting process is complicated by cuts made in the last two years. She noted the district have increased savings with a new clean energy program, postponed renovation projects and made layoffs in order to balance the budget. In addition she noted that district staff handed in BOE issued cell phone and travel budgets have been slashed.

Dolan said that while the district has the option of raising taxes to cover the lost state aid, she said this would not be the only idea used, saying it would be unlikely to pass the April 20 public referendum on the budget. Schundler said on Wednesday that he has instructed county superintendents to study all budget requests that go over the four percent property tax hike and veto any spending over the four percent cap. Parents were visibly stunned that Schundler was ordering more local cuts through vetos by the county superintendents.

During the process of developing plans to meet Schundler's previous announcement of preparing for a five, 10 or 15-percent cut in state aid, she said the 15-percent cut was hard, but the BOE came to a decision. She said the tough part now, is not only finding an additional $3.5 million to cut, but to do it by Tuesday.

"How do you do this intelligently in a short amount of time?" she said. "How can you cut $3.5 million from a budget of our size in a week? But who has time to complain."

Dolan noted that since last year's budget was adopted the board has held continuing discussions on the budget and looking for more potential cuts and waste. She said the hope had been to use the process to identify any cuts in a timely fashion. Former state Education Commissioner Lucille Davy warned districts last year that there could be state aid cuts.

"We are not stupid, we knew that economic times were not going to get better," Dolan said. "We did not forget the budget."

Parents gathered for the meeting asked about the protection of special education programs based on federal and state laws requiring money dedicated to special education. She said the laws are being studied and the district will follow all laws regarding special education.

Parents asked if it was possible to offset any cuts to extracurricular activities by doing private fundraising and seeking parent volunteers for programs. Dolan, who was joined by three Board of Education members, said this would be possible and the idea will be studied.

Dolan received support from the BOE members present at the meeting, who said the board has been working on the issue and wil be prepared to discuss the budget in-depth at the meeting on Tuesday night. The board's finance committee is scheduled to meet tonight.

"The board is involved and supportive," BOE President Ginny Leiz said. "The board is unified and we stand together."