Dolan: Christie Doesn't Understand Westfield School Budget

School officials are urging Westfield voters to ignore Gov. Chris Christie's call to reject school budgets, suggesting that the governor does not know the local situation.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan used her budget presentation at Tuesday evening's Board of Education meeting to reject Christie's announcement and urge voters to pass the local budget. The governor's announcement is applicable to Westfield, where the Westfield Education Association has rejected a pay freeze for the next year. Dolan used her budget presentation Tuesday to say that Christie's announcement shows that he does not understand Westfield's proposed $89.3 million budget.

"I am not sure what the governor knows about the budget in the Westfield public schools," Dolan said. "I don't think he knows that our budget is below the state average. I don't think the governor is aware of what is going on in the Westfield public schools."

Christie's announcement came Monday as part of his on-going feud with the New Jersey Education Association, the parent group of the WEA. The governor has called for teachers to accept pay freeze as a part of his decision to slash the state budget and state aid to local school districts. In Westfield, Christie's plan is cutting $4.22 million in state aid.

Dolan said areas where she believes the governor does not understand Westfield's education budget include the new teachers' contract, which includes increased co-pays and a health care contribution. She said this number includes the town on the governor's list of local school districts which have either taken a pay freeze or received monetary givebacks from teachers. In addition she noted that Westfield has been employing layoffs, an area that Christie has said is important for him to look at in local district. She cited the board's decision to cut 24 staff positions and 41 stipend posts in last year's budget and 31 staffers in the proposed budget.

Dolan outlined what she sees as the potential impact for a defeated budget in Westfield. She noted the budget will then go before the Town Council for review and cuts. She said when the budget was defeated in 2005, the Town Council chose to cut $725,000 from the school budget, which she said the school system would not be able to absorb. Dolan said a similar cut this year would result in 10 additional layoffs.

The Town Council has not indicated what they would do in the event that voters reject the school budget next week. Council members have noted they have questions over the new contract with teachers, which contains a 3.9-percent pay raise for teachers. The contract has been a source of contention between some residents and the board in recent weeks. The Town Council would not be able to overturn the contract as part of their budget review.

Residents at the board meeting expressed support for the proposed school budget. Suzanna McLean centered her remarks on what she sees as the lower than average spending of the school district. She noted that Westfield is raising taxes by four percent, the current state cap on property tax hikes, while comparable districts are raising the budget by over four percent. She said at the same time these districts are spending more per student than Westfield, including Summit which spends approximately $2,000 more per student than Westfield.

"I am becoming increasingly concerned on how much we spend compared to our peer towns," McLean said. "We are a stingy town and we are turning into misers. We will not longer be able to hold our heads up high. I am afraid that as the town goes on I will be embarrassed to be a citizen of this town. How do we want to be seen by other towns and people looking to move here."

The proposed budget contains an average $306 per household property tax hike in Westfield.

Board members support McLean's comments, saying that a budget rejection and the potential for additional cuts by the Town Council would have a long term harm to the school system.

"The longer term impact is that in this economy we will not be able to raise taxes enough to get back what we lose. If we continue down this road we're headed, we will start chipping away at the core programs, at what defines the Westfield schools," board member Richard Solomon said, referencing cuts in prior budgets in Westfield. "It is really a shame. It all comes down to $306 per year for the average assessed home in town.