Schools superintendent Brian Osborne painted a grim picture as he guided the South Orange Maplewood Board of Education through a preliminary 2010/2011 budget presentation on Wednesday, January 20.

Osborne pointed out that the district is looking at a 26% increase in health care costs, probable reductions in aid from the State, mandated costs for special education and transportation, student enrollment increases, and the reality of a taxpayer base that may not have the ability to pay an increase.

Osborne noted that other districts are facing similar cost drivers and showed a comparison with Livingston, Millburn, West Orange, Montclair and the state-wide average that demonstrated that the South Orange Maplewood School District is spending basically the same amount per student on major cost drivers.

The State fiscal reality is particularly frightening, according to Osborne, who noted that former Governor Jon Corzine proposed a revised spending plan in the fall that for the first time would cut aid to schools. "This is different. This is big," said Osborne. He noted that the State could ask school districts to use excess from last year to make up the shortfall from cuts in State aid. Osborne said that the State had delayed some payments last year but that the district had managed to end the fiscal year in the black due to smart management. Otherwise, the district would have been forced to take out a loan (at 8% interest) to balance its budget. 

Osborne ran four scenarios for budget revenues and expenditures for 2010/2011, all of which produced a deficit ranging from $645, 948 in the best-case scenario to $4.5 million in the worst-case scenario. He noted that the one item that these hypothetical budgets did not take into account was the hiring of three additional teachers to deal with a projected increase in student enrollment at the elementary level. (Osborne's presentation will be available on the school district website today.)

Before ticking off his suggestions for potential areas to cut, Osborne ran through a list of principles for moving forward. Ideals that are sacrosanct include:

• protect and invest in the classroom
• retain elementary class size
• focus on the core business of preparing students academically
• make reductions sustainable year over year (no tricks or deferred maintenance)
• keep the process transparent and collaborative

Then Osborne got to the meat of the discussion—areas of possible reductions:

• Non-mandated pre-kindergarten (he noted that the district is obligated by law to provide pre-K services to 3- and 4-year-olds with special needs but not others)
• Modify the special education inclusion initiative (Osborne said the current inclusion program is the "right approach but it is pretty costly"; he said the IDEA funds used to support the program could be used elsewhere)
• Look at secondary school scheduling (Osborne said that under-subscribed classes could be dropped from the curriculum. This could result in less staff and fewer sections.)
• Administration (looking at more shared services and central office operations)
• Non-mandated programs outside the core curriculum (Osborne said that these programs, while they could be "great for the kids," were nonetheless "on the table.")
• Elongate the timeline for curriculum and instruction reforms ("We've been going fast and could slow down," said Osborne, who noted that reforms cost money in terms of materials and training.)
• Delay purchases (textbooks, paper)
• Look at stipends for additional work (may need to cut)
• Professional development conference travel ("That's going to come to an end," said Osborne.)
• Technology (getting out of contracts with Microsoft and the like and using freeware)

Osborne said the next steps were the consideration of the preliminary budget on February 22. The timetable from there was budget consideration and adoption  of the preliminary budget to send to the County on March 15, Board of School Estimate (BSE) workshop on March 24, BSE public hearing on March 31 and final adoption of the budget on April 19. (Later, the Board added a public meeting/budget workshop for March 1.)

Board of Education Chair Mark Gleason then opened the meeting to public discussion. South Orange President Doug Newman said that he was appreciative of Osborne's efforts to lay out the budget up front and put forward areas of reduction. Newman complained that he felt that the BSE was presented with a "Hobson's choice" last year ("take the horse by the door or no horse at all"). "This is more constructive and dynamic. There are lots of dials we can turn. It's important to consider all the ways." 
Newman said that he felt last year, the public was presented with the punchline: "'Well, we can always increase the class size,' knowing that parents won't like that choice."
Maplewood Township Vice Mayor Kathy Leventhal reminded the BOE that Maplewood is facing a $3 million budget deficit. "I ask you to join with me in working toward keeping the increase below 4%," said Leventhal. Leventhal also said that she wanted to see that the unions understood the difficulty. "In educating our students we have a responsibility to their families as well."
South Orange Trustee Michael Goldberg also expressed pleasure at the level of information being presented by Osborne at this time. "Last year, we were presented with the budget and a week later asked to vote."
Still, he felt that Osborne needed to focus more on health care. "Is it true that no one in the district contributes to their health care?" "Yes," replied  Osborne.  Janis Zevari of the South Orange Citizens Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC) said that CBAC had developed some models for savings on special education and energy that she wanted to share with the district. "Let's have a collaborative, hands-on meeting in between the public meetings," Zevari asked. Osborne said he "would be delighted to meet."
Maplewood resident John Davenport pointed out that he paid 15% of his health care premium at his job at a private college. He noted that his wife, who works in administration at another private college opted out of her health care but not for an incentive (such as that given in the SOMA district); rather she chose to do so in order to avoid paying 20% toward her health care. Davenport thought the district should consider such a model.
Much of the Board members discussion then centered on speculation about what the new gubernatorial administration might bring; none of the scenarios looked promising as Governor Christie had signed some executive orders freezing spending earlier in the day. In the end, chair Mark Gleason said he was disappointed that the conversation had focused on the environment in Trenton. "We do know that the State pie is shrinking and the State is in dire shape. We need to accept that and start thinking more creatively."
Gleason said that he'd like the district to move toward three-year planning in order to be more strategic. He's also like the district to more aggressively look at new models of classroom instruction. "The way we instruct hasn't changed in 60 years. Is there a different way to deliver instruction more effectively?"