Schools
VIDEO: Garwood BOE Approves Budget, Second Question
Full-day kindergarten, extra-curricular sports, music and art are in jeopardy if the second question does not pass.
The Garwood Board of Education unanimously approved a school district budget for the 2011-2012 school year, including a second question, which asks if residents will support programs that did not fit in the $7,978,489 budget.
The second question asks if residents will be willing to pay an extra $38 per household to support all extra-curricular activities including athletics, elementary art taught by a certified teacher, instrumental music, the seventh grade Stokes Outdoor Education program, the Board’s share of funding for the eighth grade play and full day kindergarten.
Voting will take place April 27 between 2 and 9 p.m.
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The programs did not fit under the 2 percent cap mandated by the state, said Theresa Quigley, superintendent of the Garwood school district.
“If we had the money, we would keep it,” Quigley said. “But we don’t, so we have to let it go.”
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If the second question does not pass, the programs will be cut from the district. If the second question passes, $136,000 from increased tax will be added to the budget to support the programs above. That sum of money will be fixed into the budget for next year as well.
“We began exploring (the second question) almost immediately,” said Adele Lewis, president of the Board of Education. “This decision was not made lightly nor with disregard to the financial difficulties that we all face.”
The budget and the second question are independent from each other. It is possible for the second question to pass and the budget to be rejected, Quigley said. For the past two years, the budget has not passed.
To meet the budget, two teaching positions yet to be determined will be eliminated. Quigley said that every line item was reduced, including reduced funding for textbooks, legal fees and no increase in teacher salaries.
Quigley said, despite the cuts and reductions, the budget was still over the 2 percent cap, so the finance committee had look at non-mandated programs to cut.
“We had to go onto the next thing, which was what is required by the state of New Jersey so I am considered an efficient school system, and what is not. And those items are not required by the state. Kindergarten is not required by the state.”
There will still be half-day kindergarten if the second question doesn’t pass.
After Quigley’s presentation of the budget, the floor was open to the audience members, who supported the second question, claiming that the programs are important to a child’s growth, and the cost equals only a few cents a day.
Michelle Gesior, of Garwood, has two sons in the district, but is concerned with a half-day kindergarten options for working parents.
“There are a lot of working parents with 4-year olds, a lot of working moms,” she said. “My son didn’t get into pre-K last year because of a budget cut-off. I just don’t want it to happen again.”
Eileen Archer, of Garwood, has four children in the Garwood School District, so she knows the importance of extra-curricular activities.
“The Stokes trip is so great, the eighth grade play – I almost cried. Watching my daughter on stage was just so great. To lose that would be terrible.”
