T.F. agrees to cut regional school budget by $190K

TINTON FALLS - The Borough Council approved a $190,000 reduction to the Monmouth Regional High School budget after hearing from district Superintendent James Cleary that it would not force the school to cut programs for students.

Council members voiced concerns to Cleary about negative consequences to the reduction during theMay 20 council meeting.

Councilman Gary Baldwin asked that Cleary inform the council and the public as to what the impact would be on programs for high school students.

"We have the majority of the students in that school," Baldwin said. "It just seems inappropriate to me to be asked to vote for a reduction in that budget if indeed that budget in any way cuts the programs the students receive from your school."

Cleary responded that $190,000 would certainly have an effect, but that the school administration would take steps to minimize the impact on programs for students.

"We feel very confident that the quality programs like the honor roll programs that we have and the honor society program that we had last evening, as well as the leadership program that we had tonight, our extracurricular programs, and all the things that make our students outstanding in our opinion, will still be enacted next year," Cleary said.

According to Cleary, the sending towns can propose where they'd like to see money docked, adding that the final say still rests with the regional Board of Education.

He said that he had attended an emergency meeting of the board earlier that day.

"I had to assure them as a board that we, the administration and business administrator, Maria Parry, feel that we can cut from our expenditures $190,000 with the very least amount of damage to any of our programs, specifically programs that affect our students," Cleary said.

Monmouth Regional High School, which educates students from Tinton Falls, Eatontown and Shrewsbury Township, proposed a $19.1 million tax levy to support its $25.4 million spending plan, which was voted down in theApril 15 election.

Prior to the cut, Tinton Falls was looking at an annual increase in taxes of $11.27 per household reflecting the borough's 54.1 percent share in the regional district.

Eatontown failed the budget by more than 100 votes, Tinton Falls passed it by over 100 votes and Shrewsbury Township failed the spending plan by 52 votes, which led to a combined failure of 43 votes.

Only 9 percent of those registered to vote in Eatontown came out to vote during the budget elections, according to Cleary. Of the 1,954 residents who came out to vote at the polls, 51.04 percent voted no on the 2008-09 school budget

Councilman Brendan Tobin commented on how the situation had been handled in Eatontown.

"I think it was grandstanding and I think it was a detriment to the children and to the people of the Board of Education," Tobin said.

Eatontown Councilman John Schiels, a former Eatontown Board of Education president and member of Eatontown's finance committee, was involved in making last-minute changes to the amount of the reduction that changed it from the suggested $155,000 to $190,000.

Eatontown's finance committee originally sought a reduction of $265,000, an approximately 1-cent decrease in the tax rate.

Shrewsbury Township officials had agreed to trim the budget by $155,000.

Tobin said that the process had been "disrespectful" to both Monmouth Regional High School and other voters.

"We have the majority of the people in that school, and our voters voted to pass the budget," Tobin said. "I'm not going to stand for it next time and I don't think the people in Eatontown should stand for it either. That's not leadership."

He added that he was grateful to Cleary and the Monmouth Regional administration for keeping the Borough Council informed.

"I appreciate all the work that you did to keep us up to date, and I hope we never get caught in this situation again," Tobin said.

Councilman Paul Ford commented that legislation was being enacted to move school elections to November.

"School board elections will be in November of next year and the school budgets will still be in place in January, February and March for the following year," Cleary said. "I hope that the Legislature thinks wisely so that we don't see the travesty that took place in the small regional school system like Monmouth Regional."

Cleary said the most important thing to keep in mind is the students.

"We have to focus on the kids," he said, "Its very important that I come here to tell you that the Board of Education of Monmouth Regional appreciates the support of Tinton Falls."

Cleary added that Mayor Gerald Tarantolo had always been very supportive of Monmouth Regional

"For the difference of $35,000, I'm more upset we are dealing with a rift between the Board of Education and some membership on Eatontown council," he said. "That's not fair, and it's not fair that Tinton Falls has to work within that type of a situation."

While Cleary said that $190,000 might seem like a large number, he advised council members to approve the budget, citing concern that the district might be made an example of if the budget were to go to the state commissioner of education.

"I think that's exactly why I changed my opinion on this," Baldwin said. "We just don't want to risk damaging the program even more by letting it go to some arbitrator who may decide to cut more."

Baldwin praised that judgment in making the decision not to bring the matter to a higher level where the district could be "made an example of" and subjected to further cuts.

"The bottom line is I'm working very hard to make sure that none of our programs take a hit because of this," Cleary said.

Council unanimously passed a resolution to approve the reduction of the Monmouth Regional High School budget at the end of the meeting.