Prepared Remarks - January 7, 2019

This is the text of my prepared remarks at the Monday, January 7, 2019 re-organization / regular meeting of the Hillsborough Township Board of Education.

I have prepared a few comments on the referendum resolution we're voting on tonight.

In my opinion, this plan risks the jobs of Hillsborough teachers and staff.

It is not engineered correctly and relies on assumptions that are not a guarantee and not in the best interests of ALL of Hillsborough's children.

The referendum is 2 parts - $3M for FDK and $5M for loss in state aid, fund balance and increases in the costs of running a district.

To address the first part:

1) I'm not against FDK. I just think there are higher priorities, such as meeting payroll for our current staff. And I am not willing to gamble the jobs of our current staff by asking this referendum as one question.

2) FDK is not mandated by the state. That means after year 1, future boards can defund it.

3) FDK does not require a referendum to implement. The board could decide it is a priority and allocate money in its current budget. I've followed the board on and off since the $5M state aid cut in 2010 and I don't remember FDK ever being discussed during the budget development process. That's really where this discussion belongs.

4) The reason for "Why Now FDK?" is that implementing FDK "positively impacts state aid." That statement is true but misleading. State aid will be reduced by $5.6M over 6 years but we have to pay $3M for FDK from year 1. To break even takes between 9-13 years or more. It does not pay for itself.

5) The plan for implementing FDK in September 2019 relies on leasing trailers / modular classrooms. Permanent space requires passing a referendum for a new high school. That’s a HUGE assumption.

6) How much will FDK actually cost? In a year of budget uncertainty, why are we adding another variable?

I can't know what might possibly go wrong, but one thing I do know - if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

Such as increased state aid to offset FDK costs, esp. when State Senate President Sweeney has said the state has no additional money to give school districts and the state's plan for correcting the overfunded vs. underfunded districts is to take money from so-called "overfunded" districts like Hillsborough and give the money to underfunded districts like - whoever got extra money in Spring 2018.

The second part:

1) The actual dollar amount needs to be based on the 2019-2020 budget development process where the board discusses its priorities for the district. We should not be asking for $5M from estimated increases and lumping it into one big referendum and risk jobs if the community doesn't support this ask.

The board needs to recognize there are members of the community who just cannot afford more. We need to give them a chance to say yes - I will support our children’s education - but please meet me halfway.

2) My proposal is to split the referendum into two questions, with FDK implemented only if Part 1 passes.

Also, I think we should be asking only for the money the state told us it is taking away and a portion of the fund balance / increase in costs for a total of $3M + $3M = $6M not $8M.

In the budget development process, we need to have a conversation about our community’s priorities. My priorities are to continue to improve educational quality and show our teachers and staff that we appreciate them. Also, just like in our personal homes, we need to allocate money for infrastructure maintenance. Those are my top three priorities.

We need to start the budget process at ZERO dollars and work our way up. It shouldn’t be “last year was X dollars, so this year should be X plus 2%”. It should be, is this area still a priority for the board and if so, how do we allocate money relative to our other priorities?

Thank you for listening.