New faces, guaranteed
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
3/14/2010

Two new board of education members will be elected on April 20, as two incumbents did not file to run again for the board of education.

Current President Lisa Conn and Kenneth Hartman both will see their three-year seats expire and neither filed to run again, Public Information Officer Susan Bastnagel said.

Steve Robbins is the only incumbent who is seeing his seat expire and decided to run for another three-year term, she said.

Bastnagel said Sherrie Cohen and Lynette Howard were the only two other candidates to file to run for the open seats.

Unless a write-in candidate wins one of the three seats, Cohen, Howard, and Hartman will be on the board next year.

Candidate biographies will be posted on the Cherry Hill School District Web site, Bastnagel said. Neither of the incumbents publicized why they decided to not run again. Residents will also decide the fate of the 2010-11 budget.

As of last week, several alternatives were discussed at the board of education’s budget workshop, all of which include cuts at every education level within the district.

In total, more than 174 full-time employees of the district could be let go if the district decides to increase the tax levy by 1 percent, Bastnagel said.

A 2 percent increase would mean the reduction of about 149 full-time employees; a 3 percent increase would mean 130 full-time employees, and a 4 percent increase would mean 111 full-time employees.

The state’s decision to withhold about $4 million in state aid for the district is forcing Cherry Hill to use its excess fund balance of $3.5 million – something the board had earmarked for tax-payer relief in 2010-2011 – to make up for the lack funding, officials said.

Visit the district’s Web site at cherryhill.k12.nj.us for candidate biographies, budget information, and a complete list of polling locations for the April 20 election.