8 weeks: $12 million taken away
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
3/27/2010

A packed Cherry Hill High School East auditorium filled with Cherry Hill taxpayers and students decried Gov. Christie’s plan to cut state aid to the Cherry Hill School District by more than 51 percent last week.

Some laughed. Some cried. Some directed their ire up north to Trenton as hardly anyone in attendance could fathom the governor’s decision to reduce the district’s aid by more than $8.5 million.

But they all marched up to the microphone Thursday night and had their say as their Board of Education members looked on.

Combined with the state’s earlier action of denying the district the $3.9 million it had budgeted for excess fund balance in its 2010-11 budget, Business Administrator Jim Devereaux said the state was basically taking $12.4 million from the district in the span of eight weeks.

“Because the state couldn’t balance its own budget, they confiscated $3.9 million from us – including $3.5 million we had set aside to deal with state aid cuts in 2010-11,” Devereaux read from his power point presentation. “Cherry Hill was penalized for its efficiency and foresight. It’s the ultimate in adding insult to injury.”

Because of the last-minute state aid reduction, the Board passed a preliminary budget that will reduce the equivalent of more than 105 full-time employees from the district.

It also reduces programs, operations, and capital programs for a grand total of almost $12.5 million.

It also sets the $165 million budget’s tax levy at a 4 percent increase, the highest legally allowed by the state.

“We made an attempt to spread the cuts throughout the district so you wouldn’t notice any glaring holes,” Board of Education President Lisa Conn said.

Eight elementary Spanish teachers were removed for a savings of $496,000, an assistant principal from the high school level will be reduced at $164,484, and the embattled Mt. Misery program at the middle school level will be eliminated after 42 years of service to the district for savings of $175,000.

These were just a few of the positions and reductions approved in the preliminary budget. It was a tough budget for many residents to accept and many expressed their anger at Trenton for the state aid reduction. Debbie Schmidt, a mother of an eighth-grade student who was diagnosed with Asbergers at the age of five, couldn’t believe that the district was only receiving $96,000 in aid for special education for the 2010-11 year.

Last year, Devereaux said, the district received over $5 million in aid for special education.

“I have felt more powerless in the past three days as a parent with a special needs child than when he was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum at age three,” she said. It was because of Cherry Hill’s fine special education program, she said, that he would be able to transition into high school next year.

Without this funding, the special education program and its students will likely suffer, Schmidt said.

Jan Apple, a mother of two in the district, said it was unbelievable what the governor was doing to the Cherry Hill District.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful what the governor is doing to our community, to our students,” she said.

Superintendent Dr. David Campbell did say there was a chance litigation could arise from the educational community in the state to restore some of the state cuts, but there was nothing likely at this point.

The only high point of the meeting was an amendment suggested by Board Member Elliot Roth, who suggested implementing two revenue-raising options that Devereaux had suggested earlier in the night to restore three positions.

The Board approved a plan to extend the activity fee – $40 per family – to the middle school level for an additional revenue stream of $86,000. Also, he suggested restructuring the schedules of building and grounds staff for an additional $120,000.

This additional revenue helped restore a high school student advocate employee, a middle school assistance counselor, and an additional teacher at the high school or middle school level.

Before approving the preliminary budget, the members of the Board stressed the importance to the community of reaching out to legislators and Trenton to voice their displeasure at the situation. If enough voices are heard by Trenton, perhaps something will change, the Board reported.

The community was urged to visit the advocacy page on the district’s Web site at chclc.org and ask the governor to at least restore the $3.9 million taken from the district earlier in the year.

“I’m most impressed by this community. I’m thrilled with the responses, the support, and the ideas we’ve received from the community,” Roth said. “Your ideas will not disappear. We need you to stay active in this situation.”

The final adoption of the budget and its public hearing is set for Wednesday, March 31, at 7 p.m. at the Cherry Hill East auditorium.