Board president saddened by budget defeat
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
5/2/2010

It was a tough night for the Cherry Hill School District, as the township voters defeated the 2010 school district budget by almost 500 votes.

According to unofficial results from the Camden County Web site, the $166.76 million budget was voted down by a mark of 5,856 to 5,369. The budget would have increased the tax levy by 4 percent in the township, increasing the average taxpayer’s bill by about $122, according to district representatives.

The defeated budget is now in the hands of the Cherry Hill Township Council, which will decide how much money to cut – if anything – from the document.

Three Board of Education candidates also ran for three open seats on the Cherry Hill Board of Education. Candidate Sherrie L. Cohen received the most votes with 6,473, Lynette Howard was second with 6,353, and incumbent Steven Robbins was third with 6,308 votes.

The district will send its budget to the Township Council and meet with members to decide on what will be cut and what can be cut, District Public Information Officer Susan Bastnagel said. Council will ultimately decide on a monetary amount to be cut from the document, she said, but the Board of Education will decide what to eliminate.

The final document must be resolved by May 19, according to Bastnagel.

Board of Education President Lisa Conn was dismayed by the budget results.

“I am saddened that a majority of people who voted in our school budget election chose to ignore our good work. Administrators who already contribute to the costs of their medical benefits agreed to a wage freeze, and we found cost savings that allowed us to reduce our budget by $5.6 million from last year’s while maintaining our educational programs for kids and minimizing reductions in staff,” Conn said. “I am saddened that people chose to support the governor’s attempt to balance the state budget by taking funds from our wonderful schools. In most families, when budgets are tight, the last place we go to save is to our children.”

Conn continued, citing her disappointment for residents who voted down the budget because they believed they would send a message to Cherry Hill teachers. The district, she said, is currently in negotiations with the teachers union to bring in new contracts.

“I am saddened that community members mistakenly believed that by defeating the budget, they were sending a message to our teachers. They failed to have faith in the negotiation process, one in which the board continues to work toward a reasonable compromise which takes into consideration our changed economy,” Conn said. “I’m saddened that some people think that a school system can run itself, without administrators to supervise the 1,700 staff members and to manage a complicated system that delivers services to almost 12,000 clients (students) each day for six hours in our 19 facilities.”

The Board of Education and the Township Council have a difficult job ahead of them, Conn said.

They will have to come to a final decision among themselves without her, as this is Conn’s last week of service on the board. The president did not run for her expiring seat this past election.

The elected members are responsible members of the community and will serve the Board well, she said.

“So, now town council has the awful job of dictating the amount that must be cut, and the administration and board will have to slice. I will no longer be on the board, as this is my last week as a board member, so I will not have to face the children and families who will no longer have certain beloved and valuable experiences in our schools,” Conn said. “But, I wish the board luck. Sherrie Cohen and Lynette Howard, our new members, and Steve Robbins, who has been elected to a new term, are responsible, pro-education community members who will fight for what is best for kids. I know that I have left the board in good hands.”