Ventnor Educational Community Complex
The Board of School Estimate meeting will be held 6 p.m. Monday, March 30. It will be live-streamed on the Ventnor City, New Jersey Facebook page.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR – At its virtual meeting Wednesday, March 25, the Ventnor City Board of Education reduced its previously proposed 2020-2021 school year budget by $404,636, shaving 2 cents off what could have been a 6.3 cents tax rate increase. The board unanimously approved the revisions and sent the budget to the Board of School Estimate for approval.
The $22.8 million budget includes a tax levy totaling $17,382,698, and a tax rate of 85.15 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
Using the Zoom videoconferencing app, board members reviewed the often-confusing budget numbers, which were lower than initially proposed.
According to Business Administrator Terri Nowotny, the original budget submitted to Executive Atlantic County Superintendent of Schools Robert L. Bumpus following the board’s approval on March 3 was revised, and additional cuts were made by the district’s administrative staff to further reduce the previously proposed 6.3 cents tax rate increase.
There is a possibility the Board of School Estimate will reduce it further when it meets 6 p.m. Monday, March 30, board President Douglas Biagi said. Arrangements for the virtual meeting are pending.
“I’m pleased with the budget as it is,” Biagi said. “We spent a lot of time with the outgoing and incoming administration…everything we asked for, the administration has done through attrition and restructuring.”
Superintendent Eileen Johnson is retiring in June. Although the district has conducted a superintendent search, it has yet to announce her replacement.
“We are under tremendous pressure from the city,” board member Kim Bassford said. “They are probably not going to be happy, but I am committed to the budget as it is. I am committed to the children and the teachers and will fully support the budget when we go to the Board of School Estimate meeting.”
Future budgets will be challenging as well, she said, but the board must ensure it provides a thorough and efficient education.
The district was socked with a $2,300 increase in tuition for each of the 203 students attending Atlantic City High School in the fall. The per pupil tuition amount for the upcoming school year is $19,019, a 14% increase over last year. Because the Atlantic City school district received a $17 million increase in state aid for the coming school year, it is likely the Ventnor district will see an increase in tuition again next year, said Bassford, who is Ventnor’s representative on the Atlantic City Board of Education.
Coupled with a $579,329 tuition liability from last year, the total increase due to Atlantic City is $1,063,121. In addition, on the revenue side, the district lost $140,001 in adjustment aid, but had a $42,034 increase in preschool aid.
To reduce the budget, the district will not replace three retiring teachers for a savings of $173,997.
“There will be some restructuring,” Biagi said. “That will be for our next superintendent to handle and divvy out as she sees fit. A lot of plans will be forthcoming.”
Another teacher will be reassigned to a pre-k classroom for a savings of $34,451.
Former Mayor Tim Kriescher asked if not filling three teacher slots would increase class size.
“There may be some classes that are on the smaller size right now that may be impacted, but they should all remain within a reasonable class size,” Ventnor Elementary School Principal Carmella Somershoe said.
The cuts will not affect the quality of education and all educational programs will remain in place, Somershoe said.
The revised budget also includes proposed curriculum upgrades across all grade levels in mathematics, social studies, reading and technology.
Other cuts to the proposed budget include eliminating a sound system upgrade in the auditorium for a savings of $40,458, the purchase of interactive TVs for a savings of $16,000, and a $25,500 reduction for school supplies.
Putting the cost of purchasing school supplies back on parents could be perceived as a “double hit,” Biagi said.
“Our job is to present the best possible budget and that’s where we chose to make some of the cuts,” he said.
The district realized a $114,230 savings in the cost of health benefits, bringing the total reduction to $404,636.
The district increased the use of surplus by $34,408 for a total of $1,137,999. It also withdrew $373,042 from its capital and maintenance reserves.
The new proposed tax rate will be .8515 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, up from .8085 cents last year. Taxpayers with a home assessed at $150,000 will pay $1,277.17 for education, up from $1,212.74 last year.
Ventnor Education Association President Gina Perkins said the teachers’ union is prepared to develop a Change.org petition asking state legislators to review the sending-receiving school district tuition formula.
“They don’t understand the negative impact these budgets have on us,” Perkins said.
Principal Rob Baker said the board should be reviewing the poor student performance numbers at Atlantic City High School recently released by the NJ Department of Education.
“Please take a look at the numbers and see what we are paying for,” Baker said. “We seem to be paying for things and getting nothing back.”
Perkins also gave kudos to the teachers who are providing six hours of instruction to students over the internet during the coronavirus shutdown.
“This situation is not easy trying to teach kids from home,” she said.
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