Budget Cuts and Classroom Expenditures

School districts in the state of New Jersey are reeling from the onslaught of criticism from the governor and citizens. State aid is sparse and budgets cut. Officials tell us the education effect of the budget cuts will be minimal. A review of education effects may come in another blog post. 

Today’s post deals with how school districts' classroom expense budgets are affected by the budget cuts. I compare Barneget with the state group average to determine the effect on classroom expenses in New Jersey and Barnegat.

I looked at classroom expenses per student as my guide. I use classroom expenses because it is the main reason for a schools' existence. Other expenses evaluations may come in future blogs. 

The classroom expenses cost-per-student chart shows the classroom expenses per student for all State of NJ (K-12 / 1801-3500) and Barnegat between 2004 and 2005 and the 2010-2011 budget. 

The state shows an almost straight-line increase in expenses between 2005 and 2009. The New Jersey growth rate is 3.9 percent. The growth rate drops to 1.4 percent between 2009 and the 2011 budget. A 1.4 percent growth rate is not sustainable in the long run.

Barnegat showed a similar pattern. Barnegat grows more slowly than the state. Barnegat grew at a 3.4 percent rate between 2005 and 2009 and dropped to 0.5 percent for the 2009 to 2011 budget year. A 1.4 percent growth rate is barely sustainable. Barnegat’s 0.5 percent cannot sustain the current level of service. Barnegat’s growth rate is 64 percent less than the state.  What is Barnegat doing to allow for this?  This may be sound management or it may be faulty management, forcing the education program into an unsustainable cost structure.  Everyone has a stake in the answer.

This information is not complete. It is possible there is a plan that will support these expenditure levels without eroding the educational program. I know no plan was discussed during the last school board election.

The information may be viewed from a different perspective. The RANK chart shows what percentage of all districts in the K-12 1801 to 3500 group spends less than Barnegat in the classroom. 

The black line with the percents is the year by year percent. The pink line is the average percent (37 percent) for the fist five years. Barnegat has pretty much been in line with the state. In one year (2009-2011) Barnegat went from spending more than just 36 percent of districts to spending more than only 29 percent of all districts. 

This may be a one-year anomaly, but this kind of drop raises a red flag. There are laws that limit the ability of a school district to increase spending from year to year. This means the district may be creating a structural deficit it cannot fix without voter approval. The current political environment makes this unlikely.  

We just had an election where these issues were not discussed. The public needs to understand how the board is addressing these issues. The public needs an explanation. The board did not use the budget process to educate and gain feedback from the public concerning this kind of strategic planning. It needs to find another way. I do not suggest I have all the information and all the answers. I have questions not answered during the last election. The public deserves answers before it is too late.