Letter Responds To Accusations Of Financial Mismanagement In Bernards Schools

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Robin McKeon, who serves as President of the Bernards Township Board Of Education, wrote this letter to the editor as a private citizen in response to another letter written by school board candidate Lawrence Rascio.

MeKeon's letter:

The following statements are made in my capacity as a private citizen, and not in my capacity as a Board of Education member. These statements are also not reflective of the Board or its individual members, and solely represent my own personal opinions.

For decades, members of our community have been concerned about the fact that Bernards Township sends significant tax dollars to Trenton and receives very little back in state aid for education. The school district’s total operating budget for 2022-2023 is almost $105 million dollars, but only 7.8% of that budget will be funded by state aid. The rest will be funded by local tax dollars. Understandably, taxpayers have questions about how their tax dollars are being spent. And of course, people have different opinions about how much money should be invested in our public schools and how that money can best be allocated. Historically, there have been members of the public who followed the school budget and other reliable sources closely and asked insightful and complex questions. These types of questions inspired productive dialogue which helped shape the board’s and administrative team’s decisions. However, recent questions and allegations have taken on a completely different tone. Numbers have been thrown around online and in letters to the editor, without citations or explanations of how those numbers were calculated. The New Jersey Code of Ethics for School Board Members states that board members will “provide accurate information” and that they will “support and protect school personnel in proper performance of their duties.” When accusations are made about our school leaders, particularly when those allegations imply incompetence or worse yet, fiscal mismanagement and deception, I feel compelled to respond to offer the facts and to support our leadership team.

In order to set the record straight, it is best to turn to official data sources such as the NJ Taxpayer’s Guide to Education Spending and the NJ School Performance Reports and to outside independent entities that oversee school districts. For example, the state of New Jersey reviews the district’s financial program every three years through the NJ Quality Single Accountability Continuum (NJQSAC). Bernards Township scored 100%, 100% and 98% in the area of finance for the last three NJQSAC reviews. Even more telling than the state’s assessment is the district’s independent auditor’s report, which has been excellent for the 10 years that Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. Markarian have been our CFO and CEO respectively. The AAA bond rating that the district received from Standard and Poors is something that very few districts in the state have. Bernards Township is one of a small number of districts that has the financial capacity to self-insure for health benefits, which saves the taxpayers millions of dollars.

The district has successfully managed its capital reserves so that it is in a position where it can maintain its facilities and take on projects without incurring more debt, unlike many other districts who have to take on more debt when they have large capital needs or unexpected costs. One of the District Goals for this upcoming school year is to update and present the long range capital projects plan. The public will be hearing a lot this year about the district’s capital reserves, and can weigh in on how these reserves can best be used to meet the district's needs and to plan for the future.

Personally, I am proud of the decisions we have made to invest in our children’s futures. Bernards Township School District spends more money than average on the education of our students. According to the NJ Taxpayer’s Guide to Education Spending, among K-12 districts in our size category, Bernards Township ranks 75th out of 92 districts (92 being the highest) for cost per pupil, 79th of 92 in total classroom spending and 87th of 92 for extracurriculars. No one is hiding the fact that this district is willing to spend money on our students. Bernards Township offers amazing academic programming, award-winning extra-curriculars, and excellent special education programs, all while making every effort to fully support students’ social-emotional needs.

When comparing districts’ budgets, there are many factors to be taken into consideration. We need to look at the percentage of students with special needs who are educated within the district and how many are in out of district placements. While student enrollment overall may be on the decline in Bernards Township, some special education programs are seeing increases. As reported at the July Board of Education meeting, more students and preschoolers with special needs enrolled this summer and in response the district added more preschool and CBAP (Comprehensive Applied Behavioral Analysis Program) classes. Bernards Township’s CBAP program serves double the number of students with autism than most comparable districts. Recent critics have used Millburn as a comparison point. Bernards Township sends 26 students to out of district placements, while Millburn sends 60. Bernards Township has approximately 50 more instructional and non-instructional aides than Millburn. The personal dedication and care that our aides provide for students who need their support make a world of difference for these students and their families. Bernards Township is investing significantly more than Millburn for services and staffing to meet the needs of students with special needs. Our district makes every effort to provide the best education possible for all students. Accepting all students into our educational community enriches us, helps us learn to understand differences, and prepares us to live and work alongside others.

Offering excellent special education services is not without financial cost. Schools districts in New Jersey receive some funding for special education, but there is a large gap that is not funded by the federal or state government. The state’s extraordinary aid is supposed to cover the amount beyond $40,000 per student placed in a public school and $55,000 per student placed in a private special education school. But until recent years, we only received about 60- 70% of the extraordinary aid we qualified for. Plus, the state does not help districts with transportation costs for these students. Lobbying for full funding of state aid and extraordinary aid has been an ongoing effort for the past decade and it is important that this conversation be continued with our legislators. They need to hear our community explain how unfunded mandates negatively impact our district’s taxpayers.

I feel it is important to share the most accurate comparative data about our teacher and administrator salaries. According to the NJ Taxpayer’s Guide to Education Spending, our teacher salaries are right in the middle (ranked 42nd with 92 being the highest among K-12 districts our size). Our total administration cost is also ranked 42nd of 92. In the most recent NJ School Performance Report, Bernards Township (4,862 students) had 33 administrators and 458 teachers, while Millburn (4,667 students) had 34 administrators and 430 teachers. While Millburn has less assistant principals than Bernards Township, Millburn has other administrative positions, such as K-5 supervisors, that Bernards Township does not have. Both Bernards Township and Millburn spent 7.8% of budgetary cost per pupil in the 2021-2022 school year on administrative salaries. Looking only at median teacher and administrator salaries is misleading -- it does not take into account the years of experience or educational degrees of the employees, which would put those employees at different steps and columns on their respective salary guides. For example, the NJ School Performance Report shows that 66% of teachers in Millburn have a Masters degree, whereas 44% of teachers in Bernards Township have Masters degrees. This contributes heavily to the reason why Millburn teachers’ median salary is so much higher than Bernards Township. Without knowing the years of experience, responsibilities, and collective bargaining agreements of specific teachers and administrators, it is difficult to compare their salaries and benefits. In the case of the small handful of top administrators who have individual contracts (i.e. superintendents and business administrators), it is also necessary to know whether they forgo the option of merit bonuses and whether they are waiving health or tuition benefits. Many districts have less experienced or interim superintendents and business administrators, so it makes sense that Bernards Township's top four administrators, all of whom have many years of prior professional experience and many years of tenure in our district, are making well above the median salary in New Jersey. I am grateful that we have this type of stability with administrators who have dedicated their professional careers to the children of Bernards Township.

Despite what a few critics may say, the administrators in our school district are willing to answer specific questions from the public. For example, if they had been asked, they would have been glad to explain why they want to hire a second HVAC technician for $100,000, and why this is the most cost effective way to make sure our HVAC repairs are done in a timely way during this period when air quality is critically important. However, it is quite difficult to respond to generalized allegations and misinformation from unknown sources. It concerns me that >inaccurate or misleading information and false narratives may divide our community, weaken our school district, or damage our property values. I implore people to please reach out to our administrators and board of education members via email or via specific questions at board meetings so that everyone can work together to support our students and strengthen our community.

Robin McKeon