48 Job Cuts, Larger Class Sizes: Brick 19-20 Schools' Budget

BRICK, NJ — Position cuts. Larger classes. And a state-mandated increase in the tax levy. That's what the Brick Township Board of Education is facing as work to finalize the 2019-2020 school budget heads into the final stretch.

The school board will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on May 2, ahead of submitting it to the executive Ocean County schools superintendent and to the state Department of Education for approval. That hearing will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Brick Township High School.

In a budget presentation for the board at the start of the April 11 school board meeting, Superintendent Gerald Dalton and Business Administrator James Edwards presented some of the key points of the proposed 2019-2020 budget.

Among them:

• The proposed budget is .53 percent less than the overall 2018-19 school budget
• It includes a state aid reduction of $2,741,894; the cut is mandated under S2, the law pushed by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney dating back to the summer of Beachgate; the S2 cuts were part of the bargain cut with then Gov. Chris Christie and took another year to formalize into law.
• It also includes a $2.2 million increase in the tax levy. That, too, is mandated as part of S2.
• A proposal to use banked cap of $756,499, and a health care adjustment of $919,730. The use of the banked cap and the health care adjustment is proposed as part of an effort to show the state that the district is doing everything it can and use every resource it has to adequately fund the education of its students, Edwards said. Dalton said that has been a consistent message from state officials, that its attempts to fight the state aid cuts will be bolstered by showing the district is doing all it can to meet the state's adequacy figure. Edwards said the adequacy number has risen significantly over the last 10 years, while state aid has remained flat.
• A projected reduction in medical claims of $1.6 million based on the opening of a wellness clinic in the district
• A potential reduction of 48 staff positions: 31 general education teachers, 15 special ed teachers, 5 custodians, 5 teacher aides. In 2018-19, the district cut 47 positions, including 23 teacher aide positions, 18 of those were by layoffs. Sean Cranston, the district's head of human resources, said it was too soon to know how many of the potential cuts would occur through retirements and attrition.
• An increase in class sizes to 27 students at the younger grades, and larger class sizes in the middle and high schools.
• Changes to the special education program that director Kristen Hanson expects will save the district $500,000 because students educated out of district would be able to return and be in district.

The video from the board meeting is below. The budget discussion begins at the 45-minute mark and lasts about an hour.

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