School District Talks Strategy to Get Budget Passed

Parents and teachers strategized with school administration on how to get the budget passed at the monthly Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) meeting at Lanoka Harbor Elementary School.

“It’s so critical you go out and support this budget and get as many people to support it as you can because the opposition between the governor and the state and the people who are advocating certain things are looking to remove opportunities,” Superintendent Richard Starodub said to the group.

Starodub showed a dramatic PowerPoint presentation stressing the and highlighting school district statistics in comparison to the county and state.

The theme of the presentation was, “What lies behind us matters but what lies ahead of us really matters.”

Major points included 54 students scored a perfect 300 on the NJASK; the administrative salary is 13 percent lower than the state average; the township has the most nationally certified teachers in the county; and the district was one of 13 out of 600 throughout the state that took a salary freeze, saving 34 positions.

“It was really stuff that we weren’t aware of at all. The facts blew me away. When I saw it in black and white, it was really shocking,” Toni Annpyle, a parent at Lanoka Harbor Elementary School said.

The presentation had many aha moments for another parent, Sal Armato, who did not know the statistics behind the district’s salary freeze.

“Knowing what the whole school actually gave up to save peoples jobs. I was very impressed,” Armato said.

The presentation also called upon the governor to freeze health care increases in response to salary freezes across the state.

Starodub frowned upon the state cuts as the school district took a 4.6 million cut in state aid last year.

“Where is the money going,” Starodub said. “There are people looking to reduce opportunities for your sons and daughters and the future students of this town because they don’t understand.”

Starodub challenged each member of the PTO to bring two people to the polls that they are unsure would vote otherwise.

“There aren’t a lot of people who come out and vote for the budget,” Annpyle said. “But it’s for our kids future.”

Only 14 to 18 percent out of approximately 17,000 registered voters in Lacey Township come out to vote, Business Administrator James Savage said. Starodub estimated that 1,400 of those voters automatically vote no without any knowledge of the budget.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a vote against your children,” Starodub said. “If somebody is a no voter, at least they should be an informed no voter.”

If the budget fails and the township committee makes cuts, the Board of Education will first look to implement a Pay-to-Play program, in which all students involved in co-curricular activities would pay a fee, Starodbu said.

Members of the PTO also discussed sending out reminders to vote through e-mail and door-to-door stops.

“We’re at a point now where just the presence of parents can make a statement,” Starodub said.

The Board of Education will also be making community visits. Each year the board visits senior communities like Pheasant Run.

But the senior citizens are not necessarily the missing votes, Savage said.

“The bigger issue is that parents don’t come out to vote,” Starodub said.

After a $4.6 million cut last year, there was an increase of $612,488 in projected state aid for 2011-12.

The spending total has increased by $2,418,227 within an overall budget of $68,886,794.

The Board is proposing no layoffs or cuts in programs as well as the implementation of a new math curriculum with staff training and technology upgrade for the Lacey Township Middle School.

“The future looks bright for my children and I like that,” Armato said. “This is one of the few organizations that puts the children first.”

A public hearing on the school district's budget is scheduled for March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lacey Township High School Lecture Hall.

The Board of Education’s PowerPoint presentation will be made available on the district’s website in April. It will also be shown on the local television channel.

For more information on the Board of Education’s proposed budget read “.”

For information on voting, click .

Check back at Lacey Patch to get more local reaction on the Board of Education’s proposed budget.