Patch Chat: Shelly Lombard, President of the Montclair School Board

After many months of often contentious debate, the Montclair Board of Education passed a $110 million spending plan early in 2011, a budget that included serious cost reductions but avoided the closing of schools that had been on the table. The budget decreased the school tax rate by 1.4 percent, saving the town's average household $131 a year. But it stripped most classroom aides of their health benefits.

What does this next year hold? Patch talked with Board President Shelly Lombard about what may be in store for Montclair residents and students.

Q) Last year a number of number of committees were formed to study cost-cutting measures. Are those committees still around and still meeting?

A) The revenue group is still meeting and is still active and looking for sponsorships. We'll hear a report from them on Oct. 17. We'll also hear from the group about the idea of bringing more special education students back into the district. The budget finance committee is still meeting. The transportation committee is a bit on hold because we have a restructuring consultant who will be looking at the whole district to see how we could do things more efficiently.

Q) So tell us about this consultant. What will he be looking at?

A) The consultant is looking at the district to see how we could do things more effectively. Are magnets the right configuration? Are start times right? Should we still have this magnet or that magnet? So the transportation committee is on hold for now. We just put an RFP out and we'll have to make a decision. This may not impact this next year but future years. The consultant will look at why some magnets are more popular than others.

Q) Has the budget process already started and how's it going to go?

A) Typically the budget process doesn't start in earnest until January. We started early last year. It can really start whenever you want it to start.

Q) Do you think the process will be as contentious this year as last year?

A) Will the problems be the same? Yes, quite frankly. The ratables in town are down dramatically. State aid is always a question mark. Don't know where the charter school will go. And then there are our reserves. We were forced last year to dig deeper into our reserves so we don't have as much in our reserves this year. So the problems are the same but I'm hoping things won't be as contentious this year. And I don't know what the consultant will come up with.

Q) I'm sure you are hoping the atmosphere will be less heated.

A) I hope that people have gotten the message that this is one district. We need to make the district as a whole better. The consultant will look at why certain people clamor to get into one or two schools and not the others. They'll look at what we need to do to make the whole district more event and equitable.

Q) What do you want to focus on this next year?

I want to focus more on investing in education and less about cutting. It's all about allocating resources better. Money is so scarce that I hate to cut away at every school. I don't know if we'll have the issue of school closings this year. Certainly no one is advocating closing schools. But I don't know. We'll present numbers and see what we're faced with. We'll see what the consultant comes up with. Last year's financial challenges will be the same this year though.

Q) How's the high school doing? I know you were very focused on the high school last year.

A) Hopefully changes at the high school will continue to be more substantive. [Principal James] Earle is trying to improve the small learning communities and to expand them. He has a tutoring program where teachers are using free periods to tutor students. That's the kind of stuff we want to see more of.

Q) What did you learn from last year's contentious budget process?

A) I want to avoid what we had last year ... where people got upset ... people were parading in and out of [Superintendent Dr. Frank] Alvarez' office ... it was hard for him to get everything done. It's important for the board and community to step back and look at the district as a whole. Last year voices were so loud about preserving certain things that no one could look at things in a rational manner.

Q) I know the district has a new food service company. How is the quality of the food?

A) I think quality is going up. We made it clear that this was a date and not a marriage. We wanted the food to be healthier. What we really need to see from them is results in nutritional value. Anecdotally I've heard good things.

Q) What do you think will happen with the school tax rate this next year?

A) I know people want to focus on quality instruction. We have not looked at numbers yet. We don't know if a 0 percent tax increase is realistic this year. The tax base is eroded more. I'm not sure 0 percent is realistic this year.

Q) What do you think about the charter school? The state is currently considering a fourth application this month from the founders of the Quest Academy charter high school.

A) I think this one is a bad idea for Montclair. People say it doesn't increase costs but it really does ... 90 percent of money travels with students and 10 percent stays with the district. But most of the costs remain with the district. If a few kids leave the public school school algebra class to attend the charter school, we still have to keep the algebra teacher. Almost all of our costs remain. The other issue I have is about the quality of this charter school. This is the fourth application. How many do-overs can you have? You can't have do-overs with kids?

Q) Finally, do you think there's a chance the classroom aides will get their health benefits back?

A) That could very well be part of a negotiation. If it's something the [Montclair Education Association] wants reinstated, they will bring it up. The board probably won't put it on the table but maybe they will. So we'll see what happens.