Verona Residents Oppose School Supply Cuts

The Verona Board of Education announced that they were cutting the line item for school supplies by three percent in the 2013-2014 budget, prompting discontent among the attending residents.

“With all this discussion of cuts in the supply line budget it seems to me we are not really cutting supplies,” said resident Virginia Citrano. “We are just cutting the money from the taxpayer pocket and shifting it to the mom pocket.”

“We are still being asked to buy these things but I'm still buying them with my personal dollars as opposed to my tax dollars,” she added, saying she has had to buy $150 calculators in the past which was only used for one month.

Verona resident Meredith Goldstein approached the board and said she has also been asked to send in paper towels, tissues, hand sanitizers and wipes for the desks.

“These are things that could be bought in bulk,” she opined. “I don't mind, but I sometimes question we really don't have enough money in the budget for paper towels and tissue?”

The short answer from Board President John Quattrocchi: “We don't.”

However, “that doesn't take away our responsibility to provide those things,” he added. “We should not be asking parents to pay for things that the Board of Ed. is supposed to pay for.”

We do everything possible to try not to make that three percent cut, said Forte.

“A majority of the budget is funding staff salaries and benefits which includes over a million dollars in mandated taxes and costs,” said Forte. “Healthcare continues to stretch the budget, that's an 11 percent increase. If we have a 2 percent cap to work under thats obviously a difficult thing to do.”