Budget Q&A With School Superintendent Richard Kuder

On April 27 Wyckoff residents will take to the voting booths to voice their opinions on the proposed $35.9 million school budget which would represent a $156 property tax increase based on the average assessed home value of $810,000 in the township.

The passage of the school budget is far from a sure thing in Wyckoff, where the budget has been narrowly defeated in three of the last five years. Indeed School Superintendent Richard Kuder has been making frequent rounds in recent weeks, holding a series of Q&A sessions hoping to educate residents on what's in the budget and why he believes it's critical it receive voter support next week.

PATCH: What types of questions or concerns have you been hearing from residents as you've had your budget Q&A sessions in recent weeks.

KUDER: People have asked why the voting hours are the way that they are. the impact of the budgets that haven't passed in the past five years that's a pretty impactful slide when you look at over a million dollars has been lost for a net savings to the taxpayers of $178 and trying to work with taxpayers to understand the issue that if people vote their conscience and if they have to vote the budget down for economic reasons then we respect those choices. But a no vote on the budget does set the school district back.  At a meeting that I was at recently the idea of how to work with extended programs like extended kindergarten or an enhanced world language program came up but those programs are difficult to implement if the budgets go down and you don't have the money to do it. So there is a real significant dollar amount that comes out of the budget based on those no votes.

PATCH: So by being proactive with having these scheduled Q&A meetings ahead of the vote you're hoping to accomplish what?

KUDER: To educate people about the budget..what's in it and what we're trying to accomplish because we're really trying to accomplish some good things in the coming budget year with lowering class size, with addressing some curriculum issues. We're really trying to hit those things hard in this budget and we have about $375,000 worth of teachers and aids in the budget to take on that and if budgets go down we really can't take on that. Can we provide education to the families in Wyckoff? Yes. But is it the education the parents want and we as a Board and the Superintendent want?  It's not the ideal version of it.

PATCH: From the feedback you've gotten so far are you optimistic it will pass next week.

KUDER: I'm always optimistic. I'm an optimistic person. I think we've gotten the message out to our parents and to the community. We recently did a community survey and I think people believe the school are a vital part of this community. Vital schools are good for everyone. Parents and residents who have had children in the schools realize it helps build strong communities and of course property values are related to the quality of the school district.

PATCH: What's been the single biggest concern you've heard relating to the budget as April 27th approaches.

KUDER: I don't know if there's any one particular thing people have pointed out as a negative. I think the negativity that we've heard has been really a recognition of a difficult economy in the nation and in New Jersey that money is tight and that there are more people out of work today that there were five years ago and while there are glimmers of hope in a recovering economy things are still tough for people. But overall I think our budget reflects that we run a pretty efficient system here. We have a lot of fixed costs. The variable costs are only about 13 percent of the budget so we try to maximize that as much as absolutely possible.