During a special meeting of the Board of Education, held in the High School library on Sunday afternoon (March 21), Superintendent of Schools Alan Fegley laid out his response to the news, received from the state on late on Wednesday, that Haddonfield will not receive any state aid for the 2010-11 school year.
The loss of $1.5 million in state aid will be met through a combination of cuts in expenditures, increases in non-tax revenues, and increases in property taxes.
The cuts that Fegley detailed would be in addition to those that were proposed prior to Wednesday's announcement.
Administration
– Cut 2.5 senior administrators
– Cut 3 additional secretarial positions, for a total of 4 in the Board office and all school buildings
– Cut 1.5 maintenance positions
– Cut 1 buildings and grounds position
(Note: These are not custodial positions. The district is proposing to award a private contract for custodial services; the anticipated savings are already factored in.)
– Cut 1 clerk position
Special Education
– Cut 0.5 positions
– Reduce services during the summer from 6 weeks to 4
– Cut contract services by $25,000
Athletics
– Cut all High School freshman sports
– Cut Middle School basketball
High School
– Cut 1 guidance position
– Cut 0.5 physical education position
– Cut 1 English teacher (eliminate either freshman writing or some electives)
– Cut 1 history teacher (eliminate some electives such as Holocaust and Vietnam and some AP courses)
Middle School
– Cut 1 guidance position
– Cut 0.25 physical education position
– Cut 2 6th grade teaching positions (Result: class size will increase to 27 or 28)
Elementary Schools
– Cut Reading Recovery program = 2 positions
– Cut 2.5 teaching positions (in addition to 1 already planned)
– Cut 1 social worker position
– Transfer responsibility for health education from nurses to physical education teachers
Fegley said that although the amounts to be cut varied considerably from unit to unit (for example, the Middle School compared to the High School), but the proportion proposed to be cut from each unit would be about the same.
Additional revenue could come from a variety of sources:
– $58,000 from the "fund balance" (reserves)
– $60,700 from extraordinary aid for special education (perhaps)
– $15,000 from increased extracurricular activity fees ($75 per student and $125 per family at the Middle School; $125 per student and $200 per family at the High School)
– $171,00 from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal economic stimulus) funds for special education
– $20,000 from charges for custodial services for all non-school uses of school facilities on weekends
– $20,000 from charges for use of facilities by Haddonfield Child Care
Total reductions = $2,134,000
Total additional revenue = $345,000
Total needed = $2,479,000
Tax levy = 2.53%
To download a copy of the Superintendent's PowerPoint presentation, click on "Documents," the bottom navigation bar on the left side of the home page.
