Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting of the Board of Education to order. Mr. Schimp, can you please call the roll? Dr. Braddock. Okay, thank you. Miss Cummings. Here. Dr. Dreisen. Mr. Greenbaum here. Here, virtually. Ms. Manzano here. Ms. Palmer. Here, Miss Stern. Here. Ms. Winters.
Here. Thank you. Public notice of this meeting pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on March 19, 2026, in the following manner. Posted notice on the school bulletin Board at the administration building, posted on the Board's official website, transmitted to the clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please be advised, this meeting is being recorded and live streamed. all rise, and please join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
We are going to start our meeting tonight with the best part first. It's like having dessert before dinner. We have board recognition, and I'd like to call Mr. Burrough up to the podium. Thank you very much. It's been a great day so far. We were out at the West Stadium and the brand new turf is getting rolled out, so we're super excited about that. All the fencing's done, they promised.
like all construction companies are going to be on time, and we should be ready to go by next week with a brand new, uh, just about West Stadium there with the upgraded stuff, so we're really excited about that. Our winter sports were highlighted by some really cool things that we've been doing. First, we do the positive Coaching Alliance student workshop. We did that in December. Their mantra is better athletes, better people, and we take one sophomore and one junior from every winter team, and we provide them with some, uh, training on skills and tools that make them a better teammate, and hopefully transition them to be a future captain of our teams.
We also have the Athletic Leadership Committee, and that's one junior, one senior from every team across both East and West. Uh, and this month, our focus was Morgan's message. Morgan's message emphasized the importance of creating a positive, healthy experience of women's athletics by prioritizing athlete well-being. The focus is on building a culture where female athletes feel valued, supported and empowered both on and off the field. And we just had. a whole lot of our games, and you'll see some of our women's games. They have the Morgan's message game, where they each read a little piece, and they talk about the power of positivity.
Um, this… we just… another tremendous season by our athletic programs at the middle school, uh, we had two really good, uh, girls teams at, uh, Rosa and Beck. Uh, the Karusi wrestling team had a very successful season, finishing 10-3, and reached the semifinals of the South Jersey Middle School Championships. at the high school level, uh, we're here tonight to recognize four really successful, outstanding group of young people, but I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about some of the great other accomplishments that we had this winter. First was, this is the first time ever.
That we had a Cherry Hill Girls wrestling team. It was combined East and west, and we had one dual meet, and it was just tremendous. The girls were so excited. It was entertaining to watch, and they had a lot of success on the mat, and we did a boys and a girls dual meet at the same time, just a really great positive energy in the gyms. This season, we had Taylor Park from our girls team, Gene Park, principal at Russell Knight. His daughter, she's a freshman at East. She finished second at districts, fourth in the regions to advance to the state championships in LA City Boardwalk Hall.
Him and I actually wrestled against each other in high school, so I know he was super excited about, um… about her joining wrestling and having a great, great year. So, that was fun. And then for the boys, uh, wrestling, Clayton Tyson is a 11th grader from West. He actually was… took first place in districts, finished second at Regions, and finished in the top 12. at the NJSA State Championships in Atlantic City. And for Cherry Elise, Dom Canzano, who's our heavyweight, he finished second at Regions, and he also finished in the top 12 at the NJSA State Championships. And Dom actually just committed to Kutztown University about two weeks ago, and he is going to play football there.
Uh, once again, our West Girls Basketball had another outstanding season. Last year, they graduated 4 out of their 5 starters, um, and they still came back with new, fresh faces, and were the number one seed in Group 3, and we actually hosted the Group 3 sectional final. Didn't turn out the way it was, the way that we wanted, but I do think that being the energy and excitement in that gym that day was just, um, was awesome to be a part of. And then finally, I always say, like, the number one determinant for the success of any program is one person, and it's the head coach. You know, uh, East girls basketball had their best season at 15 years. They upset Atlantic City in the NJSA playoffs.
And just had a phenomenal year with tons of success. Uh, because of this, Mike Mancinelli, the head girls basketball coach at Cherry Hill East, was named the New Jersey basketball Coaches Association, Camden County Coach of the Year. So we're super excited for Mike. So just another outstanding season by our athletes, and let's get started to the… to the teams here that were recognized. So, we're going to start off with our head girls coach from East Swimming, Coach Anita Bowser.
Hello, everybody. First want to thank you for recognizing my team. These girls work really hard day in and day out, and they never cease to amaze me. We had a wonderful season. We went 10 and 4. We got third in the Invitational, and we made… we… On our 10th sectional final, or sectional title, and we made it to the state final second year in a row. So it's been a a really great season, and I have these girls to thank for them.
You know, my beautiful girl. And congratulations to all the other teams that are being honored here tonight. Um, obviously doing something really special and great season. So I'm just going to call out my girls' names, and then you guys can just. follow through there. All right. Ava Barone. Danny Benzer? Johnny's here. Rebecca Gross.
I am Nicciardi. Georgia Mackie? In my… Julia Shogun. Chloe Shu? Madeline Taylor.
Noel, Tari? Leah Vogel? Molly Wakowski. Ellie, you? Lauren Rein my heart? Lenard Walsh. Aaron, oh, you are here.
I'm sorry. Aaron Brennan. Brian Hancock. Faith Kim? Layla Law often? Bar merch? Anna Sapana.
Laura Sullivan. Anna Wieckowski. Sylvia, Albuquerque? Sarah Bouche. Alexis Billy. Elizabeth Keating? Alex Socha. Julia Tari.
Elizabeth Zimmer. Regan Hancock? Ava Frank? Liliana Malabrada. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you.
All right. Next up. Sorry about that. Next up, we have coach Kuchenati from East Boys Swimming. Thank you, Mr. Burrell, and thank you to Dr. Morton, Dr. Burns, Dr. Birdie, and to the Board of Ed for recognizing us this year. Congrats to all the other teams on great seasons, you're a lot of fun to follow, you know, very, very polarizing, very, very exciting stuff.
And in the world of boys swimming, the Eastman's swim team went 11-2 this year. Uh, we obtained our 17th consecutive sectional championship for South Jerseys, that is. We had two relays finish in the top eight at Meet of Champions, and Luke Davis and Alexei Markov each placed in the top 8 of MENA Champions as well. Uh, you know, we love coming back here. We thank you for your support, and it's a privilege to represent Cherry Hill Swimming and Cherry Hill Public Schools. So with that, allow me to introduce to you the 2026 South Jersey Sectional Champions, the Cherry Hill East men's swim team.
Dimitri Antonov! Braden Barkley! Adam Billett. Connor Borelli. Ty Green! Ryan Moyer. Grant Muratori.
Alex Rounds! Matthew Summerling! Jerry Yu. Kyler Albrecht. Megan Dietz. Ellie Finer. Gavin Haney! Caleb Kim!
Dan Kramer. Alexei Markov! Luca Ritchie. Jack Shulligan! Ryan Stever! Ray Tao! Jacob Yerkes! Santiago and Dino. Lucas Becerra!
Henry Bernstein! Justin Kajoulis. Travis Coe. Matthew Conlon! Luke Davis, Zach Grossman, John Ludman. Johan Manu! Max Massett! Matthew Penaya! Matthew Redstock!
Luke William Wilkins! Gabe Wright. Evan Aki! Evan Ambler! Julian Beaver! Nathaniel Chang. Alex Chen… And Logan Watson.
Thank you. All right. Up next we have one of our, uh… Outstanding coaches, he's actually the head coach for Bullies Cross Country winter track and spring track. Mr. Matt El Muccio.
Well, I want to thank everybody so much for honoring our boys tonight, and congratulations to all the teams that are here. This was a very special for West. We've had at West Track, we've had a bunch of firsts on the past couple of years. But the best to the records that I could look through, and this is a first relay state title for West. Uh, and what's special about it is not only the two young men who earned the state title, but in order to do that, you have to be the best on that day, and they were at their best on that day, and it was.
It was extremely special, not only to the two of them, but to me. If anyone wants to see the video of these guys jump in, you won't see much, because I'm just screaming. It was special. But anyways, ours, 2 state champs in the high jump were supreme Stratford. Right? And Eliza Trish.
Thank you. We also have this plaque that we hang for all of our individual state champions. It'll be in the West… Uh, trophy case forever, so they can bring their kids and grandkids every come show, like, hey, that's me! Just an outstanding achievement by those young men. It's the first time it's ever happened, so, um, it's just tremendous, tremendous. All right, so from Karusi, we have Coach Larissa Kohler and Coach Shiloh Yursino.
As well as congrats to everybody else, just as everybody… Um, we are the coaches of Carusi's cheerleading team. So, Carissi's cheerleading team had another fantastic season this year. They were undefeated in their division, taking first place at every competition they had attended. First up was the battle on the mat in Secaucus, where the girls took first place, the title of Grand Champions. and earn a bid to the Cheer Movement Nationals and Wildwood. The team then attended the cheer movement for the first time ever this year, and we had took. We had took first place grand champions and a bid to nations champ in Orlando, Florida. While we are not able to take them to Florida, they did compete the very next day at the pot of gold in Wilmington, Delaware, once again earning first place in a full paid bid to spirit extreme nationals.
This took place this past Sunday, and once again, they had taken first place, leaving them undefeated in their entire season. We are so incredibly proud of each and every one of you. It's been a long season. The girls have put in countless hours of practice after school and on the weekends. They've overcome endless illnesses and injuries. They survived numerous routine changes and team member losses. and still came out on top. What a season, girls.
We hope you're… We hope that you're as proud of yourselves as we are of you. Go Mustangs! I'm gonna take half the stack. She's gonna take the other half. Isla Mia Karstarpan.
So Ella Cloud? Finley Frost. Quinn Nylan? Emery Price. Emily Riley.
Amaya Williams. Layla Allen. Gabriella Bayona. Carla Clark. Angelina Cordero.
Genevieve Dinger. Mm-hmm. Nina Germanovich. I never say these things right. I'm sorry. Lucy Krushchenko. Hannah Levenberg.
Yanni Malmatos. May fam. Gianna Polito. You're welcome. Sloanitya.
Ava Benton. Gabriella Gonzalez Santiago. pneumonia horeatis. Zoe Landolph.
Emily Laskowski. Mariah McDonald. Vanya Ma. Lily Mazur. Callie Ortiz.
Benny Sims. And our awesome managers, Grace, Desjardins, and Georgina Shohot. Thank you!
Congratulations, Karusi. And last but not least… head coach of our East Boys basketball team, Mr. Dave Allen. Thank you very much, I'm going to introduce our 2025-26. Cherry Hill East Boys basketball team. First, our managers, Jake Forstadt.
I don't know if the other ones are here, or they're watching. Greg Olyarchick. Carter or Lurchick. Judah and Eve. And then our sophomore player, Scott Barrett.
Avi Niogi. Aiden Sorpong? Jason Mayo? all-conference player Justin Farber.
Uh, this next kid is a really, really good player, and he got injured, uh, 12 games into our season. He had two goals. Uh, his first goal… I don't know what the order was, we had two goals, and one of his goals was to win, uh… South Jersey Group 4, the other one was scored a thousand points, and he got hurt halfway through the season. And then he realized that he wasn't going to reach one of his goals, and he just decided to become the greatest teammate in South Jersey. They say good good teams have good players, great teams have great teammates and he became one of the greatest teammates we've ever had. Jameson Young.
Jayden Green. a great addition to our team, and really helped us, particularly in the playoffs, succeed. singer Noah Johnson. the epitome of, uh, that… It's better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity, not be prepared for one. Another senior to help us in a great way. Ryan Olson.
Senior Bryant Lynn. for your player, to your starter, uh, one of our most valuable players, Noam Marciano. One of our 1,000 point scorers, all-conference player, one of the best players to ever play at Cherry Elise. Chris Delgado.
And we got a we got some great news today around, uh… During homeroom, during lunch break one, uh… One of the kids walked in and said, did you see the news? And it just kind of just broke me up. And he said that Chris Abreu is courier post player of the year. Chris Abreu.
Uh… I just think it's an honor for us to, and I'm glad we… I'm glad we… Uh, we go last because I don't let our guys leave, not to knock on it, it's just an honor to be here. It's not common for us to get here. It took us 10 years to get here last year. And it's just an honor to be here and have an opportunity to be acknowledged by the Board of Education and Central Administration. We have a lot of sayings in our program. One I've already said about Ryan Olson, but we also talk about perpetual optimism being a force multiplier. We also talk about the magics in the work.
But at the end of every single practice and every single game, we come around in a circle. And everyone on the team has to say something positive about someone else. and at the end. We all get together, and it could be one player, it could be Noam or Chris or Jameson. One of them will say team. And as a group, in unison, we say together, we say team together. team together team together. And… I don't know if those mottos help us win or not, but we've always wanted them to know.
that what we're doing here is bigger than just them. And that we're going to need everybody to get this done. And, you know, over the course of our run. You know, uh, after we won a few Fridays ago against Lennon P, I got a text message from a player from 1977. I got text messages from… people who just moved into town and came to the game. Athletics and extracurricular activities a lot of ways is the way the community can view the school.
And I don't think there's a better example of the way this team performed this year, how everybody involved. We… and we need it in terms of… the administration that we had Mike Burrell. Nina Barati today, I asked her for a favor and she did it. Dr. Morton, entire Board of Education, all of central administration. We can never have more gratitude. Here. But and I it's an honor to coach basketball here.
But I can tell you this, the day that my supervisor called me in and said, I'm going to have you teach social skills. At the time, I didn't know how life changing it would be for my career. And what we've been able to do in that position, and it's not me. It's been what these guys have been able to do. If athletics is a way to view the community. what you don't see is what these guys do over the course of the day for our students, and not just our kids. They've been the the models of it. But then our swimming teams and our our baseball teams and all the athletes and other kids.
Uh, three years ago, we started a program, the district started a program for neurodiverse kids on the autism spectrum. And with low incidence disabilities. And the way they've been embraced by the community. They're some of the most popular kids in the school. And I tell these guys all the time, you are changing these kids' lives and their families' lives, because when you leave, they may stay till they're 21 and their lives will not be the same as yours once you leave here. So when we ended the game. We had all the kids run out on the floor.
We had our countrymen taking pictures. But the thing that stood out to me the most was those guys got around in a circle. With one of my students… with one of my students… Hey, Twan, you ready? Come on. With one of my students here. Come up, Twan. And they got around in a circle. Come here real quick, buddy. And they got around in a circle. And they celebrated with him. And that's one of the most memorable things that I got out of that celebration.
There's never, uh, you know, we won. But when I saw the countrymen take a picture of it with the trophy, and I watched. Former players grab the trophy and said, we wanted this, we lost it in 20, we lost it in 22, and now we got one. I think our students. who are at Cherry Hill East and C102 are just as much a part of our victory and our community as any other kids in the school. So I want to thank you again and acknowledge Tuan Tai.
Thank you very much.
Congratulations, guys. I think I need a minute to recover from that. That was definitely the best part of the meeting. said dessert before dinner, kind of jokingly, but… really… It's really centering for me to see all the kids celebrate their victories, because that's the reason that we're all here.
So speaking of the kids, we have. Well, young adults, I suppose, now a couple months from graduation. Not that they're counting. Um, we are going to go to student. Representative reports. Dr. Braddock, you're online, but you're gonna have to tell me, am I starting… I think I'm starting with West. He's smiling at me. I can't hear you. Give me an east or West. You start? Can you hear me this time? Oh. Uh, two year. It'd be…
East. Am I wrong? How? East. Milana. Is it all right? How about now? Can you hear me now on there? I don't, listen, I don't remember. It's like. I said West, I just want to say. Alright, I'm just gonna overrule it and be the board president here and go with High School West, because East is telling me that it's been them a few times in a row. They're being generous, and I appreciate that. Take it away, Milana.
Can you hear me? Okay, perfect. Good evening, everyone. Congratulations to all these amazing sports teams for today's report, I will start off with our school updates. Seniors just went on their senior trip last week, visiting Universal Universal Orlando and Disney World. Everyone had so much fun. Attention, juniors, if you are looking to attend Disney next year, the early deposit window has already opened. Our school will be holding our annual Multicultural Day this Thursday in the auditorium. Our Arabic culture association, African American Culture Club, Asian Culture Club.
Latinos at West and Italian Club will have an educational tables and performances. Multicultural Day performance rehearsals take place on Wednesday and the periods before. Thank you to all of our performers. West Jrotc color guard team will be presenting the colors at an upcoming Flyers game. We are excited to offer 30 tickets to the West community. First come, first serve. We held our annual Pi Day competition on 3.3 Friday the 13th. A student won reciting well over 100 digits of pi.
Thank you to the Cherry Hill Education Foundation for donating a new Wesley the Line costume. Our school spirit is off the charts now. Now with academics. Our Model UN team attended Hadmon in Haddonfield this past Saturday. It's very well organized, and our delegates had a blast. Juniors took the NJGPA on March 16, 17th, and 18th with motivation from our staff. We held a junior-only pep rally the day prior to locking the students in, and motivated them with pretzels, icy pops, and candy. Research and science students, an elective at West competed in the Choreal Science Fair. Congratulations to our six winners in multiple categories, such as microbiology, medicine and health, engineering and physics, and behavioral and social sciences. They also held a science fair at West at night on March 12th.
to display their projects to the community. As for athletics, our girls basketball team made it all the way to sectional finals on Saturday, March 7th, losing to eventual state champions Morristown. We are so proud of our girls for another great season. Spring sports such as golf, boys volleyball, track, and baseball are starting. Preseason scrimmages have begun, and the regular season starts next week. TRAC will no longer be having dual meets, only joint meets from now on. And as previously mentioned before today, our turf is being redone and it should be completed soon.
As for West Arts, members of the SUFS cast and crew performed at Paulsdale for Women's History Month. They were able to visit and tour the Alice Paul Center as well. Students from all of West Arts classes were able to attend the Teen Arts Festival held at Camden County College on Thursday, March 19th. West Arts will be hosting its upcoming Superintendent Art Show this Thursday at 5 o'clock. As you walked into the building for tonight's meeting, the artwork that you saw. That was all part of West Creative Students. Our Ender Marching band competed at Cinnamentson High School this past Saturday, taking home second place and competing their best performance of the season. Their upcoming competition is the Region 1 Championships on April 26th. We wish them luck!
and that would wrap up our March report. Thank you so much. Turning now to High School East. Starting off with academics, the College Board sat was administered at East during the morning on Saturday, March 14th and East Junior sat the NJGBA testing cycle from March 16th through March 18th. We are proud of the effort and dedication each student demonstrated. And all the grades operated on a delayed opening during testing, providing some much-needed rest. moving on to activities throughout the month. The activities department has been running a March Madness style competition to determine once and for all what the best snack food is among the East population. Today was Cheez-Its versus Ritz crackers and Skittles versus Sour Patch Kids.
which Cheez-Its and Sour Patch Kids won as they should. The final winner will be announced on Tuesday the 31st. In other news, East SGA ran its annual bingo competition from March 10 to 12th. Numbers were announced before each class period, and students across the building competed for a range of exciting prizes. On March 3 through 5th, students in DECA competed at the state-level competition. 45 East students won award and qualified for ICDC, the international level competition, which will be held in April in Atlanta, Georgia. These speech teams competed in the district-level competition on March 13th and 14th. Two students won awards. This past weekend, they competed in the championships, and seven students won awards. Congratulations to all competitors.
East Model UN attended a conference at Haddonfield Memorial High School this past Saturday, the 21st. Out of the 40 students who participated, two served as guest chairs and 10 won awards. Also on the 21st, East History Bowl teams competed at the Princeton Regionals at Princeton University. Both teams did very well and qualified for nationals. on March second, several of our cultural clubs, including the Chinese Students Association, the Vietnamese Culture Club, the Korean Culture Club, and the Filipino Culture Club hosted a Lunar New Year celebration. All the clubs involved sold food and hosted games and activities traditional to their cultures.
East held its biannual biannual blood drive on March 4th and 5th. Thank you to the 195 students, teachers, and members of the community who donated. Also, a huge thank you to all the student volunteers who ensure the blood drive process ran seamlessly. The annual senior trip to Disney and Universal ran from March 13th to March 18th. About half of the senior class went and enjoyed a fun, relaxing, and magical week with friends. On Thursday, March 26th, EAST will be holding its annual Multicultural Day. Seven of our amazing cultural clubs have been hard at work preparing dance performances that reflect their culture and heritage. Additionally, all 21 culture clubs will be running booths throughout the day with traditional games, art, and most importantly, food.
The performances will also be running during Parent Night tomorrow at 7pm. Any and all members of the community are welcome to come check it out. It really is one of the best events held at East. Moving on to athletics, we are extremely proud of East Winthor sports teams for finishing their season strong. In particular, as we say, congratulations to the boys basketball team on avenging crosstown rival Lenape in the Group 4 Sectional Championship by a score of 57-52. The atmosphere in each of the BART gym was palpable, with each student section remaining on their feet the entire game and bringing a constant electric energy that pushed the team forward.
Though the season ended during the state semifinals against Montgomery, we are proud of the team's success and the community they built around their run. Senior forward Chris Delgado and junior guard Chris Abreu will be competing in the D2 Sports Network All-Star Game, which is a showcase featuring many of South Jersey's top players. A major congratulations to the girls swimming team, too, on defeating Egg Harbor 91-79 in the Group 4 sectional finals and advancing to the state championship after defeating Passaic Tech 88-82 in the state semifinals.
We are also proud of the boys swimming team for securing another group for sectional championship before falling to Hillsboro in the state semifinals. Congratulations to the hockey team as well, which comprises mostly East players on the feeding mainland in a sectional championship by a score of 6-4. With the conclusion of winter sports, practices and scrimmages for spring sports are now underway. We wish all of our spring athletes a healthy and successful season ahead. And finally, with arts footloose, the spring musical ran 6 successful shows at the beginning of the month, with 600 to 800 tickets sold per show. Congratulations to all the talented students in the cast, crew and pit orchestra who made the show a success. Also, a huge thank you to the parent and community volunteers in the theater boosters for making the production possible.
The jazz band has begun their festival season with a competition at Westchester University on the 21st. Congratulations to the band for winning first place overall with a rating of superior. They also won the Best Saxophones and Best Rhythm Section Awards, and soloist gold medals were awarded to pianist Daniel Cesare and bassist Lucas Ortega. The second festival was today in Berks, Pennsylvania, with results to come soon. And finally, as a final note, we are excited to announce that as of today, juniors Chloe Wren and Elias Kang have been selected as the Board of Ed Student Representatives for the 26-27 school year. And that is all. Thank you.
Well, that is so exciting, although it'll be sad to see you guys go. Can't believe it. The year is flying by. Thank you so much. Thank you to both high schools. It's good to hear the updates. So, our next item on the agenda… is going to be our administrative presentation that Mr. Schimp is going to provide. But before we start, I just want to give a little context, because I see that we have a lot of people who have joined us for this meeting tonight, and maybe some of them. I've not attended a meeting like this before, so I just want to sort of clarify where we are in the budget process, since I think that's probably why everybody is here, not for some of the other really exciting stuff on our agenda. So last week we had a special meeting, and Mr. Schimp gave us sort of an overview of the budgetary outlook in the district.
what, um, what things looked like, the big picture kind of items. So tonight is the presentation on our tentative budget adoption, and that means just what it says. This is the tentative budget. We are required to submit it to the county superintendent. This week is the deadline. So the board is going to hear the presentation of the superintendent's recommendations for this budget. This is not the final budget adoption. That happens at the end of April. So we're sort of midway through the process right now. And if you're wondering, does the board ever change the budget between the tentative budget adoption and the final? We do, and it happens in my time on the board, which is fairly recent. I've only been here for 4 years.
So, that's where we are tonight, and we're going to receive the presentation. We will have an agenda item later in the agenda to adopt the tentative budget so that we can meet the statutory deadline to send it to the county superintendent. But this is not the end of the budget process, so I just wanted everybody to sort of understand where we are. This is a checkpoint, but not the finale. So with that, I'm going to ask Mr. Schimp to take it away. Thank you, Miss Winters. You. took all of my opening remarks, but I appreciate the, uh… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to steal your thunder. That's okay.
That's okay. So like Ms. Winter said, we're here this evening to discuss and present the 26-27 tentative district budget. Again, this is a tentative adoption, so what this does is the board will be asked to take action this evening that will allow the district to then submit this budget to the executive county superintendent and Business Administrator for their technical review. of our spending plan, of which then we'll get through some Q&A with them and some back and forth and additional documentation and things they typically request.
uh, getting approval from them, and then that will lead us into our public hearing and final adoption, which is currently scheduled for April 28th. And like Ms. Winter stated. There's an opportunity between now, March 24th and April 28th for the public to speak their mind and contribute their thoughts at our upcoming public meetings during the month of April, as well as obviously at the. public hearing on the 28th of April.
get this to work. So last week, or last Thursday, the goal was to really lay out the the fiscal reality of what the Cherry Hill Public School District is facing in the upcoming school year. So this is not, or those weren't unique challenges, like I said last Thursday to necessarily Cherry Hill, although we do have some unique. situations taking place. But as you start to see, and as I continue to review other school districts' budgets as they come out, and you may see on NJ.com or other news outlets.
that districts throughout the State are experiencing the same types of cost drivers that we are here in Cherry Hill. In addition to that, they're also being asked to operate under the 2% levy cap framework. Um, and they're also dealing with extraordinary cost increases to their health benefit and prescription plans. One that we are also not immune to. So I wanted to again go over and make sure everybody is clear on what an exhaustive effort putting a school budget together is. This year being new to Cherry Hill.
I found it and honestly, the last going back and watching some of your meetings for the last couple of years, a lot of what I'm about to say or what you heard me say last week shouldn't necessarily be shocking as a lot of these. concerns have been laid out over the last several years as the districts start, where the situation kind of flipped, right? We went from this chronically underfunded or state underfunded district. So all of a sudden being told through the formula that we were now overfunded, and we started losing state aid, and that was really the beginning.
of the situation that we find ourselves in here now. But I don't want you to believe that our only issue, financially speaking, that we… that we are encountering is state aid. State aid is a contributor. It is not necessarily the driver. of the situation we are in. We are experiencing challenges on both sides, from the revenue side and also on the expenditure side, but… Before I get ahead of myself, I do just want to say, so throughout this, being new to the district, like I said again, I thought it was an opportunity to challenge our, um…
school administrators to challenge our district-level administrators to challenge. Our department heads in building their budgets on a zero-based approach, meaning they're going to build their budgets from the ground up instead of. The typical incremental type budgeting, where you kind of look at your historical spending levels, and those numbers are typically just rolled over, um, and you're given your pot of money to operate within. What I tasked them with was I wanted them to take a very deep dive and hard look into the things they were doing and the way those funds were being spent, and determine whether or not they were providing as much value or value commensurate with the resources we're dedicating to them.
So I applaud all of our school administrators and all those involved in this process, and there are many people involved in this budget building process for taking that challenge seriously. Um, and put together line item requests with great detail, so that when it got to the administrative review level, we knew exactly what they were looking for, so I commend them for that. So I want you to know that once those budgets were also built and presented based on the timelines we provided within. our budgetary calendar. We began our administrative review, our central administrative review in about mid-January. That's when that started.
We started to conduct a rigorous internal review. So when I say that every line item and every justification that was placed within this budget was reviewed, I mean that sincerely. We took a look at everything. We looked at the programs, the services being requested, staffing levels. Um, and we ask questions and went back and forth with all of our our budget leads. I'll I'll refer to them as that refer to them as. But one thing became abundantly clear and wasn't necessarily shocking, but something that became very clear.
within the process, even before our revenues were finalized, is that we were dealing with a structural. budgetary problem. One that's not driven. by waste or necessarily inefficiencies, but is driven by the fact that our costs, or our fixed costs are, you know, the cost to provide the programs, services, and things that the community and the students are accustomed to are simply growing at a pace. that far exceeds our revenue. And mainly the key piece of that revenue is the tax levy. Again, the tax levy, and I'll get into this deeper.
covers a vast majority of our budgetary needs, and trying to operate. It's just… Honestly, at this point in time, it's it's not reasonable to suggest that a school district can operate under a 2% cap at the level that our our expenditures are growing. So to dive a little bit into some of the cost drivers before I get into the revenue side again, like I stated last week. There really are 4 main areas that are driving these cost increases, and the main one being.
The extraordinary increase to our employee health benefit programs. So, initially, in negotiations with our providers and this is also a process that begins with claims review, you know, for the prior 12 months period. So we typically start to gain some understanding of what type of increase we're looking at based on our claim history. In late January, early February. So again, very important information that is not at our disposal.
early on in this process, which is why we get to a point sometimes in March when we're tasking a board with adopting a tentative budget, you're hearing about some extraordinary circumstances that you should be hearing about early on in the process, but it's just the way schools have to develop their budgets. The other hard part with that, as far as the timelines go, is we don't receive our state aid figures until the governor provides their address, which is typically the end of February, but this year was in March due to the new governor coming in place.
So we didn't receive our state aid figures until, I believe it was March 12th. So as that was 12 days ago, right? And that's the final piece of this puzzle that we had to put together to really put a a final figure to what type of deficit we were looking at. So I thought that was important context to lay out. So again, with the with the rising employee health benefit costs, initial premium increases on our medical side were in the plus 26% neighborhood, which are just unheard of figures.
Uh, here, and 31% on our prescription plan. To put that in perspective, um, that was an increase. of over 12 million dollars just on our employee health benefit programs. Now, think about what I said earlier about dealing with the 2% property tax levy cap. 2% on the tax levy here at Cherry Hill is about $4 million. So before we even looked. At any of the other line items within our budget, we were already dealing with a substantial structural deficit, just based on our employee health benefit costs.
Add into that contractual contractual salary increases increased cost on transportation, which we dug into last Thursday a little more deeper, and the growing, um… demands and needs of our special education population. Again, cost associated with those are growing at paces that far exceed. That 2% on our tax levy. And… all 4 of these things, for the most part, these cost drivers.
are out of our control. There's very little that we can do. To rein these costs in, I mean, on the medical side, our claims are our claims. Um, we can certainly market our covers to find better levels, but when you market your health coverage, what the other providers are looking at is your claims history. Right? Um… Transportation costs, again, although fortunately capped at CPI, CPI this year being almost 3.6%, those add up here in Cherry Hill when you have a $20 million student transportation budget.
So again, these are all significant cost drivers. That unfortunately require very difficult decisions when it comes to balancing our appropriations with our revenues. Go back. So getting to the balancing part of the budget again pretty early on in this process. We identified a significant gap between what our projected or proposed revenues would be versus what our proposed appropriations were.
That was somewhere in the neighborhood of between $25 and $30 million originally, if we just factored in flat state aid before we received the 3% decrease. And just looking at different types of scenarios and options we would have on that tax levy. Again, the tax levy being the only real piece of revenue. that we have, um… some flexibility with in manipulating. So, what I spoke about last week is, in the administrative proposal to all of you, the budget that we're proposing that we believe best meets. the needs of our student population and staff, but also operating, obviously, within those cost constraints includes a significant increase to that tax levy, which I'll dive into a little deeper. So the important thing to note here is.
on top of proposing a very large increase to our homeowners. It also, even after that, we still had to make very difficult decisions and come up with reductions in neighborhood of 14 and a half million dollars. Again, by taking that deep dive and and really digging into all of our line items. you know, one of the first things, obviously, that we're looking at is, excuse me, looking at things that have the least impact, obviously, on the classroom and on those services we provide our students.
But at the same time, and I'll get into in a in a budget driven necessarily by labor, meaning we're a very labor intensive. industry where nearly 80% of our budget is salaries on our employees and the benefits associated with them. It's very difficult to find those types of reductions that we required without touching personnel. So the good news is we were able to identify about $8 million in non-personnel type reductions through our efforts in reviewing these line items and.
Again, like I said last week, those reductions. Aren't things that are wasteful or necessarily driving inefficiencies. They're things that we will feel across all levels of the district, whether it be in the classroom, on the athletic fields within our student transportation. We're going to feel those non-personnel reductions everywhere. Um, and again, of that 14 and a half, we were able to identify 8 million of those. Unfortunately, the other piece is that we had to start taking a hard look at personnel to really put together a balanced budget. So this budget, or proposed budget, does include about $6.5 million worth of personnel reductions. Of that that.
as we sit here today is approximately 72 full-time equivalent or full-time positions within the district. Those staffing reductions are being proposed at all levels of the organization, so they are not centered in any one school, one area, one department. These reductions will be seen across the board at all levels of the district. Um, and… you know, without fail, it's going to impact.
Each level of the operation, whether it be at the buildings and grounds level, in the classroom, as far as class sizes go, it's going to be seen in our support services, you know, things that aren't necessarily direct classroom instruction, but support the student and staff experience. Um, these reductions, again, are truly across the board type of cuts, and we're… were not made hastily. There were many different variations, and we've gone back and forth, whether it be administratively.
Um, and also at the board level. This is… this is. you know, a situation that we find ourselves in, and many, many difficult decisions, unfortunately, have to be made to put together and present a balanced budget. So this is just a breakdown of I'm going to focus mainly on the general fund or the operating side of our budget right now. This is just a breakdown of the general fund appropriations. Again, totaling about 259.5 million dollars, and you'll notice at the bottom, after I talked about all of those cost increases.
That's only a less than 1% increase to our operating budget. And that'll start to make more sense, obviously, that a lot of that has to do with the reductions we had to make, but you'll start to see on the… when I get to the revenue side. So what I tried to capture here is just based on several different department levels. So instruction, as you can see here, that's actual direct classroom instruction. It also includes our extracurricular and athletic. programs, uh, you know, this could be anything from classroom supply accounts to purchase educational services. Everything that has a direct impact on the student's education. Support services.
include really the other side of the organization. Again, so it gets back to including what this could be our attendance office, our nurse's office, our guidance counselors, our media specialists, um, related types. It could be speech, OT, PT. improvement of instructional services, or curriculum instruction office. Buildings and grounds, student transportation. Again, all of the operational-type things that aren't necessarily conducted or felt within the classrooms themselves. The tuition piece is just another pull out, so these are monies that the district pays to other school districts that our students may be attending, or private schools for the disabled, students placed in state facilities, things of that nature.
You can see the impact there. Administrative costs are the administrative costs are specific to our school administration, our superintendent's office. the business and human resources office, and then also our information technology office. So that's what the state classifies as school district administrative costs. I also then just broke out the employee benefits portion. So it's important to note if you're trying to do or put together a graph of how much money is going towards instruction, keep in mind. that the employee benefits line I have carved out here, a lot of that obviously has to do with our teaching staff.
Um, so if those costs were truly allocated to the teachers, the instructional side obviously would go up a lot. And then the capital outlay piece. So the capital outlay piece is just that, that those are capital projects or public works. contracts that the district funds. This is outside of the bond funds. Um, it also includes contributions that we may make from our capital reserve account towards the debt. Um, which I'll also get into.
So just a little just to dive a little bit further into the general fund appropriations. Like I said earlier, salary and benefits of our employees make up approximately 80% of the overall operating budget. And what you can see here is I just broke out several of the other. categories that that have been displayed in past years, and things I think, that get attention, and it's important to note. You can see again our main cost driver is on the the benefits side. So keep in mind when you see me talk about 10 million dollar increases on the health benefits and $5 million increase in our compensation.
This is what these numbers look like after the the reductions obviously have been made that we're proposing. Um, but as you can see, these reductions are being made across the board. Contributions to preschool. This is a line item that the state does make us pull out of the preschool education aide or the state aid received. So when one of the requirements. that the state places on districts that run state-funded preschool programs is we are required for the special education students that are included within the classrooms, or inclusive.
students, the district on a per-pupil basis is required to contribute from its general fund towards that effort. As you can see here, based on those enrollment projections, there's a significant decrease in what that contribution will be. to that preschool program. The other thing, and I'll get to this in the debt service side, but one of the things that the board has done over the years, or at least for the first 3 years of the payback of the principal and interest on the bonds of the referendum that was passed in 2022.
is the board has made a $4 million contribution from its capital reserve account. to help offset the impact of those debt payments. One of the things that I talked about last week was, in addition to our budgetary issues, we've also, for the most part, depleted over the years our capital reserve accounts. So our capital reserve balance currently is under that $4 million. threshold. So other things with including the budget, we're looking at ways in, you know, to rebuild or replenish that capital reserve account.
And the main way to do that is obviously through or dedicating any excess surplus funds that may exist at the end of a fiscal year, which we can do in June. Um, so we've made some assumptions on that level by looking at and analyzing what we believe we will have as far as surplus goes at the end of June 30th. And we will be looking to get some of those funds into our capital reserve account. What you'll see here is, instead of the 4 million dollar payment out of our capital reserve, we're proposing a $2 million payment, and there's a reason for that.
The way the. Payback schedule, or the amortization schedule has been put together for our bonds is in 26-27, there's a significant decrease on the principal and interest payment that we will pay as a district in general. So by decreasing that $4 million payment to $2 million. We're able to keep the tax impact of… on the taxpayer for the bond piece, specifically on the debt surface, negligible. Meaning, by making that $2 million payment, there is no increase or necessary… or significant decrease to the payment.
On that debt. So this helps us in two ways. It's going to help us again replenish that capital reserve account, and as I talked about last Thursday, we still have a need to get funds in there because we will have future capital needs that will require. funding, most of which what we're experiencing right now are costs associated with ongoing bond work, but little pieces that had to be carved out of that final bond due to getting under our borrowing capacity. So even though we passed, or you passed.
One of the largest, well, the largest bond referendum in state history. I believe the initial estimates were far higher than what was actually borrowed. So there's pieces of the work that has been carved out. And over the last several years, as the bond work has commenced, they've strategically utilized capital reserve funds. to fund some of those things that were carved out, and we… you'll see in the next slide, or the next couple slides. That we still have some of those obligations. So it's important to know, very importantly here is that.
Any of the projects, when I say we're using capital reserve funds, it's a carve-out. It's a separate fund that these monies are coming from, meaning it's not impacting. our operating budget. It's not what's driving that deficit. So you can't say, well, you can just balance your budget or offset some of these reductions if you just don't do these projects. That's not the way it works. It's two separate pots, pots of money, and every dime that's in that capital reserve account can only be used for capital projects.
Okay, so again, talking about the capital reserve projects or the the projects that are going to be funded through capital reserve. In the coming year, uh, are about $3.1 million, and this is consistent with contributions over the past several years. And most of these are. projects that, again, are bond… bond projects are ongoing, like you'll see here for Beck. Uh, and Rosa, and some of the things that were carved out were now at a point in the phasing schedule of the construction where we have to complete these things.
Um, so we're going to be doing significant work. on the lower level area. Over at the West High School, it's about $4 million worth of work, but only two and a half million dollars of that work is being funded through the bond. So this 1.5 contribution will complete that project. You'll see TeleCore system upgrades at two of our middle schools as well as the cabling for our data access over at Beck as well. And then you'll see smaller type.
capital projects that are necessary things that have been planned and things that we would like to get done within this budget next year in 2627. So jumping into the revenue side, you can see here. So this is just a breakdown. of our… of our revenue situation in the general fund between our local. State and federal level contributions as well as fund balance. So I want to fix again what we're proposing in this budget is about a $14.8 million increase to the general fund.
tax levy, which is about a 7.4% increase. Again, keep in mind that's on the general fund portion that's not on the the debt service piece, which I'll get to. Then we jump into the state aid. As predicted. We received a 3% decrease in our state aid. The good news there, if any, was the governor put in some guardrails, and we were held to a maximum, or districts in New Jersey were held to a maximum 3% reduction.
According to the formula, again, as you may recall in the current year, the State had us, or the formula had us listed as about 10 and a half million dollars overfunded. Whereas now, we all of a sudden, again, qualify for equalization aid, and we now sit in a situation where the formula has us at overfunded by about 3.7 million. So by holding us harmless at that 3% reduction, it was about $850,000. It could have been worse. It could have been that full 3.7 million. dollar deductions, so we're grateful to have been capped at that 3% reduction.
The one real main piece I want you to focus on is the fund balance piece. And that's really in addition to those four cost drivers that I talked about in the beginning. This is really what's making up the other piece of that structural deficit. So fund balance is excess surplus that the district holds beyond what the state says we can keep in reserve. I believe I stated this last week, but by law. New Jersey school districts are only allowed to maintain 2% of prior year expenditures within its unassigned fund balance. Anything above and beyond that.
has to either be placed… I mean, there's several things you can do with it, but one of the main uses is by putting those excess funds into our capital reserve accounts to fund future capital projects. Or it has to be budgeted. Some districts may use it in years where there's excess to keep that fund or the to keep the tax levy. Uh, down. Unfortunately, this year we don't have that ability because we're looking at a $9.3 million decrease in that line item.
So over the years, or at least the last three years, the district has pretty much depleted all of its un… or all of its unassigned fund balance to. I'll say prolong or push down the road some of these tough decisions that we're all now forced to make this year. Again, I think it's important to note that. Although very difficult this year in 26, 27. By doing this now. and ripping off that proverbial band-aid, this is going to place us in a much better financial situation.
Moving forward. We are now not relying on these excess funds. to balance or to fund our fixed costs. We're making some very tough decisions in doing that. I'm confident that that 3.75 million, although much lower, is something that we can handle in future years. I'm also anticipating that we can get our unassigned balance, remember that 2% of prior year expenditure, we're actually below that right now. We're actually holding less than that in unassigned. So we're hoping through, um, some measures this year and in some areas where we hopefully have a little bit of excess, we can get that 2%.
back up to where it needs to be. You'll also notice a, you know, a reduction on the capital reserve side. Again, part of that is the $4 million offset we've used in the past to pay down the debt. And moving that down to $2 million. So all in all, again, our overall operating budget is only increasing by less than 1%, or $1.5 million. This is just a graph showing you really again that, um… a lot of the, and this is really through the funding formula, the.
Onus to fund our public schools has. really been shifted onto the local taxpayer. As you can see, 83% or the tax levy that we're proposing will make up 83 or fund 83% of our general fund or operating budget with another 2% in fund balance. So 85% of our budget is being funded locally. about 12%, as you can see there, in state aid, federal aid, obviously, on the general fund side is less than 1%. And then you'll have some miscellaneous type things. So some of the other revenue categories we'll have are, you know, things like facility rental or interest on our investments.
student fees for athletics, things of that nature, and you can see that makes up about 1% of the overall. general fund. Just to jump into the debt service fund side, like we talked about again, the the good news in 2627 is the principal and interest payments are. Coming down about $3 million, or almost 10%. Again, what we're proposing here is a $2 million contribution towards it from our capital reserve account.
which will hold the impact on that debt service side of the tax levy to about zero. So again, within the budget, um, it's just broken out here into both the general fund, you know, that portion of the tax levy that funds our operated budget, and then the debt service fund. Um, so the 2%, I just broke it down, the 2% increase that you'll hear us talk about, you know, the 2%. cap is roughly $4 million, and that equates to about $115 increase on the average assessed home, which, uh… is around $227,000 here in Cherry Hill.
In addition to that, the district has. access to one of the adjustments that the the state allows, and that's when you experience situations like we are in 2627 with extraordinary increases to our health benefit costs. So on top of that 2%, we're also looking to utilize 7.4 million in that health benefits waiver, which will generate an additional $211 increase on that average assessed home. another 3.68%. And the last piece being the bank cap, or, um… This was tax levy growth ability in prior budgets that the, uh… The board chose not to utilize that the State allows you to utilize in the 3 successive years. So we have about 3.3 million, or almost 3.4 million in bank cap that will lapse if not used in 2627.
So due to the situation that, you know, that we're in, again, we are proposing utilizing that bank cap, which brings the total increase on the general fund tax levy to about 7.4% or $424. So again, to go back to that debt service portion again, because of the reductions to the principal and interest payments, there's actually going to be an overall reduction to the debt service levy portion, which is about $3. And that equates to the, excuse me, the $421. overall proposed increase on the average assessment again, which on the total tax levy is about 6.76%.
So next steps, like I said, tonight we'll ask the board to adopt a tentative budget, so we can submit to the DOE for technical review. Between that time, uh. And I'm hoping, you know, they're due on Friday, we should hopefully receive approval from the state within a week or 10 days, and then you'll… the board, you'll receive additional information from the administration, obviously, on this budget, and we'll be looking at our public hearing and final adoption.
On the 28th of April. And I will take any questions. That you may have. Thank you, Mr. Schimp. Do any board members have questions on the budget? I am looking online. because I usually forget these things. Don't see any questions online. Miss Stern.
Uh, probably not. necessarily questions, but just, I guess, comments. Um… So, first of all, Mr. Schump, I really want to thank you. This is a very… This is, you know, probably the hardest year budget wise that I can think of, since I, you know, I've been around. And you know, this is your first year doing this. So I just really want to thank you for the. Incredible care and effort and detail. You went in year into this, the kind of steadiness that you brought.
Um, and also the, um… you know, really intense effort that you and Dr. Morton have put in to develop. you know, to to be extremely thoughtful and considerate in developing this budget. Um, I, um… you know, the thing about this is the thing is… Like… All of our costs have gone up. way beyond 2%. Right? Things like our health insurance, our pharmacy benefits, our our contracted labor. I mean, this is all, you know, it's all, um, our contractual obligations and our, you know, for our staff. Like, they're way all way above 2%.
Um, you know, a pharmacy increase benefit of 31%. at a time when, you know. You know, we haven't been able to, you know, make any modifications with that, and our health insurance, you know, it's just astronomical, you know, really. such a big portion of our overall budget is, you know, and I'm glad we have, you know. the benefits that we have, we, you know, our employees work very hard, and, um, but… It just it just puts us in such a an incredibly this is a really incredibly difficult, you know, position.
And I mean, it's certainly for anyone who's kind of, you know, listening and watching, this is… Probably… The vast majority of districts and much of the local news and statewide news that, you know, as we, regarding education, this is the conversation. just all of these, you know, all of our neighboring district, many of our… many, I can't say all, but many of our neighboring districts, you know, they're all facing. really significant budget, you know, tax levy increases. And last year. We had an increase, and it wasn't pretty, but it wasn't as high as many other of our neighboring districts. And this year, you know, we we just, we have to kind of.
We have to be… we have to be good stewards of the taxpayers. So it's… and yet our primary job is to look after the kids, so it just it just it's a very difficult situation. Um, I want to specifically thank… You, Mr. Shump and Dr. Morton, you and, um, Mrs. Winters, you're at the helm with… along with working hand-in-hand with Mr. Greenbaum. Um, you know, I think that the board members were… very, um… engaged in the process of discussions and understanding what was going on in.
you know, giving us a lot of, you know, understanding and information to understand how thoughtful you were. I mean, the, you know, the positions having to, you know, reduce positions is a very scary and… thing, and it's the last thing that I think anybody, you know, would want to… or many people would want to see, but I think you were very thoughtful about it, and you were very, um, moderate about your approach to that.
But at the same time, you know, there's just no other way to square this circle. So a lot. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Palmer. So this is, we've said it a number of times. I mean, this is as difficult a budget year as I've as I've seen in my 2 years on the board. They've both been tough in their own ways. Um, you know, I look at this as tonight as a starting point.
um, you know, in my mind. We have to adopt the budget tonight. And then it's our job as a board to work closely with administration. To make sure that when we go to final adoption next month it is a budget that centers our students centers the quality of education and is something that we can all live with and look ourselves in the mirror and go to sleep at night and know that it's. It's the best possible scenario. Um, you know, that doesn't mean that it's not difficult.
You know, what is difficult is the reality that this is an industry that is incredibly labor-intensive. Um, and we could take a look at eliminating. other things all day long, and the reality is, you know, those are equally painful cuts, and at the end of the day. It's a one shot, one trick. It's it's not actually meaningfully going to contain our costs, and I don't mean for that to sound insensitive. We are not in a world anymore where 2% is enough to contain the cost increases that we've seen.
So there needs to be a middle ground of. impact on the tax levy, and that means impact on the taxpayers and residents of Cherry Hill. and protecting what we can protect, what is in our control as a board to protect. for quality of education, for class size, for the. quality of life and education of our students. Um, so that's where I am tonight as a starting point. I don't want anyone to think that I love this. I absolutely don't.
But it's a starting point, and then we'll we'll work. I am committed to working with all of you and with administration over the next few weeks to make sure that this is. something that we can all live with. Thank you. Any other board member comments. Thank you, Miss Winters. Can you hear me? Okay. Dr. Dreisen. I do. Thank you. Great. I want to echo the thanks to you, Mr. Schimp, and just building on Miss Stern's comments. I wanted to double click on one of the things you said in your presentation specifically related to it was slide 5 in the general fund appropriations, because I thought it was really helpful.
framing, um… Just for many of us on the board who are, you know, really focused, or at least one of the reasons we got on the board was to focus on academics and, you know, just supporting, um, you know, the academic pursuit for our students. At first glance on this slide, you see. that this budget shows a decrease in instruction of that negative 2.65%, but building on Miss Stern's comments, and as you said, Mr. Schimp, if you really… if you pull up that employee benefits line, you see, which a lot of the employee benefits, the teachers are our greatest assets in the district, and that's.
going towards instruction, you see that I just think that was helpful framing for the community. At first glance, you might just see that cut in instruction, but it's really just that right now, um, where a lot of the funds need to go is these employee benefits. So I appreciated you you calling attention to that in the presentation. Thank you, Dr. Dryson. Anyone else have any comments tonight on the budget presentation?
Seeing no further comments. Thank you, Mr. Shin, for the thorough presentation. Nobody had any questions, which must have been you explained everything. Um, we are going to move on to first public comment. There are two opportunities for public comment this evening, and the first public comment section is for Board action items only, which tonight are items number 12 through 16. If you wish to speak on any topic other than what appears on the agenda, you may speak during second public comment. That's at the end of the meeting. Speakers must provide their name, municipality, and the number of the action item they are commenting on.
If you are a student, students may comment on any topic during first public comment period by identifying themselves as a student. That means either in the room or you can put an S after your name if you're online, and I will call on you first if you are a student. I understand our students have lots of things going on, obligations, homework. So please, there are a lot of people online tonight. If you're a student, please identify yourself as such. There are almost 300 people online so that I can make sure to get to you first, so that you are not waiting. We will alternate between speakers in the room and those wishing to comment online. Each speaker has 3 minutes to speak, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time remaining.
All statements, questions, and comments shall be addressed to the chair. Your inquiry may or may not be addressed by administration at the close of the session. By custom and practice, we always start in the room, so is there anyone in the room who would like to approach the microphone for first public comment this evening? Hi, just give us your name, municipality, and the action item you are speaking on tonight. And Mr. Schimp is going to work the timer for me to keep us honest. Good evening. Uh, Dan Levin, Cherry Hill, um, action item looks like 12, the budget.
Um, I just have a number of questions, um, about this, and I did not bring pitchforks and torches, although there's going to be, I'm sure, a number of people who are bringing those this evening. My questions are purely curiosity. So how much of the budget is caused by the estimated student increases that were part of that redistricting or rebalancing study that was done previously? Um, our staff and faculty able to shoulder some of the burden, or is that something that is prohibited by the union? I'm curious as to what the difference in staff savings versus staff salary reduction, um, conceptually about keeping more members within the union at.
lower compensation. I understand that that is not ideal. It seems like none of this is ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Um, is there an opportunity to open corporate sponsorship for things like stadium, a high school uniforms, and things like that, ways to increase revenue every little bit helps. Um, these increased transportation costs, I assume that most of that is going to be through increased fuel costs? Has that been, uh… estimated into, obviously, a very high fuel cost environment that we're dealing with now, and who knows for how much longer? Um, has the district explored electric electrification of the bus fleet? I know there's grants that are available for that. We have capital, uh.
funds, it seems like, could be done there. Uh, where does the rebalancing study, um, concern enter this picture with all of this as the cost associated with operational costs there for next year, and years on after that. I know there was a discussion about the preschool, um, previously the district did not have free preschool, um, and certainly I can appreciate the tremendous financial benefit to those families that get free preschool. However, if we're talking about.
Um, you know, significant impacts across the entire school district. Is it possible to reduce that from full day to half day or other sorts of cost reductions that could be addressed through the preschool? Healthcare costs are always increasing above and beyond inflation. That's nothing new. with no signs of slowing, you know. a single tax levy, I don't… is that going to. high to the increases that we're seeing on an ongoing basis, or is this just going to be sort of a, you know, the school, the district and the city or the town chasing its tail consistently? Uh, and then last but not least, this is something at a much higher.
state-level concern, but as somebody who does affordable housing planning, um, there are development fees that are recouped every single year across the entire state, and a lot of this money doesn't get spent. Thank you for your comment. So close. Please email the… I know, there's just so many people tonight, sir, and if I let everybody go over, we're gonna be here till midnight. Please, I'm gonna ask everybody, if you can't fit your comments into 3 minutes, please email us your testimony. That way we can see the full text of your comments, because again, this is the initial, or the tentative budget adoption.
We are going to write everything down, we're going to review the video, and then we're going to use all of this feedback while we work on the final budget. So, really, I'm asking everybody tonight, because there's so many people, I am holding to 3 minutes. Please do not be insulted. Please just email us. We read our email. going to the line, the first person online with a hand raise is Kim Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher, please unmute, give us your name, municipality, and the action item that you're speaking on. Uh, Kim Gallagher, Cherry Hill action item 12.2. I guess I'm just going to start off by saying I'm a little disappointed. I really thought that tonight's meeting was going to be a little bit more about the specifics. I understand that.
you know, you don't want to cause an uproar when it's just a tentative budget, but it's really hard for me to know whether I support the budget or not, when I really don't know what the plan is. And so, I guess my first question is, is that when will the community know the specifics? Um, because, you know, my biggest question… was, um, you know, kind of what the previous commenter said is, you know, if we can expect a 3% cut every year until we meet whatever the state decides is our acceptable funding, you know, who's to say that we're not just going to see a 7% increase and $15 million cuts every year? I was really hoping to see more of the budget tonight to see.
How this was going to be sustainable for the future, so that we can, as a community and taxpayers specifically, know that our money is being, you know, used in a way that we're going to be spending it and not kind of chasing. chasing our tail, as he said. In addition, with elementary redistricting, I really hope that the board is asking, um, because, you know, previously the recommendation was.
More costs. And I think, as we saw tonight, we can't continue with that, so I really hope that the community will see a new presentation, and that specifically looks at the Kilmer classrooms as an option. Um, I know that it was discussed tonight that about. you know, $900,000 is going to preschool, but I'm curious, is that just general ed educational costs, or does that include. transportation. Um, and if not, I'd be curious how much transportation goes to cover the general education portion of preschool. So, um… That is all I have. And I guess then the further question is, is, like, what's the chance that next year, you know, the $4 million bond payment and forever $4 million bond payment is going to be pushed onto the community? Um, I know that.
The whole discussion is, like, we're kind of quote-unquote saving money, right? But, um, because our payment is down, but, you know, all of our payments are up. So, you know, maybe that $100 could have gone somewhere other than paying taxes to, like, Chase Good Money after bad. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone in the room who would like to make first public comment this evening? Please give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking.
Rick Short, Cherry Hill 12.1, 12.2, the budget. you know, when you look at other budgets across the State of New Jersey, let's take Newark. Newark's budget just keeps climbing and climbing and climbing, ladies and gentlemen. It's really a dog and pony show. Quarter million dollars a year spent glorifying 250 to 500 students. The other 39,000 students, who cares about them? Let's talk about Camden for a minute. Our friends in Camden. What do they have to look forward to? You need to keep your comments on the budget. You're talking about other districts budgets. No, I'm trying to make a point.
And you keep interrupting me. Okay, I will. Jeez. Unbelievable. So back to Cherry Hills dog and pony show. And I ask you tonight a very simple question. Maybe you could have a what I call school board member Jen Fleischer moment. And that is to put education first. Let's take our preschool subcontractors out of the picture cost. Let's do that first, because that brings our teachers, that keeps our teachers in, that will keep more teachers in. We cannot accept teachers not.
being laid off before administration gets laid off. What else can we do? Well, I don't know how much of that budget is gonna go towards busing, but busing would drop. What else can we do? It's not acceptable either that we continually, continually increase our class size. I really don't think that the Morton administration knows what they're doing. Since they've come in, we've went from, I believe, 22 students.
per class. Now we're going to 26 students per class. And Mr. Schiff just said tonight that our class size is going to increase more. Where's it going now to? Is it going to 30? 32? Are we going to put more stress on our teachers? more distractions in our class for this… for the teachers to try to manage it. It's… It's a mess. You created this mess. Who created this mess from the preschool.
You had dozens and dozens of people telling you you couldn't afford preschool. And these are the these are the side effects now. We're going to lose teachers. It's bad. cut back preschool. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going to the line, the next caller is Jen Nadio. Jen, please unmute and give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking.
Miss Nadia, we can't hear you. Make sure that you're unmuted. Ms. Nadio. No problem. Wait one second, Ms. Nadio. Mr. Schimp, can you please reset the timer? Hold on. Okay, it would… it was not… You're good now. Go ahead. Sorry about that. Thank you. Thank you so much. The prompt wasn't coming. Good evening, Jen Adio. That's okay. Jen Nadio, President of Cherry Hill Special Ed PTA. I live in Cherry Hill, and I'm speaking for CISEPTA for action item 12 for the budget.
Over the past 20 years, Chasepta has attended Board of Education budget meetings to remind all of you to not make changes to programs and class size that can affect our students with disabilities. We are aware that federal funding usually is provided for our classified students. The concern we have relates to students who are not being evaluated, students staying in MTSS, or INRS for two to five years. Students with 504s for educational disabilities and students with IEPs included in general education classrooms.
When a district must make budget changes, every parent whose child does not have an IEP is worried every teacher who needs supports in their classroom struggles to find ways to help their students. To SEPTA is standing firm that if the district increases class sizes. Co-teaching classes should remain the same, not be increased, and assistants should remain in co-teaching, and if a classroom has special education students push in, include them in the classroom count towards the cap.
There should also be no changes to MTSS and 504 supports, and no IEPs or specific services removed from a student without formal evaluations and the case study team. discussing all options and listening to parents. We are aware that transportation costs have been increasing every year. We are standing firm that IEPs must be individualized, and students should receive self-contained accommodations at their home school.
Continuing to buzz a child from their home to a district school 30 to 45 minutes away is a budget issue, as well as a hardship for the student and their family. The Cherry Hill Board of Education needs to discuss with legislators. Way to create a cap for the cost of out-of-district placement schools. We truly understand the importance of students attending a school that specializes in their disability. However, there is no stability to the cost, and that is why the budget line item is so high. If positions must be cut.
For the 26-27 school year, cut the teacher coaches instead of the teachers. At the secondary level, the vast majority of teachers don't need a coach. They need smaller class sizes and students to be appropriately placed in their classes. According to recent BOE agendas. Two teacher coaches are leaving the district. Please do not replace them. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Nadio, for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone who would like to make first public comment tonight? Please approach the microphone. Give us your name, municipality, and the action item.
Good evening. Kim Freidel, Cherry Hill 12.1. So this is a really challenging budget, and there's a lot of really hard decisions that have to be made. I'm going to echo, I'm really disappointed that there was not more transparency and communication with the community who's going to shoulder this increase in taxes, whatever that is, 7.4%, 6%, wherever it lands. It's on our shoulders. I also want to make sure, because we really didn't hear anything but very high level that we're looking at students first, and the cuts should start coming away from students. So that means, no offense to our administrators, what administrative positions can be cut?
First, because they are the furthest away from the students. Those teachers and aides, they should be your last line of reductions. I don't know how many of these, uh… I'm sorry, 72, 62, whatever the number was. Are they all? Eliminations, or some are they attrition? Didn't hear that. I also am really concerned about class sizes, and I really think you cannot look at class sizes across the board. You have.
I don't know, but I'm just going to say the West Side schools, for the most part, are Title I schools, the east side are not. Your academic performance, your student performance, there are great differences between the performance at West versus East versus Carusi versus Beck versus Barton versus Stockton. increasing class sizes in those title one schools is going to further increase that discrepancy. So I really hope that when these decisions are made, and I do not envy any of you in this process, but you're really thinking about.
the students, and what's best for them. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the line, the next person is the caller with a phone number ending in 788. It's your turn. Please give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. My name is Jeff Padowicz, and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. 12.1. I'm going to start out with, uh, preschool expansion. Um, it's time to stop it. Alright, you, here. So, just stop it. The busing cost for preschool expansion… for preschool, tremendous. Remember, you're supposed to be going up 1,700 kids, all right? And that preschool expansion aid doesn't even cover 20%… $20,000 of student debt. It's gonna be at least that, $20,000 a student.
So let's think about that for a minute. When we get to 1,700 kids, that's 34 million bucks. And that's a minimum, probably closer to 40, 40, uh, 30 mil… uh, $40 million, not $34 million. And we're not even close to that. And the aid may stop, the extra aid may stop in two years. Okay? You'll have a tremendous amount of administrators in preschool. The state says you have to have administrators, and they have one teacher, one… and one aide to 15 kids. It is going to cost us a fortune, and that's where a large amount of money going, including an increase in administrators.
It's costing us a lot more. No, I don't have to believe when you believe that I don't believe when you tell me, oh, they pay for everything. No. They have not, and do not. And besides, about believing. At the last school board meeting, I mentioned that our state owed cumulatively was being cut $24 million. And a video just dropped that said, basically, it was 10. That is false. The cumulative effects, it's the first… since it's starting at the first year, we… RA started to be cut to fiscal year 227. 27 is.
Is 24-plus million dollars, not Dr. Morton, not new board controller, not $8 billion or 10. You are being misled. I've been following these numbers for years, 20 years, and since the cuts to three or four, the total cumulative effect and that's what every district uses is. million, and yet they, in print and in a video, are misstating the truth. I don't trust what you're telling us because of that. You… alright? And if board members don't believe that, then you're the problem, too, because those are the real numbers.
Everyone, don't totally trust what you're being told, because of that video that I saw today, and because of what… because of what Dr. Morna said now. That's what the public is learning. It's a lot more cumulative effect, $24 million loss. Preschool is going to cost us a fortune, and they are misleading the public right now. That said, I guess I've spoken enough, because you don't care. You're gonna pass this. Vote no on this. Vote no and cut free school expansion. And give the public the real numbers. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Padowicz. Before I go back to the room, there is somebody with their hand raised with an amusing screen name. I'm going to ask you to change that. It's not quite your turn yet, but although I appreciate the impulse to be funny, I'm going to ask that you change it to something that I can read out loud in the room. Going back to the room. it… I appreciate it, I do. Going back to the room, um… Please give us your real name. Municipality and the action item on which you are speaking.
Alana Yaris, Cherry Hill. I'm gonna speak in a minute, but before I speak as my chair position item 11 is an action item, but it's not an item that the public can speak on if they actually wanted to speak on it. So I just wanted to clarify if that is an item someone wanted to speak on. You don't have to answer me. Okay. Chair of the Fair Funding Committee, Division of the Zone PTA.
I'm going to read from a report that was given in 2011, I want to say. I just… I laugh at this. Um… Since the beginning of SFRA, NJ has underfunded it. For fiscal year 2009 to 2010, the first year underfunded, the first year funded under SFRA, the NJ legislator, kept Cherry Hill School District's funding at 16.5 million.
But it didn't give Cherry Hill the full amount. Instead, it gave Cherry Hill 16 million. This is 11.8 million less than legislated under SFRA. The next year, the NJ government cut another $5.3 million from funds granted to Cherry Hill. It received $11.2 million in state aid for fiscal year 2010-2011. The following year, NJ cut state funding to Cherry Hill School District to 7.9 million. Of that $7.9 million, 3.9 million was taken from money Cherry Hill Schools had in its.
excess fund balance, which is why our fund balance is being used to. relieve debt services. I understand there's not enough for the 4 million, but that's part of why the bond was passed the way it was by the taxpayers, because it was one of the questions that was asked, will the 4 million be used every year? I understand there isn't enough in the fund balance, I'm just saying. Um, it was earmarked to help following your budget, as well as 25% of the money from its capital reserve. That money has never been returned.
Since 2012, Cherry Hill has received between 11.4 and 12.9 million. Overall, the state has underfunded Cherry Hill almost 225 million since 2008. So, they can't say that we were overfunded, and that they need to cut from us. If the Cherry Hill taxpayers are paying for everyone else's education in the State of New Jersey. Why do we, the taxpayers, have to be burdened with such a large increase?
Fair funding will be putting out these facts the way they did 15, 20 years ago. We're doing it again, um, but, you know, to live the cycle over and over again is just… Ridiculous. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the line, the next person says, Christina's iPhone. Christina, please unmute, give us your full name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. Hi, Christina Musso, Cherry Hill. I'm calling about the budget. I want to begin by acknowledging the difficult financial environment the district is facing. None of these decisions are easy, and I appreciate the time and effort the board members and administrators devote to our schools. That said, I'm increasingly concerned about the impact our of our current budget realities.
Once again, the Cherry Hill School District is in a dire financial situation, one that asks taxpayers to absorb a significant tax increase while simultaneously make deep cuts. Last year's shortfall led to a major restructuring of the middle school model. And while there may have been valid reasons for eliminating teams, the reality is that most of our sixth, seventh and eighth graders now spend 45 minutes a day in the study hall. Would this schedule change have even been proposed if not for financial pressure? At the same time, the district is celebrating the expansion of free school. Early childhood education is important, but when resources are limited, we have to be honest about trade-offs. If expanding preschool comes at the expense of our K-12 kids.
Then we need to reassess our priorities. Many in this community believe preschool is free to Cherry Hill taxpayers. You've proved it tonight that it's not. There's a million dollars coming from our general education fund. This community deserves a clear accounting of how much the taxpayer have already invested. And a realistic projection of what our tax liability will be for pre-K over the next five years. Well, we have demonstrated to the state is that Cherry Hill will continue to tax itself to cover the shortfalls. And we believe that we can afford to expand services. Haven't we learned our lesson? Why are we assuming that state funding will remain stable for pre-K, reducing or restructuring preschool may be the only way to signal to the state this district cannot be taken granted for anymore.
Transparency is essential, and the financial picture around preschool has never been fully clear. This is where the board's role is critical. You were elected to provide oversight to ask difficult questions and to safeguard the educational interests of all students by ensuring that the district initiatives are sustainable and aligned with our core mission right now. That mission must center on protecting the education of students in K through 12 classrooms. If preschool expansion is another is in any way contributing to cuts in instructional time, larger class sizes, increased teacher burnout, or unaddressed learning loss, then reassessing the scope of that program is not optional. It is required. Responsible governance means confronting the possibility that we are compromising the education of thousands.
of older students to sustain a program that may no longer be financially viable. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that a once sound decision is no longer sustainable. There is nothing weak about changing course. In fact, decisive leadership requires it. As both a taxpayer and a parent, I am tired of seeing services taken away from our students. We should be focusing on reductions in areas that yield the greatest return. Administrative overhead and non-essential service. Our students deserve classrooms where learning time is maximized and class sizes remain manageable. Our teachers deserve workloads that allow them to teach effectively, and our community deserves clear, honest communication about how resources are being allocated. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. First public comment, please give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. Hi, Laura Pendergast, Cherry Hill, speaking on the budget. I'm speaking today on behalf of CPAG leadership. CPAC is a group that represents parents and guardians of children with IEPs and 504s. Um, and I first want to say that we have a lot of empathy. Um, for the difficult situation that everyone is in. I wouldn't want to I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.
These are difficult cuts that are going to happen, and there's no easy path forward. So we recognize that. Um, that said, we do have 3 asks, and we believe that these asks are central. to being able to continue to enact the district's strategic plan and to continue to meet our goals. Um, we recognize that it is extremely likely that these budget reductions will result in increased class sizes. So accordingly, our asks are as follows. We ask that you do not raise class sizes for co-teaching and inclusion classes.
We ask that you retain ed assistance in co-teaching and inclusion classes. And when considering class sizes, we ask that all students are included in the count, including those pushing in from self-contained classes. So what I mean by that, for example, is if a class is capped at, say, hypothetically, 26. Um, and let's say that two students push in every day for reading from a BES class.
then there should be those 2 students plus 24 students already in that class to meet the 26. The push in students should not push above the class cap. Um, the reason we think this is so important is that for many students with disabilities, inclusion is the answer. Inclusion is not only best for students most of the time, but it's also the most cost effective option. Um, but it requires resources. And in order for it to work well, those personnel supports are needed. I'm concerned that without keeping those resources and those supports, we'll see more students excluded and in self-contained settings which are actually more expensive in the long term.
Um, and so that… those are our asks for today. If anyone has any questions for us, we can be reached at cherryhillcpag@gmail.com. And in addition, we urge everyone to also support Cherry Hill Fair funding and the work that Alana Yars is doing. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the line, the next person, it just says iPhone. It's your turn, please unmute, give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking.
Laurie Neary, Cherry Hill. I'm speaking on agenda item 12.2, the budget. First and foremost, I'd like to understand, since I didn't see detail regarding the 8 million in non-personnel cuts, what programs exactly are we potentially cutting? Um, does that contain any staff that is non-teaching staff? Um, just some additional details around that, because that's a very large number, larger than the personnel cuts.
Um, I'd also like to comment regarding our discussion and the tone and tenor surrounded around special education. When Mr. Schimp was, you know, reading through the increase in special education costs. I just want to be mindful for the community that the tone and tenor at this time broadly around disabilities and special education has given me great pause and concern. So when we talk about costs, I want to be careful we're not framing it as a burden.
Um, these are students, these are our students. They have a legal and fundamental right to be educated and to do it with the best of our ability, and we need to ensure that we support these students. I just want to be mindful. I've seen and heard things over the last year within the community that greatly concerns me. So I want to be very, very mindful how we frame that conversation, and that we support those students at all times. And I echo Ms. Nadio's sentiment, I echo Ms. Friedel's sentiment and Ms. Pendergast's sentiment around not cutting.
that critical staff that supports those students, because it supports all the students. When our teachers and support staff have the resources they need, all our students benefit. And lessens the challenges and the struggles that I foresee if we are not very deliberate and thoughtful and. careful about how we do this. Increasing challenges we are already facing daily will grow, and that won't benefit anyone, and I know this is a absolutely horrific situation that we are in, but again.
I want to ground us in the fact that the taxpayers' income isn't increasing either, and so it is very difficult to absorb these catastrophic cuts. And an increase in our costs. Our wallets aren't getting any bigger either. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make first public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone, give us your name, municipality, and the action item. Good evening. My name is Marilise Corsolo. I live in Cherry Hill. I'm a parent community member and a teacher at a neighboring district.
I'm here to talk about action item 12. So first, I want to say I appreciate the pre-K program. I have a kid who's enrolled in it now. And I did the numbers, even with a 7% increase, I will still save money in the long run having my kid in pre-K, and appreciate that. I wonder if we can dispute the state aid numbers. I heard. Uh, previous numbers saying, like, we're owed money, essentially, so I'm curious about that. Um, I would appreciate specifics on what would be cut, and we talked about, you know, programs and… How that affects our students in the long run. I am looking for clarity on how cutting 72 full-time staff members, it will be possible to maintain ratios and the caliber of education and student activities that we currently offer our students.
Part of the reason I moved to Cherry Hill brought my family here. And I am asking the board to revisit and reconsider the redistricting recommendation. I know you got a lot of community input. I was there. I've been following that process and I appreciate all the work you did on it. Wondering if… we redraw the lines. if that would save us money, if we can… redistrict. I know we said we want to build instead of redraw the lines. I'm wondering if, since we have the space.
Currently, without building. we would decrease transportation costs, keeping our students at our home school. and not spend money on the capital improvements in order to make space. I want to support other community members coming up saying that I am against. increasing class sizes. It hurts everyone, especially inclusion classes and in-class support classes, and I also support keeping services at your home school as much as possible.
traveling far twice a day for five, six, seven, eight year olds is really difficult, especially those with. Increased needs. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the line, the next caller is Carolina Bevitt. Please unmute, give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. Carolina Bevid action item 12, the budget. Cherry Hill. First, I echo everything said by Mrs. Musso and her excellent comment. I couldn't say it any better. But I also urge the district to reduce its reliance on technology as a budget reduction measure. This includes Chromebooks, smart boards that I've seen stacked too deep in some classrooms and subscriptions. Not only will this help save.
money on replacements and repairs, but it will also improve academic outcomes. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone in the room who would like to make first public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. Give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. Good evening. I'm Wally Batiste, and I'm here speaking on behalf of the Cherry Hill Education Association. I'm here to speak on action item 12, the budget. I want to acknowledge the hard work that administration and the board has put into this budget, and how difficult this is.
As we have these conversations, important to keep our focus on students while recognizing the larger reality of what we're all living through. Affordability is a big issue. When we're looking at health benefits, but in our households, we're also looking at. Homeowners insurance, car insurance, our groceries, all of the bills are going up. As Mr. Shimp stated, our healthcare costs are increasing nearly 20% for medical coverage and 27% for prescriptions. While inflation increased by approximately 3.3%. In other words, healthcare costs are rising six to eight times faster than inflation.
Let me be clear. Public employees did not create these rising costs or create this problem. Our governor has made a commitment to make New Jersey more affordable, and it is a moment for all of us to engage in conversation. I encourage our community members to contact the governor's office and our state legislators to ask them to make this take decisive action on affordability and fair funding for our schools. When budgets are reduced, the impact is felt most directly by students. Class sizes grow, programs become more limited.
Our responsibility is to ensure that every decision we make keeps students learning. Make sure they are safe, and the opportunity is at the center. At the same time, we must be willing to have courageous conversations about how best to structure our schools to provide services more efficiently and maximize the resources we have. revisiting the enrollment balancing conversation is an opportunity to make thoughtful, sustainable decisions that strengthen our schools for the long term. This is a partner. This is a moment for partnership and actions.
Our students are counting on us. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the line, the next person, it just says Zoom user. Please unmute. Give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. We can't hear you. Zoom user, I see your hand is raised. Oh, there you are. Oh. Sorry, Amber Chicatelli, Cherry Hill.
Go ahead. Uh, line… line 12. As a parent of a child who receives support services from Kingston, I am deeply concerned that these proposed cuts will disproportionately affect the students who need the most help. We already have children going with. Going without the services they require. Teachers are being put in the impossible position of having to choose the most severe cases for evaluation simply because resources are limited and costs are too high.
That is not how a system meant to… is not meant to support all students, and that's not how it should function. Rather than reducing essential teaching staff and critical student services, we should be taking a hard look at administrative roles and identifying opportunities for consolidation. Our priority must remain in the classroom, directly supporting our children, not expanding overhead. Additionally, have teachers, not administrators, been surveyed about curriculum materials that are excessive or going unused? My own child regularly comes home with homework workbooks containing entire units that are never touched.
This represents a clear area of waste that should be evaluated before cutting vital services. We are also facing difficult financial realities. Programs like preschool, while valuable, may no longer be sustainable if maintaining them comes at expense of our core services for our most vulnerable students. At the same time, we know that costs for healthcare and transportation will continue to rise year after year, and we cannot continue to ask taxpayers for more while simultaneously reducing the quality and availability of services for our students. Our children deserve better, and we must make thoughtful, responsible decisions that.
protect the support systems they rely on every day. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone else who would like to make first public comment tonight? Please approach the microphone, give us your name, municipality, and the action item on which you are speaking. Sarah Jocelyn, Cherry Hill. I'm speaking on the budget number 12. I do want to thank the board for the work they're doing and and to Mr. Schiff.
I did note, I asked that the presentation tonight be placed in full under the presentations. That's very important for effective communication with the public. I do see that there's a disadvantage of being in the room tonight, because again, the font size is too small to read from the public space. So, um, I will… I will move on. Uh, it was mentioned that the proposed budget would have an elimination of 72 full-time employees. That's an estimate of some would be, because of retirements or other things.
There was not any information given on whether that is 1% of the teaching staff or 10%. We know it's not 10%. But I think that's an important thing to consider what the number of students in the district. I appreciate those that have talked today about the issues. Related to the enrollment balancing. And there were several very good comments given today. Also, the issue of the fund excess surplus fund balance. We do want we want to avoid that particular situation again.
I see that the amount that would be put in the capital reserve is a little bit different than last week. Thank you. Um, and… but I do understand that the reason we got into some trouble was there was a one-year gap. While there was a loss of the bond referendum, and so we had a historical glitch that occurred. And that's hurting us in that particular calculation of the amount of aid. So I did want to mention that that should not be reoccurring next year.
I did want to also mention the issue of the plans for preschool and ask the question, since the next 3 years, we intend to have contracts with outside provider. What kinds of terms would those be that would be on terms of their protections? Right now, it seems to me, approximately 40% of the students that would be, uh.
ideally to reach our target for preschool are presently going to be in the classrooms that we have. And so I think it's very important to understand the terms of their contract, particularly if there's penalties that we do not fill. those classes. I think it's a very important issue to understand better as we go forward. And of course, were people that said we should not go forward. So I personally think that children deserve to have a good start in.
In our kindergarten systems. Thank you, Ms. Jocelyn. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. I'm looking online. I don't see anybody else with their hand raised, so going back to the room, is there anyone else who would like to make first public comment? Please approach the microphone. New Jersey. I'd like to comment on 14.7, the increase in maximal travel expense. I don't get it. You haven't spent the full amount this year, and you're asking for an increase. Why? Okay, and it's $50,000 from the Special Revenue Fund. Why?
Why now? And why do you need the increase when we're struggling with a regular budget? $14.8,898,645 for preschool funding from the general fund, yet most community members believe that state grant funds. Everything for pre-K. Can we let the public know how much the pre-K program. Definitively cost the district out of pocket in 26-27 from the general fund, clearly and concisely.
1,798… 1,350, according to the things we've seen. I am really insulted, Board of Ed. Dr. Morton, you haven't got given us any details onto what you're cutting, and as the taxpayers that are going to be funding this increase, that is not fair. Absolutely not fair to us. I'm sorry. At least tonight we got the final assessed value home that we're basing numbers on. I'd like to know how much will be left in capital reserve.
With the new budget? And are there any bonds from the bond sales? to be sold, or are they all gone? Three years ago, post-COVID, this board decided to only give us a half percent increase when you should have been all along funding at 2%, because you don't go back, you go forward. Big mistake. We're paying for it now. One of my biggest issues with tonight's presentation is the phrasing.
Of contracted salary raises. It really takes aim at teachers and support services. I am mortally offended by that, and any teacher and support service district member should be offended. We can't just keep passing the buck and keep blaming staff and health benefits. We're all facing increases. I had an increase in health benefits. I'm just really disappointed. I don't fear it's clear, I don't think it's transparent. It's borderline hiding the facts, which really disturbs me as a board of ed, because you're supposed to represent all of us, but you're not telling us what you're cutting, and that's not fair, and it's not fair to wait till the end of April when you will vote on a final budget to give us that information.
It's just not right. Be transparent. I'm just disappointed, guys. I have never seen a budget, whether it's zero-based. committed or not that has not told us what is the maximum cuts that will be done to not only the students, but that will affect the community at large. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. I'm looking back online. I don't see anybody else online. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to make first public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone.
Eileen Joran, Cherry Hill speaking on 12 on the budget. I would say that to sum up tonight, I am disappointed, but not surprised by the presentation and the lack of information provided. Um, I expected, um, you know, the last… this is basically a repeat of last presentation. I was hoping that we were going to see some more specifics about what areas are planned for cuts. Um, I think it's difficult for the community to give any thoughts on anything when we don't know what's being cut.
Um, we have big numbers, that's it. Um, it's… it's not transparent, it's not honest, it's not collaborative, and it's not fair. And I expect better of this board. I definitely will say I agree that we should revisit the idea of redistricting or whatever you want to call it. It could save us on transportation. It may save us in, you know, other places as well. Better utilization of our buildings. Maybe we don't have to do construction. Um, you know, it's definitely something we should revisit, and we should have the courage to revisit. If we have the courage to put that kind of a cut and a tax increase out to the community, you should have the courage to revisit that discussion.
cuts definitely you've talked about them being in every area at all levels. Well, based on the lack of transparency and other things, I… there's there's room there for a little sneakiness. When we're talking about the the levels, the cut should also come from the top. We've got a lot of supervisors, directors, you know, assistant superintendents, etc, etc, etc. Principals. whatever. We need to look at that before we're looking at classroom teachers, and so when you say all levels, I'm not expecting to see, oh yeah, the supervisory level, now two supervisors are sharing one secretary. That's not a true cut, and that's disingenuous to the community. I hope I don't see that.
But, um, then the other thing I'll touch on, because I think it's a way we could save money without cutting. For years now, um, advocates have come to this platform. Um, you know, current people like Michael Nussbaum, Harvey Vasquez, um, then other people like Mindy Rosen, myself, uh, Ms. Nadia, Ms. Freidel, Lanieris, all these people, and lots of exhausted parents, and they have. pled the case for special ed. And our special ed expenses, some are hidden in insurance counsel and legal, you know, and all of that, but there's a lot. There's a lot of personnel time that's spent at mediation, preparing for mediation, responding to things.
And I think if we were to. really work hard to listen to the parents, follow the children's IEPs, have empathy for the parents, communicate with them, and, you know, come at them with empathy and collaboration. We might be able to reduce a lot of our, you know, or at least some of our special ed costs, because we would, in the end, be reducing a lot of those legal fees. If we were to come at special ed differently. So I encourage you to do that. Kindness is free.
And it doesn't require a cut. So thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back onto the line. I don't see anyone with their hand raised going back in the room. Is there anyone else who would like to make. First public comment. I don't see anyone left in the room who wants to make first public comment. I'm looking back online. I don't see anyone who would like to make first public comment. So I am going to close the 1st public comment section for tonight. Never fear there's always second public comment.
Moving on to correspondence, Mr. Schimp, is there any correspondence that you have received for the board this evening? There's not. Okay, moving on to Superintendent's report. Dr. Morton, do you have a report tonight? I do, thank you, Ms. Winters, and thank you to everyone for your comments this evening and providing your input. We absolutely value the opportunity to hear directly from you. Thank you very much to Mr. Schemp for your efforts in building this budget. I have witnessed and seen firsthand the tremendous amount of effort, energy, and the fresh approach that you've taken and putting this budget together. I would also be remiss if I did not personally recognize and thank.
The members of our central administration team who are integral as well in helping to identify things that would allow us to continue to move forward with purpose and allow our children to continue to thrive. Thank you to our building-based administrators as well. who were intricately involved in the process also, and did… and did the same. For us as a district, our focus is always on maximizing learning opportunities, maximizing extracurricular opportunities, co-curricular opportunities.
for children as well. The design of the budget is designed in a way that minimizes impact on kids. So, uh, even in light of cuts, the hope is that the children don't realize that these cuts have taken place. And that they can continue to experience all that they have been able to take part in in the past. We believe that the budget that we've presented, we acknowledge absolutely, you know, it definitely is a higher tax impact than what we've had, certainly in recent memory, but we believe that the budget we put forward allows our kids to continue to thrive.
And to not miss a beat. As we think about the 72 positions, the 72 positions system-wide, we employ 1,780 staff members across the district. So these positions that we mentioned today aren't necessarily. all teacher positions. There, as Mr. Schiff has stated, they are positions across the board. We absolutely did anticipate that we would be in this position, so we have. allowed vacancies to go to go unfilled. So what we do is, we attempt to capture positions as much as possible through attrition, through active vacancies that we have, and also additional vacancies that are created through retirement.
retirement. So we believe that many of the positions will be captured, but not all. So there was class sizes mentioned. At the high school level, we don't have class sizes, so class sizes are only evident. at our middle school and below in those programs. Even with that being said, um, we take an approach there that is doable, that would allow our teachers to still continue to impact and individualize instruction.
for students. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a level of detail that's being called for tonight. As Mr. Shim said, the tax burden was approximately, or the deficit, I'm sorry, was about $14.5 million. 8 million of which were found through operational savings. We've… well, this gentleman has personally reviewed all 3,200 budget lines and expenditure lines for the district and look at what we could afford to reduce or what we could afford to to cut. That includes supply lines, that includes memberships.
That includes all of these operational things, and we were able to find $8 million from that. With that being said, though, there's still $6.6 million or so in personnel cuts, and whenever we, um, have. public presentations, it is not appropriate to have conversations about specific positions that may tie back to individuals. That's just not a way that we can communicate it as a school district on a public platform in this manner.
I'll just move moving right along. There was a comment this evening about class size increases that have occurred over the past few years. There have not been any class size increases that have occurred. I can tell you that our Board of Education have held the line very closely on class size increases, and that is something. That has been adamantly. I've been adamantly told, let's not look at that adamantly communicate it. I've been asked not to look at that unless we're in dire straits and we're in a dire situation.
Mike, now we we are in a dire situation, and as, you know, again, Mr. Schemp has said on a countless number of occasions, we need to level the ship. We absolutely need to level the ship. So the feedback that's provided, the additional suggestions that have been provided will be taken seriously. We'll think about what that looks like as we move forward to final budget adoption and we move forward with implementing. Any of the recommendations that have taken place. Just a couple more things for me. Just a reminder, schools are open next week.
Students, schools are open next week on Monday 30th and the 31st. But I think schools are closed subsequently for the rest of the week. And as we head into next week, um. And actually, as we revisit last Friday, I want to take an opportunity to give well wishes to all of those who celebrated Eid al-Fitter, and I wish a wonderful holidays as well for those who will celebrate Easter and or Passover. next week. It's wonderful to recognize the many traditions and diversity that exists within Charlie Hill Public Schools. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. We appreciate it. Moving on. Oh, I'm skipping ahead. I shouldn't. Old business. Do any board members have any old business they would like to raise this evening? I'm going to be sure to look online. I don't see any old business. And now I will move on to the action agenda portion of the meeting. I'd like to make a motion to move. Action items under 11, these are the minutes of the board. Do I have a second?
Ms. Cummings, Mr. Schimp, can you open the vote on the minutes? Mr. Shen, if I need to recuse myself from 11.2. I was not in attendance for the February 10th meeting. Motion carries. Thank you. The superintendent recommends and I move the following agenda items 12.2, adoption of the 2026-2027 tentative budget. Do I have a second?
Mr. Greenbaum seconds. Do any board members have questions before we vote? Mr. Shimp, can you please do a roll call vote for the budget? Doctor Braddock. Miss Cummings. Yes. Dr. Driveson? Yes. Mr. Greenbaum? Yes. Ms. Manzano. Yes. Miss Palmer. Yes. Miss Stern. Yes. Ms. Winters. Yes.
Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to CNI, Superintendent recommends and I move the following action items 13.1 and 13.2 inclusive. Do I have a second? Miss Manzano, any questions? Can you please open the vote on the curriculum and instruction agenda this evening? Our internet is unstable here.
Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Greenbaum, can you please move the BNF agenda? The superintendent recommends, and I move the following action agenda items 14.2 through 14.8 as presented. Do I have a second? Miss Palmer. Any discussion? Dr. Dreisen. Yes, thank you, Mr. Greenbaum. Can we get clarification on item 14.7?
Dean, are you asking for a separate vote or just for discussion question? I guess I'm asking for discussion or clarification ahead of the vote, if possible. Perfect. Go ahead. Yep, I was just asking Kate to make sure we've got this right. Go ahead, Dean. Yeah, um… So each year is part part of policy and code is that the board has to adopt a resolution as part of its budget adoption that creates a not to exceed amount specific to professional development. So typically what we do is we'll look at what the current year.
budgeted professional development is, also provide what has been spent to date. Again, I remind, as we go through, or I'll take a peek at the budget lines, I just take accumulation of what has been or exists within the budget, and sets that maximum. That in no way, shape, or form. necessarily will be what actually occurs in the budget year. It's simple, a… it would require us to come to the board and ask to exceed that maximum amount. I think a perfect example, obviously, is current year spending well below what was actually budgeted.
And can you clarify the request for it to increase year over year? Yeah, it's… it doesn't necessarily… it'll appear to be an increase over current year appropriations because, you know, now that we're in March, a lot of budget line item transfers have been made. Many of them probably out of our professional development accounts to fund other. type things. So again, these are… it's not necessarily an increase in the request, it's just a maximum amount, not to exceed.
This turn. And just to further clarify, and perhaps this is a question for Dr. Morton. Uh, when… when you're talking about professional development, um, can you speak to, um, are there contractual obligations that the board is required to follow regarding. Covering professional development and what associated fees is that all kind of hashed out already in our contractual obligations with our collective bargaining units?
Yes, just as you stated, our CHASA members do have contractually negotiated. travel allotment. Not travel allotment, but professional development or professional learning allotment annually. The number is about $2,500. That's codified within their contract. So that covers all of the district's building based leaders, assistant principals. Um, supervisors as well. Thank you.
Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Miss Palmer. I just want to clarify for the benefit of people who may not understand. Can you just explain what CHASA is? Yes, Chassis is the association that covers our administrators and supervisors in Cherry Hill Public Schools. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. Any other discussion topics before we move on? Seeing none, Mr. Schimp, please open the voting.
Mr. Schump, I need to recuse from, um… 14.4 to avoid a conflict of interest. Yes to the rest. Motion carries. Mm-hmm. Thank you, Miss Stern, can you please move the HR agenda? Yes, the superintendent recommends, and I move the following agenda items 15.1 through 15.10 as presented.
Do I have a second? Mrs. Manzano. Are there any questions or comments? Mrs. Cummings. I just want to draw attention to item 15.3. um, the retirement of Tracy Redmond, the Sharp School Secretary. As someone who's been at Sharp School for a very long time, Mrs. Redmond and I came to know each other very, very well. We've spent a lot of time together. I just want to say she is the North Star of that school.
And one of the strongest women that I've come to know. Um, and, um, we all know that Mr. Mish, you know, was the principal of the school, but it's really Mrs. Redmond who runs the show over there. Um, so I just want to wish her well on her retirement and, like, give her my sincere congratulations. On her secretarieship for the very long tenure that she has sustained there. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? I have one. I similarly missed. Unfortunately, in our last meeting. I I I missed the opportunity to congratulate Mr. Joe Dilks, who is retiring from East.
He told me earlier this year he is the longest employed teacher now, I believe, or a long, maybe not the longest employee, but he's he's on a high number in his, um… As one of the teachers in the building, and he said it was time, and he was, um, for those of you who don't know him, he started the East Robotics Club, which is, um, often wins our state championships, goes and competes at the World Championships, um, and he has created a very large, um.
opportunity for a lot of our students who might not participate in, let's say, athletic endeavors, more traditional clubs that we know, but there's a piece carved out a place for students who maybe have. are slightly divergent in their, um, kind of club participation. Um, and specifically, he always said, and I think this is very true, um, every child in that program has the opportunity to go pro. Um, which you can't say about all of our other… unfortunately, you can't say that as much about all of our other after-school activities or extracurriculars, so… He will be missed. He is a force, and I, for one, am very grateful for having gotten to spend a lot of time with him and know him while my kids were in that school.
Okay, other comments or questions? Any of those retirements? Okay. And with that, Mr. Can you call the vote, please? Motion carries. Thank you. Ms. Palmer, can you please move the P&L agenda tonight?
The superintendent recommends, and I move the following. Agenda items 16.2 and 16.3 as presented. Do I have a second? Mrs. Cummings. Are there any questions board member questions, comments? Seeing none, Mr. Shin, can you open the vote?
Motion carries. Thank you, and Miss Palmer, I believe you have an agenda addition. I do. So, I also move resolution 16.4, and since that is not on the agenda for the benefit of my board colleagues, I'll read it out loud. Be it resolved that as a result of an HIB hearing held an executive session at its March. 10th, 2026 meeting. The Cherry Hill Board of Education hereby reverses the prior finding of a founded Hib for all alleged offenders in Hib incident number 302621 and be it further resolved that the parents, guardians of the affected people shall be provided with a copy.
of the Board's written decision, along with information of their right of appeal. Can I have a do I have a second? Mrs. Manzano, are there any board member questions or comments? Seeing none, Mr. Schimp, I guess we'll go vote for a vote. Dr. Braddock? Yeah, really just a point of order. Miss Staffing, will I recuse from this since I was present at the March 10th meeting when that was originally discussed.
Ms. Cummings. Yes. Dr. Dreiser. Sure, just point of order. Mr. Braddock had raised a question. Could you hear him? Yes, Dr. Reddick, you should recuse from that motion. I apologize. I noted the recusal. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Then, yes, I recuse.
I vote yes. I'm sorry. Dr. Dreyson. Mr. Greenbaum. Yes. Ms. Manzano. Yes. Ms. Palmer? Yes. Ms. Stern? Yes. Ms. Winters. Yes. Miss Winters, just a point of order or personal privilege, I suppose. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Shim. On privilege. on 16.3, I know that it's a somber night with a lot of difficult decisions being made tonight, but I just wanted to express gratitude to the board on 16.3, particularly Policy 2 4 2 2. If you can believe it, we did 1st read on that policy.
On September 30th of 2025. So it's been nearly six months to get to tonight. But, you know, one of the main responsibilities of a board is policymaking. And so specific to this board in particular, I'm just really grateful for the collaboration on this one, because. I think it shows we were presented with something from Strauss Esme, and we didn't just rubber stamp it. We heard feedback from the community. We thought critically about the policy, and we made real revisions, revisions so much so that we went back to 1st read and went through the process again.
to pass it. So I think it's really it's one of the things I'm actually most proud of so far to my board service to date is the process that we went through to get to tonight on that. And if I could go so far as to suggest, you know, we have a lot on our plate right now. But at some point, I would suggest either Ms. Palmer in P&L or Mrs. Winters as president of the board to even go back to Strauss Esme and really show the leadership that I think Cherry Hill is representing here in identifying some real issues, I think, with what was proposed as the template.
of 2422 for the State, and we could really be a model for other school districts. So that's all I wanted to say, but thank you. Thank you, Dr. Jason. I appreciate that, and I also appreciate Miss Palmer's leadership as the Pnl chair. It does take a long time to move policies through, and even longer when you go back and revise them. But I think, you know, the board had a goal, a board goal this year about a greater role in policymaking and making sure that we're not just. taking things as they come through from Strauss Esme, but really considering what policies are right for Cherry Hill. And I think, I hope we'll see more of that moving forward. So thank you, Dr. Dreisen, for that. I'm pretty proud of it, too.
Um, nothing for governance this evening. Moving on to new business. Do any board members have any new business tonight? I have new business tonight. So, for new business. I am going to read into the record the testimony that I will be presenting to the Assembly Budget Committee tomorrow on our budget. This was a collaborative effort by all nine board members on this document when I speak with this document, I'm speaking with the voice of the board and not myself. So this is not only our testimony to assembly budget, but this is the statement of the board. And I hope that the community recognizes it as such. Dr. Morton and Mr. Schimp, if you could also post this on the district website so that it can be accessed.
Good morning, Madam Chair and members of the committee. My name is Gina Winters, and I am here today as president of the Cherry Hill Board of Education. Last year, I spoke to you about the devastation that our district was facing with a $4 million cut in state aid. This year is much worse. We face a $28 million structural deficit due to factors beyond the district's control, while we once again sustain the maximum state aid reduction. In preparation, Cherry Hill implemented a zero-based budgeting process to find operational efficiencies, and we found $8 million in painful cuts.
It is not enough. The board voted to go to our maximum taxing authority of 7.4%, or more than $400 on the average home. It is still not enough. In order to close the gap and balance the budget, we are now forced to cut almost 100 positions, including our teachers, educational assistants, and other caring and talented staff who are dedicated to helping our children learn and grow each day. The consequences of these cuts are so much higher than the dollar amounts. They threaten to decimate the progress we've made in recovering from pandemic learning loss and forever changed the quality and character of public education in our district.
We are told the administration is simply following the formula, but here is our reality. Transportation costs are up by $1.3 million, and yet we lost over $1 million in transportation aid. More than 25% of our students require special education services to be successful, and we lost $4.3 million in special education aid. health benefit costs that we are powerless to control have skyrocketed by $10 million.
We are told that Cherry Hill is a wealthy district and can afford to pay. Meanwhile, 25% of our students, and that is over 2,500 children qualify for free and reduced lunch. Local taxes now fund almost 90% of the district's budget, well beyond any reasonable definition of our fair share. Cherry Hill taxpayers have stepped up again and again, and there is nothing left to ask of them.
The buzzword this year seems to be consolidation, but for a large district like ours, the largest in South Jersey and the 11th largest in the state, consolidation is not the answer. ultimately, it is the State's responsibility under the New Jersey Constitution to provide a thorough and efficient education for our students. The governor and her administration have abdicated their responsibility, hiding behind a formula that no longer works. The legislature must step up.
Last year, I said we were at our breaking point, a crisis with no end in sight. This year, we are broken. and our 11,000 students are the ones who will pay the price. It is on their behalf that I am here today. Please commit to fixing the funding formula to ensure the state is meeting its constitutionally mandated obligation for all districts. So that was my practice run. It's under 3 minutes. Thank you to the board. I did the 1st draft, but there was a lot of editing and input from other board members. I appreciate all the work you guys put in over the weekend.
I agree with Mr. Schimp ultimately that this is not just a state aid problem, but it sure doesn't help. And I don't think there's any reasonable definition of… you know, what Cherry Hill can bear to pay when 90%, almost 90%, I believe it's 88% of our budget is funded through local property taxes. The reality is that we have obligations that we have to meet, contractual and otherwise. We cannot control the rising costs. The only lever we have to pull is property taxes, which we all don't want to do. We all live here. We all work here, and yet it is still not enough. And to me, that's the most heartbreaking part of this whole thing.
Nobody wanted to do this tonight, and yet, in a way, I feel like we still lose, because when we lose our staff. who are the heart and soul of our district, who take care of our kids every single day. We lose something. So… I think the board must meet its obligation. to pass a tentative budget tonight, and we did, because that's what we are required to do by law. That's what we were elected to do. We cannot just shrug and walk away from that responsibility. But I'm not happy about what we're facing. I hope they listen to me in Trenton tomorrow, and we will move forward in the best way that we can for the district.
Do any board members have anything else to say about the statements in Trenton or new business? Does anybody want to come with me tomorrow? I'm sure it'll be a party. There's going to be about a million other angry people from all different school districts across the state. You cannot get in to the budget hearing. Plenty of people have tried. I was lucky I got in early and quickly. But it's the same story. Everywhere you look around the state and all the other districts, everybody's exceeding the 2% cap. Everywhere you look, health benefits costs have skyrocketed. Everywhere you look, transportation costs have skyrocketed.
I can't believe that they cut special education by over $4 million. I'm just gonna say it again. They cut our special education aid by over 4 million dollars. I don't understand how we are supposed to move forward when our primary obligation is to meet the needs of our kids, and it's their responsibility. To make sure that our kids are getting a thorough and efficient education, and they're just passing the buck. I'm done speechifying. Anybody else? Look online. I don't mean to neglect our zoomed-in board members.
I think I just I think I said it. Well, it's it's all of our statements. So thank you guys so much. I will be there tomorrow morning, bright and early with a cup of coffee. And with any luck, maybe they'll listen this time. All right, seeing no other new business. I am going to move on to second public comment. Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues. The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. However, statements that are abusive, obscene, or which demean or defamatory to any individual or any group of individuals will not be tolerated.
Such comments are disruptive to the orderly operation of this meeting. Speakers wishing to provide the board with information which is not relevant to the district's operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other alternative means. I'm going to open second public comment in the room. If you would like to make second public comment, please approach the microphone and give us your name and municipality. You have three minutes. Alani Harris, Cherry Hill, still chair of the Fair Funding Committee, a division, Ozone PTA. I forgot before because I was reading a presentation that was 10 plus years old. But on Thursday at 7 p.m. Zoom only.
Because I have seven children, six of which are educated in this district, and I live a very busy life, and I carved out time to come in person tonight, but I don't like to go in person to meetings. Um, hopefully no more than 45 minutes on Thursday. Unless thousands of people from the community attend my Zoom meeting for fair funding, 7 p.m. We'll be discussing strategy on public messaging, how to contact legislators, and how to fix the broken state aid that exists in New Jersey and affects the Cherry Hill Public Schools and its students.
Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you, Ms. Yaris, for your comment and for all that you do, your advocacy going to the line. I see the phone number ending in 7, 8, 8. It's your turn. Please unmute. Give us your name and municipality. You have 3 min. My name is Jeff Podowitz, and I live in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. About a couple of years ago, at a school board meeting, uh, dated 8-13, 2024, there was a lecture about preschool. And, um… It gave a 5-year plan. 2026, 2027, the total amount of preschool students were to be $13,559. 2027, 2028, the total was supposed to be 17.6%.
1,764 students. That was a 5-year plan. Will our preschool aid, extra aid stop? Which doesn't cover preschool law? The answer is, quite likely, it will. And so that means the last year… and we are way behind in this number. 2027, I mean it's basically two more years. They may stop or wait. Isn't that great? From an FAQ about preschool, um… who are the private providers, and how are they selected? And you wrote, they just… and this is from Dr. Moorein, I guess, the district has hosted private providers.
Means to solicit partnerships. These private providers included private, big box franchises independently owned, and religious-based programs. Uh, yeah, I don't think there's a place for religious place programs in our preschool, or in our school itself. So, uh, that's what you're gonna do. Glad for you, but no, no religious-based programs. Maybe that's… is that what you… a reason why you have to contact the state to see if that's okay? Uh, I'm against it. I hope more people would be, too, but the fact that you even mentioned it.
Um, I'm not happy about that. I'm not happy either with the fact that you minimize how much we were being hurt. Because your numbers, you keep on producing. Miss Dr. Morton, is that 8, 9 million when the total cumulative amount that we're losing over a 3-year period, including this coming fiscal year, is really $24 million. And so, uh, if you want to help with FAIR funding, give the true amount. Maybe if you tell people it was $24 million, maybe people wake up.
A problem with the formula, um, has to do with something else. For those of you who are unaware, if you go to the equalization table for year 2023, you'll see that our aggregate equalized valuation was 10.6 million. And then if you go to the one two years later, you'll see that our adequate. Our, um, aggregate true value was 13.2 million, basically almost a $3 million increase in our equalized valuation, or basically a 20% increase… I'm sorry, a 30% increase.
Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Potowicz. going to the room. Is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone. Mr. Shamp, can you please start the timer? Rickshaw, Cherry Hill. First off, on 4/29/25, uh. Vice President Greenball said that, uh, we had 18, or, uh, two, uh… Two schools, uh, with, uh, you know, updated security pardon security interior. I stand before you began a year later.
Um, still with no… Still with some doors that can't lock. This is 8 years after talking about it. This is… this is 8 years after Parkland, when, uh, Lori Aladeth has sent you two emails, done two different videos. This is after, uh, Parkland dad. Andrew Pollack, uh, also did a video calling for better security, and you're failing, and it's still not done, because it's not a priority. It's not good. It's not good. Ladies and gentlemen, um… You know… There are certain teachers.
That are legends. Alex Bond, music teacher. Legend, Kingston legend, ladies and gentlemen. I know it. Most people know it. Do you realize that when you come to school board meetings, you waste about 27 minutes. of time praising different people. I've watched other school boards across the country. They don't have to praise their teachers or their students or anything. They just get down to real business. So what's real business?
Well, it's pretty simple, it's just asking a question. You claim… Madam President, that you represent academic excellence. So is academic excellence being number four, a rating a number 4 to 10 for Karusi? Is that academic excellence? It's being rated 487 15 years ago for Kilmer, and now today you're rated at 847. Is that academic excellence?
And I go back to when… the great school board member, Kim Gallagher. uh, retired, resigned. And she mentioned you need to hold people accountable. And this board? It doesn't hold anyone accountable. Everyone's on cruise control, ladies and gentlemen. The Cherry Hill School runs on cruise control and has no… Accountability. And it's you, it's you all sitting there that don't hold any accountability. How about school safety?
One of you are saying anything after 26 years, after Columbine, 8 years after Parkland? Not one of you said, hey, you know, maybe we should be able to lock our doors. Was anyone talking about Karusi? Now, anyone talking about Kilmer? Nope. Thank you for your comment, Mr. Short. Going back to the line, the next person is Christina's iPhone. Please unmute and give us your name and municipality. You have three minutes. Um, I just wanted to reiterate a couple of comments that were made during the first public comment, is I feel like this presentation was an exact replica of the meeting that happened last week. I was really looking forward to seeing the details behind it.
And although you may not be able to comment right now, I really would appreciate communication from the district and or the board on when future meetings where we'll actually get some details to dive into the into the numbers to find out what positions are coming from where. I'm just curious as the reductions in the assumptions that are made, you said 72 heads, but we would like to see which departments, which areas… you only showed a half a million dollars of savings in admin. I'd like to know what that represents as well.
So again, would have really appreciated more details. Understand if this wasn't the meeting that that information wasn't supposed to… was supposed to come out in, but if you could just please be a little bit more clear with the public so we can set expectations on the information we're going to be provided, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening? Please approach the microphone.
Sarah Joslin, Cherry Hill. I think we pretty much heard clearly tonight that the issue is affordability. And a 7.4% increase in taxes hurts all of us. I, um… Also heard the important thing that people want to discuss, again, what's happening with this enrollment rebalancing. And I know that it was delayed from being done in February. And is there a time when it's going to be readdressed? Because the community has expressed that, hey, maybe we need to look at this again.
Now that we see that you want to raise our taxes by this much. I do also think that there's additional information that is helpful in understanding the preschool situation. I think in the current enrollment that you should understand the percentage of special needs children, okay, out of the total enrollment. And I think it's also very important, you had a speaker tonight who was a parent of a preschool child that was being served by this resource in the community who thank you. And there is a preschool waiting list.
I think those are important things to understand. The whole decision on how the state is going to manage their preschool aid is up in the air because we have a new governor. Who has a structural imbalance, right? So I think there's some important information that we need to have to be better equipped to discuss that issue going forward. So I appreciate all the work that Beth has done. I'm hoping that the, uh.
All students will be met in this summer with our summer instruction and that we will get the aid that is supposed to be coming to us from the federal government to make that an easier effort than it was last year. I appreciate all the people that came out and 300 people online is very incredible, isn't it? So this is getting a high attention in this district as it is getting from all districts. I want to thank you, Gina. We're going tomorrow and representing us.
uh, making a very urgent case, because this is something that everyone is undergoing, but we here in Cherry Hill need to raise our voice, and I appreciate you will be speaking for us. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. The next caller online. It says, Laura Einhorn, please unmute and give us your name and municipality. You have 3 min. Yeah. And Einhorn Cherry Hill, I'm sorry, my sugars are dropping so low that if I spoke again, I would be really cranky, and you might have to pick me up off the floor, so I spared you that.
Anyway, though you may not be able to discuss employee cuts with your proposed budget, you can certainly address the $8 million in non-employee cuts. I still don't feel that we have a fair foundation out here. to understand the budget if we don't know what has to be cut. And perhaps there'll be more impact on fair funding and the community getting involved. To help us get more monies for this district. But I am still upset.
that I don't feel that this is as transparent as you could have made it. I agree with the earlier caller. In that, um… It really just was a repeat of what we heard last Thursday. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room. Is there anyone who would like to make second public comment tonight? Please approach the microphone. Hi again, Marilise Coratolo, Cherry Hill. I don't even know if this is the right form for this. This is completely new business. I want to bring it to the attention. I'm sure you already know I have a preschooler currently going into kindergarten.
preschool right now, she's in before care, aftercare. My husband and I both work. Sac is a disaster. And I know you know this, I just want to make sure that it's, like, right in your brain, because every parent that I talk to about SAC is like, you're not on there at. 801, you're not getting in, and obviously I have to send my kid to kindergarten, so it's either choosing, like. private school, which I don't want to do, why we moved to Cherry Hill, right? Or quitting my job, which I can't afford to do, so… Major concern. Thank you.
It's like getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. That's what I always say. We hear you. going back online. The next caller is Michael Nussbaum. Please unmute. Give us your name, municipality and your comment. 3 min. Michael Nussbaum. Cherry Hill. And yeah, I just wanted to speak today about. I want to reiterate a couple things. So 1st of all, I agree with many of the other speakers regarding the lack of transparency.
The system is already… is already broken, especially for special ed. Now we're paying for more and getting less. So it goes from broken to being shattered. I have proposed a special ed audit. I did send it via email yesterday. There were over 220 people that that signed the petition. Uh, to, uh, to get the audit. And after understanding how we are actually spending more, not getting our values worth, I think this is all the more important. And in that audit, we definitely need to look at some financial aspects.
I think that there's a lot of misappropriation, misallocation. And, you know, administration, it takes a lot, it costs a lot to have them employed. But, you know, after talking to many parents and looking at many comments, which I've shared with the board. You know, it seems like they're more adversarial. Actually, many of them are act like bullies, to be quite candid. Um, and we need to really look, take a hard look at things, is that if we're gonna, if we have to charge our community more.
We need to be getting more from, you know, from our money and from our investment. Um… I feel, you know, that… Uh, you know, that we need to. How do I put this? is that, again, we, you know, we were already in dire straits before, and I just can't, you know, it's terrible just to see where we are right now. Um, you know, things were not running very well.
I felt like, you know, things were not very efficient. People that had the power to change things, you know, really were working adversarial. I feel that, you know, when I talk to different people, I talk to parents and community members. And I feel like, you know, the board, higher level administration like we are on 2 totally different wavelengths. And, you know, I think that we got one thing straight, is that no one wants these tax levies and the $4 million on SPED cuts, that's terrible.
But I think that we really need to figure out how to come together and work more collaboratively together. Thank you for your comment. Going back to the room, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening? Seeing and no. Going back to the line, is there anyone online who would like to make second public comment this evening? Seeing no one in the room, seeing no one online, I'm going to close second public comment and move on to board member comments. Board member comments are activities that we have attended within the district and the community that we would like to share, and just like the community, we get 3 min, and I'm going to start on this side of the table with.
Ms. Palmer. Sure. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure with, I know, another number of other board members of attending a few of our middle school spring musicals. Um, I saw Frozen at Rosa, and I saw Mean Girls at back the the cast and crew in both productions did a phenomenal job, and I'm… So, so proud. It was a highlight for me and my kids. Looking forward to the third of the three middle schools when Grisi performs Matilda next month.
And, uh, and stuff's, you know, next month at West, and then I'll round it out all of the spring musicals across our schools. I do, and Dr. Dryson, I appreciate your comments about policies. I did, in addition to 2422, I was going to talk about both policies. So the board tonight took final action on both policy. 24 22, which Dr. Dryson touched on. We also adopted the first ever, uh. generative AI policy in the district. And I call attention to this because I think we all know.
the importance of understanding and responsibly using AI in our school environments. what I want the public to understand is that this policy is a starting point. The district administration will be working is already working on an AI plan that will really be kind of the day to day operational piece of it. So those two will work hand in hand together. We will work with administration. Um, to make sure that there is a public process around that, that we do share more information as that is developed. My hope, once we get past.
This kind of budget season as we get into the late spring into summer committee cycles. My plan for the committee, and I know that Mrs. Winters and I have talked about this, is looking at a more holistic set of bill… policy package that focuses on use of technology, responsible use of technology. We have to revisit our cell phone policy in the next month or two. Um, so there's a lot of thought there. I just… I want the community to know that that is coming. Um, I want my board colleagues to know, just in the spirit of transparency, that that is coming. I will be looking for your input. I appreciate the thoughtful.
Thought that has gone into all of these pathful thought. I do words. That's gone into these policies by the other committee members, other members of the board. really high-level work taking place on the policy committee, and I really hope to carry that forward through the summer. So thank you. And I think… That's it for me for tonight. Thank you, Miss Palmer. Miss Manzano. I had the pleasure of attending Frozen with Mrs. Palmer and my two older children, my kindergartner and my second grader loved it. They were singing along the whole time. Um, I also got to attend the West Science Fair before they took off on their senior trip. Milana presented, um, her project. It was awesome. She was being filmed while I was trying to watch, so I was… kind of watching that whole process as well. Um, but more importantly for me tonight, um, I want to just really quickly talk about the importance of music, art, and theater, uh, education, because it is arts in our schools month for March. Engaging in the arts does more than just inspire creativity, it fosters cognitive development and boosts academic performance.
Music, theater, and visual arts stimulate both sides of the brain, which enhances skills in math, language, and spatial awareness. But the impact goes beyond academics. Art and music encourage students to express their emotions, explore history, and connect with the world around them. I would be remiss not to shout out all of the wonderful music, art, and theater educators enriching the lives of our Cherry Hill students, while also consistently having their work on display for the community to see multiple times a year. Thank you for all you do, thank you for filling our children's lives and our Cherry Hill community with things that make us feel, learn, connect.
and be seen. Well, that was lovely. I also attended Frozen. I may have been there in a full reindeer onesie with antlers on. Multiple community members suggested if I wore that outfit to the budget, it might make it go better. I don't know if that really would have worked. At this point, I'll try anything. Um, but I'd also thank you, Ms. Palmer, for talking about the coming technology policy package. That's something that the board has been working on in the background. There's an opportunity now to do a more comprehensive look at.
technology use in our district is something that's been talked about in national media. It's something that's being talked about in Cherry Hill, so that's something that community should anticipate seeing soon. It will be a joint effort of P&L, CNI, and probably also Bnf when it comes to. I just… Mr. Greenbaum didn't know that. Now he does. When it comes to the cost impact of and implications of whatever we decide. But that is definitely something that is coming soon. So moving on to Mr. Greenbaum. Nothing tonight, thank you.
Thank you, Miss Turn. I don't believe that I have anything to report, and if I do, it's on my phone, and I don't look at my phone during the meeting, so I can't offer that. A plus for following the policy. Ms. Cummings. I'll bring us home. So this past Friday, I attended the Women's Leadership Conference sponsored by NJSBA. It was an all day conference. It was quite inspiring, a very well attended. It was great to see some of the.
board member colleagues that I've met at GovOne this past winter. Um, but more importantly, the keynote speaker was Dr. Kimberly Marcus, um, and she was a former New Jersey commissioner of Education, also a retired educator of over 30 years, and it was very inspiring. and motivating and aside from the sessions that I attended, which included working across generations, reverse mentoring, navigating gender bias, and a bunch of other very interesting topics.
Um, it was great to network and, like, just listen in on conversations that were happening. with other boards, and I can tell you, again, this has been said already this evening, that we are not alone in this funding crisis. It was the talk of the town in small group sessions, in between sessions at that meeting, so… I mean, I don't know if that's comforting or not, but… It's out there, but that's all I have for this week. Thank you, Ms. Cummings. Dr. Braddock, do you have anything for this evening and board member comments?
Uh, nothing to report that's anything terribly official, but there is something that happened, I guess, last… it's probably last month or early this month, I want to say. I don't want to say the student's name, but if it comes across their radar or their parents radar, there is a parent in the district. I believe their student goes to. East, who solicited my advice and some of my help about getting into, uh, university, and I found out recently that they did get into their University of Choice, which happens to be my university. So, um, I don't think… I'm gonna err on the side of caution, not say the name of the student, but I just want to say that how proud I am of that student to have gotten to their college of choice.
I'm very proud of them. Thank you, Dr. Braddock. It is college season. As I look at the seniors. And this isn't… this is real quick, this isn't anything related to the district, but I also found out literally 20 min before this meeting started that I was awarded tenure at my university as well. Congratulations, Dr. Braddock. Dr. Dreisen, can you top that? No, I cannot. Nothing further to add.
Thank you so much, both of you, for attending online. I know it's a big lift. We appreciate it. Moving back to superintendent comments. Dr. Morton, do you have anything else for this evening? Just a quick 20 seconds. I just want to say thank you to the board for your strong engagement throughout the budgeting process. Uh, you know, many, many, many questions and consistent inquiry-based approach. I think, uh, ultimately strengthen the conversations and the final decisions that were made, uh, collectively. I'd also like to thank all community members again for their engagement as we head into spring recess.
I hope students, staff, families have an opportunity to rejuvenate, refresh just a bit, do something, um, that promotes togetherness amongst yourselves, and, uh, come back ready to go and finish this school year up. Alright, have a great night, everyone. Thank you. I make a motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Ms. Cummings, all in favor? All right.The meeting