Hi, good evening education park 975 chapter 231 disc special for section 13 of the act motion to return to public miss followed by Mr. excited. All
>> in favor to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. here. Mr. >> Des here, Mr. >> Rey here,
>> M. Harrison >> here, Mr. >> Here, Mr. May present, Mr. Car >> here, >> Miss Milner >> here, >> Mrs. Sorum >> here, >> and Mrs. Dunson >> here. >> Having 10 board members for quum. >> All right. So, at this time, we're going to hand it over to Mr. Mr. Zudo for the
presentation of the annual school budget. All right. Good evening everyone and thank you for coming to the uh uh budget presentation for 20 the 26 27th school year. the Clark board education um trustees
Steve Dunker Snoop President Lorine Akalonis vice president Dina Bvinga Robert Breedy Megan Harrison Kristen Hickman Thomas May Allison Melnik Robert Smarl and Nicar Rep Tracy McCarrick
now I present Mr. Grande >> thank you Mr. Kuza, our district mission statement that guides all the good work that we set out to do is as follows. Clark Township Public Schools will in an active and
responsible partnership that ensures all students achieve the New Jersey student learning standards at all grade levels. Through a nurturing, relevant learning environment, we will assist in the development of productive, respectful, and accountable citizens who
are lifelong learners. Just a highlight of the handful of educational initiatives that we are going into this coming school year, the 26 27 year with and that have been budgeted for full day kindergarten will remain. And as I say each year, this is
an initiative that we've had in the Clark public schools for close to 20 years now that some local very high performing districts are either just putting in or trying to put in. And on the other end with our oldest learners, reimbursement for AP exams and
college courses given some qualifying conditions. We'll continue to aim for a maximum class size of 20 to 25 students at all grade levels along with our strong commitment to professional development because our teachers need to be learners also be it weekl long summer
institutes bring consultants into district and a lot of homegrown PE that our staff members themselves turn key actually this evening we're approving a wealth of curricular revisions including a number of new courses um for example our senior English program is being
revamped to become more electivebased. We're thrilled that there's no staff reductions in this budget. Where most if not all neighboring districts are cutting, we're able to not only maintain but add, for example, a social worker
and in year and 18 to 21 ages our post-graduate transition coordinator. We will continue with this student Chromebook replenishment so that our students have um new devices instead of worn out ones for lack of a better word
along with the software and the subscriptions that they need to do the good work that they do on those devices. For example, Linkit which not only is a platform for learning but also for assessment. And we're going to be setting out in the new
year to have a balance between technology and some of the old school approaches that we may have in light of technology moved a bit away from that get kids talking and communicating and moving. And that's
going to be um a focus of our district going into the 2627 school year. And also talking about technology, we'll be having a new district website um apt in place that's also an instant messaging system that will allow allow us to meet
some of the community concerns through which we can send text messages in addition to emails in the case of let's say a security situation and that new platform will be in place starting in July. Thank you Mr. V.
Okay. 8-1. I'm sure everyone knows that statute, right? Uh so every year we have to present to the county uh superintendent of schools a balanced budget that provides for a thorough and efficient um education in which this budget does provide that
components of a school budget. Uh the general fund consists of fund 10, 11, 12, 13 and 18. Special revenue fund is fund 20. uh special revenues where we get the grants. Uh also our school uh our preschool aid is is part of fund 20
capital projects that's fund 30 that's a referendum projects which we're currently undergoing and debt service also related to uh the referendum. So starting with the operating budget on the revenue side um for next school year
the local taxes are 3948,000 difference of 2.2 two and that represents about 6.1% increase. Uh tuition, which is the Garwood receiving students for the high school, uh that's going down slightly because we're projecting less students coming in for
2728. State aid is uh 3.7. State a represents maybe 7.5% of our entire budget. By the way, local taxes represents about 80% of our local t uh of our local budget. Miscellaneous 309,000. And then we have fund balance,
the $3.5 million of fund balance is a surplus, a budget surplus. And uh the fund balance is key to develop a healthy uh surplus. Uh because with that, as Mr. Grid alluded to before, uh we're able to balance the budget and also add some
additional staff. If our if our fund balance, our surplus is weak, then we'll probably be cutting staff. So, I want to thank everyone for really buying into that and and watching your spending. So our total operating budget is 40 million, an increase of 1.9 million from
this current school year. And the little graph here presents, as I mentioned, 80% local tax, tuition is 4%. State aid rounded to 8%, fund balance is 7 and miscellaneous is 1%. Our
total revenue uh for next year 49 general fund our special revenue is 1.3 and our debt service is 2.3 um for a total budget of 50 $53 million rounded an increase actually a decrease
of 654,000 our appropriations um total instruction for next year is 16 million special ed is 4.8 8 million. Out of district tuition is 2.7 million. Transportation's 2.9. Uh employee benefits that's gone up
a little quite a bit. That's 9.8 million. And we have a small amount of capital outlay 325,000 for general fund operating budget 49 million 070.
Total appropriations their own fund 49 million special revenue 1.3 million and debt service 2.3 million for a total appropriations of 52 million693 which uh with the previous slide matches the
revenue. So we have to have a balanced budget. Our fixed cost this this graph really tells a story. Salaries is 20 26 million which represents 52% of our total operating budget. Employee benefits 9.8 represents 20%.
Total salary benefits alone represents 72% of our total budget. Out of district tuition 6%, transportation six and plant operation security 12%. So total fixed cost is 96% of the budget. But you could
probably make an argument also that even though supplies purchase services 2 million some of that is also fixed because we need books we need teaching supplies we need pencils things like that but these are called discretionary cost that that's 4%. Uh so total general
fund is 49 million 70,000. Here's a graph showing the uh the fixed cost is 72%. Tuition is six, transportation is is 6%, plane operation at 12 and other is 4%.
Again another graph showing the fixed cost eating up 92% of that pie and pupils on roll. So for next year we're scheduled full-time is n
uh I'm sorry 252 students. Uh sure time is 50. Now sure time is uh the students that come here at the high school then also go to vote either they go in the morning or the afternoon. Uh
enrolled special ed 391 students and also special ed share time 52 for total enrolled students 2 545 students projected for next year. out of district uh private placements uh special ed is
10 10 students uh other district going to public schools is seven and we're receiving 127 I'm sorry we project 121 students from Garwin as you can see it's gone down
slightly from this current year so here's projected gar students by grade and also resource room for total grade 9 is 25 grade 10 is 28 grade 11 29 grade 12 is 38 and we do
have share time of three for total coming in for next year projected 121 students.5 the.5 is the share time going back and forth so it's not like a half a student cut off or something right so uh share services
with the municipality there've always been great support for the school district. Uh we do snow removal with them, leaf pickup, groundskeeping, recycling, food p uh few purchasing, and a few years back they helped us tremendously with the field turf, the the sports complex. Uh we do
professional development. We have we have co-ops programs with 10 programs and pretty much 99% of our routes are with the Union County at Service Commission. Now, the projected tax for the 2627
school year is $276. Um, based on average home assessment, 528,000. So, so if your home is worth more than that, it could be a little bit more. If it's less than that, it's just a projection.
Now, the preschool education aid. So, for 2627, we're getting $3 million. The enrollment here at the high school is going to be 60. The CPA across the street is 36 and Discovery is going to be 90 for a total
of 186 preschool students for the upcoming school year. Referendum. Again, we want to thank the voters for passing referendum back in September. It was like a 3 to1 ratio. Uh that's like Hall of Fame numbers.
Uh the bond sale was $34 million, 761,000. Uh the borrowing rate, we we received a great borrowing rate of 3.74 because standard and poor rated us as a double A district, which is pretty high for school district based on our strong
financial position. Amortization is going to be over 20 years. Uh state 8 for debt service, we're projected to get 25%. Uh there's no additional tax impact. uh with the current bond terminating June
2026 and new bonds commencing August of 2026. And as the board alluded to back when we were doing a referendum, um there was going to be no increase because one is falling off, one is coming on. Uh so there'll be no
additional tax increase that service. Um we cleaned this up a little bit because last couple meetings ago we had a little issue with this. Uh so local share is 1.7 million and we are getting debt
serve from from the state of 585,000. So total debt is 2.3 but the local share is only 1.7. As you see from this current year 1.8 it's actually going down a little bit the local share. Anyone have a question on that service?
Okay. Uh referendum projects we have 18 projects in all all four schools. fire alarm upgrades at at uh at Comi Road. Hardware hallway replacement at Valley Road, new phone system throughout the
district, uh canopy and sidewalk repairs at uh Comf, new playgrounds for Valley Road and Henley, and the classroom addition over at Henley, six classrooms. Uh but the way we're going to structure the addition is we're going to be able
to build over that come in the future if we need to add additional classrooms. So we'll be at the add another six if we ever need you know down the road. Um here's referendum project continue park line repavement of valley parking
lot extension at at uh at Henley. We finally heard surely that we needed a parking lot extension. We're doing it. All right. Uh so total projects 18 and uh we're very aggressive. We're looking to get 14 of those 18 projects completed
by summer, early fall. And want to thank again everyone, the administration, the board for their support, the administration, directors, and everyone else for buying into our budget process here. And it's very helpful that you guys there's a collaborative approach that that we use here in Clark. Does anyone have any
questions? All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, Mr. Thank you so much for that presentation and thank you for keeping us on the rails and keeping us in a balanced budget. Appreciate that. Can >> I just say that was a fantastic
presentation. He did a great job and uh we're really pleased to have somebody do such a professional work for us. Well done. >> Paul, on behalf of the finance committee. Just want to say thank you. Job well done. We really appreciate in light of what's going on throughout the state and the current situations many
school districts are going through. We really appreciate it. So, thank you. You're welcome. >> So, at this time, we'll open the floor to the public for questions or comments regarding the school budget on about the school budget. So, seeing none, we'll
move on uh to uh getting a motion on passing the 2627 annual school budget. A motion. Motion, >> Mr. May, followed by Mr. Small. Any questions or comments? A roll call on that, please. >> Morris, >> yes. >> Mr. Pess, >> yes. >> Mr. Green,
>> yes. >> M Harris, >> yes. >> Mr. Sen, >> yes. >> Mr. May, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarron, >> yes. >> Mel, >> yes. >> Mr. SM, >> yes. >> And Mr. D. >> Yes. Mr. Car. >> All right. Now we'll move on to approval minutes from last month. Do I get a motion? Miss Harrison, followed by Miss
Melnik. Any questions or comments? A roll call, please. >> Mus abstain. >> Mr. M. >> Yes. >> Mr. Green. >> Yes. >> M. Harrison. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Mr. Car. >> Yes. >> M. Milner.
>> Yes. >> Moral. >> Yes. >> And Mr. >> Yes. Mr. Terry. Thank you. And now we'll open the floor to the public for agenda items only. So if there's anything on the agenda that would like to be discussed, now is the time. At the end of the meeting, we'll have time for non-public. So seeing none, we'll move
on to personnel. We have items 1 through 14. A motion. Mr. Sorl, followed by Mr. Bena. Any questions or comment on those? Roll call, please. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes.
>> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. May. Yes, Mr. Carrick. >> Abstain from items four and six. Yes to all others. >> Mley, >> abstain from item number nine. Yes to all others. Okay, >> Mr. Sorl. >> Yes.
>> And Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Harris. >> We have one loan item number 15 for curriculum. Motion by Miss Aonus followed by Miss Harrison. Questions or comments? Roll call. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. President. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Green. Yes, >> Mr. Harris. >> Yes, >> Miss >> Yes, >> Mr. May. >> Yes, >> Mr. Car. >> Abstain, >> Miss Millman. >> Yes, >> Mr. SM. >> Yes. >> And Mr. >> Yes. >> Motion carry. >> Board governance. We have items 16 to
22. Motion sown. Mr. Any questions or comments on those? Roll call. >> Second. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. three. >> Yes, >> Mr. Harris. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sler, >> yes. >> Mr. May, >> yes. >> Mr. McCarrick,
>> yes. >> M. >> Yes. >> Mr. SM. >> Yes. >> And Mr. >> Yes. >> All right. And then finally, we have finance items 23 through 40. Mr. Small. Mr. Breeny. Any questions or comments on those? Roll call, please.
>> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Green. >> Yes. >> Mr. Harris. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. May. Yes, >> abstain from item 29. Yes to all others. M >> yes >> Mr. >> Yes and Mr.
>> Yes. >> Okay. At this time we'll hand it over to Mr. Grande for report. >> Good evening and thank you Mr. Don. Once again many thanks Mr. Duzo for the budget preparation and not only the preparation but the guidance that goes in year round to lead us to this
evening. Our finance committee led by Mr. Smorl, Mr. Breedy and Mr. May as committee members, the full board for their support, and our administrative team, and Mr. Bizuzo's presentation is on the district website under the business department subpage.
We're already in May and we're kicking up preparation for the new school year with a number of new hires along with our reappoint lists. And we're very thankful to our faculty and staff for all that they do for our students and schools. And it's very timely with
tomorrow being teacher appreciation day for us to express that gratitude along with the fact that we're reappointing people. As I alluded to during the budget presentation, our curriculum writers are on this evening's agenda for approval along with our summer reading lists.
Our schools across the district need to accept a wellness policy annual school practitioner report. All of our schools are in compliance with the wellness policy, nutrient standards for meals and other foods policy number 8505, and they have made progress toward
attaining the policy goals. There are no recommended changes or an action plan for next year's implementation of the policy. And I'd like to thank Remax and Clark for their donation, which is accepted this evening, of four adult office desks
for Valley Road School and Clark Recreation Youth Wrestling for a wrestling mat to be used in the ALJ wrestling room. Thank you and have a great evening. >> Thank you, Mr. Grande. Uh, at this time, report of the committees. >> I just want to say, um, Mr. Grande
mentioned that it is teacher appreciation week, so I think we always have to highlight our teachers. My personal experience is every single teacher that my child, my children have had been wonderful. And not just that, but whenever I walk into a building in the district, there's always someone
there to greet you, to smile, to make it feel warm and welcoming. And I think that speaks volumes to the people that we have here day in and day out. And I can't imagine being in a better place than having my kids come every day. I feel very, very fortunate and lucky to have them attend these Clark Post
schools. Um, I just want to say thank you to the teachers. >> I would like to piggy back off, Mrs. Harrison. I would say the same. Um, as an educator myself, I understand all the fun things that go into being teachers and how teachers are pulled in so many different ways. And I think our teachers
are doing an amazing job with our students. Uh, the initiatives, uh, the support for our students are really very much appreciated. Um, sometimes parents don't realize how much goes into it. So, I really would like to highlight that um that our teachers are really amazing. >> Thank you. Anybody else? All right. So,
at this time, we'll move to either unfinished or new business. Seeing none of that, uh Maddie is out today, so we're going to skip this student member with the rescheduling. She had a conflict. >> She had a lacrosse camp. So, they were open today. >> All right. Yes. So, at this time, we
will open it up to the public for non-aggenda items. So, if you have anything you'd like to say, please come up and state your name or your address. >> Hello. Uh, John Graves, 30th Parkway Drive. Um, I kind of wanted to talk a little bit more about the 30-year tax
breaks, the pilots, and how the school has some ideas or plans on how to accommodate the students that are coming from there. While at the same time, we're not going to be receiving tax revenue from those buildings. Um, so Bonnet at W Bonnet Hill was one of the
apartments that I mentioned. Um, I think it was not this school year, but the last school year there was 28 students coming to the school. It's about $475,000 of burden if you use the per pupil cost, but we received no tax revenue for the schools from there. Um, and it feels
like the school district has to absorb that. And I guess one I had had a question about I guess a plan for the existing pilots, but the thing is is that there's actually going to be probably a lot more pilots. Um the town council has said pretty clearly that
developers are probably not going to build here unless they get a pilot and we have the affordable housing um obligations that we have to do. And we have about 230 uh apartments that have to be built. But the thing is is that's usually if you
have the the current um setup that's only 15% of the total number. So we're looking at over 1500 close to 2,000 apartments that are going to be built probably and most of those if not all of those are probably going to be pilots according to how the town has been
working. And I saw that you know the the number of students in the presentation has been increasing. Is there a plan to kind of deal with that or you know if there's not I I I encourage you to sort of think about how we will be able to accommodate that. Um I know that you were saying that there was the issue
that some of the money was being paid by the existing um property. So Wallen Hill that only applies to the amount that was paid before the apartment was built. So basically there were zero students come before it was built and you're getting about $50,000. Now that there's 28
students, you're still only getting $50,000. You get nothing from Cub Smart. There's the 39 unit apartment building where the Knights of Columbus building is, that's there's nothing that says that you're going to get any revenue from there. Um the AM building, it's been pretty made pretty clear that's probably going to get a pilot as well.
That's 138 units. And then there's all the remaining units. So, I am concerned about how the school is going to be able to handle this. Um, I not saying you have to have it figured out now, but I just wanted to raise the concern because that's something that I think is important. Um, and I know that there are
some things that you guys share with the town like um I think you mentioned that they allow you guys to use Brewer um for the special education um for like a dollar a year, but I think it's also important to remember that Brewer was sold to the town for a dollar as well.
So I think that's not and that doesn't necessarily address the lack of revenue. So um yeah, in short, how how are we going to deal with the existing pilots? How are we going to deal with the pilots coming up? And um you know, I'm just concerned about that. I feel like >> I think you have valid concerns and I think periodically we do. Uh
>> why don't we let Mr. Grande put some color on this again? >> Absolutely. One last thing I want to say is I I also just want to encourage maybe there's a way that you guys could sort of sit at the table when they're negotiating some of these pilots because I know the the previous ones I don't think someone from the school board was
at the table when they were negotiating and I think that would be an important step so that you can you know bring up concerns you have. >> So Mr. Grims, it's my understanding that you met with the township govern government and they walked you through
the pilot and how the funding is set up and if you would ever want to outside of a public meeting have a follow-up meeting um with myself and Mr. Vizuzo, we'd be happy to do that. We've done that with other people. And again, you know, as you could see this evening, um,
we're very fortunate that at this time, we're beyond physically solvent and healthy. And we we're also very fortunate that we have that um promise from local government that if we ever were in need of additional funds that
they would, you know, help us out and and get us that funding. So, you know, at this point, I don't know that there's any more clarity I can shed at this point. >> Well, I'll say I'll say this, too. Um, you know, speaking on behalf of being a part of the finance committee, we
there's a reason why we are very diligent in terms of, and thanks to Mr. Vizuzo for keeping us that diligent with regards to our um our surplus because it's not just what you're talking about that can kill our body. It's we just saw
it with the benefits, right? And I work in the benefits realm, so I see it all the time. That can that can be a number that we have no control over, right? The out of district tuition, you could have a a an influx of uh special needs students that we can't accommodate here. That
those are numbers that are beyond our control that can be quite large as you as you see in the budget. So, you know, our goal is to continue to make sure that we have enough sea money from budget to budget so we can absorb some of those costs. From a space perspective, obviously, we're doing the
addition at at Henley for a reason, right? The the elementaryaries were bursting at the seams. Uh, as you heard during the presentation, the uh I think Mr. Vuzo said it, the um the addition is also going to be able to add six
classrooms on on top in the future. I get it at a cost, right, that we don't have budgeting for right now, but it'll be a lot cheaper because we're preparing in the event we have to do that in the future. So, it's not just money, it's space, too. And we are thinking about it. But if anyone sat here and said, "I have the master plan for you," they'd be
lying. >> Well, I say I feel like please plan because the the >> We are. We know we are. We just don't have it solved. I was going to say I don't think you realize that's we meet monthly and talk about issues like this to plan but you can't plan for the
whatifs right you can talk about it but we don't know >> how many students are going to come out of each one you know how is it affected there's a lot of whatifs in these situations >> if I could just add one comment >> I believe you had a meeting with the business administrator and the mayor to
take you through the mechanics of the pilot program >> the thing is the the shortfall is still there they explained it and it still show that zero money goes to the schools. >> I don't believe that's true. >> Okay. >> I believe there's money that goes to the schools. Correct. >> And I believe that what we were told was
as the numbers come in, if we need if I'm if I'm mistating if we will go back to the table if more money is needed and the town will continue to work with us. Now, that being said, either either >> you didn't understand the mechanics of what they explained to you or you don't
agree with it. But I don't think there's much more we can say. You probably should go back and meet with them again to go through the mechanics of it. From our perspective, we believe that we're getting money right now and that if the if the need presents itself in terms of
additional students that the town will work with us. That's the understanding we have. >> So I I don't know what else we can say. Can can we at least agree on the facts, which is there was zero students coming from the Walnut Hill apartment building and you got $50,000 give or take. Now
there's about 28 students coming from Walnut Hill and you're still getting about $50,000. That doesn't make up for the burden. And that's the whole point. Yes, I have been walked through it and the fact remains that the school does not receive any additional funding from
those properties for 30 years. That's two and a half generations of students going to the schools that are not funded. And it's not just those buildings. It's that they're going to be keeping continue to make more. There's already one on um Westwood Avenue, the
Cubesmart, the AM is very likely going to be one. And basically to meet our affordable housing obligation, it has been made clear that it is very common and it's very likely that many more of these are going to happen. So I just think that it's a I'm raising concern. I understand
that you might not have the answer right now, but I'm beseeching you to please put a plan in place and please >> concerned, but I don't want you to think we're not planning for it and addressing it. So, >> every month you come up and ask us what our plan, we're addressing it as we need to address it. We discuss it and plan as
we plan. >> How can anyone see the plan? If there's a plan, >> it's not a public plan. Like, we can't >> we can't guess how many students are coming in. What's the name of that survey? The one that we do. demographics. We we we commission those
every couple years to see where it is. >> And the last one did include Walnut Hill and the one >> I don't know why it's called Across Manny's. Yeah, we just called the one across from Manny's. It did it. It did include that. >> Um regardless if it's pilot or not,
we're planning for each of the developments here. What about the three new houses that are over near K that were on empty property? So, I mean like you come up here, but I want you to know that we are discussing it. We are planning it as Mr.
Smurl said, Mr. Vizuzo said, Mr. Grande said, and Mr. Breeding said, we are in communication with the town and when we need assistance from the town, we can go back to the town and tell them what we need. >> You were right though, we do get additional monies for those houses if there's, you know, what tax revenue. Right. >> Right.
>> But we were more concerned with space for a while. So we were, so we were planning that to make sure we so it's not that we're doesn't matter whether it's a pilot or not. We have issues financially and space-wise with everything that happens in this town and we don't not look at it or or try to
plan for it. >> I mean, I'm really on your side. I feel like you guys are getting the short end of the stick, but you keep but on the table. >> You keep implying that we're not working with who we need to work with to make sure we're funded correctly. >> Do you guys have a seat at the table at any of these negotiations? We correct me
if I'm wrong. We don't need a seat at the table because we have a partner a very strong partnership with our town council and mayor. >> Okay. But >> they they addition, but we can agree to disagree. We have a strong partnership with our mayor and our town council. And when we need to rely on them, they're
here for us. >> I don't need to sit at the table and negotiate a pilot. You keep mentioning Cub Smart. I don't believe any students are coming under Cub Smart. I >> So I'm hold you brought that up multiple times. they can pilot that for 100 years that doesn't affect our schools.
So we are there other places it's affordable housing obligation. I gave him many examples where there are we appreciate you reiterating those. We are aware of those. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Any other comments from the public?
>> Okay. So seeing none, we'll close that out and we will uh can I get a motion to journal? Mr. May all in favor. Thank you. Impressive.