Check. Check. Check. One, two. Check. Check. One, two. Okay. Uh let's start the meeting. Uh please stand. Flag salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands
one indivisible for all. Roll call please. Mr. Is she here? Mr. V Shop Patel. Miss Pang. Is there she's here? Oh,
she's walking down the hall. Here she comes. And change that to a present. Miss White here. Mr. Romano here. Miss Angina Patel here. Mr. Lugo here. Mr. Ronac Patel.
Mr. Eric here. We have a quorum. Opening statement. Yes. In accordance with the provisions of the open public meetings act C19 C231 1975 uh Sunshine Law, the Edison Township Board Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be
published by having the date, time, place thereof posted on the board of education administrative offices. Copies of this notice were sent to the Home News Tribune and the Star Ledger. Okay. So, today we're going to go to the privileges session first. So, uh, uh, anything to read?
Give me a second. Oh, it's in the back. Okay, I got it. You want me to take care of it? Yeah. Okay. Uh, in accordance with NJSA section 10 col 4-2, the Edison Township Board of Education adjourns to confidential session for the purposes of
legal matters, confidential board matters, personnel. I think that's it. That's it. Okay. And that's it. Thank you. motion. All right. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. All in favor? I. So, we'll be back in about uh half an hour, 45
minutes. Right. Yes. Joe. Yes. uh you guys had a chance to tour the facility while we were having our close session over there and I say 45 minutes. We're right on time. Okay. So, uh, can I have a motion
to reconvene, uh, to the open session? Motion. Okay. And do I have a second? Okay. Mrs. White. Uh, Mr. Romano. All in favor? I. Okay. So, today, one of the uh agenda item is to
uh uh have a public hearing on the budget again. So, uh, now I'm open up for public comments on the budget only. On the budget only. Public comments. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead.
Good afternoon, everybody. I hope everybody is well. Your name? Oh, my name is Brian Rivera. Thank you. And I live in Edison. Can you make it louder? Yeah, this voice is enough. Yeah, say
something. You guys hear me? Oh, that's good. All right, that's good because I got a few things to say. Um, I did kind of prepare something while I was sitting outside. So, I I really want to talk about this budget. So, while the budget may cover next year's immediate needs, responsible
fiscal planning involves preparing for the future uncertainties, something a tax increase could help address. I don't think that taking 22 million out of our capital um leaving the district with a little over than a million uh is the right way to go. A zero increased budget might feel
good now, but it risks underfunding key initiatives or deferring maintenances that leads to higher long-term costs. Failing to plan ahead could force a district into a steeper tax increases or budget cuts later, something far more disruptive to both students and
taxpayers. And I'm talking about that bank cap. My main concern is our students. The effects of this budget on our students experiences and their achievement. Speaking from experience, I have personally seen how a
budget can drive or affect student achievement. If the district doesn't grow its revenue base, students could face less personalized instruction, fewer academic or extracurricular options, uh delayed upgrades to technology facilities, uh less support
for vulnerable learners, and overall decline in morale and engagement, not just for our students, but also our staff. As I said, I've experienced this for the last couple of years. So, with that said, I have six questions.
And with this said, I'm going to direct these questions to the educator that sits on the dis. How will student services be preserved or expanded without new
revenue? What's the plan for rising costs? Without new revenue, how will the district cover these increases without affecting students? How would the district invest in academic recovery and achievement? Can these programs be
sustained or expanded with flat funding? Will facilities and learning environments be affected or neglected by this as well? A 5-year tax freeze might sound good for the wallets, but without increased investment, we risk cutting
corners on what matters most, and that's our student success. We need a budget that ensures equity, academic growth, and a safe, welle equipped learning environments for every child in this district. I hope the board considers my comments. Thank you.
Okay. Is there other comments? Any other comments from public? Okay. You want to address some of that? Revenue question. Mr. What was the question regarding revenue again? I'm sorry. The question regarding
revenue. I I I don't write that fast. I'm not going to pretend to try and write six. So my first question was how will student services be preserved or expanded without new revenue? Right. So I because we have that whole strategic plan where that had a whole
budget. So I I think you'll see in uh our presentation um where the original services and programs that we've been offering are still in place. uh we didn't cut uh any principal's uh budget nor did we cut any supervisor's budget.
Um in terms of expanding new programs, I think part of that uh wonderful PowerPoint that Miss Daniels put through um speaks to some of the newmies that we're going to be having, right? New opportunities for all of our students here in Edison. Um in terms of new
revenue, we um we re we in there is no new revenue, right? We actually had a reduction in state 8, but we were able to use um some of our uh fund balance which was about 16 16 million 6.9, right? 16.9. Thank
you, Mr. She. This is double from the previous year or any year. So that's that's a really huge accomplishment um that we were able to do that. And as to the capital reserve, right, the those are things that we've been able to restrict and put into legally uh funded
reserves. and use them uh for you know the property, plant and equipment of the district which we we've been doing um and we continue to do because investment in infrastructure is important. Um we the the budget uh covered contractual
raise raises along with uh increases in healthcare costs. Um we did even add busing um to to hopefully have some additional courtesy routes. Is it as many as I would have liked? Am I am I adding, you know, 25 new buses, right?
No, but but there's some in there. Um, we're just not doing a lot of discretionary things that we once might have done. So, and then I could probably answer some of some of the other pieces in rel in relationship to that. So, I think the overarching question was how are student
programs going to be affected, right? If we were to kind of summarize some of some of those particular pieces. So currently there there are no programs that are currently being cut reduced. We did not touch class size. Um you know we took a deep dive into the budget and looked at a couple different things. Number one, we looked at our digital
content uh providers as well too. Both chief academic officers uh as well as Dr. Tui um looked at some of our digital content that we have access to but may not have reflected the usage that we would have liked. Right? So we um are
prioritizing what type of content we're going to be utilizing and uh look for any redundancies and overlap there. Um nothing's been eliminated like uh Mr. Toth said principal budgets uh school-based budgets uh are not I know they you know they may hear we did we
did move away from uh the printers right that's usually ones that we get all the time too about yeah we have moved away from from printers uh the desktop type printers and instead we're utilizing the you know the printer copier facts like a printing center uh at various locations throughout the building cutting back on
toner and things of that nature definitely a change for staff um and I often don't like the practice as well. I love having my own printer in my office too. But from a financial standpoint, it's definitely uh more more cost effective in relationship to toner um the lease payments that we have as well
as um the ability to regulate those um plan for rising costs. Yeah, I mean that's a good question, right? You know, you you you look at uh you know, hopefully uh the you know, it's it's contingent upon the economy, right? Uh,
one of the things that we know are fixed costs, right? That's kind of how you plan your school budget. It is based off of fixed costs of teacher salaries, right? So, if you're looking at a $378 million budget, 200 million of that is salaries. Another 50 million of that is
uh health care costs. Um so there's very little discretionary when it kind of comes to the areas where we can we can play around with and um therefore for as far as rising costs are concerned you know that
that's you can't plan for what you don't know right is that fair I think that's that's that's accurate and um if you look at it the budget's a moving target it really is because that's that's exactly what it is it's a budget right the minute the board approves a budget three months from now you know there could be, you know, a financial
calamity, right? And you have to be able to take action, right? And whether that be through raising uh revenue somehow or reducing your expenditures, that's why uh we have the professionals in place like myself, Dr. Al Alderelli, and the business office staff in place is to be
able to do that. Uh to be able to um you know, meet those challenges, which we've done time and time again. We've uh this board has kept the prek program um operating when this the state didn't give us the our grant which I I feel like we're more than entitled to. Um we
still the board made it a commitment to uh service those kids and we've continued to do so. Yeah. And I think one of the key pieces though is the $16.9 million um in unassigned fund balance that Yeah. uh was utilized this
year um which will not be you know won't be available next year. So it will be a different conversation that we need to talk about at that time. But as far as this year um no programs are currently getting cut um we are ensuring access to all clubs, sporting programs, resources
for teachers. Uh we're actually expanding resources for teachers as well too. um our engagement platform. I would say that um it's uh a pretty comprehensive budget and uh I think the uh the people that worked on it did a really good job. Thank you. Any other
public comments? Yes, Beth. Um Beth Taly, 15 Midwood Avenue, Edison. Just a question because I haven't been able to see you know like the complete budget just the presentation. It's great that like in the presentation we said about like all this new building and stuff that yes we
do need. How much money is allotted in this budget to um cover what we already have like maintaining our buildings if we should have things like boilers breaking, air conditioners breaking, you
know, in schools and stuff. How much is there like a contingency in the budget for that and is it you know what we've had in the past so that we can cover you know like whoopsies like even hearing you know a couple meetings ago about you know the even the um tennis
courts at JP Steven stuff that we don't plan that happens where is that built into the budget and how much is it and is comparable to what we've had in the past or is that pot diminishing because money is going elsewhere where thank you. Good
question. Yeah, sure. So, in terms of like, you know, boilers and general maintenance and things of that nature. We um we do a report which actually kicks off the budget season. Every school district does it across the state of New Jersey. It's called the comprehensive maintenance plan and M1 that dictates
basically what you're supposed to budget for the general maintenance of your PP, your plant uh plant equipment. Um if I look at our budget, I uh what comes in under Mr. Colibus is is probably for those type of things about $4 million ballpark. That's off the top of my head.
I'm not looking at the line, but that's everything from, you know, servicing those type of things, boilers, and other mechanical units, HVAC, so that they're they're in good operating order so we don't have things, you know, just breaking down at at random, right? If you do the uh preventative maintenance,
much like, you know, we all hopefully we all have like a car or motorcycle, whatever, you know, you change the oil on it, right? every whatever you know 5,000 miles, whatever it is, 3,000 miles. Uh if you don't do that, you're gonna have problems with your engine. So that's that's one of the steps. Um in the event that something does happen,
right, like you know, uh we have some type of issue where a boiler goes, we can uh you know, obviously at that point in time because we have an e circumstance, um board could pass a resolution, uh requesting the uh executive county superintendent of schools to allow us a withdrawal from
our one of our reserves, one being capital, two being maintenance, or three being our emergency. Thanks. Thank you. Any other public comments? See none. Can I have a motion to close public comments? Motion to close. Have a second.
You already spoke. You already spoke. Okay, go ahead. Thought this was a hearing. So, sorry. So, I apologize, but based on the conversation, we talked about how we kept programs in order. You mentioned
prek. So, we having I believe what do we have? 531 kids that were in prek this year I believe somewhere there. So my first question is how many kids are going to be in the program next year? Are we funding 531? Because if not then that affected
the program that's a program change. So that means students and academics were affected there. The second thing I want to talk about was the 16 million. I wasn't going to bring it up, but since you brought it up now, was this 16 million that you had
overbudgeted or was this 16 million that you did not spend on stuff to get that 16 million? Because I have an issue with that because Eddie, you did just say that that 16 million ain't going to be there next year. So 16 million that you're using to cover this year's
budget, you're not covering it next year. So, you just lost 16 million there. The other thing too is Beth brought up um issues with god forbid something happens and she asked what the number was. We didn't hear a number, but from
my understanding in capital we had somewhere around 24 million somewhere around there. Now, we're taking 22 million out of that to fund this current budget which we won't have next year either. So next year we won't have 16
million or 22 million if I'm correct. And there's also chances of aid being lost again because from my understanding when I spoke to my superintendent friends and business administrator friends, they feel like there's going to be the belt is going to get real tight next year as well. I'm
sure Eddie in the meetings that you go to, they're they're saying the same thing. So again, I'm not trying to to bash the hard work that you guys do is I'm worried about these kids and especially my kid who's going to be
in the district for the next nine years, you know, and I'm sure every parent in this town is worried about, hey, are we going to have these services that my kids are used to having now? Are we going to have them next year? So I'm I'm not trying to pick a fight with anybody.
I just want people to hear my opinion and and hear what I've experienced because it was a bad you guys hired a bunch of people from my district that lost your jobs. You know what I mean? You're smiling about it because you know I'm right and I'm afraid that these issues will happen here and it'll
definitely affect our kids. So those were my my questions. Sure. Yeah. So the 16.9 million the fund balance that was gen that was generated not from one year but from multiple years and it back in when did was co
2020 at some point during 2020 or 2021 state legislature uh allowed you to um have an unassigned fund balance of 4%. Right? That's what they allowed you to um reserve so to speak. So that's been carried all the way up until for I
believe like two or two and a half maybe three years and in 2024 um we you know after the audit was complete you're forced uh to budget that money. So when the 2024 was audit was complete um those that fund balance is automatically
appropriated into a subsequent year's budget. Well it's not going to be 25 because 25 is happening so it goes to 26. Um, so it wasn't just from one year. Uh, it was from generated underspending through a lot of those, uh, COVID times, right, where maybe you weren't spending
as much on, you know, obviously on field trips or transportation or things of that nature. Um, in the future, will we have that type of uh number? Probably not. Um, but I I I hope to have at least half of it,
right? Um, because the idea is though, even with a budget, you may have a budget. um you you you try and want to you know spend as wisely as possible so that you know you don't spend exactly everything you have. Um we're fortunate enough that we've been able to do things like that where you know things that we
may have budgeted construction for $20 million or you know $30 million comes back at you know from bid at 23 and there's a savings so we're able to realize things like that. Uh in terms of the different reserves and numbers, I couldn't give you those exactly off the
top of my head. I want to say couple million dollars, maybe two left in cap after this withdrawal. Uh maintenance probably another two emergency one. So maybe around five all in. That's off the top of my head. Um, but don't for you know I not to forget or I should I more
more to say is to tell you guys is that once we commence 2025 and we go through the audit will probably more than likely put another deposit back into the capital reserve because that's normally what we do. So, you know, we're always, you know, and the amounts vary from time to time, but we're always putting trying
to put money back into that reserve for, you know, things like now that we're going to be doing um infrastructure projects or capital projects without use utilizing um our current expense funding. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Any other public comments? Seeing none, can
I have a motion to close? Motion to close. Do I have a second? I second. Okay. Ralph and uh um Ronic Patel. Sorry. Uh All right. All in favor? I I Okay. All right. I can make a move.
Yes. So, yeah, we're going to go and uh do this. Uh this on the agenda. Yeah. Uh yes. Can I have a motion to approve the budget resolution?
Motion to approve. Okay. I'd like to make a comment. Oh, you can go. Yeah, go ahead and make a comment. Yes. Usually after the motion. No, no. On the budget. On the budget. Okay. Yeah. Let him make a com. Let him do a motion and second. Yeah. After the motion and is passed.
No. No. So, I second. Okay. Same. Ralph and Ron Patel. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Comments. Yes. uh the budget. Uh I've been accused of not being a senior citizen. I am. I'm
72. Uh number two, uh I think a budget is an outline of what we propose for the following year. Uh I have I have concerns about our
students. Now our students demand a lot from our administration and we demand a lot from our students. See our students are what this board talks about
a lot. So I want the students to get everything that they need. Special ed uh trips education.
When I first got on a board a long time ago, I learned something about uh you have to uh you teach kids to read and and then they read to learn. And I want to make sure that the
budget is an outline of our strategic plan. I I want to make sure that we have enough and all I'm hearing is about zero
and about and I I can't I can't agree with that. I want to make sure our students, the parents of our students know that we have their back.
You know, every time I turn around, there's a parents talking to me. And what they're saying is is that when I'm not around anymore, my student has to have has to have everything that they need to succeed in life.
And I'm not asking for the world. I'm just asking for some consideration. We lost 2.6 million There's other districts in New Jersey that are closing
schools. I think one of them is closing two elementary schools. Uh there's districts uh down here in South East Brunswick, they had a big issue.
Uh, I don't think as being a taxpayer and being a senior citizen, which I was accused of being, which thank you. Uh, I don't think zero is the way to go. I
I the kids that that come to our school to learn, they learn to read and then they read to learn. I really think our teachers are doing a great job. and I understand, but I think a budget is just
an outline of where we're going. So, at this time, I'll reserve, but I don't agree with it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board member have any comments? Yeah, Jenny. I do. Okay.
I'm deeply concerned and troubled and I have this to say. As one of the two senior citizens sitting here today, I strongly disagree with the idea that raising school budget by more than 0% is
an attack on seniors or taxpayers. When I was first elected during the pandemic, we promised 0% increase because families were struggling. And for four years, we honored that promise, largely thanks to
the generous state aid that we have received. But today, we're in a very different situation. Our state aid has been drastically cut. We're receiving millions less than before. On top of that, we couldn't secure grant funding
for the new preschool program and are now forced to use 22 million of our surplus, leaving us vulnerable. A major emergency like the James Monroe fire that ha happened 10 years ago could devastate
us. Federal support is also uncertain, especially with the Department of Education in danger of no longer existing. We may even lose more funding such as Title One, god
forbid. Let's be clear. We promised 0% then, not forever. We've pri prioritized our s taxpayers for four years. Now it's time to put our students and staff first. A
modest increase of at least 1% is not irresponsible. It's necessary. Districts of all sizes are suffering. They're not just cutting programs that are good for our kids, for their kids
and our kids as well, but they're firing teachers and support staff. We can't let that happen. And that's why I'm going to be a no vote on this budget. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you. Any other board member? Yeah. Can I comment?
Yes. First, I want to apologize that I missed the meeting last week because I had a family commitment, but I if I knew that the budget might be vote down and we're risking to shut down the school, I would definitely leave everything behind
and come here. Um, what I don't understand is, you know, we have sent this budget for county last month right in March. No question was asked among the board.
No, Addie and John did a very good job explaining everything to us. Everything was clear. No question was asked the time the first time everybody agreed on it. That's why it was sent with full board's uh agreement to the county for approval. So what I don't understand is
you know why and this is the fifth time we are having a zero budget zero dollar school tax increase. fifth year no question was asked for the first four years we are all you know the senior citizen has been senior citizen four years ago parents has been parents four
years ago we have students program four years ago nothing was changed no question was asked but why now I that's why I'm confused okay if you say this is not political I don't find any other sol answer to this question but either way I
appreciate the hard work of the administration that we are having a zero dollar school tax increase. I'm grateful as a taxpayer in this town and I think the board is doing a great job for the taxpayers. We're being fiscally responsible for our taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you. Any other board member
comments? Yes, uh thank you, President. Um just um uh a question uh for uh for our BA. Uh Mr. To uh you said we have 5 million in reserve roughly roughly. That's about
right. Okay. Is there a recommended amount that we should have? So there is there is no recommended amount you the maximum you could have in an emergency reserve is a million dollars. The maximum you can have in your maintenance reserve is I believe what is dictated on
your uh CMP your your comprehensive maintenance plan and your capital reserve. You can't have no more than the value of your long range facilities plan which you could never save that much money any which way because it would be like over hundreds of millions of dollars. Right. Okay. All right. Don't
thank Thank you for that. Um also this would be a fifth year meaning we did go four years prior to this without a um without an increase. But considering
the banked capital, what is the allowable increase that could happen when the increases when when the increases have to kick in? What would be the allowable maximum that the district can go up to? So, you're
talking about all assuming that uh you're saying next year with our bank cap, what would be the what would be the max we can generate? Yes, the max. All right. I believe off the top of my head, I I think next year you'd be able to generate $28 million through bank cap. Yes. What percentage is that? I'm sorry.
What is that? 80%. Yeah. 8%. Okay. And um I know you and Dr. Larlli had spent a lot of time, you know, going back and forth with the budget and I'm sure um have scrutinized it, turned it upside
down on its head, looked at it in 27 different ways. um your conclusion of that? Um what would have been your recommendation after and because I
believe your your office is going to be scrutinizing it more heavily than anybody else? Was zero your recommendation? We we built the budget initially to zero. Yes. But we did look at what two
and four% correct would be. Yeah, we looked at the the varying options on the overall piece but we built it to zero. Um I forget the proc forgive me if it's if it's out of order. And then we went to the finance committee with those with
those particular pieces and correct and and discussed you know the the different options right whether we went to zero I believe 0 1 2 3 4% we looked at those items um you know uh we still I think one of the things that we came out of
finance was that we'd be able to accomplish what we've been doing and maybe not uh grow our programs you know as greatly but still grow our programs and still offer uh you know a flat tax to the taxpayer. I I think that that was
the way to forge ahead, right? To still, you know, deliver, you know, what you've been giving students and a little bit more while also taking uh into consideration the uh local taxpayer, right? You you know, cuz I ask these questions because as a board member, I'm
I'm looking right here at at the code of ethics for board members and I'm a taxpayer as well. see to see a fifth year of 0%. That's a great reprieve for taxpayers. Absolutely. I'm not I'm not doubting that. However, you
look at the code of ethics for board of members, it doesn't mention the taxpayer at all. It's, you know, we're ethically bound to do what's best for the district, not necessarily the taxpayer. Now, of course, we want to keep it as
low as we can for taxpayers, and I thought four years in a row was fantastic. Um, however, then um, you know, but uh, to board member uh, Pang's comment. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It was voter to be sent off. However, in
hindsight for me, that wasn't perfect information. What I've learned since then has actually made me to reverse my course. That that that's why. So, uh, but but thank you for, uh, answering the questions. Any other board members? Yes, Ralph.
Thank you, Mr. Sheic. Uh, first of all, I got to take issue with Miss White. Two senior citizens on the board. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I know. I'm a newly senior citizen. I thought you were a kid. Yeah. You You look young. You look young. I look I look like I'm So,
you should feel good. I should let the grow hair the gray hair grow back in. Exactly. How old are you, old man? I will be 66. Daddy's Come on now. Look at all. All right. Um, couple things. um zero tax increase. Um I think we're
in worse off situation now as far as taxpayers go than when CO was here. Okay, look at what's happening around the world. Either you agree with the politics or not agree with the politics. Uh I was just telling Miss White, I was talking to a young lady today, she buys
makeup for 30 bucks from Amazon. It's up to 60 $65 now because of what's going on. So, if we could help the taxpayer, I don't see why we wouldn't. I I keep hearing from the public that we should be and board
members, we should listen to the administration. Well, this is what the administration presented. This is what they said. There'll be no cuts. Not one. Not one penny out of the school budgets. Nothing. So, you can't speak out both sides of your mouth. You can't say,
"Hey, listen to the administration in one case and then now we're not going to listen to the administration." All right. I don't get that. Um, we may not be able to do a zero for the sixth year. I'm not I don't know. I don't know what the future holds. I'm
not worried about the future right now. All right. I'm worried about now. Okay? Our kids are getting what they need now. That's all that counts. Next year, they will get what they need. It may we may have to do a 2% tax increase. I don't
know. I don't know what next year will bring. Okay. So, I think helping the taxpayers now, making sure our kids get what exactly they need currently. And like Mr. To and Dr. Alderelli said, we're expanding programs a little bit.
Okay. And as far as the district, the taxpayers are part of the district, by the way. I mean, it may not say taxpayers in the code of ethics, but taxpayers are part of the district. that's who funds the district. Okay? So, we need to have
their support, too. Um, so I will be a yes on this vote. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other board member comments? Okay. So, let me just say a couple words. Uh, so Brian, you were on the school board last year. So, you know, there's a budget. There's a budget.
Excuse me. There's a budget that uh we budgeted for JMI. What happened to JMI? We didn't do it. Excuse me, Brian. Brian, ask me a question. I'll give you an answer. Excuse me. Excuse me. Stop
calling me out. There is There is a JMI JMI school is budgeted for $16 million. We didn't spend the money. The tax has already been collected. We already collect the money for JMI. So, we didn't use it. What do we do? We'll put in this
year. So what you know you're suggesting us to to just put in the bank and and and you know occur interest on on on this $165 million. Excuse me. You are you are you are administrator. Okay. So be behave
yourself and I hope your students is not going to embarrass what you're doing here. Okay. I'm going to give you one warning. I'm going to give you one warning. Okay. If you continue to do this, if you continue to do this, I'm going to let you out. Okay.
Can we make a motion to pass? Six minutes. You had your You had nine minutes already. Okay. So, we collected $16 million last year for JMI. We did not use the money. What do we do with that money? We put it in
this year and and uh you know, Mr. Toast also mentioned there are regulations how much you can put it in. Best to answer your questions. you know if if we have uh emergencies we have reserve to handle all of that and also you mentioned about you know uh the Monroe school got burned
out that's why we have a risk insurance to cover that right so all of this has been taken care of let's remember the entire budget went up $11 million the whole budget went up 11 million although the tax portion was the same the budget
went up $11 million that's total spend we have although we We we had a $2.8 million loss from the state aid, but we still got millions and millions from the state as well. Just compared to last year, we have 2.8 million uh less. So
that's the whole story. The budget went up $11 million. Keep that in mind. The budget went up $11 million. The budget is not the same. It did not stay the same. The budget has been going up every single year. That's why we can accommodate all the increases and
salaries and also we can accommodate all those programs. So, superintendent and and and uh our BA has answered these questions. There's no cut to the programs, no staff layoff, nothing. The budget went up $11 million. Thank you.
Since we already have a motion motion to pass. Okay. Do I have Do we I second. Okay. So, roll call, please. Mr. Erico. Yes, Mr. Ronac Patel. Yes, Mr. Lugo.
No, Miss Anja Patel. Yes, Mr. Romano, no. Miss White, no. Miss Shannon Pang, yes. President Chi,
yes. Motion carries. Okay, now let's move on. Uh, president comments. Um, I'm just very appalled by what happened, you know, last meeting and people are voting down on a zero uh tax increase budget. Meanwhile, the entire
budget went up $11 million. So, that's all I have to say. So, superintendence report. Yeah, I'm going to uh keep my comments brief. We um are celebrating teacher appreciation week right in the middle of it as well as nurses week. Um thank you so much for all all the
dedicated professionals uh that uh spend our time where uh the most important uh pieces happen and that's in the classroom. So um wishing all of you a wonderful week. I know our building level administrators and district administrators have great events planned for you. Um I know our PTAs and PTOs
support those initiatives as well too. So congratulations and thank you for all you do. I do want to make one per public service announcement as well. Uh Mr. Shei, we did have our uh first uh meeting uh for our education foundation.
Um last week it was really successful. Um a really great turnout, lots of excellent questions. We are planning another one uh in the month of uh actually later on in in May, maybe the early June. We haven't set the date yet. Um but anybody's that that's interested
in uh knowing a little bit more about how they can support uh the education foundation whether they want to be a trustee from a leadership position um or even just a volunteer that uh will support a particular event or initiative
uh any and all are welcome. Uh we have information that is posted and listed on our website in relationship to this. We have uh an easily accessible QR code to that you could sign up uh as well as uh the potential for actually the not the potential it is going to happen an
alumni portal in which if you are a uh former uh student from Edison Township and want to give back in any way shape or form you'll have the opportunity to do that too. So, uh, please check out our website, uh, if you're interested in, uh, volunteering in in any way,
shape, or form and supporting the foundation. Thank you. Now, we, uh, move on. Uh, today the um resolution we have is basically personnel. So, we're going to open up
for comments, public comments for resolutions only. So, these are personnel uh, agenda. Any comments? All right. See none. Close the portion. Public motion. Okay. Do I have a second?
Second. All right. All in favor? Okay. So, uh, now let's have a motion to approve the personnel agenda. Can I have a motion? Motion. Miss Pen. Do I have a second? I second. Okay. Shannon and Ron.
Roll call please. Mr. Erico. Yes. Mr. Ronac Patel. Yes. Mr. Luggo. Yes. Miss Angina Patel. Yes. Mr. Romano. Yes. Miss White. Yes. Uh, but I have to recuse
myself from any known conflicts. Noted. I got you. Miss Pang. Yes. President Xi. Yes. Motion carries. Okay, now we open up for public comments. Anything else?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Um before I open up uh public comments, uh we have a new supervisor uh sitting here in the back uh with her parents, Wendy Settler. And uh we just
uh we just um met her um you know right before the meeting and uh you know we wish her nothing but the very successful uh uh in our Edison school district. She uh is a grad she was a graduate from Edison High a local product and uh came
back and and teaching Edison school for 15 years if I remember correctly 15 years and this is internal promotion and uh you know uh we look we'll continue to uh promote within and we'll continue to hire uh locally as much as we can. So uh
Wendy is another example of promoting within. So, do you want to come over and say a couple words? Uh, you know, uh, just let people uh, see you that our new uh, um, supervisor for social study middle school. Good evening. I just want to thank the
entire board and Dr. Alderelli for all of their support and I'm excited to continue working with the students and the staff of Edison Public Schools. So, thank you. Thank you. So, we just approved your appointment. So, you're officially here. Okay. Thank
you. Congratulations. All right. Now, we open up for public comments. Any any other items? Okay. Beth, ladies first. Matt Beth Tali, 15 Midwood Avenue. Just
wanted to bring up about um activities going on in our schools next Friday, May 9th. It will be at Mason Gross JP Stevens 50th anniversary of their jazz extravaganza. Open to the public, free to everybody. I believe it starts at 6.
I know they're moving it over to, you know, the Douglas Cook campus just because we're still waiting for approval on JP Stevens um auditorium, but please alumni will be there. our fabulous kids will show their talents
there. So, please for anybody who can attend, please do. It's a fabulous night. Thank you. And it's free to the public. Thank you, Matt. Oh. Good evening. Matt Revnack, ETA president. So, first of all, again to
jump on Dr. Alderelli statement. Today is actually teacher appreciation day and tomorrow's national nurses uh school nurses appreciation. So again, you know, thanks everybody that the great uh service they do for the Edison school district as I sent out myself an email
and I thank you for sending out your letter today. Um I know I'm proud to be the president of such fine people. Uh second thing I also want to congratulate Wendy. Um great choice. Um she's done a great job in as an interim. In fact, we have Shannon, the previous supervisor,
sitting in the audience as well. Um, so very happy for Wendy and good luck Wendy. It'll be great working with you. Number three, I want to mention also we have in the audience Nancy Bos. Nancy was the recipient of the ETA support professional of the year. It's a little
different than it's a little bit different from the uh schools support professional which is things like non-teers basically that the professionals guidance counselors certified nurse etc. We started this years ago because NJ runs
it. We will now go to the county um for NJA for our non-certificated groups, par professionals, uh RNs, LPNs, armed security guards, regular security guards, etc. So, you know, again, it's a great honor. We had some great people
that were nominated and Nancy stood out above the rest. So, again, congratulations to Nancy. The final thing, I didn't speak before the budget because I knew it wasn't going to make a difference anyway and I wanted to hear what everybody had to say. I did speak up. I made a speech
before it went to the county. Okay? And I did say and recommended again the 1% which would have basically covered our reduction in state aid. And as I sat here, it was I was a little disturbed. And again, you guys have all my respect.
Awesome. But I understand your responses. But there's a few things to point out. Jonathan mentioned about, for example, we don't know what's going to happen in three months. Heck, we know what's going on right now with the rise in prices for everything. Who knows what's going to happen in three months. The way you prepared though for
catastrophes is in advance, not when a catastrophe happens. That's why we have car insurance, homeowners insurance, okay? Medical insurance. So when those medical situations come up, that car accident comes up, you're not devastated and you're not wiped out. So
you're paying upfront to guarantee something that when that does happen, you're not going to become bankrupted by it. I also thought about as I'm sitting in the audience was our pension system. Times were great back then. Christy Whitman was governor, started raiding
the pension system. Okay. Then there were also givebacks on NJ's part, which I've spoken up against. They had the drop in the denominator. Some districts elected, if you recall, the five-year buyout. Things were great. Stock market was
great. Their investments were great. Pension system was great. What happened 10 years later? Boom. And since then, it's been nothing but a struggle. Okay. Unfortunately, the district can't take out an insurance
policy for these things. The only way to to do something like that is to prepare in advance. Okay? So, I understand. Listen, it's great. I understand again helping the taxpayer. I'm a taxpayer, too, in my town. I don't live in Edison. You know, none of us like to see our our taxes go
up. But like my vice president just said in the office, a zero budget, you're already behind because of the rate of inflation. Prices are going up. Okay. And again, I understand like Mr. Jericho mentioned with the prices during the pandemic. Everybody agreed people were out of jobs, people weren't
working, etc., but that's in the past now. You know, we don't know what's going to happen. And when you don't go to the money that you can get and again, the compounding part of that comes into play as well. It's a tough tough decision to make. Hell, if they told me
my taxes weren't going to be raised for five years, I'd probably be jumper for joy. On the other hand, I will say, you know, we don't always agree on everything, but I do agree with Mr. Rivera, like how do you continue to pay for programs when you're not getting the same funding? And to say the budget was raised $1 million, that's great, but we
lost state funding. You're taking the money from elsewhere to pay for it is what it comes down to, which means that money that's in reserve isn't there anymore. And I think that is the point that he's trying to make. So, I'm hoping that, you know, none of us have a crystal ball and can predict what
happens. I'm hoping that this does not come back to devastate us. We got hit big time about 15 years ago with this, but we did have massive staff cuts. Our power professionals took a 25% hit on our salaries. Programs were cut. I don't
want to see that happen again. So, you know, I hope next year things you give a little more consideration to things like that. Obviously, it's done for this year and I hope we don't have any major catastrophes come up over the next year. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes,
Sue. Sue Campion, a chief for Court and Edison. Um, I just wanted on behalf of her Woodro family to um congratulate Wendy on her pro welldeserved promotion. Um, I work in the guidance department
and see the respect that the staff and administrators have for her and the great job she's done over the last year and I'm glad to see that she got the promotion and wanted to congratulate her officially. Thank you very much. Any other public comments?
Okay, Brian, third time. Hopefully I get some questions answered. Um, so I only have just one question basically. Uh last week, the last meeting, I had some con concerns in regards to our appointment of the risk manager. We've read some concerns of
some emails. Um I'm curious where we are, Dr. Alderelli, in regards to some of these emails or possibly allegations and what the school district or central office is going to do in regards to following up to make sure um everything
was kosher. Just following up on that. Thank you. Thank you. You want to say anything? What did he say? Say something. Nothing. So you want to say something? Yes.
Question. So, we are currently reviewing those those pieces, but um what we did find out is that um a lot of that information that you referenced was part of a contract as well too
um at the time that was signed in 2021, I believe. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other other public comments? Part of it. Motion to close public comments. Do I have a second? I second. Okay. Ralph and
Ronic. Okay. All in favor? I. All right. So, now let's open up for board member comments. Any other board members? Mr. She go. Senior citizen. Lady, senior citiz.
[Laughter] What a gentleman. I just wanted to say congratulations teachers and nurses, our nurses. You know how I love our nurses. You know, have a great special day both of you.
Okay, Ralph. Thank you. Um, I'd like to also, you know, thank the teachers and the entire staff, par profofessionals, nurses, bus drivers, everyone. Um, also I attended a function at Ben Franklin last week. I believe it was Dr. Elder Raleigh, right? Uh it was a I guess a
poster contest. Um Read Across America. Yeah. Yep. Uh Read Across America. Uh it was an excellent uh Mrs. Baps ran it over there. Did a great job. We had a great turnout and uh always nice to go back home where my two uh boys went to
Ben Franklin School. So, no one's there though. Everyone's gone. So, but uh great event. Thank you. Okay. Any other board member comments? Yes, Chris. Thank you, President Xi. Uh, yes, teacher appreciation. We appreciate
all of you. I I think I speak for the board and everyone here. We appreciate all of you. And, uh, nurse, you said nurses was tomorrow, right? Their day was tomorrow. Like to extend that appreciation to the nurses for tomorrow as well. Also too, Dr.
Alderelli, JP Stevens boys volleyball. the first time they won the white division and this will be their first banner that they that they could hang in that gym. JP Stevens boys volleyball actually beat North Brunswick secured the white division championship and is the first
banner that you know for these boys. I'm very very happy with them. Doc, I'm holding you to that banner. We got to get it up soon. You got it. Thank you. Jerry, one last thing. Yes. Hey, Ralph. 66. Yeah, I know. I'm a young senior. My
god. You got shoes older than that. Okay. Any other board members? Okay. Um, I just want to say congratulations to Nidia Wahi and uh she was named Oops.
2025 to 2026 Edison youth poet Laurett and Alexander Poon and Shinidi J Sharpley uh came in second and third. Uh these are the students who won
the u the Edison youth poet uh competition. Congratulations to all of them. Okay. Um, you know, before we close the meeting, I just want everyone to remember, uh, we talked a lot about the budget. Okay? I said it one more
time. The budget went up. Budget went up. Thank you. Right. Now, I have a a motion to adjourn. Motion to Okay. Second. I Okay. Ralph and Ronic. All in favor? I. All right.
Meetings adjourned.