okay mrs advised the general public that in compliance with the open public meetings act the little a harbor board of education meeting was advertised in Asbury Park Press Atlantic City Press and posted at the office of the board of
education located at 307 Road Little Lake Harbor New Jersey and posted at the office of the municipal municipal clerk of Little Harbor can I have the roll call please mr sakone present
mr fangello here miss Lawrence here mr lee Dr snder here miss Martin here miss Ber here go okay can we please stand for the pledge
of allegiance [Music] of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all
[Music] okay approval of the agenda um before we do that I want to make a motion to um move the public comment of the agenda to the end of the agenda
[Music] i'm sorry before board forum of course i don't know if you made a motion second second any questions good on that do we need to
take a vote or is that okay you just move was there a vote no sorry all in favor i I Any opposed any abstensions the motion passes
okay um I recommend a motion to approve the agenda can I have a motion second second any questions [Music]
all in favor i all in favor i I any opposed any abstensions the motion carries okay moving into the agenda um I'd like to recommend a motion to approve finance
items A and B can I have a motion motion second are there any questions [Music]
okay hearing none roll call please mr sigone sorry approve motions and [Music] Mr fichella yes miss Lawrence yes dr
snder yes miss Martin yes miss Ber a no the motion carries okay now against public comment okay um the floor is now open to members of the public the board of education recognizes
the value of public comment on educational issues the board requests that each statement made by a participant is limited to three minutes as cited in policy number 0167 there is a sign-in sheet located at the podium so please sign it before you
speak [Music] hello Jack the little lake Harper
Association um we just had a question more for clarification and I know um it says on here our district is now eligible to increase the expenditures by up to 11,965,913 qualify for the tax levy
[Music] incentiv,6 569,85 and we were requesting to increase expenditures by 3 million and qualify for the tax levby incentiv i was just wondering kind of
what the tax levy incentive aid and why we didn't go to the full amount or what that means by going to the full amount so those were just the questions um obviously it's great you see the total went up with expenditures um 32,95 um I just know last year it was
about 35 million on the end of our budget that we had when we finalized it last year so I was just kind of wondering um what this tax levy incentive was was that the max amount um we could have gone did we go a little bit less is that how I'm reading it
thank you [Music] he's going to address it after a couple
[Music] [Music]
good evening my name is Aaron Sabinara i live at 156 i've listened to meetings written to legislators shared and read and now I'm here to speak as a mom of three children in this district last week my fifth grader woke up so excited to go to school because he would be doing a steam project with his peer
buddy a student in a special education self-contained home room not only did this lesson incorporate science and creativity but I guarantee my son learned more important life lessons that day about being a good person my second grader was able to write illustrate and publish a book with other STEP program
students and he is so proud of their beautiful result my kindergartner came home full of excitement that he was able to check out a book out of the school library this week he has also been fortunate enough to be placed in a class of 22 that has the support of a special education teacher for part of the day i
know his success is in due in part to having a more average class size and the guidance of two teachers i hope most of them know this but I truly appreciate and respect so many of the staff in this district from Paris to principles to child study team and all those in between but especially
my children's teachers past and present they are hardworking creative compassionate and enthusiastic about their jobs regardless of their tenure status this extends to the specialist teachers as well i've seen my children learn to problem solve use critical thinking and express their creativity
and strength through art music steam and PE as you know the arts and sciences are part of culture including history literature media and communication making them an essential part in helping us raise great thinkers creators and innovators for some kids these classes are simply the highlight of their day
and possibly of their educational career elementary education without these creative components that help shape a whole child would be detrimental i can't imagine the challenging decisions you are facing but I would like a better understanding i hope increased transparency within our community will help us all better comprehend what our
schools will look like with the rumored significant losses to staff and increased class sizes i can't imagine losing so many of the caring ski staff in these buildings i can't imagine the burden of a split session schedule on teachers and families i don't want to have to imagine a day where my children aren't excited to come to school to have
to imagine that my oldest son doesn't have the opportunity to anchor the morning news or play the drums anymore where my middle son isn't able to feel the pride of seeing his artwork on display at an art show or where my youngest son is lost in an overcrowded classroom that may be out of compliance as a parent there is nothing more important than for my children to be
safe cared for challenged and supported at school i'm asking you to please help ensure that continues which includes preserving what they love about school and the jobs of those who work closest with our students thank you [Applause]
would anyone else like to speak [Music]
hi it's me again and I still have questions um last week I asked and I said I wish public comment Elizabeth Basetti teacher at Fbon Elementary School sorry last week I wish that public comment was at the end after you shared
you know the changes and tonight we got moved to the end and yet there was still no sharing um so I'm curious about a lot of things um number one are the rules and policy different for a special board
meeting rather than a regular board meeting um because I thought that there was public comment at the beginning and the end um the old presentation is still active
on the website and it's full of no longer relevant information um and giving a different perspective to the community every time they log on so will that when will that come down since it's not relevant um
and will there be a new presentation explaining the new numbers our expenditures went up from 27 million to 30 million on tonight's agenda [Music] and there was a change of $3 in special
revenues that's where that came from um and are we still planning to go with all the cuts that were proposed before since we're we have all of these expenditures are we still in the dire crisis we were are you know are we still
talking about all those things um and one thing I wanted to point out was um our association has done the math and if you take out our preschool salaries which are if I'm bunded in a different
line item um than the regular budget the cost of our salaries is actually a decrease of over $250,000 with the 250
with the retirees so if we're being c even though we're getting an increase we're still costing less so with the retirees so the initial um presentation had said that you know our salaries
were part of a part of the big problem but if we're going down I don't see why that's part of the big problem so again I just have a million questions about you know where the numbers come from and what's going to happen with the numbers and what's being planned with the
numbers and I hope you explain to us thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening everybody rick Meler from the Santa Paper mr green I hope that um
somewhere tonight you're going to explain not just the total increase in the budget but the and the taxes but the percentage of the increase and also um last time you u gave three examples the
average home uh out of 100,000 more and 100,000 again how much they would actually see their taxes increase so hopefully that can be explained tonight and the other thing is I keep hearing layoffs layoffs layoffs
uh one teacher at the last meeting suggested 30 can you tell us sometime tonight members of the board how many layoffs are actually going to happen [Applause] [Music]
i don't want it to roll off [Music]
good evening
[Music]
okay I have to do this i don't need this thank you hi good evening my name is Nette Cummings 185 Parkertown Drive sixth grade test teacher and resource room teacher i actually don't have a question but as you all know we've been
diving into the budget and having meetings and things like that so I guess I just have a concern i was looking at the um fiscal year that ended June 30th 2023 and the fiscal year financial
report that's on the websites um ended 2024 in uh the first 9 to 12 pages there is a Little Lake Harbor Board of Education scatteragramgram diagram it is very old it has assistant
superintendent um supervisors special services supervisor of curriculum center of director data specialists maintenance supervisors assistant business administrator on the last two years so
this is not up to date and I was wondering if this information is also in our budget report that's submitted to the state [Music] [Applause]
[Music] would anybody else like to speak [Music] okay that closes public comment um yeah so we're going to answer some questions if that's okay uh Lisa and
Robert but first I'll say the reason why we moved public comment to the end was because of an email that we received from Miss from Miss May so thank you um yes special meetings do have different policies so it's one public comment and
we thought it would be better to have it at the end so in case we addressed any questions that you had so if you remember before approving finance A and B I asked the board do you have any questions and that's our time to talk
about it all of us spent six seven eight hours in the last week individually asking Robert questions and reviewing the budget so that's why you probably didn't hear any questions but we will address all of that and tell you what we learned and go over some of the
questions that we had so I just wanted to comment on that and then can I say something also sure literally we've some of these this information were given earlier this week and we literally I know that Abby and I literally went line by line um through this budget to look
at every specific area and we still also have some questions but we felt I I felt comfortable enough moving forward at this point and um and hopefully u most of your questions will be answered before you leave this evening yep I
would agree and I'll just say remember this is the initial budget um the final budget will be voted on on April 29th so still a lot could change and I saw firsthand i went in on a Friday for three and a half hours and by Tuesday
things were different so things are changing all the time with the state and it's so hard to keep up with um so things are going to change between now and the end of April as well so do we want to turn it over to you Robert to kind of kick us off with some
of those questions okay there's a there's a new um there's a new state aid that just came out last Friday at about 3:00 we received a memo a little after 3:00 sorry 30 okay 309 to be exact uh
it's called the tax levy incentive aid and basically what that is allowing school district to do is increase their tax levy up to an allowable amount uh of uh that closes the gap between your
adequacy spending and what is supposed to be your fair share so this is this is a lot of information that I just gave you so adequacy spending adequacy spending is a formula that the state of the state department of education comes
up with to say that if you are funding your districts properly to provide a thorough and efficient education this is the amount of money you should be spending okay and that and that this year is roughly $30 million
at the same time if you are spending that much money in your school district each district has what's called a fair share or a local fair share which means that your local tax dollars should
be a certain level of funding toward your school budget okay I have those numbers here so the district adequacy budget is 30 million and change the local fair share
as of now is 24.8 million okay and our tax levy is 14.6 million so this district is roughly $10 million short of its local fair share meaning the state
feels that the school district is not funding its budget properly and that to fund the budget properly we'd have to increase the taxes by about $10 million okay and that's where that 11 million
comes from yeah that's Yes it's that 11,965 that would bring us up exactly that's the maximum we could have done exactly so so with this tax levy incentive aid it's an application to the state and
with that application the tax levy funds about 95% of the application and the state will fund about 5% of the application okay so with this application you have to be very specific about what you're asking for this
district is only going to be asking for staff relief meaning money towards funding staffing and educational staffing okay teachers child study team members people who are in the classroom people who have an effect direct effect
upon students okay so with that we are going to be applying for a little over $3 million to the state for tax levy incentive aid and that is going to go directly towards re uh teachers in the
hopes that we will not have any staff reductions educationally that's the focus and that's what this board just supported not having any educational staff reductions so we are very hopeful
we are we are going to put this application in uh the the guidance that we receive from the state department of education is such that it should be focused on educational programs and educational items only and that's if you want to get it approved so that's what
our application is going to represent staffing so we are hoping that this gets approved by the state we are going to be putting in an application that says staffing educational staffing
period so that's the tax levy in sent to me and what was that 151 so that decrease from the 569 would be equal to the 11 million correct correct correct uh so we thought we are not we are not asking for
the full 11 million because uh you know we we we just don't need that much money to fund the educational staffing the district is only going to ask for what it takes to fund the educational staffing at its current
levels and that 151 is the portion that this state is going to match us so to speak $151,000 yes you are correct so Robert the reason for this gap right so the state thinks that Little Lake Harvard Township
taxpayers should be contributing $24 million as the local fair share unfortunately we are only contributing 14 million that is correct so then that $10 million difference is this massive shortfall
right and this the reason the reason for this just so I'm clear is one because taxes haven't been raised by school boards in a very long time years and years of that 2% cap correct that is correct okay and then the second reason
is the homes in Little Lake Harbor have not been assessed since 2015 that is that is to my understanding yes okay so I know firsthand that there are homes that are we're paying taxes on a on a value of our home that is not what
it should be based upon the market so that's going to create a shortfall so I just wanted to make that clear that's the reason for the gap in the local fair share you are correct and then one last thing as we raise taxes right so this is going to be an impact on the taxpayers
um this will set us up for a better place next year because we will close that gap so we'll have a higher tax levy base correct that is correct okay so the way that I think about it Abby is
that okay if you're taking 2% of 100,000 versus 2% of 200,000 2% of 200,000 is more than 2% of 100,000 and then Robert I believe one of the other questions was the special revenue could you just explain why that decreased from the last year's budget to
this year's budget last year was like million so last year we were required to um include ESSER funds the full amount to the ESRE allocation and the ESSER funds are no longer available so that's the reason for the decrease [Music]
um and I just took some notes here the new presentation will be posted I'm assuming yeah we have we have a different presentation but those numbers technically hadn't been updated until just a few minutes ago when the board approved this resolution so we have an updated presentation and we will uh post
that to the website very early tomorrow and then the fiscal year report I know that's a snapshot of time so that work chart is probably outdated for that reason but that's not submitted or that is No that that was updated in the most recent um court report i believe the
first the one from 2023 may have been outdated but I believe the last one was had been updated because I remember doing that with the interim superintendent okay so we can just make sure that that's updated on the website and that's submitted with the budget no
no the audit that's from the audit report that's not submitted with the budget and that that chart doesn't actually go to the state that's that's just part of the audit report that doesn't get uh the audit report gets reported electronically to the state but that's not one of the items that gets reported
but the audit report is separate on the website that is correct okay [Music] the average cost per home yes
okay so the tax levy is going to increase by 3,31,696 okay on the average assessed home in Little Lake Arbor at $28,000 the increase will be $416 per year new construction it's over
folks the board reopen it see see me after me [Music] did I get other questions no go up 100,000,000 oh okay yes okay a home assessed at
308,000 will see a tax levy increase of 16 16 $615 and a home assessed at $48,000 will see a tax levy increase of $815 [Music]
i think that's that was all the questions that I took notes on um so now we can open it up to board forum if anybody would like to speak to the board I'll go first um you know tonight is
definitely a a first draft uh where we can apply for the the final budget um it's interesting you know we sit up here at the intersection of in the crossroads of taxpayers the school district staff students etc
um and it's a a balance that we have to try to strike to see who we can help the most uh with our votes and our at least my priority is definitely the students and making sure that they have everything that they need uh kind of
like what Aaron said she outlined the day the school day for her kids of all the great experiences that they have every single day so I know by voting this way for this particular budget we're doing everything in our power to keep that exciting day of learning and
and interacting with other students as um normal as possible without experiencing cuts um but that will come with a tax increase but as a school board I think we prioritize what's best
for the students that come here every single day and their teachers and the staff that makes this place run so I know it's a a large tax increase and I support it because I want to make sure that our students have the best
educational experience possible [Music] okay um for me sitting in these meetings were what can we do to make sure that we
do not have classroom sizes that are too large um we know that behavioral issues have increased um in the current day and age and to expect teachers and students alike to thrive under classroom settings that
might be larger sizes would not be ideal and it and my my my two youngest are in eighth and 10th grade so this was really and trust me I don't think any of us want to see us to raise taxes but I
looked at literally every possible option and I looked at um reassessing and when I looked at Stafford and Stafford's reassessing that's not a solution for like three years and we needed to think about something now and we had already cut 23 teachers last year
so that increased class sizes last year if we choose not to replace teachers that have retired then we're already starting at a different area you know where there's some loss and so again I my children have the best experience
here so it's something that I want to maintain and make sure that the children of today and tomorrow have that same experience and um so that's why I voted for this and again we as Abby had said we've sat with a lot of hours with
this budget thus far and I don't think we're done um we're still looking into making sure all our eyes are dotted and our tees are crossed and we thought of everything possible and we're being the most responsible um with our funds um that we are asking
for and that we are given and so I do believe it's fiscally responsible in that we're we're not looking to purchase something we're looking to staff our classrooms properly so that everyone can be successful teachers and students um
and parents are happy that also too that programs are maintained okay that's all I have to say i'm not good at off the cuff but um I know I got into education just like many of you and also got on to the board because we love kids and we want to have
the best that we can give to them um kids spend a majority of their time with teachers and in these buildings and I fully support this budget i don't want my taxes to go up but I fully support it because I want the kids to have all the
resources that they can have to be successful there are kids that need to be here because they have struggles outside of the buildings and outside of the four walls and also the teachers need to have the resources to be able to do their jobs and to do that in classes
of 40 and 50 that would be impossible so I'm totally 100% behind this i will never ever not vote for anything to support teachers and kids i will say that right
come out right [Music] i just want to say that um this was a very very hard decision and a lot of the members have put a lot of time and um into this a lot of thinking a lot of
thoughts um it's been very tough it's a tough year especially for my first year being part of this and uh to me uh I've been through some tough times in my life with a lot of different things and to see so many teachers here
um you know within the community um I come from a school district myself I work in the school district and um you know it tugs on my heart to to see that and I want to do what's best for the students for the staff for the community and unfort Unfortunately we're in a
tough position this year so I'm hoping things will turn in a positive for everybody um and that's all I can do is hope for that uh and hopefully on a higher level the state could possibly do something more for us or people on a in
a higher position will try to do something more for us because right now um we're we're kind of in a pinch but we have to do what's right what's best for everybody thank you laura did you have anything you wanted
to say yes thank you i wanted to explain my very hard decision too tonight um I voted no on the budget because I cannot support the 36% tax levy increase total of $4.7 million simply because the state
claims our town can pay its fair share while I understand that only half of my tax bill currently supports our schools this level of increase is excessive furthermore with the upcoming reassessment of approximately 11,000 homes in Little Harbor within the next
two years the financial burden on taxpayers could become even more overwhelming we have an opportunity to implement reasonable staffing reductions that would not have compromised our schools but instead the majority of this board chose to maintain the status quo this decision risks putting yet us in
yet another budget crisis next year because as we all know costs rarely decrease they only increase i would have supported a moderate reasonable uh responsible increase I should say with efforts to reduce expenditures but I cannot in good
conscience approve a budget that places such a heavy burden on our taxpayers my duty is to serve students parents and the community as a whole and that means making a difficult decision but a I feel responsibly financial
decision thank you and Robert just to clarify it's not 36 it's 32 right that is correct [Music] 32.6% increase oh did I miss speak i'm
sorry 36 that's okay we clarified um so I'll just say again this is the initial budget so things could still change um as most of you know I've said this several times I have three children
uh who have all gone through the district two are still here um and for me all it took was walking into my son's fourth grade class this year and seeing 28 children bouncing off the wall um because that class that fourth grade
class is our largest class and they were impacted so much with our cuts last year um I couldn't imagine having a classroom of fourth graders of 45 students plus and that's what we were looking at um I do still have
questions around the salaries which Robert is aware of and he will be getting us that information um we've asked for a breakdown on the increases for teachers the aggregate cumulative number as well as the administrators and the support staff something that we need
to see or I need to see before the final budget um I want to be very clear that this decision not none of us took this lightly um this kept us up at night a lot of nights um I'm a working mom of
three and uh this feels like a full-time job and it's a thankless helpless job um but this increase is the only way to prevent the devastating consequences for our schools and our students so I tried to keep uh the reason why I ran for the
school board at the forefront and that was for my kids and their peers for the students of Lil so without this tax increase I believe um we would be forced to cut an astronomical number of staff which we learned about over the last month
everything from teachers and counselors and support staff um we absolutely would have fallen out of compliance uh state and federal education requirements and then we would have been forced to eliminate things like art and music and steam and these are to me
these are not extras these are these are not extra things they're they're vital and they shape the experiences of our kids they ignite creativity um and they help kids love coming to school my kids love coming to school because they love
going to music they love gym as you know um they love art they love those extra classes it's what gets them out of the the learning and just gets them moving uses a different part of their brain
so all I'll say is um if we're not going to invest in our children then who is so that's it yeah a happy drummer exactly i shouldn't say sadly that's terrible but because of little I mean that's where it started it's a very loud instrument for
anyone who considers it just so you know um but it's it's very true like when you think about this whole budget season and what would you choose what would you choose for your child not to have as an opportunity or anyone else's child
it's it's it's like a Sophie's choice of what do you pick and it it is a difficult decision and none of us took it lightly there were hours um we had groups meeting on one
day and another day going through everything line by line to think what are our possible alternatives and I I wouldn't have voted for this if I didn't believe it was the best option and our only option and I I as well as
Abby also have questions about the salaries and we're going to be working through that and hopefully we have the answers and everything is clarified for for our budget workshop on the 15th anyone else okay that's the meeting then can um
I have a Can I have a motion to adjourn motion second abby yes i'm sorry I didn't hear you but one final comment on the 15th just for in regards to I heard somebody say about the presentation it
will be updated after the 15th because we'll have all our numbers then yes so that's that's why those numbers are no longer relevant no longer correct okay thank you thank you Laura wait oh
you said thanks for officiating oh please come back we can put an update based upon the updated numbers that the board has approved this evening did you hear that Laura no I didn't what what was it um based
upon the numbers that the board approved this evening they will be posted on the website and updated okay because I know we're still waiting on federal numbers we still don't have every moving part in this budget [Music] that's true but but based upon what the
board approved tonight we do know some details that we can update not without a problem just on what voted on okay gotcha thank you and then like Laura mentioned the next meeting is April 15th at 6 PM and it's at George J mitchell it is a
budget workshop meeting again to kind of go over everything correct is that true another special meeting that's right i think it's so that we can all discuss it together at the same time without having to have separate meetings like we did this time yep so we're all in one place
so workshop meeting to go over the final numbers before we vote on the final budget which will be April 29th correct not a voting right no action will be taken thank you venturing president [Music]
can I have a motion to adjourn motion second okay all in favor