When we move down to reductions um the um the keeper Mackie did a really great presentation Tuesday night um around this part. So I will do my best uh to to relay this information. So we have we looked at um how many students are in CLA in in the classrooms and can we adjust teachers based on the classroom size and so we do have some uh departments that are running 36 to 48% and not the full section. Um so we can reduce and consolidate classrooms in that way. And it's important to know that um there's also some retirements that are coming up at the end of this year. So it's not actually um those people are leaving but no one will be losing their jobs in the sense of that um we also have a reduction of S of 1.0 know SE which is part of the STEPS program but it's my understanding that there were was a specific cohort of students um in the STEPS program that have made it on to um their senior year and there the students that that we can support the students that may have similar way forward within this model in other models.
It's the same thing. We had it Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Um last year, the increase the impact was 4.47%. Okay? Right now, we're at 5%. So, it's it's not too much, but I will say this, for every percent that we want to go lower, I'm making this very clear, that's an additional the additional five or six positions that will be lost. Okay? So, you just do that math, too. So, if you go close to a zero, right? Because everybody talks about zeros and zeros and that what That's what God is partially here in the first place, but to help the taxpayer if we wanted to let you know no impact, then again, we have to come from the other end. So, to go to a zero, you're looking at 90 positions or more. Again, it's very difficult to tell you who like how much exactly yet because we're not really confident in those positions yet.
um because it is it is small group and um we would still have the supports other other places. So while we might not have the step specific program, we're able to meet their needs um and their needs might have been different from what the steps program was originally intended for. Um in our um counseling, unit A counseling, we have a reduction of 2.0. And uh part of this is we have a bright program within the middle school and the high school. Um and right now we only have three referrals for that for the Bright counseling. Um so we're going to move to a district model where there's uh one counselor for the Bright. Um and we're still working through the specifics of this, but this is what we're envisioning now. um and that if there are needs for um students, we can support them through our other programs.
We're not confident in what it is. So, every person impacts it a little differently, right? Um you know, that includes benefits, etc. So, it's sort of like um uh you know, a double effect, right? When you when you take away a salary, you also take away a benefit, you save on both of those pieces. So, um you know, again, uh definitely not something I wanted to say this morning, but I but I I I really want to be very clear. This is not the final say. Okay? This is just the board's blessing today to basically get to work. Right? It's time to get to work. But we can't do that without your approval. Without the approval today, Mr. Labou and I still do what we would do anyway, and we still send to the county, but now that county takes over the budget. All right?
And while it might not be called the Bright program, we shouldn't hold to the name of the program, but rather that we're ensuring we're meeting the students needs through what we do have to offer in in other ways and being that it's a a low farming of students um to make to make this shift. There's also um a reduction in unit C para educators and this is um based on the current case load and student needs and legally mandated required services. Um and these positions are currently vacant within um the districtwide um specialized services there. Um Joanne, our current interim director of SSO, reviewed our case loads and what are the students needing the most. So there is um a reduction within our SLP um or SLPA actually to um reduce because based on the current needs that those needs are lower so we don't need that but however there is a higher need in terms of our psychological services.
I don't know what that means. That can mean, "Hey, you need to raise We want you out of adequacy. You need to raise the taxes 17%." That's on them then. We don't want that to happen. We want to keep control of this. We know we can do it. It's going to be some There's going to be some tough decisions. We already spoke with some of the bargaining units with regard to possibly what's going to happen. There's going to be more conversations, you know, um there are there are some ideas. Um again, uh I I think everybody's quick to say, "Oh, if everybody freezes their salary." That's not That's not how this works, either. These individuals also have energy costs that are going up. These individuals also have health care costs that are going to come on on their side. And all of these units negotiated in good faith.
So hence the ad that you saw before for the psychologist which will be offset by the budget. So it's looking at what the current demand is for the student needs and making sure we're matching our services with those needs. Um we also have a reduction within committee action due to a staff member leaving and refilling with um a salary that is lesser. Um, so it's natural attrition that we're taking into account. Um, as part of uh non payroll salary people lines, we have um school-based program development segments. Um, and we're reducing those stipens. Um, and we can offset those a little bit with using title two funds, which is for high quality professional development. um needs of that sort, we can utilize title two for instead. There's also a suggestion in our unit B clerical positions across um the high school, middle school, and central office reducing their work days from 261 days to 241 days.
Okay? So, again, we'll be we'll be having discussions, but the the hard cry right now is to reduce some of those things that have been incredible programs uh here with regard to teachers, um but there are ways that we can kind of you know maybe ship some things and move some people around because we do have teachers here that have and staff members who have multiple degrees, multiple certifications. So we have to look at all of that. We've already started doing that but until this vote today there's really not much to talk about in that area but it will happen. Okay? So that's where I'm at Mr. Labue if you wanted to add or confirm any >> of that for me? >> Yes, thank you Dr. Tomko. So Dr. Tomko touched on a lot of of what we talk about in terms of our spending and appropriations and as many of you who have been watching our board meetings or have been here this board has scrutinized purchases, check registers, the conversations in the back directly um discuss what we're spending on for our students, what we're doing day-to-day.
Um and these days would uh the days that they were reduced would align with the current school breaks that are taken during the fiscal year. And lastly, due to reductions in physicians, we have to adjust the fringe to health insurance um to the staffing level. So with those, we know that um we would have a little bit less of health insurance um needed. So, I I think one other important piece that I want to hit before I turn this back over to Tanya is that within the reductions um there's no actual person losing their position that we were able to achieve this budget by moving funds um within the grants within the revolving funds by um reducing things that are being um that are retiring that are vacant and still being able to maintain um a a good education for the students. So, I think that's really important and a really difficult thing to do when you have a million dollar budget cut um to achieve.
So this board has challenged the administration to make good decisions, sound decisions and has kept the taxpayers in mind. But where we are today from a revenue standpoint is just as Dr. Tomko said facing some increases that we do not have the ability to meet on our own and in our own hands by our tax levy. Um what this budget at 5% and a balanced budget we are using an anticipated 3 and 1/2 million dollars from our fund balance, okay? We are being fiscally responsible and keeping the limit of 2%. Um in our excess again projections we're working off of the concept that in this 25-26 year we faced historic increases in tax excuse me in health care and health benefits and projecting the same amount for another year ahead of us. So it is crucial that that this board supports maintaining a surplus, protecting the fiscal integrity of this district and ensuring that we can be here again next year sound and looking at a projection where we can we can pay all our bills and we can sustain the programs that we put in place for 26-27.
So, I think that's worth acknowledgement. And then Tanya, I will hand it over to you to do a final wrap up. >> All right, I'm back. Um, so what we hope for you today is to understand what we're trying to do is to not only think about our instructional programming and aligning services, but our school committee was very clear and gave us some directives around what their priorities are. And that's important. It's important to know that our school committee is focused and and working to ensure that students have high quality education. So they wanted to preserve uh student facing positions. They wanted us to make sure we're compliant legally with our federal and state guidelines. They want us to think about sustainability. So what you see is a collaborative effort between principles and uh APS and the district office to ensure that our alignments around cuts happened in a way that preserved what they were looking for but also paid attention to our enrollment and shifts in our delivery model.
Um Dr. Tom alluded to that the the charter school. That number is increasing as at the rate of our state aid. And that comes right off the top. There's no questioning it. Once we get to the to the midpoint of the year, we'll look at enrollment, we review the all of that information and we ensure that those numbers are accurate and that they're getting paid uh for the for the Garfield students that they are servicing. Um you know, our preschool aid essentially remained flat. Um there's a misconception at times that the preschool is just all on the grant. It is not. Special Ed preschool is funded through our general fund. Contributions are made to make sure that that we support that program and we run it um in the best way possible. Um so that that flat funding on the preschool end is certainly has an impact.
So as Shannon um you can go ahead now as Shannon goes through this list or as you look at the list um one of the things that u need to be in the forefront is that's what we try to do we try to understand how has our enrollment shifted how have our needs increased and where and how do we align those things so that we meet not only what our school committee charges us to do but also stays legal and ensure that we're in compliance with uh federal and state laws. So, I thank you all for your time. I thank you all for the work that you're doing and I um turn it over to Sarah Best, I believe, for questions. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. So, uh we'll have some clarifying questions. We can do for normal our we can have some clarifying questions and then we can um have our regular breakout sessions and come back, have a discussion and go on another afternoon.
Uh our federal funds um anticipated at 75% of what we received this year. And those decreases directly impact things that happen for our students. Having having worked in this district for a long time on the academic and the program side, I know what that means. I know how bad that hurts some of the programs. So um this board is faced with some tough decisions. We've appreciated their involvement to this point. We're going to appreciate the finance committee continuing to stay involved, continuing to voice their concerns, the concerns of the public, um and you know, I think we're at a point where, you know, less than 48 hours from the release of of the the budget numbers and the state aid numbers, I just want everyone to just be conscious. The conversation this year was that that funding formula is going to be reviewed. That funding formula in many ways has respected the needs of this community.
Are there any clarifying questions to start? >> I'm Steve Weiss with the Lwood Finance Committee. Um, I have a couple of questions about salary increases. These are found on page 18 of the budget book. Um, first of all, the payroll for school administration under this proposed budget goes up 16.8%. Could someone explain why there's such a large increase? >> Um, yes. Let me uh I'm just going to stop sharing this screen so I can look at what you're looking at really quick. Was this in the um beginning intro of it or were you looking at the actual line by line? >> This is on page 18 of the budget book titled the expense budget um FY2027 proposed budget general fund appropriation and the first part of it is payroll accounts. Okay, it is opening and I'm just going to go down to page 18 so I can be sure I'm looking at the right thing.
Any changes may negatively impact this community. And I think it's important that we understand that. So, at this time Dr. Tomko and I have worked diligently to make sure that we have a balanced budget, a sound budget, and in the next phase we'll be submitting it to the county for for that technical review, and then ensuring that we collectively put our minds together to make sure that we we provide the best education, and of course be mindful of of of the taxpayers and the fiscal integrity of our district moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Labou. Uh with that I'm going to ask the finance committee chair to uh make a report. >> We had a finance meeting that really wasn't didn't make us happy. When these numbers came to us, we still at that point didn't realize what we were getting. Myself and Mrs.
Can I clarify? Did you say just central or all payroll? This is just >> this is school administration. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I couldn't figure out which line I was listening. >> So the school administration would be the principles. It would be um the uh assistant principles. It would also be um I believe the deans roll up to that as well if I'm remembering correctly. Um sorry if we if you want to um if we could just come back to this really quick. I just want to pull up so I can be very specific. Um, and while I do that, if there's just another question, I'll come right after that just so that you're not sitting waiting. >> She's pulling up more information. >> Shannon, we ask all of our questions answers. Yeah, that's another good idea. It's It's just when it gets really specific into account lines, I take like I do have to go and look specifically, you know, you know what I mean?
Hassan sat with Jack Labou and Dr. Tomko for almost 5 hours going back and forth with this. We're still not happy with it. But this is what we're dealt right now, and now that we did get some extra money, we'll see where we'll go from here. And we'll be in many more finance meetings before the final budget comes out. Thank you. >> Uh this time I'm going to break with tradition and I'm going to ask the public comments at this time. If anybody would like to make any public comments, please uh come to the podium. >> Abdel Serrad uh >> Uh good all right. >> Abdel Serrad uh Abdel Serrad uh 33 Wood Street, Garfield, New Jersey. Good morning. My name is Abdel Serrad uh I'm running for the Garfield Board of Education because our students, our teachers, and our taxpayers deserve leadership that's tired of games.
>> Great. So, why don't you ask your questions? >> The other question that I have on the payroll accounts is the almost 30% increase in the appropriation for substitutes. >> Yes. So that is because if you look at the actuals in the prior years, it's much higher than what we've actually budgeted. So I did an average of the last three years to increase those substitute ones because we are seeing um a an increase in needing substitutes with staff absenteeism. >> That seems like a large increase. Is there some reason why there's such an increase in staff absenteeism? I think that's worth looking into. I I used I didn't just take an arbitrary number. I used the last three year actual averages to come up with what the increase would be. Um as far as why we have that absentee death, I think that's something that we would have to look further into.
Yesterday we received a letter explaining why the district is facing budget crisis. We also hear about rising health care costs, mandates, energy bills, and aging buildings. But what we didn't hear is accountability because none of these problems started yesterday and they definitely didn't appear overnight. We get a rubber stamp letter year after year and the people of Garfield continue to paying higher taxes expecting better for their children. So, the real question is this, how did we get here? More importantly, when are the problems actually going to get fixed? Because taxpayers in Garfield deserve a straight answer to something very simple. Are we going to keep hearing the same exact excuse every year to raise taxes or are we actually finally going to start fixing problems? And let's be honest with each other. Many of us have seen this show before. We all have pre-budget meetings where everybody gathers, we hear a higher percentage of an increase, and the board saying that, you know, this is the number that is needed, and then 2 weeks later we come back with a lower number, and it's the number that everybody already knows.