001Call the April 25th Board of Education meeting in Monroe Township to order. Can we all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call on the sound. Yes. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Ms. Alvarez? Here. Mr. Payne? Here. Ms. Forrest? Here. Mr. Marazin? Here. Dr. Peck? Here. Mr. Piero? Here. Ms. Ratner? Here. Ms. Sharma? Here. Mr. Ticano? Here. Mr. Zikner? Yes. We have a quorum. In accordance with the provisions of the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law, the Monroe Township Board of Education caused notice of this meeting to be published and electronic notice provided by having the date, time, and place thereof posted April 22nd,
0022026 at all schools, on the district website, Home News Tribune, and filed with the clerk of the municipality. Pursuant to S4654, [clears throat] a public notice specifying where Board of Education meeting notices notices are posted can be found on mycentraljersey.com. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm going to close session. Whereas the Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 10 colon 4 D 6 et seq., the act provides that the Monroe Township Board of Education may hold an executive session from which the public is excluded to discuss matters that are confidential or one of the nine subject matters listed in section 12b of the act. And whereas that the board hereby declares that discussion of the following subjects or subject will be made public at a time when the public's interest in disclosure is greater
003than any privacy or governmental interest being protected from disclosure. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Monroe Township Board of Education that the board shall go into executive session to discuss the following items. Additional items may be determined and announced as needed. One, pending or anticipated litigation and matters covered by the attorney-client privilege. Two, matters involving employees in terms of their employment and contract. And three, HIV investigation involving students. Be it further resolved that said discussion may be disclosed to the public when reasons for discussing and acting upon upon it in closed session no longer exist. Action may be taken at any of the items stated above. Motion. Second. Is there any discussion with with regards to that? We're closing this meeting going into closed session for an hour. We'll be out by 7:15. Did
004we Did we get a roll call? No. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, okay. I'll make a motion to go A vote to go into executive session. >> I'll make that A vote to go to executive session. I'll make a motion. Second. Okay. Let's say all those in favor. >> All those in favor. I thank you. All those in favor. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed. Abstain. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, everyone. We're going to start back with our meeting. Uh we're on number six, the approval of minutes. First is the public Board of Education meeting dated March 25th, 2026. Motion. Is there a Motion. Is there any discussion? All those in favor. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Abstain. Next is closed session meeting March 25th, 2026. Motion? Second. All those in favor? I. I.
005I. We have any discussion around any of these? Just be Was there There was a portion at this that meeting that involved like that there was um related to items that there were conflicts on. I just wanted to clarify that. Okay. Is that accurate? It is. Okay. Was that related to >> was the close session in March. If I I was trying to recall because of the board documents um there was a portion of that meeting, the close session, that was um there was like I'll speak for myself that I had a conflict on, I believe. [snorts] Um but I just wanted to confirm that because we don't have the data. I would I would defer to Ms. Allen just because I don't have the minutes or the records of that meeting in front of
006me. I can just do it but I It wasn't just me, so I just wanted to ask before we voted. That was all. Um I don't have the um minutes either with me. Um All right. I'll I'll just recuse in I'll say for safety, but >> if you feel conflicted, just recuse. Yes. Okay. If you think you are. I mean, which it's just safe that way. Right. Okay. Okay? >> [snorts] >> So So There's Do you have You don't vote on this. It's either So you don't do No. Just Anybody have any discussion? Nope. Okay. So What On the minutes? Uh-huh. We don't vote? No. Not anymore. It was changed a few months ago. I I got the information from our good friend Nancy that we were doing it wrong. So we just >> that
007just for closed session minutes? Uh all minutes, I would say. Didn't we just vote on the other minutes? All in favor. All in favor. Yeah, all in favor. All opposed? Yeah. And an abstain? Yeah. Right. I think what you mean is you don't have to do a roll call. >> Right. No roll call. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. But we have to vote. That's Yeah, no, no, no. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Yeah, that's what >> Okay. Yeah, I'm sorry. That's what I meant. All in favor, and I said all in favor, all opposed. Right. So, I will abstain on the portion >> Right. where I have a conflict. [clears throat] Yes. In the closed session meeting on March 25th, 2026. >> Okay. That's what I was trying to get at. I got you. Okay. Thank
008you. Next, we have our student board members' report. Oh, you're by yourself, too. Good evening, everybody. So, we're going to be starting with Mill Lake Elementary School. The Mill Lake School experienced a vibrant and engaging month filled with student-centered activities, community events, and meaningful initiatives that reflect the strong school culture. As they approach their culminating macaroni and cheese domino challenge, the school community has been actively participating in noodle days every Monday throughout April. Staff and students have contributed boxes of mac and cheese while showing their spirit through creative noodle-themed attire and activities. The students also participated in multiple multiple unified gym days, fostering inclusion, teamwork, and school pride. They are proud to recognize Mrs. Toth, special education teacher, for receiving a $2,000 grant from the Monroe Education Foundation. On April 16th, Mill Lake, in collaboration
009with the Woodland School, hosted their second annual artwork show. Artwork from students in kindergarten through fifth grade was proudly displayed, highlighting creativity across both schools. Families enjoyed interactive art stations along with food trucks, ice creams, and cold brew. They rounded out the month with celebrating Earth Day on April 22nd with engaging activities focused on environmental awareness and bring your child to work day, where many little and big guests joined them for a day of learning, connection, and a celebratory pizza party. In Woodland, students and staff came together to celebrate Monroe Day with a variety of engaging activities that fostered school spirit and Monroe Township pride. Students attended an informative presentation from the NJ Courts introducing them to the judicial system and civic responsibilities. Ms. Erman coordinated a Wounded Warrior Assembly for students and the children
010gained a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices of service these people have made for the country and patriotism. Student artwork was proudly displayed at Mill Lake School for the combined Woodland Mill Lake Art Show. This gave family and friends the opportunity to see the creative and talented artwork the students have created. The PTO coordinated food trucks creating a fun and festive evening for families. Students and staff donated $1 and wore pajamas to support the Monroe Township Police Department Unity Tour. The funds raised directly supported Team Monroe in their participation and promoted a promoted community connection. Students and staff celebrated inclusion and unity throughout Unity Spirit Week. In addition, the Monroe Township High School and Woodland Unified students had the opportunity opportunity to engage in fun activities which strengthened district relationships. The school celebrated Unified Week with
011thematic dress which included a sensory friendly comfy and of course Falcon purple and gold. Woodland also celebrated with a visit from the high school's Unified students sharing activities and time together as a district Unified team. For Barclay Brook, during the week of April 13th, Barclay Brook School celebrated Kindness Week encouraging students to show kindness at home, in school, and in the community. Students recognized kind acts through drawings and writings that were displayed on the Great Big Spot of Kindness earning an extra recess for filling the board. By the end of the week, kindness was shining all throughout Barclay Brook and beyond. On Tuesday, April 14th, Monroe Township's EnviroMobile visited Barclay Brook School giving second grade students an interactive lesson on waste reduction and recycling. Students learned what items can be recycled, how to recycle properly,
012and why recycling matters through a fun hands-on game. Thank you to the Monroe Township Department of Public Works for this educational and fun experience. Barclay Brook School participated in the Police Unity Tour fundraiser on Friday, April 17th. Barclay Brook students and staff were invited to dress in their pajamas and donate $1 to the Monroe Township police officers who are participating in the 2026 Police Unity Tour. April 23rd was bring your child to work day. It was such a fun day to have the children of the staff members join Barclay Brook students for the day. In Brookside, as part of autism acceptance month, Brookside School celebrated with a unified week of respect. They had a week of theme dress days. Brookside School also had their unified spring event on April 14th. The students have had a
013great time with all of the planned activities. On April 15th, the Environmobile visited the third grade students. It was a tremendous and engaging learning experience for the entire grade. The main topics were recycling and doing what is best for the environment. Brookside will be having a student art show as well, displaying artwork created during the year on April 30th, so please come out. In Oaktree, the entire school participated in a Pajamas for Police Day, in which funds were raised for the Monroe Township police officers participating in the Unity Bike Tour. And they also recognized Neurodiversity Week with different theme days, each day related to growing and blooming. On May 1st, they will have a writing celebration day. Connected to our Connected to the executive function student goal, students will be writing about their superpower. Finished
014products will be framed and hung around this building, and every class will take a gallery walk to see how super they are. The week of May 4th, the classes will be participating in World Cup soccer tournaments. The amazing staff will be celebrated during Teacher Appreciation Week, beginning May 4th. In Applegarth, the week following spring break, from April 6th through to April 10th, Applegarth celebrated Neurodiverse Universe Week. This special week focused on recognizing and appreciating the unique differences that make the students and staff special while continuing to strengthen an inclusive and supportive school environment. On April 13th, students welcomed author Michael Rex for a special author visit. Mr. Rex shared his journey of becoming an author, spoke with students about the writing process, and demonstrated how he creates his illustrations using Applegarth students as his artistic
015models. On April 17th, they held their third marking period fish pep rally to celebrate students who demonstrated their fish characteristics throughout the marking period. Also, on April 17th, the Applegarth and Oaktree PTA hosted family bingo night. This event brought together students and families from both schools for an evening of fun, prizes, pizza, and community connection. From April 20th through the April to the through the 24th, Applegarth participated in the district-wide unified week of respect. On April 22nd, the Oaktree and Applegarth PTA ran the school store at Applegarth. Students were excited to shop and make their own purchases, and the event was a great success thanks to the continued support of the PTA. Looking ahead, on April 30th, Applegarth will host its very first evening of reading, reading under the stars. All families are invited to
016attend this family-friendly literacy event, which will include engaging reading activities designed to promote a love of literacy and strengthen home-school connections. In the middle school, MTMS celebrated Unified Week of Respect from April 13th to the 16th as well, and their first ever e-sports team just wrapped up an amazing season with one team finishing the season undefeated and having wins of 31 to 13 and 30 to 14. And another team coming in just as strong, ending the season with three straight wins, closing out with scores of 27 to 17 and 25 to 19. On April 9th, the middle school held its annual Avid Night, a night where parents of of potential Avid students from grades fifth from fifth grades to the seventh grade are invited to learn about the avid program and how to apply. On
017Monday, April 20th, the MTMS purple, gold, and falcon jazz ensembles were visited by the accomplished tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon thanks to an MEF grant. Mr. Weldon returned to spend another morning as a clinician working with our jazz ensembles to prepare them for their upcoming concerts. For the unfamiliar, Mr. Jerry Weldon is a tenor saxophonist noted for his involvement in various groups such as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and Harry Connick Jr. Big Band. On Thursday, April 23rd 23rd, MTMS hosted children of the staff for an annual take your child to work day. The children participated in planned activities and we had and they had over 90 children of staff in attendance. And finally, in the high school, NJSL A testing is beginning with both tomorrow and Wednesday being dedicated towards testing for the beginning half of
018the school day. The Monroe Township High School yearbook has been recognized as an award-winning yearbook design for the class of 2025 and is featured on the Jostens website as a best of. A special congratulations to Dakota Benner Tady, a junior who competed in the Junior Olympics this year and took home gold in the 25 meter sport pistol event. Last week was a unified week of respect and students enjoyed expressing school spirit through sports days and comfy days. This is also an a notice that for June seniors and juniors to be allowed to attend their respective proms, they must also be present for that school day. A Monroe Township High School team took home third place in a national robotics competition for Lockheed Martin in Morristown, New Jersey. Congratulations to the entire team. And last month,
019the history club was able to be given a private educational experience at the 9/11 Memorials gaining insights into a tragic moment in our history. This Friday is decision day for our high school seniors. The The school is celebrating with The school is celebrating with them hosting a day of fun events and picture opportunities for everyone to celebrate their incredible achievements past these high school doors. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Always, thank you for your thorough reporting of our all the schools in this district. >> Thank [clears throat] you. >> And by yourself tonight, you did a great job. >> Yes, thank you. Okay. Before the presentations, um I need someone on the board to make a motion to open the public hearing regarding the public >> Motion. Is there a second? I'll second. All those
020in favor? I. I. Budget presentation, yes. That's what I said. Budget presentation first. Are we okay with that? All in favor? Okay, the budget presentation will be made right now. Thank you, Mr. Payne. So, this is the 2026-2027 uh budget presentation. We are going to uh highlight and share some information we shared last month. So, we just want to start as we always do, thanking the board and the uh finance committee for their support in the development and uh programming that we continue to offer in the district. As we do with everything, uh the budget is grounded in our mission and vision, and all of the focus and areas, priorities that we have um as we move towards concluding this year and looking ahead uh towards our our strategic plan goals, as well as uh
021any short-term goals we have aligned with that. Here's a highlight of our Some reason the clicker is multiple clicking. Uh here's a highlight of our budget uh timeline key dates. As we always do, we start the budget process even before the November timeline. Um we're already talking about next year as we sit here today. Um but officially, we look in November and December for budget defense rounds and preliminary budget rounds. We move through the winter. Uh as we get into the spring, that's when we get some of our key information from the state, our health insurance providers, and things. And we sit here today in April 27th with our Board of Education meeting and our budget hearing. There we go. So, in terms of key budget budgetary considerations, uh we had four areas of focused.
022The first one is establishing full-day kindergarten. Second one is New Jersey student learning standards. >> [applause] >> THE SECOND ONE IS THE NEW JERSEY STUDENT LEARNING STANDARDS. The third one is maintaining programs, including our student teacher ratio. And then uh the fourth area is addressing our aging facilities. Um as we even though we sit in this building, uh and we this is one of our newest buildings in the entire district, um we're coming up on some key thresholds, including this building, uh in our core facilities and our core operational uh areas. So, uh one thing we want to stay on top of is our aging facilities, uh and not just catching up with what we uh need to address, but staying on the front end of what we are looking at in terms of uh
023even this in Oaktree School. As we always talk about, when we look at them, they look shiny and brand new, and that's a testament to our facilities team. The reality is we need to keep that up and keep up with that. Um before I go to the next slide, I just want to highlight a few things. So, we did uh embed full-day kindergarten in this budget, um as I spoke to last month, uh the long-term impact relative to where we stand today and moving forward, um really revolves around one recurring expense, which is the the support staff addition. So, we're looking at about 65, 66,000 dollars in support staff. Um everything else is covered in either a one-time cost for classroom setup, so basically adjusting the size of the desks. Many of what we Many
024of the facilities we have we can adjust literally, you know, with screws. Um but where we can't do that, we do have to purchase some additional materials. Um there's some teachers' guides we need to get in terms of textbooks and supplies uh as we flip some of these classrooms from an older elementary classroom to a kindergarten classroom. Um and this is this is all uh coming together at the right time. If you asked us probably 18 months ago, we'd be having a different conversation and we were at the time. Um and even multiple years ago, we were looking at a totally different trajectory in terms of our enrollment and space was the number one issue. Um and we have moved forward this fall with a design study to address space if we end end up
025trending in that uh path. Um and that does involve a a referendum at some point down the road if we had if we head down that that path. But again, until this fall into the wintertime, um the big question was always how much is it going to cost us to do these projects? Well, we have a starting point for that. Um and that's uh a big a big ask of the district um whether we need it 2 years, 5 years down the road, those projects are designed and they're ready to roll. They would just need to be updated with more um current estimates and costs. Um so, that is a big piece and that's why we sit here with a different conversation than we were even, like I said, 18 to 12 months ago. Um
026with the space issue not the issue right now, um we're looking at as we consolidate classes, as we uh continue to address enrollment and and sections in the other grade levels through enrollment, um that frees up both teachers and classrooms so we can integrate the kindergarten classes into each of the primary schools. Um and as I said um at the last meeting, we're not doing this at the comp and compromising the class sizes of the other grades. We're looking at what we would expect in an in a standard range for enrollment both in grades 1 through 5. So again, we're moving staff around. We're reallocating classrooms and again, it's not at the expense of our other students. We're still, you know, in that sub 25. We're looking at 24s and 25s in grades 4 and
0275. We're looking 21s and 22s in grades 1 and 2. So we're in that that threshold where we're comfortable. And that's all with the current staffing that we have. We are not adding a full-time equivalent to address this. Again, we are just relocating and reallocating our existing staff. So that's something I wanted to highlight. Other things that we went through and we went through a full budget process with this. We looked at transportation. The transportation department did an analysis on what is the cost of those midday runs. We're essentially cycling through the town twice to drop off AM kindergarten and then go around and pick up PM kindergarten. So what are the savings related to that? We have that and we can apply that to other areas where we may see a slight increase, whether
028that's uh We don't anticipate it in the afternoon runs, but if we do actualize a little bit there, we can cover it that way, but we also can apply that towards one of the areas where we won't be receiving the revenue is through our ECE program. So we can in theory swing that money over towards and compensating for that potential revenue loss. So as we said, this is something that's been on the on the community's eye for many, many years and it is a opportunity that we have in front of us that we can we can leverage with minimal impact to our compared to what we're operating with moving forward today. So just wanted to highlight that as something that is included in this budget. The other piece that is a significant talking point and
029this is not just Monroe. This is and this is not just the school world, this is in everybody's lives is the health care costs. Um and what I wanted to do with this slide is just show you uh from 23 24 to 26 27, the overall change in our health care uh total premiums was significant. We're pushing 60%. Um we're at at about million $300,000 uh for this school year. The total cost is outlined in the first part of that chart, um but I think what's very powerful is the second section of that chart. So, we're looking at and this is a sample plan, there's multiple plans that are embedded in our uh in our health plan options. Uh if you're a newer staff member, you don't have the selections that these uh that the
030legacy uh staff members do and legacy would be anybody hired prior to 2020. So, we are looking at uh this is the one of the higher end plans, a change from 23 24 of $44,706 for a family plan. It is currently $84,922. That's a 90 just under 90% uh change in health care premium. So, um our staff does contribute and again, it's a complicated piece if you're uh within a certain higher date, you're contributing a a function of your uh salary, a percentage of your salary towards this. If you are a a different higher date, uh some of the legacy employees, you're contributing based on your salary, a percentage of your plan. Um so, it's all it's all over the place depending on where you are as an employee, but I think what this demonstrates
031is the tremendous increase in health care costs. Um and if this is a specific example, a tangible uh look into what we are dealing with as we uh you know, develop this budget. Now, some of the things we've done, um and you've heard us talk about earlier in the school year, we we were a part of the state health health benefits plan. Um that is something when we moved to it, it was absolutely the right move to do. We had uh a significant savings in our rate at the time. As the state health benefits plan in that program uh evolved, uh it became very challenging for the state to maintain uh reasonable increases. And what we did is we jumped on the first opportunity that we could to hop off that state train, in quotes,
032um to become privately insured. And that's where we currently are today. We made that move uh starting February 1st. It was something we towards the end of the school uh end of the calendar year we were in transition for. And that gives us a couple things. It allows us to get better data on our uh insured staff members. It allows us to be a better shopper because we have better data. Uh we learned coming out of the state is they give some very general information. And when we go shopping, when we go for quotes, um that doesn't benefit us. Because if we have some high claims, they look at high claims all the same. They don't look them as a one-time claim, they look them as lifetime claims. So, by getting better data both on
033the prescription side and the health care side, um we will be able to continue to search and seek out uh more more competitive rates. Um, and that is one of the I guess key reasons that we uh were able to get out of the state plan. We also see uh lower projected increases moving forward now that we're out of the state plan. If you watch the news, the the state employees health benefits plan, um they're speaking of even higher increases than they were projecting in the fall. Um, and that's because as districts like us leave, it leaves higher risk districts left over in that plan, and they need to raise their rates to compensate for those payouts. So, um that's a long-winded version of basically saying health care is uh one of the number one
034issues that we're dealing with and uh we have a plan and we continue to to work with all of our staff to be a healthier be a uh more proactive coming out of COVID. Uh we know a lot of this health care increases are delayed uh treatment. So you you know, maybe you would have caught something and if you skip a doctor's appointment, now you're a little later in your progression and and this is a symptom of you know, a a bunch of factors. So we uh as I said, we're being proactive and one thing I was just mentioning to the board members as we were you know, getting ready for the meeting is today starts a district-wide step challenge. So it it sounds simple, but it's uh something that the entire district and it's
035voluntary, but uh we're all being a part of and it's for the next month, the buildings are competing for the highest average steps um within the building. So we're getting up, we're moving and this is coming from our staff. This is our staff wanting to be healthy. This is our staff wanting to take a proactive approach at um you know, controlling our health care. And again, that's a small piece um but that is something that you know, we are working towards trying to get a handle on this um and we'd ask for the public's help in whatever you can do to help um both your employers and and us advocate for some sort of health care reform. And at this point, I'm going to kick it over to Miss Allen to continue the presentation. Okay.
036[clears throat] So many thanks to all involved in this process which takes so many months of collaboration. Um Miss Rupa, Miss Tagliaferro, um the entire business office, the directors, supervisors, principals, vice principals, principal secretaries, and many others. And thank you to the board for your support throughout this entire process. Um so the first slide we're going to um discuss is where the money comes from to support our budget broken down by fund. So this represents our total budget. >> [clears throat] >> Um so, please note that these are the same amounts that we um reported in our budget presentation last month, but in just a different format to show each fund. So, there are three separate self-balancing funds, the general fund, the special revenue fund, and the debt service fund. The enterprise funds and capital
037project funds are not considered budgetary funds and accordingly are not included as per the NJDOE. Um as I've mentioned before, uh we must be comfortable and certain of our projected revenues to cover our expenditures. Overstating revenue that we are not comfortable with while paying actual expenditures will lead to a deficit. Relying on one-time revenues will lead to a deficit. Revenues drive appropriations. We cannot appropriate more than our projected revenues. And if revenues fall short or we have unexpected or increased costs, we cannot come back mid-year and ask for more money to cover for a deficit. So, looking at the general fund first, the general fund is our operating budget and covers our day-to-day operations. The general fund revenues total 160 million. Of that amount, 135.6 million or 84% is derived from the local tax levy,
038and I will talk about that calculation on the next slide. Um but, it's important to note that this this is the amount that the 2% tax levy cap is based on and not the entire budget. State aid represents 7% of the general fund budget at 12 million, which we will talk about on another slide. Um fund balance at 6.7 million represents 4% of the general fund, and this is our excess surplus from the 24-25 school year. It is certified by the auditor and is statutorily required to be included as a revenue source in the 26-27 budget. So, excess surplus is um we are only allowed to designate a maximum of 2% of our general fund expenditures as adjusted um as unassigned undesignated unreserved fund balance. Any excess that's not otherwise legally restricted assigned or designated
039is considered to be excess surplus and must be included as a revenue source in our 26-27 budget. The statutory minimum for the unassigned fund balance is 2% and the county has advised that districts may not go below that amount. So, 2% of our budget is derived from tuition revenue and includes tuition from both Jamesburg and our enrichment programs. Um tuition from Jamesburg is budgeted at 4.3 million and the enrichment programs are budgeted at 222,000 and include summer programs as well as after-school programs. Miscellaneous revenue consists of interest income, use of building fees, integrated pre-K tuition, athletic admissions, etc. and are budgeted at 850,000. Transportation fees from Jamesburg are project are budgeted at 256,000 and that is calculated and certified on our district report of transported resident students reported to the DOE. Transfers from other funds
040represents the anticipated Falcon Care excess in the amount of $25,000. Um and as Dr. Lyman mentioned, since we are anticipating the implementation of full-day kindergarten next year, that eliminates the need for the ECE program that has been in place for several years now. Uh federal aid, which is our semi semi reimbursement, totals 77,000. Um, and this is a federal program that reimburses districts a portion of the cost of certain Medicaid covered services provided to Medicaid eligible special education students. So, the next column is a special revenue fund. This is where we account for specific revenue sources that are legally restricted to expenditures for specified purposes, um, and included here would be our federal and state grants. So, we have been advised by the DOE to conservatively budget 75% of the current year award due to
041uncertainty in federal funding. This amounts to 1.2 million, which is primarily the IDEA grant. Um, title funds are included here as well. Um, and it should be noted that we only spend what we get for these grant funds. If our grant award comes in less than we than anticipated, we would spend less. The last column shows the debt service fund. This is where we account for resources and payment of long-term um, debt principal and interest on prior bond referendums, which were voter approved. Um, and as you can see, the revenue sources are the debt service portion of the tax levy and state aid amounting to 11.2 million. So, the next slide shows the general fund tax levy for 26-27. Statutorily, we are allowed to grow our general fund tax levy by 2% each year plus
042any allowable adjustments. As I mentioned, the 2% increase applies only to the general fund tax levy and not the entire budget. As we all know, everything is increasing at a rate greater than 2%, and that is the challenge for school districts in New Jersey. So, the 25-26 general fund tax levy is 125 million. 2% cap is 2.5 million. So, without any adjustments, 2.5 million is the allowable tax increase to our budget. There is an allowable adjustment to our general fund tax levy for the increase in health care costs of 7.9 million. The health care adjustment, which is automatically calculated in the DOE budget software, applies to districts with a projected increase in health care costs exceeding 2% of the pre-budget year. The DOE calculated allowable adjustment cannot exceed the average percent increase of the state
043health benefit plan as determined annually by the Division of Pensions and Benefits. And that amount is 31.9% for 2026-27. So, the maximum adjustment is the 31.9% less the 2% or 29 uh percent increase over the prior year. This slide is probably the most important one because it shows the incredible impact of the record high health care cost increases that we are all facing that is completely beyond our control. These massive increases are simply unsustainable. As you can see, the health care cost adjustment is more than three times the 2% allowable cap increase. Without this health care adjustment, our total budget would be increasing 2.8% instead of 7.7% or 4 million instead of 12 million. And that is just on one budget line item. So, when we were asked why the budget is increasing above the
0442%, this is the reason. So, what has to fit inside the cap? Contractual salary increases, which are all above 3%, insurance costs, which are above 12%, utility costs, which are increasing in excess of 25%, etc. The next slide shows the general fund state aid award um between the two years. So, this this slide has been updated to include the general fund state aid that is beyond the categorical state aid that we are awarded. We receive no equalization aid, which is based on district property values and income. The calculated local fair share is 192 million versus our adequacy [clears throat] budget budget, which is 121 million. Um, our 26-27 categorical state aid award totals 11.9 million, as compared to the prior amount of 12.3 million. This reflects a 3% reduction in our categorical aid amounting to
045369,000. Although the DOE increased all major cost factors, our enrollment is declining, which accounts for the reduction. Had our enrollment remained the same as the prior year, using the increased DOE rates, we would have seen an increase in our state aid of 461,000 instead of 369,000 a decrease. Um, and that's a swing of $830,000. So, it's important to note that our decrease was capped at 3%, and had it not been, we would have seen an additional increase of a decrease, rather, of 19,000. Um, and as you can see, the categorical aid per pupil is $1,935 for 26-27 and $1,895 for 25-26. Um, we received an additional 500,000 for 25-26 allocated from the state budget, thanks to um, Senator Greenstein, that we cannot anticipate for 26-27. Um, extraordinary aid is budgeted at 397,000 and is application-based.
046So, the next slide is where does the money go? Um Let me get back to that. So, 49% of the budget is for direct instructional costs, which would be regular education, special education, related services, and tuition. Benefits for all staff are shown separately and amount to 25% of the budget. And that includes all the health insurance, vision insurance, social security, PERS employer um pension contributions, etc. Um 8% of our budget goes to facilities. Uh and this category includes maintenance of facilities, custodial services, grounds care, and security. Um debt service at 7% represents payments of interest and principal on bonds, and then transportation is 6%, etc. Um Next is I'm not going to go through schedule A cuz we just really covered that with the revenues, but but you do have that available. Um Next is
047schedule B, which shows the comparison of appropriations. Um and that is uh a whole separate schedule. Um Some of the main things in here are the increases and decreases um under regular programs instruction. Um This is where we account for um under purchase services the um trailers that we had at the middle school, the removal of the trailers. Um we have in there lease purchase of all the equipment, instructional equipment, including technology. Um and uh different uh furniture and equipment. Also, um we have uh technology license fees um and software. So, under the same section, you note that other salaries for instruction reflects an increase of 21% and that's largely due to the additional instructional hours for the implementation of full day kindergarten. Um, the next section special education, basic skills, bilingual are pretty consistent
048and are are driven by uh student needs. And at this time we are reviewing programs and may be able to consolidate based on enrollment. Um, and we are also looking at a new autism class as well. Um, enrichment and summer school. Um, so this is based on current year revenues and uh this these programs must be self-sustaining. So if more relevant revenue is realized, it would be offset by expenditures. Out of dish district tuition costs are increased by over 6% um, and that's actually it's actually higher because we use IDEA grant money as well to help pay for these costs. And these costs do not include the transportation um, costs. And I would like to mention that Miss Rella does a and her staff does a phenomenal job of trying to keep students in district
049whenever possible. Um, and that and that shows. Um, media and library services are decreasing by 5% um, because we are least purchasing textbook or library books this year. Um, operations and maintenance of plant services. So this section, as I had mentioned, includes four categories. Required maintenance school facilities, custodial services, care and upkeep of grounds, and security. Salaries >> [clears throat] >> um, and that's it. So salaries of the non-instructional aids under that section include additional lunchroom hours for the full day kindergarten implementation. Um, insurance costs are expected to increase by an estimated 12 and a half percent, which far exceeds the 2% cap. And we are looking at 25% increase in electricity costs as well as 15% in natural gas. Again, far exceeding the 2%. So, as you know, we entered into an ESCP, which
050is an energy savings improvement program last year. This is a program that allows us to purchase upgrades to our facilities to increase energy efficiency and to use the future energy savings to fund the improvements. There is no cost to the taxpayers and no impact on the budget. We sold $12 million in refunding bonds last year to fund the project. We will pay back the bonds over 20 years with the energy and operational savings created as well as the rebates and incentives received. The debts The debt payment schedule is structured to align with the cost savings each year so that there's always enough savings to cover the debt as well as extra savings to create net positive cash flow. Um, and that has to be. Um, this year the $12 million ESCP project has been progressing
051nicely with the installation of LED lighting throughout the district. Boiler upgrades, chiller replacements, etc. Solar will follow. Um, the anticipated energy savings, operational savings, and rebates are reflected and are budgeted to cover the debt payments of the refunding bonds. So, we would not have been able to fit that $12 million into our budget and to install these energy savings methods measures. This program allows us that opportunity while keeping the dollars in our budget. So, while you see that there are two line items for principal and interest of the ESCP, several line items have been reduced by that same amount, giving us a net zero effect on the budget. Um, and we've had multiple presentations regarding this from um, Honeywell, and they actually did a presentation last week at at BG&T um, to update everybody on
052where we're at with that program and where we're going. Um So, the next section, transportation, we had some savings due to full day kindergarten as Dr. Lyman mentioned. And we also are including three new buses which will be lease purchased. And of course the largest increase by far are the employee benefits. Um And we discussed that. Essentially, 7.9 million of the increase shown is offset by the health care adjustment. Capital outlay for 25-26, we have appropriated funds for design study for the full day kindergarten as well as HVAC upgrades at the elementary schools. And um we have the 10 So, the 10 .1 million dollar Applegarth roof and HVAC projects which were funded through the Rod grants and the township contribution took place this year and are nearly complete now. Um the Rod grant projects
053are accounted for outside of the operating budget. Um this grant has been very beneficial to our district in allowing us to complete the Applegarth projects without any effect on our budget. The township contributed 5 million to these projects and we could not have found that money in our budget. Um and would not have been able to secure the Rod grant without it as we were required to um fund 60% of the project. So, we do appreciate that. For 26-27, we are budgeting 900,000 for mechanical upgrades at Mill Lake, Barkley Brook, and Brookside. Um we are also budgeting for an addition to our capital reserve fund as our buildings are aging out. This will help to address capital needs to maintain our buildings so they are safe and efficient. So, the next slide is a one-page
054summary of the budget by major category um for Mr. Valentine. So, um there is by statute revenues must equal appropriations in each fund. The budget will not be approved if each of these funds are not in balance. Um and there is no profit or loss in a school budget. The next slide shows the tax rate impact. Without the health care adjustment, there would be a 2.19% increase to the tax >> [clears throat] >> or $113 on an average assessed valuation of 336,000. The tax rate increase on just the health care loan is 2.95% or $152 on an average assessed home. The combined tax rate increase is 5.14% or $265. The tentative tax rate would be 1.61 as compared to the current tax rate of 1.53. The tax increase is based on ratables and tax levy.
055The ratables have increased .61% this year. Last year, the ratables increased .91%. The year before, the increase was 500% higher at 3.04%. If we had realized that same percentage increase in ratables again this year, the tax rate increase for the tax for the year would have been 2.6% or $138 for the average assessed valuation. Um and that's a difference of $128. So, you can see ratables have a a big impact on the tax rate. So, um in summary, we are proposing a budget that will provide for all contractual salary and benefit obligations, safety of students and staff, maintain current programs, maintain staff, instructional resources, staff professional development, meet all state and federal special education requirements, replace buses in accordance with the retirement schedule, uh the planned capital improvements, all student transportation including courtesy bussing and
056athletics, increase capital reserve, and establish full-day kindergarten. And again, I I would I would like to We We all would like to thank um everybody who contributed to that development of this budget. Thank you so much, Ms. Allen and Dr. Layman, for your reports. Um the next se- I'm sorry. Yes. We have questions, right? Uh yeah, you can. I Okay. Public has to go next. I have a question for Dr. Layman. Dr. Layman, um the state has mandated kindergarten, correct? Yes. Okay. So, let's just say hypothetically everybody here voted no for this budget, we still have to figure out how we're going to put kindergarten in this district, correct? Yes, and it doesn't have to happen for next year. So, I I got to say this [clears throat] this line here, where where does the
057money come from? We have a uh local tax levy of $136 million. The state aid is State aid is $12 million. Which is absolutely Which is absolutely We all We all can agree on this that $12 million of state aid is absolutely horrendous for the money that we shell out as a township to all the other districts as well. Uh we have groups uh led by this wonderful woman here um that call Trenton, fight with Trenton, we need funding. This This unfortunately this budget sends a message to Trenton that, "Hey, you know, we don't need your money. We're just going to uh hit this township, the residents, all the senior citizens with a huge It's, you know, an assessed value of 300,000, but most most houses, let's face it, in this town are not 300,000.
058They're between 7, 8 million, 2 million. That's a huge tax increase. It's a thousand dollars a month on average. A thousand dollars a year on average. >> It's assessed value. Assessed value. So, it's an average tax increase. Let's say $600. That's That's a big tax increase. But my point is the message that we're sending to Trenton by approving this budget tonight is that we don't need money from you. We can just shovel it off to our taxpayers and they'll foot the bill. And we should just abolish that group of yours because that that committee of yours because we're not getting anywhere with it. We're just going to keep shoveling the expense to the taxpayers. Now, I I've been an advocate of kindergarten since I got on this board. Nobody can deny that. Uh some people
059on Facebook tried to deny it, but um Steve Wright back, he uh he fought hard for kindergarten. We went for referendum for kindergarten and failed. And now the state, King Murphy, has told us we have to have kindergarten, which I'm I'm happy for that, believe it or not. But we're really sending a clear message to Trenton that we don't need your funding. We're going to just shovel it off to the taxpayer [clears throat] and they'll foot the bill. And I think it's the wrong move. We have a lot of districts in this state that have fought back. They've said, "No, we're not We can't do this increase." A 60% increase to health care covered. There should be people with signs and pitchforks and torches outside protesting in front of Trenton right now. 60% increase? That's
060not even reasonable. It's insane. And nobody's protesting. We're just going to take all these expenses and shove them right to the taxpayer. I personally don't think it's fair, and that's that's just my opinion. Does anyone else would like to speak? Yes. >> [clears throat] >> So, I Let's feedback. I just want to say thank Ms. Allen and Dr. Lehman for the presentation, and I also did want to thank you both for taking the multiple times in speaking with me over the last month to answer my questions about the budget. Um I'm just someone who really I like to look at the data. I like to understand the data. Um and so I really do appreciate that. And I think that is important like as board members to remember like we serve two main functions, right?
061We represent the concerns of our taxpayers and residents, and we need to support the needs of our students and staff. Um and it's definitely hard sometimes to balance those two things because they don't always work together. Um and so while this year's budget's maintaining most of what we have, I really heard two big themes from our community. The first is that everyone is very excited to see full-day kindergarten implemented, right? THIS IS >> [cheering] [applause] >> I LIKE THE APPLAUSE, BUT I WASN'T GOING FOR IT. >> [laughter] >> UM AND THEN THE second one is that our tax rate is increasing at an alarming rate, which will create a financial strain for a lot of people, which as we know really has very little to do with a lot of the decisions that we as
062a district or a board are making. But it is something that I feel we need to you know just discuss a little bit. And I think it's actually really good that community members are paying attention and asking questions, and I just want to make sure that they're getting correct information. Like I've I've heard a lot of interesting things. I asked I actually read somewhere where they asked board members to take a pay cut. Like I'll I'll gladly cut my pay of zero of to by 50%, but you know, I think that you know, I will I will say that as a board member I'm always going to support giving students and staff what they need in order to be successful. I've like Mr. Tufano and I think like most of us up here, we've all
063been vocal advocates for wanting full day kindergarten. I you know, I don't want to say that that's not been a thing and I'm very excited about that. But I also know in governance too, we talk about what our financial responsibilities are. It's balancing educational needs of students with taxpayers ability to pay and overseeing financial management of the district, understanding the proposed budget implications and just assisting in explaining the budget to the public in accordance with our policies and that's really why I'm asking a few of the questions I I am today and I only have a couple and actually Ms. Allen covered one of mine already which was the readable so I appreciate that because I think that's important for people to understand that that's another huge impact that we've had. Um So just I
064think I have maybe three questions now. My first is the $6.7 million in excess surplus that we have listed as a source of revenue. First of all, I wanted to congratulate the district and you guys and the administration for putting a lot of cost saving measures in place so that we do end up in that position. But what can these funds be used for and like what can they not be used for when we put them in there? How does that work? Yeah, so they can be Although they there's not a restriction on what you have to use them for, um if like for us, this is um a greater amount than we have had in the past so we are that's why we are um applying some of it to the capital reserve because
065we don't want to um rely on that for something like a normal recurring expenditure in our budget. Um but there you know, you're not restricted to what you can and can't use it on. Um And and you can uh as you need to. Yeah. Okay. And then the understanding if we had a flat budget, there was no increase, right? It would mean devastation for our school district, um which is not something I'd ever support. Um but I know that we do have more going to capital improvements, capital outlay, capital reserve than we have in the past. So, I guess knowing that it is important and smart for us to build up our capital reserve, right? We should have an emergency fund. We have facilities that are old and we're a large district, but because we've
066had this high surplus this year, um it's double what we've had last year, which was double the year before, um and we're also financing a lot of these capital projects through the rod grants and through E-rate. Could we like would there have been a possibility in the budget where we could have reduced that amount by a like a very small amount for that appropriation without affecting any programs or staff? And what impact would that have had on the tax rate if we were to reduce it by a million dollars, let's say? So, instead of $3 million, we put two or anything like that. So, a million a million dollars um reduction um would be $19 a year. Or um yeah, $19 a year difference if we were to reduce it. So, instead of 265, you
067know, it's 245. Okay. So, it's really even if we were to reduce that amount, it's you know, it's not nothing, right? Every amount we can save is something, but it's not having a huge impact on the rate we were to do that. Yep. Okay. Um my the third question I had on here was about readables, which you already covered. Um so, I did just want to get some of that clarified because I I do think that it's important for people to understand some of this stuff, and I wanted to thank both of you again for answering all of the questions. Are there any more questions? Mr. Piro? Yeah, I I just I agree with Mr. Thano on the state aid 1,000%. We we should get more. My issue is though is this budget budget doesn't
068pass, it's going to affect a lot of things. No kindergarten. We'll probably lose some teachers, staff. May have to cut some programs, am I correct? Revenue has to equate expenditures. So, it would be the decisions of the administration and or directives from the board if we needed to make changes to what was presented tonight where that would come from. And that certainly our expenditures, our program staffing uh because we're required to do the health care benefits and things like that. So, so my my point is that I agree that we definitely should get more state aid. But, if you vote no on this, then I feel like you're only hurting the kids. And and you're you're going to make it no kindergarten. We may lose programs. I mean I mean, people got to vote the
069way they feel. I have three kids that went through the system. Um my youngest graduates college next week. And it's a phenomenal school district. And if my taxes got to go up a little bit, then they got to go up a little bit. >> [applause] >> Um I'm willing to pay that extra money. So, I I just think that it's very important. We've wanted full day kindergarten forever. Everybody here has wanted it. And I can't see all if a no vote spikes the children. That's all I can say. Um >> [applause] >> Mr. Mr. Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on what he had asked. If we If there wasn't a no vote I'm not I'm not even saying that's what I'm doing. I'm just That's not. But, like if it was a
070no, what happens? Does it mean that we use the same amount that we had last year? No kindergarten. Well, but that's what I'm asking. Does it Does it have to mean that? We are required to submit a balanced budget. So, if if there would be a no vote, we would not leave tonight until we had a a determination and a directive from why there was a no vote. We'd have to go back and reestablish. And if it was a another type of correction, there would be an [clears throat] approval of the of the budget with whatever change specific change would be embedded in it. Um but that would my most likely it would be a no vote and we'd have to go back to the drawing board and have another meeting at a future date.
071And you'd also have the QZAB issue as well. Mr. Mr. Zeigner, excuse me. Mr. Zeigner and then Mr. Okay. So, first firstly, this is not a state program a state problem. Increase in rising insurance costs is a national problem. That is where the problem is. [applause] And until we address that as a nation and for us as a district to end the direction we're going as a board in providing the best educational service to kids would be the biggest mistake we could make. I mean, full-day kindergarten, we all know how important that is. We know how it affects kids. They do outstanding work as they go up the grade levels. We know we all know the research in that. We also know and and I looked this up and it says very clearly rising health
072insurance costs are a significant national problem in the United States affecting affordability, access, and overall health outcomes across all income levels. Premium growth, the annual the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family coverage reached nearly $27,000 in 2025. We knew last year this was going up. I mean, it was clearly indicated if you just look at that at that that paper in terms of the rising cost. It's clear. It's going up. And it's going to continue, unfortunately, unless we put some brakes on it. How that happen? I have no idea. Well, I have an idea, but I'm not going to go there. Okay, without the expiration of enhanced ACA tax credits, individual marketplace premiums are projected to rise by an average of 18%. You know what happened to Obamacare. You know how much that has increased.
073And the coverage has been declined. You're You're having all kinds hospital systems. You're hearing that on on television all the time. You folks know what's happening with the hospital systems. That some of them are closing down because of that, because of insurance costs. So, everyone here knows they're going up. So, don't tell me it's a state problem, and don't tell me that we should go ahead and just, you know, don't vote on the Don't vote on the budget. Well, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to vote on the budget >> [applause] >> because that's the way to go as far as I'm concerned. But, I thank you. That's my >> [applause] >> So, I I didn't tell anybody here how to vote. I didn't tell anybody here how to vote. Everybody has their
074own vote in this No, I understand that. That's That's what this board is about. >> I understand that. >> My problem is for years I've been on this board for 7 years now, and every year we complain and we complain about funding. If we got the proper funding from the state, which you agree I'm sure most of us agree here we get shafted by the state. That's a state problem. But, it's not It's not That is a state problem. >> But, it's it's all state. >> state problem I'm referring to. >> We I apologize. If we got the state funding we deserve. If we got the state funding we fought for, we wouldn't have this huge tax increase. We're spending 80% of our money for other districts to exist, not ours. That is insanity. Our
075hard-earned money, excuse me, our hard-earned hard-earned money is going to other districts, not ours. Now we're asked to increase our cost for our own district, but most of the money's going out of district from the state. So, it's a state problem, Charlie. Correct. >> It's a state problem. It's a funding formula problem that nobody's addressing because our guilt to help our children and people reporting, and I understand. I had four kids that went through this system. I still have a kid in this system, a special needs child. I understand that this school district is phenomenal. The staff here, everybody here is phenomenal. Right down to the security, to the staff that cleans this school, that takes care of this They're all excellent people. Nobody is going to guilt me into voting no. I'm not voting
076no because I don't want kids to advance and be great. I'm voting no because if we don't fight the system, the system is going to eat us alive. Next year when the prices go up another 70%, 80%, and we're up at 10 years, what are we looking at? $50,000 property tax? $50,000 We have to fight somehow. And the only thing we have to fight is to vote no on the budget, in my opinion. That's the only way we're going to send a clear message to Trenton, like other districts have done. They voted no on their budgets, and then Trenton says, "Wait, all these schools can't afford to open their schools anymore. We got to change the the funding formula. Otherwise, they're just going to keep doing whatever they want to do and not fund us
077because we keep shoving it onto the taxpayers. At at what point is is it unaffordable to live in this town? At what point? Do we wait till till taxes increase $20,000 more a year? And then we say, "Oh, we're going to fight Trenton." >> [clears throat] >> We're not doing enough is what I'm trying to get at. We're not doing enough as a district, as a township. We're not doing enough to fight the people who are controlling our funding, who have our children's future in their hands. We're not fighting them. We just keep letting them get away with it. Mandy Greenstein gave us a million dollars how many years ago? Two. Last year she did. Last year. Last year. Did did she discuss giving us another million dollar increase? Did anybody ask her for it?
078>> We got 500,000 from her. 500,000. And as So we got we got a 60% medical increase and we got half the funding from her that we got last year. It's not logical. It's just here, take 500,000 and shut up. Just give it to your taxpayers to pay the bill. That's what we're getting. It's not fair. And it's not fair to put certain board members who feel this way on the spot trying to make us feel guilty like we don't care about our kids. That's not the case. That's not the case. Can I just Wait. Miss Ratner had her hand up next on this side, then I'll come to this side. >> Thank you. I get I get it. I understand health care is out of our control. I get all these things. I get
079[clears throat] your frustration. We're talking about our kids. I've got three kids still in the school. I have a first grader. I literally just went through this full day kindergarten thing. I all three of my students my students my children went through ECE. It's a phenomenal program, but yeah, it really was not right that we would have to pay for kindergarten when all of these other districts were not requiring that. I'm 100% on board with that. And you know, as I've said way too many times to Dr. Lehman and Ms. Allen over the last couple of weeks, any cuts that would involve reducing what we're giving to our students or eliminating full-day kindergarten are things I would never agree to. And I'm planning to vote yes. Like, I I I can tell you that. Like,
080you'll all find out later. But, I'm still planning to support this budget either way. But, my question would was just, knowing that we've had this excess amount, is there is there no possibility of any reductions in our appropriations without affecting all of those things just to slightly ease the burden? If the answer is no, and this is why, then that's the only you know, that's all we need to know. If it's we're going to have to cut teachers, we're going to have to cut full-day kindergarten, we're going to have to go to pay-to-play, things like that, my like, I don't need to ask anything else. But, that is my question. Are there any cuts that can be made that would not impact those things because of the additional surplus that we've had? Are you asking?
081Are you asking? So, expenditures. Right. So, if we reduce revenue, we're going to reduce expenditures. Right. So, the the board can direct us to do whatever they need they want us to do. Uh we would have to implement that directive. But, as we stand right now, our budget is as recommended. Um I think Pete, did you I was going from one side to the other. But, Mr. Marzano, go ahead. Uh first I want to just say um thank you, uh Dr. Lehman and Ms. Allen, for your work on on the budget. Uh you did a great job uh despite the nonsense on social media. One of the things that I ran on was um implementing full-day kindergarten. So, I mean, I think a congratulations goes to you guys. >> [applause] >> Um that being said,
082the the problem, obviously, is is the health care. and maybe instead of harping on what is ultimately going to pass, unfortunately I can't vote um due to board members um actions and I spoke with um uh Mr. Weiss uh and he told me to recuse it was his his opinion to recuse to be safe on the safe side. So, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to follow the attorney's advice. Uh otherwise it would have been a yes, but um is is there a plan maybe in the future so that we can um maybe come up cuz it seems like from being new on the board, this health care thing it was like a su- a surprise. Like, oh wow. So, is there something that we can do and is is that going to
083be something that we can work on for this year so that we don't have this crazy health care increase next year? I mean, we might have an increase, but um is there a way that we can plan ahead on this? I if I can just be you know, I hate to burst anybody's bubble, but Mr. Marazine every indication from health care brokers generally for school districts this year is that we can expect um an a similar increase next year. Um unfortunately. [clears throat] Uh so, I think to the extent you're planning for next year, the plan should have baked into it additional increase in increases in health insurance simply because that's what our experts are telling us um is probably going to happen again next year. So, um I just wanted to give you that
084little piece, but you know, to the extent that uh Dr. Lehman can address the rest of it certainly. And and I I alluded to it a little bit, the subtle things that we're doing as a district, making moves to be a healthier district. There's incentives for staff members to uh check off boxes in terms of their annual physicals and things. Um we're doing our step challenges. We being out of the state plan, are gathering better data on ourselves as a district, which makes us, like I said, a better uh a better client that we can now shop around. Um so, where we may be looking at certain increases, if we can find the same plan at a cheaper rate with a different provider, then we will we do that uh every time we can. Um
085and and that's where we're setting ourselves up for it. And unfortunately, the timing of the release of state aid, the timing of the release of the final health care figures, does come in what seems like a mad rush as we pull the budget together, but that doesn't prevent us um and we've we are already in the process of looking at what next year looks like, um what are some options and things that we could uh put out there in terms of uh you know, adjustments in in priorities and things just to present options to the community because that 100% is not sustainable. No. Year over year over year is not sustainable. Um and we are in a unique situation this year where we can maintain everything we have, uh include full day K through maintaining
086what we have, um but I can assure you that's probably not what we're looking at as we look ahead, specifically with, you know, with 25 30% increase in health care year over year over year. So, we are proactively shopping around, getting getting the district set up to shop around. We're working as a staff to be healthier, to uh help our ratios come down in terms and that's one of the key indicators for getting a better rate. Um so, we are on our end being proactive in in getting things in place so we can get the best rates possible. Um we'll look at other opportunities, whether it's self-insured, it doesn't matter. We're we're going to shop around and we're going to we're going to do what we uh do we can do to get the best
087possible product for the uh most affordable price. Thank you. Right. Can I just interject one thing? That's something that Dr. Layman and Ms. Allen have been talking about for quite a long time, especially when they pulled us out of the state health benefits. We knew that could go up to at least 30% 50% this year. We're not sure. But we're now we're out and if we get our rates better, health rate, then we can always look and change again. So that's something I've been hearing from them for like six or seven months. So they are on top of everything that everyone is asking tonight and have been. I mean, we've had you know, I've called them quite a few times. They've you know, gone over things with I didn't understand and I they're wonderful and
088they're working so hard to keep us on pace and like Mr. Zeigner said, this health insurance is a killer. So there's nothing we can do, but I just wanted to tell you I mean, they're wonderful to work with and they have the interest of all the community and the children especially at heart. So I mean, um I I I I I just had to interject that. They've been working hard. Okay, um Mr. Zeigner >> I I just want to make a quick comment cuz I don't want to pursue this. Um you know, and keep going back and forth. I don't want to do that. But you know, I'm not this is not in any way what I'm saying is at all a reflection on on you, Peter. I want to I just want to make
089that very clear. Um the other piece of this is that this is an extremely complicated problem. Uh you could tell me, you know, we're doing the best I mean uh Dr. Layman and and and the entire the business have done [clears throat] a fabulous job trying to keep costs down and trying to come up with some other solutions or trying to find cheaper ways. But the problem is not going to go away. We're only fooling ourselves and if we go ahead and vote no on on the budget, that's not going to help it either because it the state is it doesn't one district out of two out of how many are here? Uh 500 or close to over 600 districts. 620 some odd districts are in this in this state. And so, if you take
090a look at all the other states, I mean, they're having all those problems. And and I'll go back to it. It's a national problem. The only way you're going to resolve it is they got to make some changes. There got to be some major changes occurring at the national level. That's where it has to happen. That's the only way you're going to do it. >> [applause] >> I mean, voting and everything else starts at the local level. I don't Don't listen to me. Everything happens at the local level, communications. But, the changes have to be driven at the national level and you drive it downward. It's not going to happen all the time from the bottom up. Sometimes it's from the top down. And it's it's [clears throat] it is a problem. It's not going
091to go away. That's That's why I want to say >> two more comments from the board cuz we really have to move on. Um Miss Forest and then Miss Sharma. Okay. Um cuz state aid has nothing to do with health care costs. Health care costs are national just like um Charlie said. But, so voting no on this is not going to make any difference this year on, you know, the budget. And it's not going to make And the state aid is never going to be you know, it's never going to There's going to never going to be a correlation between state aid and health care costs. The health care costs have to be addressed at a federal level, you know, and yes, state aid is it should should increase. Yeah. We've all been waiting for
092that for years. It's not going to affect this budget, regardless. No. Thank you. Miss Sharma. Thank you, Dr. Layman. Thank you, Miss Allen. Very well done. Budget is excellent. I read every bit thing in detail. I was also thinking about it. Mr. Tufano is right. He is right, you know, everyone is right on their own part. Uh insurance problem is not only national problem, is is even international problem. >> Mhm. Back home in India is also problem of insurance. The rates are very high. So, that to get something, you have to give something. We are getting kindergarten full day which a lot of hopeful families are waiting for it. You have to give a little bit of uh raise in your taxes. Do I like it? No, unfortunately, but I'm thinking for the students also.
093>> That's right. For the families also. So, that's all I have to say. Okay, thank you. Thank you all, board members. Now, we're going to the public portion. Uh we're going to accept comments um from the public about the budget only. >> [clears throat] >> So, if you'd like to come up and speak, please go up to the podium, list your name, and the town you live in. And you have 4 minutes to speak your peace. Thank you. Hi, everyone. You did a great job. My name is Maddie Ryback, 23 Rivier Drive. I'm here today because I have taught all day kindergarten and want to reiterate the importance of this program for our students. According to the NEA, National Education Association, research demonstrates that full-day kindergarten, though initially more costly than half-day kindergarten, is worth
094the expense. Full-day kindergarten not only boosts students' academic achievement, it also strengthens their social and emotional skills. Additionally, it offers benefits to teachers and parents. Teachers have more time to work with and get to know the students. Longitudinal longitudinal data demonstrates that children in full day classes show greater reading and mathematics achievement gains than those in half day classes. In one Indiana district, for example, students who attended full day kindergarten received significantly higher basic skill test scores in third, fifth, and seventh grades than students who only attended half day or did not attend kindergarten at all. A full day of learning offers several social and emotional benefits to kindergarteners. They have more time to focus and reflect on activities, and they have more time to transition between activities. In a study evaluating teachers' views on
095a full day kindergarten, teachers reported a number of benefits for themselves, as well as children and parents. Having more time made kindergarten less stressful and frustrating for children because they had time to develop interests and activities more fully. My own experience puts an exclamation point on the finding findings I just reported. I could go on and on, but I'm here to say, "Please support all day kindergarten in the budget." I realize the community is overtaxed, burdened with rising costs in everyday life, but our children should not be deprived of the most valuable aspect of their lives, education. And I just need to add one thing. So, my name is Maddie Ryback, and yes, my husband, Steven Ryback, was a member of the Town Monroe Township BOE and even president. But for those who know me,
096I am my own person and fight for things I believe in. No trash talk on Facebook groups will ever prevent me from expressing my own opinion. As a matter of fact, nasty comments about people rather than debating an issue shows the inability to discuss the issue at hand. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Next. Hi. My name is Roberta Nelson, 145 Tournament Drive. I'm here tonight because as a retired teacher, I support critical and emotional I I excuse me. I support a critical educational move toward all day kindergarten. A significant advantage of such a program is the additional time it provides for academic learning. This allows teachers more time for hands-on learning and interaction. It also allows for improved continuity in learning as there is no interruption of a midday dismissal. Children
097will spend need Children with special needs can benefit from the extended time and support provided by a full day as teachers have more time to work individually and in small groups. Full day kindergarten often includes ample time for play-based learning which is critical for young children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. Finally, it is a logistical advantage for working parents who no longer have to juggle their schedule or pay for child care. So, vote to give Monroe's children a better chance to achieve their goals for a brighter future. And before I end, I have to say I don't want to get political, but I do agree the health care is a national problem. We on our local level are not going to solve it. So, when you go to the voting booth, read a political platform
098and vote for those people who are going to help you reduce your health care costs. Thank you. Thank [applause] you. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Harshav. I live at [clears throat] 1412 Tavern. Um I appreciate all your time that you put into this budget. I I know it took a lot of time out of um you know, many iterations of it and and appreciate all the comments from the educators as well because I think having their perspective on this topic, which is full-day kindergarten, is very important. As educators, they realize the benefit. I have a 4-year-old son. Uh he'll be 5 next week. We're going to go to Disney to celebrate. I know that he's going to benefit from full-day kindergarten just for the reasons and I'm not going to restate all the reasons
099cuz obviously I think all of you know. The the problem at hand or what I've heard in the back and forth really is a a problem that I don't think voting no and as uh I think uh Vanessa Miss Frost had mentioned, voting no today isn't going to solve, right? It's going to be a problem as uh Dr. Layman and General Counsel had mentioned that this is a problem that's going to exist for many years. Whether you vote yes or no today is not going to solve that problem. And if there's an issue that we have to go to Trenton for, then I think we should speak up. As board members, it is your responsibility, it is your job to advocate for us. Uh I have a child who will directly be affected by this,
100but and I know that many of you have children who went through the school system. Uh Peter, Vanessa, Miss Miss Sharma, I'm sure that you've had experiences and conversations with other parents. But I think the bigger matter at hand today is that voting no today doesn't solve that problem, right? But what it does as as a a yes vote is it gives our children an an opportunity to thrive. My 4-year-old is an absolute thinker. Sometimes he may not be the the like he may not stay on on a on a topic. He'll go from topic to topic to topic. He'll go from thought to thought to thought thought. But what this opportunity allows him to do is to stay in school for a longer period of time, which will enrich his education. And and I
101know that Monroe is a great school district. It's why we moved here. And this one of the the prerequisites we had when we moved here. And allowing him to thrive in an environment that would allow him to be a great thinker to be successful in his future. I think for me and I think for you, it he's going to be your future leader, right? And if you invest in him, he is going to make you proud. So, I thank you for your time. I thank you all for attending this and listening to my comments here this evening. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Yes. Hi, my name is Nandita Kamath. I live off Pergola Avenue here in Monroe Township. First and foremost, thank you for putting together such a
102beautiful and comprehensive budget. So, by no means is this a threat. This is just the reality that me and my family live with. I also have a almost 4-year-old. He will hopefully be starting kindergarten in Monroe Township next September. However, if full-day kindergarten is not a reality, me and my husband do have to look at other options, whether that's private school or home school, whatever that looks like, but between both of us working, this option of a half-day plus enrichment, while I understand why that has existed, it's just not something that's going to work with the reality of two full-time working parents with extremely demanding jobs. And so, I just, you know, beg you to also think about all the parents that will potentially have to think about pulling out of the the township because
103of that reality. So, um I thank you, and I hope that this vote results in a yes, um and I know all of our children will benefit from it. Thank you very much. Anyone else? >> [applause] >> Hello. Um I'm Maria Palaguachi from 6 Toby Terrace, and um my son is going to be in Mill Lake uh come September, so I'm hoping for this full-day kindergarten, um and then my daughter's right behind him uh next year she'll be in Mill Lake. So, back-to-back babies going to kindergarten. Um I just wanted to say I do appreciate all the information that was given, and it was very clear as someone who's, you know, new to this whole I didn't even know we can come here tonight. Um so, I appreciate also hearing us out. Um I do
104think that a no vote would stall everything as Dr. Lehman said, you'd be going back to the drawing board, and then you have so much more of a risk in losing what all the work that you've done. And also, when it comes to the increase, I just want to make sure I understand. Are you saying that that is like what, 200 and something the Let's say $300 for the year? Yes. Yes. So, okay, let's just say at the higher valuation of like a million-dollar home, let's just let's just arbitrarily say $1,000 a month, right? $1,000 a year, right? What is that? 75 bucks a month? I could cut out my Starbucks and there's my $75. So, it's minimal. [applause] And I do agree with you, sir, the gentleman who spoke about fighting for the increases
105because they did, you know, cut you and that wasn't fair. But, stalling this would ruin all the work and take away all that we are we are we need, right? And when it comes to that $75 at the top valuation, right? How much is that um child care going to cost when it comes to the um like [applause] I'm no finance expert, but I you know, I just sat there and did math in my seat just just so I can understand cuz I was like, is it really just $300 a year? And I totally understand what you're saying. It's not fair when it comes to having us us to But, we're willing to assume that because we trust all of you that you're going to get us the more funding cuz you're going to fight
106for that. I trust you. I have faith in you. And I know you I see your face and you're saying, "Oh, she's crazy." because uh you've seen it for how many years that they keep telling you that >> think you're crazy, believe me. I actually think that what you're saying is wonderful. Thank you. I appreciate that. And and all of you had valid valid points. And I think I agree that fight for for the more money, but stalling is only going to ruin and voting to no is only going to ruin all the progress that you've made. So, thank you for all your hard work and yay for pre-K uh for kindergarten. Thank [applause] you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Sarah Aziz. I live in Manor Township. Um unfortunately, my kids are too old to benefit
107from full-day kindergarten, but I'm here as a matter of principle because I believe in the importance of early childhood education. I'm here to ask you to vote yes on this budget. I don't think anyone in this room is excited about higher taxes. I'm not, but I also think it's important to understand what's actually driving this increase. The reality is that health care costs have risen dramatically and that is the primary factor in this budget. This is not unique to Monroe. It is happening across the state and across the country. So, the question in front of you tonight is in whether costs are going to go up. The question is how do we respond to that reality? Because the alternative to this budget You've already heard what reducing it would mean. Staff cuts, program cuts, larger
108class sizes. These are real consequences, not hypotheticals. I also want to briefly address the point that was raised about state aid. It was suggested that passing this budget would {quote} send a message to Trenton that Monroe doesn't need more aid. But, respectfully, that's not how school funding works in New Jersey. State aid is determined by a formula based on enrollment, property wealth, income, and the state's calculation of a district's ability to pay, not what a town raises taxes in a given year. Monroe receives less aid because the formula classifies it as being able to fund itself, even though we feel real pressures like rising costs, a large a population on fixed income, and declining enrollment. Voting down this budget will not change that formula. It will not bring in more state aid. It will only
109result in cuts, while the underlying funding issue remains exactly the same. But, I also want to focus on what this budget does. For the first time in the years, Monroe is not just maintaining services. We are expanding opportunity. This budget includes full-day kindergarten, and that matters, not just for the convenience, but for equity and educational outcomes. Right now, full-day kindergarten is something families can access privately, but others cannot. This budget changes that. It gives every child in this community this the opportunity to start school on a strong footing. I also want to point out something important. Two years ago, this community supported a tax increase just to maintain existing services. This year, you have the opportunity to both protect what we have and finally move forward. I understand that there are suggestions to reduce the
110budget, but I would respectfully ask the board to be honest about what that means. There's no version of this where you reduce the budget and nothing else changes. If the levy is reduced, the cuts will come from staff, programming, and services, and initiatives like full-day kindergarten will be at risk. So, tonight the decision that's in front of you is a difficult one, but it's a clear one. Please vote yes and protect the students, staff, and programs while expanding opportunity. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Go ahead. >> [laughter] >> Hi. Hi. I felt like it would be better to come up here and speak. My name [laughter] is Tiana Patel. I live at 15 Dominic Drive in Monroe Township, and I'm a current senior and about to graduate and go to college this year.
111So, I >> [applause] >> I've gone through this school system, and I know how it operates to, I guess, a more personal level. And I can say that the full-day kindergarten that we're planning on implementing, I loved my half-day kindergarten experience, but I can affirm that this will definitely enrich their experiences, especially talking to my kindergarten teacher like this past month and seeing how much she enjoys her job and just like wanting to better the students. I think that's one thing that we really need to like thank you for so much for that. But, also I want to just bring up a point that was made earlier about how we only received $500,000 from Senator Greenstein this year. I think it's important to note that even if our budget is stretched, but it's also our
112state budget that is also becoming even further stretched this year. We've lost almost $2 billion in surplus that we normally have in the budget, and I remember speaking on it last year because there there an opportunity to get some more money from a cell phone ban in our school district. >> [laughter] >> So, I do look at the state budget and I think that it's important to note that part of the reason that we only received $500,000 could be the fact that our state cannot give up more money than it has because otherwise it will enter into what I believe Ms. Allen was talking about, a structural deficit in our state, which would then hurt all of us combined because our school funding formula wouldn't be able to be met. And this funding formula is
113something that I agree with Mr. Tufano needs to change, but it's also a part of being fundamentally sort of placed into the fact that we have to get our revenue from taxpayer money almost entirely, and that's part of our school funding formula that has been implemented since 2008. And because it's so outdated now, it's something that needs to change, but it can't just happen overnight through one school budget rejection. And I know that we should be acting more as a sort of whole state movement and getting out there, but that's something that you guys have to work on within the school boards and talking to the school board association of the state and talking to the executive director instead of leading that movement outside of just Monroe. And um I'm kind of just saying that
114it's something >> to do. >> [applause] >> Trust me, I want to. I've been working with um our school board association [laughter] for the state um in in trying to sort of push forward that, but it's really hard to sort of change a formula that is so outdated, especially because it's almost six 16 18 years now past its first implementation. What like you know And it's becoming a point where unless we can get rid of the fact that property taxes are an important part of our school budget and our state funding formula. Unless we can change that entirely, our taxes will rise and it's something that we'll have to face and conquer another day, but it can't be for this budget. I urge you to vote yes, please. [applause] Thank you. >> [applause] >> That
115college you're going to is very lucky that you're that you're going. >> Thank you. And we were lucky to have you here in Monroe, too. Mr. Gunkelman, how are you? You're next. >> [laughter] >> Um hard act to follow. Well, no, really great. Um I support the budget. I think it's well done, well considered. And and I I think we need to support it. I think there's one item here that's that's that's missing and I wish I knew how big it was, but it's big. A lot of the our community's seniors, a large portion of them participate in the Anchor program and the Stay New Jersey program, which is a tax property tax relief program. That money doesn't reduce the resources in Monroe. That money is is brought from the state to replace those reductions.
116It's a big number. I don't know what it is. At the next council meeting, I'll make an attempt to find out and and pass it on. But the idea that there's no state money coming here is kind of neglecting that one piece of very significant reality of what's going on. But what the previous speaker made very clear, uh the the formula is just out of date and needs to be addressed, and we should push our politicians to to make some progress on it. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Is there anyone else wishing to speak? Good evening. Chrissy Scruby, Monroe Township. Um I want to say thank you to Dr. Lyman and Ms. Allen for all of the work that I know goes into putting the budget together. But one thing that
117has been I guess mentioned several times this evening is that if this budget if there were any cuts to this budget, full day kindergarten would go away, and I have not heard the administration say that. Um Ms. Ratner brought up a point that we've increased the excess surplus, and you're putting money into the budget that is not earmarked for anything right now. It's a basically a just in case something happens with a facility. And I think that number was two or three million dollars that was said. That is where I believe a lot of people that have been raising concerns about this is coming from. Nobody's saying don't have full day kindergarten. What we're saying is be responsible. Do the budget to what you need today. You don't need to keep adding up reserves and
118putting money away for a just in case. If this budget is reduced, you can reduce it there, and that will not take away from kindergarten, and perhaps maybe, you know, $37 or $67 or even $100 to somebody might not mean a lot, but to to some of our seniors who can't afford their prescriptions and are on a fixed budget, that is a lot. And we need to be mindful of that. Nobody's saying don't have full day kindergarten. If you reduce that money, and I know Ghazala Bora came up here last month and said instead of putting two million dollars in the reserves, why Why you reduce it by a million? Put 1 million in. Do something to show the taxpayers that you're actually doing something right to help them. We're not saying Nobody's saying don't
119have full-day kindergarten. And I think what Mr. Tufano was getting at was that in these districts that have the same type of issues that we do, you see their boards of education pushing back on their budgets. You see the the members of the community coming out and pushing back. And their elected officials are getting involved. Their elected officials are going to Trenton and getting them more aid. And that's the problem. They're saying, "No, we're not going to pass it to our taxpayers." Read Go go on and Google it. It It's all over the state. Edison's going through it. East Brunswick's going through it. Howell's going through it. Brick. They have all of their legislators writing these long articles and going and pushing for their districts. What about Monroe? We don't see hide or hair of
120Senator Greenstein in this town during this time. She's not running for election this year. She doesn't need to come here. It It's not okay. And I think that's what Mr. Tufano was saying because I sat on this board for 3 and 1/2 years. I was the board president. And when we pushed and pushed and went to council and wrote to the mayor and pushed Senator Greenstein's office, yeah, she came through with $500,000 that when we said we needed a couple of million to start kindergarten. She said, "Well, like Mr. Tufano said, here. Here's 500. Go away." And she hasn't been back. And she's not writing these articles. And she's not advocating for us. When I went and testified in Trenton, Senator Greenstein was on the committee for the budget advocacy or budget hearing committee. She
121was on the committee as a member. She didn't show up the day Monroe came to testify. It's not okay. And And I think that that is exactly what Mr. Tufano was getting at with his comments that nobody is fighting for Monroe. We have a great showing tonight because everybody thinks if you cut anything from the budget, full day kindergarten's going away. But I invite everybody who's here sitting here, go to the council meeting this month. Go and tell our elected officials in Monroe, enough is enough. They should be going to Trenton and fighting for us, too. Our mayor hasn't been down there. Our council members, except for Charlie DePiero, is the only one that goes down and advocates for us. >> Your time is up, Ms. Corby. So, I would I would ask that you
122rethink that reserve money. Thank you. Does anyone else wishing to speak this evening? Yes, sir. Good evening, everyone. Bob Valentine, Monroe Township. Uh I just want to echo those last comments. If you go to the town council meeting next week, you'll be told that, you know, we're going to mothball the senior center, we're going to close down the recycling if you don't approve that budget next week. This is what goes on. They get things to manipulate you to think that, you know, if you don't go along with what we want, you know, bad things are going to happen. You need to challenge, you need to hold people accountable, you need to push back. I'm going to challenge you, and you can push back on me, but I, you know, I have questions that I want
123to challenge you a little bit. Now, first of all, but if you want to start, I appreciate Dr. Lamon and all of you, the work you're trying to do on the health insurance. You're absolutely right. You know, you you only control so much of it. I think what would be helpful maybe in later in the fall when you have five or six months of data and experience with the new plan, maybe come back and give us an update. And I think on the kindergarten, I don't even I thought you did a very good job explaining it. It's not an issue with this budget. Um in retrospect, wish you had like a one-pager in the budget showing how you made it all work, so everybody could just see it, and then that would be the end
124of it. But maybe you could give us something on that, too, after the program's up for five or six Show everybody, here's the numbers, it's what I said it was going to be. So, I would ask you to think about both of those. Um my I have a number of issues on the budget. The first one was as was just spoken about this capital reserve. There are things in this budget you control and this is one of them. Cutting that reserve wouldn't cost one job, one anything, okay? And on top of an $8 million increase in health insurance, I really think that's not fair. And what really bothers me about is that you have no plan. If you came and you said, "Here's the $3 million that we asked you for. Here's how I'm going
125to spend I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this." It's $3 million. We could at least have a conversation about that. Maybe we could even convince everybody that's the right thing to do. But just say, "Ah, I want $3 million." I can't go to the bank tomorrow and say, "You know, my roof might leak. My HVAC may break down. Please give me $300,000." They're not going to say, "Well, how do you make the check out, Mr. Valentine?" That's not going to happen. And that's exactly what you're doing. I just don't think it's right. There's also requirements. I was reading in the footnotes to the audit. Um there's a there's a district long-range facilities plan that needs to be submitted to the department to use that fund. I'm curious,
126is there any They call it LRFP as the abbreviation. Is that in place? If If it isn't, has it been submitted? How does it fit in with that? Who's looked at that? Has that been presented anywhere? Has the finance committee seen it? The board? The public? Has it been shared with anybody? I really think the capital reserve you're just going too far with that. I really do. I I I It It This thing needs to be fleshed out, but it's not a terrible concept, but this is just not I don't think it's the right time. Um I also noticed on the expenses, I was looking at the audit and it's kind of baked into the budget indirectly, but in the audit report, exhibit A2, last year's audit that was just issued, plant operations and maintenance
127went up went up 10%. Patient transportation up 11%. These are very big These are very big increases. And they may be perfectly legitimate, but I think that should be something that's explained and touched upon as part of the budget. Because it's milking its way into these numbers. It doesn't look too bad budget to budget, but the spending has gone up in those areas quite a bit. And again, it may all be worthwhile, but I think it's something that should have been should be explained and touched on. Um last thing, 1 minute, great. I have a minute still. Um in the audit report, one of the things I always try to do is compare the way the budget laid out with the audit. And some of the headers for expenses in the audit report in the
128back schedule are really hard to find. They're really hard to understand. Other support services, student related services. Other support services, students regular. Other support services, students special. Miss Almy, you lay out the budget, you have very clear explanation about what everything is. These audit explanations are very, very vague. It's always impossible. You pull your hair out trying to relate the budget back to the audit. Because you want to see what's the actual spend versus what you're asking for. So, I would ask you to work with the auditors for next year and see if we can have a little bit of clarity on some of those headers so that it's really clear what's what. >> Yeah, that is prescribed by the state. We have to use the auditor has to use those >> like a bracket
129next to it to say what Can you put like a bracket or notes or the footnote somewhere? Maybe somewhere in the place you can disclose it as a as an item at the bottom. Something to help people understand because I know you don't talk like that, folks. You don't talk like that. Right. >> There should be something they could work out to get it. Of course, you maybe can't change the actual structure. I just ask you to work with them. >> definitely a chart of accounts that is adopted that we have to follow. We have no choice. I also want to mention All right. FTEs, the back of the audit has a schedule on FTEs. It's not a schedule of body counts, head count. FTEs. There's a lot of good information in the back of
130that report. You should all be looking at it. >> you, Mr. Valentine. >> Thank you. Okay. Can I Can I just say something? I have a question. Yes. So, I think we talked about this before. If we took away $1 million, that equates to $19, correct? >> Correct. So, if we do the $1 million, you're saving $19. If we do the $2 million reserve, and [clears throat] we know I'm sure building and grounds that Mill Lake's going to need a roof. We've been putting that off. We have other facility needs that this building is getting antiquated now. It looks great, but the air units and everything else are starting to go. So, what do we do? We have no reserve. Something breaks, we can't fix it. So, to save $19 to me is a joke.
131But, everybody's got their own opinion. I If nobody else has anything to say, I'd like to close >> [clears throat] >> uh public for One more? And that And that will be the last uh gentleman to speak so we can go on to the uh the rest of the budget hearing. I'll be quick. My name is Sree Yegneswaran Mani and I live on 175 River Road. I wasn't going I wasn't going to speak, but then the last two speakers got me, you know, energized. So, when I think of a rainy day fund, I have a 4-year-old, I have a 2-year-old. And when I think of a rainy day fund, I'm not saying I'm going to use that rainy day fund on this thing. I'm saving because I'm worried about what I'm going to do when
132my kid needs something. And I save that money in anticipation of that need. I think it's very responsible that this board thought about that. And so that tomorrow there might be a leak in that school [applause] that my son's going to go to or a broken playground and might have like need to get replaced. And I hope you'll have the funds to do that. And I thank you for thinking about that. Okay. Uh another piece of this that I thought was interesting is the concept of a symbolic gesture. Symbolism only goes so far. If I was going to take out a million dollars for a symbolic gesture, it should have some meaning cuz tomorrow my son needs to go to full-day school. He and my wife work long days. I heard another individual talk about
133what would happen if their kids couldn't have a full-day kindergarten. Well, just like them, we would leave. And couples like us that are young and want to bring our families up here because we thought it was going to be a good town, a good district, who leave will not contribute to your taxes. So, the symbolic gestures are nice, but there's an immediate need now. And it's a bigger symbolic gesture to say that we're going to do something that brings impact now and continues your long-term revenue for couples like me and the other ones that spoke who want to stay here because we believe in the township that believes in our kids. I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Can I have a motion to close the public portion of the
134>> Motion. Second. Um all those in favor? I. I. Opposed? Abstain? Ms. Allen will now um read the resolution for the budget. Um be it resolved by the Monroe Township Board of Education that the 2026-27 general fund budget be adopted in the amount of 160,411,874 and a general fund local tax levy in the amount of 130,035,602,106 and a special revenue fund budget in the amount of 1,229,501 and a debt service budget in the amount of 11,255,437 and a debt service local tax levy in the amount of 10,975,494. Whereby the 2026-27 budget totals 172,896,812 and be it further resolved by the Monroe Township Board of Education included in the budget the appropriation of surplus in the amount of 6,600,000 6,703,125. Be it further resolved that the Monroe Township Board of Education includes in the budget the
135adjustment for increased costs of health benefits in the amount of 7,939,427. The additional funds will be used to pay for the additional increases in health benefit premiums. Be it further resolved that included in the general fund appropriations is 2,090,000 for deposit into the Board of Education's approved capital reserve account for future funding of capital projects. Whereas the Monroe Township Board of Education has been notified of state aid amounts and whereas such state aid amounts are for 2026-27, the categorical special education aid is 7,132,661 and for 2026-27, the categorical security aid is 985,227 and for 2026-27, the categorical transportation aid is 3,821,065 and for 2026-27, the debt service aid is 279,943 and whereas the Monroe Township Board of Education has estimated a state aid amount pursuant to application and for 2026-27, the estimated extraordinary aid amount
136is 397,484 and whereas policy number 6471 and NJAC 6A:23A-7.3 provides that the Board of Education shall establish in the annual school budget a maximum expenditure amount that may be allotted for travel and expense reimbursement for 2026-27 >> [laughter] >> school year. >> [laughter] >> I take the hint there. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Monroe the Monroe Township Board of Education hereby establishes the school district tax travel maximum for the 2026-27 school year at the sum of 165,500 and be it further resolved that the school business administrator shall track and record these costs to ensure that the maximum amount is not exceeded and be it further resolved that members of the Monroe Township Board of Education authorize and approve a transfer of $25,000 of anticipated retained earnings from the proprietary Falcon Care program as
137a revenue source in the 2026-2027 general fund budget. Now, therefore, let it be resolved the acting superintendent of schools and the business administrator board secretary filed the required documents with the executive county superintendent. I need a motion. >> Motion. Second. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Do we have any discussion? Further discussion? Nope. Roll call, Miss Allen. Yes. Miss Alvarez. Yes. Miss Forrest. Yes. Mr. Marazin. Recused. Dr. Peck. Yes. Mr. Pero. Yes. Miss Ratner. Yes. Miss Sharma. Yes. Mr. Tufano. Yes. >> [applause] >> But only only because she said she's going to fight Trenton. Yeah. Thank you. I'm holding you to it. I'm not just going to read stuff about the school. Trust me, I'm holding myself to it. Okay. Okay. We we've got to stop conversations on the board up here. So, let's
138continue, please. >> [laughter] >> Mr. Zeikner. Yes. Mr. Payne. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Yes. >> [applause] [applause] >> I want to thank everyone for all their comments this evening and we listened and we learned and that's what we do every day like we do for our children. So, putting full-day kindergarten is going to make them scholarly more and more and more every day. So, thank you all. >> [applause and cheering] >> We're going to do our committee reports right now. I'm sorry, Miss Oh, no. You can finish your sentence. >> Are you Are you raising your hand for the committee report? Oh, okay. We're going to do our short committee reports right now. I put my hand down now? Okay. >> [laughter] >> Yes, you can go. All right. Um so, my first
139one, wait, you should stay for this one, is the legislative action >> [laughter] >> engagement committee. Uh we met on April 21st. Board members present were myself, Ms. Forrest, Mr. Harmon, Mr. Bean. District administration was represented by Dr. Lehman and Mr. Miralda. We reviewed several items impacting education. The first is Bill S3462, which would modify the financial literacy graduation requirements. This is advanced from the committee level, but there's been discussions about possible amendments due to the bill limiting flexibility that students have for options to fulfill this requirement. We also discussed the school security bill related to AI-enabled surveillance systems that's passed the assembly, as well as a mercury-free flooring bill awaiting the governor's signature. We discussed proposed legislation about requiring information to be posted about free reduced lunch applications, how to make it easier and
140more accessible for all. Next, the committee discussed a few points about the state budget. It was noted that while overall preschool aid was increased, the percentage that the state's covering for each district has gone down. We also discussed the potential $15 million grant for schools that are implementing solar panels, which is something we definitely want to watch um because this is something we are implementing through our E-CIP program. Um we discussed future ideas for community engagement um explaining that we need to start having more interaction with our community other than times when we're going out for referendums or anything like that. We'll continue to look for ideas for community involvement. Finally, we discussed strengthening advocacy by communic- collaborating with other districts. It was suggested we look for districts that are facing similar challenges to make
141sure we're advocating for the same changes with the understanding there are certain issues and challenges that all districts are facing. We also brought up the possibility of working as a community to go to Trenton and put together a rally for advocacy purposes and that's why I'm looking at you cuz we're going to work. And just, you know, what we can do with that and when the best time to go and do that was as has been done in the past. Okay. Anything else? Anyone have any questions for Miss Rothenberg? Thank you. Regarding her report, no? Did you want to do CAC, too, or? >> Yeah, I have that in policy. Um Oh, okay. So, then we'll just we'll skip. Yes, we'll go around. >> I'll do one. Um okay, you want to do one? I'm
142sorry. Okay, hi. I'm going to do the buildings, grounds, and transportation committee report first. The committee met on Tuesday, April 21st. The committee received a detailed update on the district's ESA project, which remains on schedule and is nearing completion in several areas. LED lighting upgrades are largely finished across schools, significantly improving lighting quality and energy efficiency with only minor exterior fixtures and punch list items remaining. Major HVAC upgrades, including boilers, rooftop units, air handling systems, and chillers are well underway or nearly complete, replacing equipment that was 25 to 30 years old and costly to maintain. Building management systems are being modernized to improve operational control and efficiency, while earlier building improvements have already enhanced insulation and energy performance. Additional initiatives include a cogeneration system to [clears throat] produce electricity and reuse heat, and the district
143continues to pursue utility rebates to offset project costs. Most of the remaining work will be completed over the summer with a final closeout expected in the fall. The solar energy project is advancing through design permitting permitting and coordination with utility providers. Due to grid capacity limitations, the installation will occur in two phases with the second phase potentially delayed 18 to 24 months. Despite this delay, the district is expected to realize increased overall savings estimated at an additional 400,000 due to the phased approach and favorable contract adjustments tied to federal incentives. The project will also provide long-term cost stability by locking in lower energy rates for a portion of the district's electricity usage. The committee reviewed several operational contracts. A new trash and recycling contract will be awarded to Waste Management as the lowest qualified bidder.
144Although costs have increased compared to previous years, primarily due to rising recycling processing expenses. No bids were received for composting services, but the district will explore alternative vendors for a potential program. The grounds care contract with Boss Landscaping will be renewed with a modest 2% increase making the first increase Sorry, marking the first increase since 2023 and the contractor continues to perform well. Progress continues with the Apple Garth Grant project with HVAC work ongoing and plans in development to address roof drainage issues caused by earlier structural repairs. The Mill Lake School facade cleaning project has been completed resulting in a noticeable improvement to the building's appearance and additional future considerations include potential roof replacement and belated upgrades at that facility. And then finally, transportation operations are running smoothly with drivers returning from spring break and
145additional [clears throat] interest from potential new drivers. The district continues to monitor staffing needs ahead of anticipated retirements. A bus tracking app pilot program, which was previously tested at the elementary level, is now being expanded to select middle school routes with parents receiving information on how to participate and access real-time updates. This concludes my report. Does anybody have any questions for Ms. Alvarez? Yes, Ms. Rattner. I I wanted to do a quick follow-up with the bus tracking. Is this something I know we're doing the pilot program now, is this something that we are looking at possibly implementing next year? It's not It's not included in the budget for next year, but it's something we can get the information on and have it again have it in our back pocket if that's something we want to
146move forward with in the future. Okay, thank you. Any other questions for Ms. Alvarez? Do you want to do your report or should I go to Charlie? Charlie, would you would you like to do your report? >> Uh the curriculum committee meeting took place on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 approximately 6:00 p.m. Present were Dr. Laneman, myself, Gail DePain, Carmen Alvarez, Kate Ratner, Dr. Amanda Pet, Dr. Kevin Higgins, Dr. Joe Colella, uh Danielle Dressed, uh Dr. Kelly Rosselle, Zach Morada, Jen Rol- Rolland, and uh Marietta Ruella, Salvatore Ingona, and Neil Snyder. There were three categories on the agenda. The first two were curriculum documents, one for eighth grade advanced science and the other for computer aided drafting. Then came the Monroe Township High School clubs and finally summer reading recommendations for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
147Uh Ms. Dressed uh discussed the eighth grade advanced science curriculum. She noted that it incorporated New Jersey state standards and emphasized the analytical and more complex scientific thinking. Other topics covered in the body of the document, not limited to, included literacy, body systems, heredity, energy, and ecology as well as alternate energy focus. Next, Zach Morada presented the drafting and computer aided design curriculum for again Monroe Township High School. He noted Dr. Higgins requested a review of the existing program in this field. He raised concerns about overlapping content across uh school computer documents and recommend consolidating them into a single course. The resulting documents covered such as drafting design, uh drafting design. Mr. Marotta outlined the skills students require and how they could be applied to various drawings for real-world design and drafting. The NJDOL student
148learning standards and the NJSL competencies were also discussed and explained. Essentially, this curriculum would benefit students interested in career drafting, architecture, engineering, or related technical fields. It also addressed new tech technological advancements such as 3D printing, fabrication, and creative application, making it more relevant to the 21st century. Dr. Higgins presented new clubs proposal for the Monroe Township High School introduced the topics and then introduced Dr. Joe Colello who continued. A handout was first distributed distributed and a visual presentation of it was displayed on screen. Dr. Colello reviewed the new club application procedures, the application process, [cough and clears throat] current clubs not recommended for approval, and the reason for these recommendations. He reviewed applications received for new clubs, excuse me, [clears throat] and those recommended for approval. No clubs were removed and the current status
149of clubs on probation was identified for the 2026-27 school year. He also mentioned certain clubs that the students favored. Incidentally, Dr. Higgins offered additional insight regarding the clubs. Dr. Kelly Rozell introduced some reading recommendation for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. The recommendations were order were organized by a genre, authors, and series and included guidance on selecting books and how parents could assist children. The list was shared with the Monroe Township Public Library and some titles were available to students on Learning Ally. Parents of children with IEPs could contact the case manager for additional reading list. At the combination of each report, questions were addressed. Although Mr. Yale Snyder was not an agenda, he announced that Monroe Township public schools have been awarded the NAMM Foundation Best Community for Music Education. He then expanded on the
150components of the music program offered throughout the school system. Additional information is available in the curriculum video meeting for April 22nd, located on the Monroe website. Thank you, Mr. Zeigler. Any questions for Mr. Zeigler? Okay, Mr. Ratner, we'll go back to you. Um I'll do CAC next. The Citizens Advisory Committee met on April 21st. Board members present were myself, Ms. Forrest, Ms. Sharma, and Mr. Peen. District administration was represented by Dr. Lehman, Mr. Ralda, and Mr. Snyder. And other staff members present were Ms. G, Ms. Miller, Ms. Vitovic, and Ms. Backus. I hope I said those right. Um we also had several of our CAC members present um in for our Portrait of a Graduate discussion. The meeting began with Dr. Lehman and our staff development our staff professional development coordinator, Ms. Vitovic, reviewing some
151of the data that was received from the surveys sent to our community regarding Portrait of a Graduate. Um we had over 200 responses that we had received ranging from students to parents to staff members. It was noted that many groups of these survey survey takers >> [clears throat] >> um prioritized the same qualities when discussing what qualities a Monroe graduate should have when they leave us. Um after this, the committee broke into smaller groups to do a deeper dive of the survey results. [cough] Um and then we finished by hearing some of the answers that were given from the student advisory committee. Any questions for Ms. Ratner? Okay. You want me to um And and then we'll come back and we'll finish. Thank you. The Finance and Shared Services Committee held its monthly meeting on
152April 22nd. Present at the meeting were Dr. Lehman, Mrs. Allen, Dr. Peck, Mrs. DePaine, Mr. Zigner, and Mr. Piero. The committee reviewed its monthly bills and attorney invoices, and everything is in order. The committee discussed a newly introduced state bill that would allocate up to 50 million in relief to school districts that have experienced significant property tax increases over recent years. The district is expected to qualify based on recent tax levy increases, although any funding would be prorated among eligible districts. This proposal is intended to address ongoing financial pressures, including rising healthcare costs and the limitations of the current state funding formula. The committee received a detailed presentation on the district's food service program, which is performing strongly and is on track to meet or exceed its guaranteed To maintain financial sustainability, a modest 5-cent
153increase in meal prices is proposed for the upcoming school year, despite rising labor costs projected at 5% and significant increases in food costs, including an anticipated 20% rise in beef prices. Even with this increase, the district's meal prices remain significantly lower than surrounding districts while continuing to offer higher quality premium meals, such as all white meat chicken and fresh deli products at no additional cost to students. The program remains self-sustaining as required by federal guidelines and cannot operate at a deficit. Participation rates remain strong with over 80% of free and reduced students and more than 50% of paid students utilizing school meals, reflecting both efficiency and quality of services. The district benefited this year from approximately 27,900 in federal and state funding for locally sourced food, as well as additional revenue from the sale of
154unused kitchen equipment. However, the federal local food funding program will not continue into the next school year requiring adjustments in financial planning. The district continues to pursue efficiencies including sustainability initiatives such as biodegradable service materials and improved kitchen space utilization. The committee reviewed the finance structure of the district's energy savings program ESIP funded through 12.5 million in refunding bonds. The program is designed so that energy savings, operational efficiencies, rebates, and solar benefits exceed annual debt payments each over a 20-year period. This ensures a positive net cash flow annually with an estimated 2 million in total savings over the life of the program. The structure guarantees no additional cost to taxpayers and performance is monitored through audits with protections in place if projected savings are not achieved. This concludes my report. Any questions for Ms. Alvarez?
155Ms. Ratner? Um I just had a two. So, I got the chance to watch the finance meeting and um I saw that there was the discussion of the percentage of students we have on free and reduced lunch and they mentioned something like 14%. Is cuz I know when we've usually spoken we were under five. Is that a huge increase that we've had this year? Is it an increase of people who've applied? I was just curious. The numbers triple what we've discussed before. >> [clears throat] >> Um Yeah. Um It Yeah, that's just that's that's accurate. Um that's that is the amount that it's it's increased by. >> So, does that make us eligible for additional things that we haven't been before? Cuz we know a lot of that's been I I remember from a prior
156meeting that there was an increase at the high school level um with free and reduced lunch they were giving free breakfasts, I believe this school year. So, possibly that number's coming from the high school students, not necessarily from K to 8. Okay. Whenever we report out our information, if we are eligible for something, whether we were at 6 or 8% and now we're 10 or 12 or 14%, um, that will certainly not going to, you know, inhibit us from being eligible for other opportunities. Um, is it the tipping factor? No, but it it definitely, um, is a factor when they consider, you know, refunding us or, uh, you know, identifying the amount of grant money we get. >> It just seemed like a lot, so I was just wondering if that wasn't apples to apples
157from year to year. >> Yeah, and I think it's just a slow growth. Um, you know, we weren't 4% last year. I think we've been creeping ourselves up, but we have implemented, uh, morning lunch program and maybe that grabs families that it wasn't on their radar and now it's on their radar. Good. Yep. Um, and then just really quick, the other question was that East 4750, um, it said that it's, sorry, I looked it up cuz I got really excited when I heard about it. Um, and it mentioned the districts, um, that have a increase of, it's like it's 9.9%. Um, so and that's since 2024-25. Yeah, right. Um, so I just wanted to confirm like that adjusted amount is we have over 10% cuz I know what we have this year and I was
158trying to remember if that put [clears throat] us over there. It's okay. Yes. All right, thank you. And then Ms. Ratner, do you want to do the policy committee? Yeah. Let me find it. Where is it? Um, policy. Here we go. Policy committee met on April 21st. Board of Ed members present were myself, Ms. Forest, Mr. Marazin, and Mr. Payne. The district administration was represented by Dr. Lehman. We started with an update on the cell phone policy. There's currently a delay from Strauss Esme due to there being inconsistencies in the guidance from the Department of Education versus the intent of the legislature. The legislative intent focused primarily on restricting personal devices being used for non-academic purposes, while the DOE guidance includes all internet-enabled devices, such as smartphones, smartwatches. Because of this, district S may is
159waiting for clarification. Um and which is delaying implementation of them sending the policy to us. Our district is in a good position since we already provide student devices, which should not be affected by this for academic purposes. And we will adjust once a clearer direction is issued. Um and then moving on to policy review, the committee began its work on the 5000s as part of our policy wellness check. Um there were a lot of them. These focus on students. Um most of these updates were minor, mainly aligning policies with updated state codes or correcting references, um or dates and um changing policy titles. We did have a discussion about um when a policy title is changed with a new term, whether then that term should be changed in the policy language as well. Um specifically
160what came up for one policy title, the word people was changed to student. So, in that case, should people be changed to student throughout the rest of the policy? There are several policies on the agenda tonight for first read and second read, as well as three policies that will be abolished either because they are no longer relevant or they're covered within a different policy. Any questions for Ms. Ratner? Thank you very much for all the committee reports. Next, assistant superintendent report. [clears throat] Public forum. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Public forum. Public forum uh related to agenda items only. Seeing no one. >> Seeing none. Oh, okay. Seeing one. Uh good evening again. Uh Chrissy Scruby, Monroe Township. Um on number 13, personnel other, um I'd like to know what this um Who is recommending this
161action? It doesn't It's not under the assistant superintendent or the business administrator. So, I'm I'm wondering who is recommending. Yeah. Uh that's being recommended by insurance defense counsel. Since when does insurance defense counsel add items onto an agenda? Insurance defense counsel all the time make recommendations to boards of education that result in agenda items. So, was this the board's decision to put it on or was it the counsel's? >> of insurance defense counsel. Okay. Um Hm. So, who directed it to be put on the agenda? I don't know. You don't know? Uh um Madam Chair of the meeting >> what happened and and I don't want to get into this cuz it's a legal matter. >> asking the president of the board if she could explain. >> you cuz cuz I was starting to speak.
162Um my understanding is that insurance defense counsel submitted it to the board secretary for inclusion on the agenda. Uh so, when did the board find out about it? I I'm just curious because it says in here that it that the board met and had discussion and reassessed and reassessed by all members of the Board of Education the decision to place Dr. Chanley on paid administrative leave. When did it meet and reassess that? Cuz I haven't seen that on I've been following along. I have not seen any meeting or agenda item where the board has discussed to reassess Dr. Chanley's leave. So, when did that happen? I mean, there's open public meetings laws. If you're going to have a meeting to discuss to reassess an item as such as the superintendent being put on leave, you
163would have to make notice to the public. There was no notice given to the public at the last meeting or any meeting in the last year that the board was meeting to reassess. So, I'm curious as to when the board reassessed and decided that they should put this on the agenda for this evening. Considering that you, Mr. Weiss, have told the public and members of the board at a public meeting >> [snorts] >> that conflicted Board of Education members should not have any discussion on matters pertaining to Dr. Chanley. I think that was at the January meeting. Yes, I said that absolutely they should not have anything to do with Dr. Chanley's employment unless and until the doctrine of necessity is invoked. And at such time you said they should still should not partake in
164the >> said that. Yes, you did. It's on I can play you the video. >> That's fine. I mean, and that's what the Ethics Commission has said, too. I I believe one of the board members read um right from an ethics advisory opinion that said when when the doctrine of necessity is invoked even at that point, the board should only be taking a vote and should not be having discussions of those matters. So, I'm just curious as to when the board met and reassessed this that the Insurance Council decided to call Ms. Allen and tell her to put it on the agenda. We met with the insurance person who represents the Board of Education this past week. The entire board? No, with um the conflicted board members. Oh, so the conflicted board members had a
165meeting outside of a public meeting with no notice and the entire board wasn't advised of that and now you're putting this on the agenda? >> I'm wrong. I'm I'll admit I'm wrong. It wasn't the conflicted board members. I spoke to legal counsel on this. Oh, you did so you made a unilateral decision to put this on the agenda? Okay. Oh, yeah, you shouldn't be saying anything about this because what you're doing is No, [clears throat] Miss Ruby, what I said is she should not be saying anything about her discussions with counsel. That's all I said. All right. Well, you you spoke volumes with what you said. Thank you. Thank [clears throat] you. Anyone else wishing to come up to speak? Close the public forum. Uh assistant superintendent report. Mr. Weiss, when can I meet with
166that attorney? Whenever you make an appointment with him. Can you make an appointment for me? Can I ask you to do that? >> Mr. Tufano, I while I respect and admire you immensely, I don't know that I'd be able to be your scheduler. Well, I mean, I didn't know we were allowed to do that. Have a meeting with somebody privately while we're board of nine. Uh Mr. Tufano, to the extent that insurance counsel is representing you as an individual because you may be a named defendant, you certainly can meet with insurance counsel because insurance counsel would be your attorney at that point. But I wouldn't be able to put something on the agenda that has the whole board on it, correct? From that outcome? Would you Would you from that outcome there's no indication that
167from that meeting that's how this occurred. As I said earlier, uh Mr. Tosti as insurance counsel has recommended that the board consider the adoption of a resolution that he drafted and that he sent to Ms. Allen as far as my understanding goes. So, I'm just I'm confused, too, cuz I got I got conflicting information that it was the Mr. Tosti who put this on, but then did did you just say that you put it on? No, no, he's I spoke to him and he requested that uh legal counsel put it on. And what was the reason why he requested that that goes on? >> He just told me attorney-client privilege. He just asked that asked if that could be put on our agenda. >> So, attorney-client privilege for who? The board or you? For the
168board and as I just Excuse me. As I discussed in closed session, I gave um to the non-conflicted board members, I gave them a complete and full procedural history and recitation of how everything transpired with regard to this motion. To say that I didn't or that you're somehow not aware of it, Mr. Marazzini, is a little puzzling because we talked about this not just 2 hours ago in in the room back there. I was just responding to Mr. Payne's >> we're not allowed to discuss [snorts] what happens back there. No, we're not allowed to discuss the contents of the discussion back there, but to the extent that there's an attorney-client discussion, the attorney-client discussion in and of itself it should be read into the uh executive session minutes. It should say there was an attorney-client
169discussion related to litigation matters, which is what it was. Well, I I'd like to make a motion on 13 when we get to it, so just sort of board president knows about it ahead of time. I like to be transparent. Number 11, Dr. Layman. So, this is a combination of the superintendent's report and the assistant superintendent's report. I think you need to do the with Oh, well, then All right, well I'll do them together. >> Are you Okay, you're going to do this? First cuz there's professional development on there. Wait 1 minute. Yes. Yes. I'd like to make a statement. Since there may be discussions related to Dr. Shanley on our agenda tonight, I would like Mr. Weiss to read the doctrine of necessity before we proceed with the meet rest of the meeting. >>
170Whereas Dr. Shanley Shanley serves in the capacity of superintendent for the 25-26 school year, and whereas the board must consider certain matters concerning Dr. Shanley's employment, and whereas upon review of various conflicts of interest of the current board members, it has been determined that six of the members have conflicts of interest pursuant to New Jersey School Ethics Act. Whereas pursuant to policy 0163, when a quorum of the board has conflicted interests, the doctrine of necessity may be invoked in order to allow conflicted board members to participate and vote only when the Board of Education has fewer non-conflicted board members than are required pursuant to statute to take action. And whereas when invoking the doctrine of necessity, the board shall state publicly that it is invoking the doctrine of necessity with the reasons for doing so
171and the specific nature of the conflicts of interest. And whereas the board policy further provides that it shall read the resolution invoking the doctrine of necessity at a regularly scheduled public meeting, post a notice of the resolution for 30 days, and provide the School Ethics Commission with a copy of the resolution. And whereas the School Ethics Act NJSA 18A:12-21 et seq. was enacted by the New Jersey State Legislature to ensure and preserve public confidence in school board members and school administrators and to provide specific ethical standards to guide their conduct. And whereas the School Ethics Commission has provided guidance regarding the invocation of the doctrine of necessity when a quorum of the Board of Education is not available because members of the Board of Education have conflicts of interest on a matter required to be
172discussed and voted upon. And whereas the board intends to conduct votes this evening concerning financial and employment-related matters concerning Dr. Chanley. Whereas members of the Board of Education have conflicts of interest that would prevent their participation in and vote on the matters related to Dr. Chanley are as follows: Carmen Alvarez, Gail D'Pain, Peter Pyro, Usha Sharma, and Charles Eickner are involved in litigation with Dr. Chanley. Kate Ratner's husband, David, is a teacher employed by the board. Whereas as a result of the foregoing, the board does not have a quorum to vote on matters related to the superintendent's employment, and the board's counsel and the board have determined that it is necessary to invoke the doctrine of necessity. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the above paragraphs are hereby incorporated by reference, and be it further
173resolved that the doctrine of necessity is hereby invoked with respect to the board's public votes related to Dr. Chanley, and be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution have been been read at a public meeting of the board on April 27th, 2026, be posted in accordance with the board's standard procedures for not less than 30 days, and that the board secretary reflect the same in the minutes of the meeting, and be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be provided to the School Ethics Commission. Can I have a motion and a second? I make a motion. Second. >> Second. Any questions or discussions? >> Yes, Mr. Tufano. I have raised the issue months ago that the doctrine of necessity, Mr. Weiss, you said that five board members who can who are
174conflicted because of litigation with Mrs. Chanley should have no discussion with you with with each other or anyone with items involving Dr. Chanley. Additionally, I have made mention before that the key limitations of the doctrine of necessity that are emphasized by the commission the commission consistently makes clear that the doctrine must be used sparingly and narrowly. The Ethics Commission has been clear that the doctrine of necessity is not a convenience tool is not for strategic purposes including litigation positioning is not appropriate when the board can still function without the conflicted members should not be used to bypass ethics rules simply to achieve desired outcome. In plain language, if the board can still operate deliberate excuse [clears throat] me, or delay action without conflicted members, the doctrine of necessity should not be used. It is only
175justified when the board would otherwise be unable to act on all un act unable to act at all on something essential. For example, approving required contracts, meeting a legal deadline, or taking action neces- necessary to keep the district running. We are using that doctrine of necessity for none of those things. We are using the doctrine of necessity to push out a vote, and it's not being used properly. So, I vote no, by the way. Ms. Ratner? Um Mr. Weiss, I just wanted to ask you from your experience, there's two things I want to to ask regarding the doctrine of necessity. The first is and I've spoken about this with you before, but I feel like there's very conflicting guidance given from the School Ethics Commission regarding the doctrine and regarding conflicts. And then I also
176and I forget I Mr. Perot, it might have been you, I forget. Someone had brought this up in the past, but it is extremely difficult to be able to vote on items when you cannot have any discussion on said items. Has this ever been brought to the attention of the School Ethics Commission that you know of? And have they ever responded about that? It was the School Ethics Commission that emailed um Ms. Allen to indicate to her that the board should not be discussing anything related to the votes that it's going to take through the invocation of the doctrine of necessity. So, that's comes directly from the School Ethics Commission. Okay. I just and I'm sure you all get it. Like it's it's It's hard to make votes on things you can't have any information
177about. >> Maybe the lace committee needs to work on some reforms action to the to the ethics commission. That's just you know a thought. >> [laughter] >> Mr. Marzian. Uh so I just I had a question too. So um I was doing some research and so with the doctrine of necessity it I was trying to figure out how we use it, what what it is, you know, exactly get some more information. Um and then I found that uh on a website uh it happens to be your law firm's website that on the official public notice it has to be listed. But then on our public notice that's out today it's not listed. It's on our website, yes, but it's not on the official public notice. So what is the what's the official Mr. Marzian, I
178wish you would have asked me this earlier cuz I would have done some research for you. I'm not aware of a requirement that the doctrine of necessity be placed into a public meeting notice. However, to the extent that you would like to share whatever you found with me I'm happy to to review it. >> doctrine of necessity, it's like your your law firm is the like the first thing that comes up. Uh it's a but I could send it to you. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. I'm ready to go. Roll call. Yep. Okay. Um Ms. Alvarez? Yes. Ms. Forrest? Yes. Mr. Marzian? No. Dr. Peck? Yes. Mr. Pierro? Yes. Ms. Ratner? Yes. Ms. Sharma? Yes. Mr. Tufano? >> No. Mr. Zeichner? Yes. Ms. Payne? Yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you. So now item number
17912, this is the 10-member superintendent's recommendations under personnel. Dr. Turley, I'm just putting in a procedure. Did we do 11 the report? Well, it's he's combining both, he said. He's combining 11 and 12. >> Okay, thanks. I apologize. So, this is the personnel 10 member vote to recommend that the board approve the attached personnel items A through V, A through V. Motion. Second. Any discussion? Ms. Allen? Yes. Ms. Alvarez? Yes. Ms. Forrest? Yes. Mr. Marazin? Yes. Dr. Peck? Yes. Mr. Pero? Yes. Ms. Ratner? Yes. Ms. Sharma? Yes. Mr. Tufano? Yes. Mr. Zeikner? Yes. Ms. Payne? Yes. >> Motion passes. Item number 13. 13. >> Mr. Tufano said he wanted to make a I guess you have >> to say It's not my motion. Somebody has to read the resolution first, correct? >> Right. Item 13
180discussion. And he's talking about I recommend All right, I'll read it. Yes, recommend, yes. 13 uh W There's motion. Is there a second? Is there any discussion? >> Yes, second. Page 15. Okay, page 20 15 of 30. Yes, Mr. Marazin. Um so, as far as discussion goes uh again, I I try to be as prepared as I can as a board member. Um so, um in this instance, it was a strange uh it just looked strange to me. So, I I contacted Mr. Weiss, I contacted Dr. Layman um to to get my to do the best research I could and I I just still wasn't comfortable with what I um heard back and everything. So, I because basically what was said here was that the um it was recommended by a defense attorney. Yes. So,
181um I called the attorney of the day over at the uh NJ school boards. Um very helpful. I had a There was a I had a bunch of other questions, and she was she was very helpful. Great great attorney. Um uh but in what I was told was um basically our policy 0164 says that um according to her, that the board president would work with the uh board secretary, and that's how the agenda has items have to come on. If the board president's conflicted, the vice president would have to uh add an item. And if that if if they're both conflicted, then someone else would have to add the item. It's true. I mean, according to according to the the attorney I called to. >> I've called them many times, and they're very good. >>
182So, according to her, this would be a violation of our policy if we even attempt to vote on this. So, my suggestion would be to table it, and everyone else can do their research as I did, and And [clears throat] here's another suggestion. Given the fact that it is um the board's insurance defense counsel's attorney recommendation that this motion be considered tonight, um to the extent that there's any concern about what Mr. Marazzine um just raised, and and I haven't researched the issue, so um in order to uh move ahead if the board wanted to, the board can vote to suspend the policy for purposes of just this evening so that um you can go ahead and vote and then you wouldn't have to worry about a policy violation. So, you could vote to suspend
183policy 0164 for purposes of this vote if you wanted to. Uh and then go ahead and do the vote and then you wouldn't have a concern related to that which Mr. Marazin just raised. Motion to suspend policy 0164 for the purposes of tonight's meeting. Second. >> So, wait. Hang on because there's a pending motion right now. Okay. Right? This is question discussion on motion to >> my motion. He didn't make a motion. He I'll withdraw my motion. Okay. Fine. His motion. I guess. No, I'll withdraw my motion, but I didn't hear Mr. Marazin make a motion. No, no, no. I never said that Mr. Marazin on my motion. You mean No. I'm saying that you have a currently pending motion which is motion 13. If someone wants to So, I withdraw. Okay. >> [clears throat]
184>> Now you. Okay. Motion to suspend policy 0164 for the purposes of completing board business this evening. I'll second. Second. Is there any further discussion? This is ridiculous. We need a vote. Roll call. Roll call? Ms. Alvarez? Yes. Ms. Forrest? Yes. Mr. Marazin? Absolutely not. Dr. Pack? No. Mr. Pero? Yes. Ms. Ratner? Abstain. >> [sighs] >> Ms. Sharma? Yes. Mr. Tufano? Absolutely not. Mr. Zeikner? Yes. Mr. Payne? Yes. Motion passes. To suspend policy 164. >> an assault, though. Okay, so now we can go on further. Now Now do I follow through with my motion? Yes. Mr. Pero. I I a motion for 13W. Is there a second? Second. A question? Yeah, question. Is there any questions or discussions on this? Roll call. Ms. Alvarez? Yes. Ms. Ford? >> Wait, I I would like to make
185a motion. I told you guys I wanted to make a motion on this. I I thought I had given you time before I let somebody else >> taking a vote when I told you I was giving you the courtesy to do what we got to do. >> Please. >> So, I'd like to make a motion. I move to table the personal agenda item concerning the reaffirmation of Dr. Chaney's administrative leave. This motion is based on serious concerns that the current process may violate prior guidance regarding the doctrine of necessity and applicable ethics standards. Additionally, the motion as presented is not factually accurate. The board did not meet to discuss Dr. Chaney's administrative leave. We've never met to discuss her administrative leave. Additionally, the motion as presented is not factually accurate as I repeat it. Nor
186did it deliberate on this item prior to the appearance of the agenda. Board members first became aware of the motion upon publication of this agenda. Further, the motion states that this is recommended, yet it does not identify and never identified who is making the recommendation. This motion was drafted by counsel for the insurance carrier representing the board in ongoing litigation and is being presented as part of a legal strategy. Board of Education members take an oath to serve the public and upholds ethical standards. Advancing a motion that is not grounded in actual board action, but instead crafted for litigation strategy raises serious ethical and legal concerns. I also note that this board previously received clear legal guidance from Mr. Weiss on this issue. At a public meeting, he advised that the conflicted board members should
187not participate in discussions concerning Dr. Chanley. However, this motion implies that such discussions occurred and that those same board members are now reaffirming her administrative leave, which is inconsistent with with his guidance. Moreover, the doctrine of necessity once invoked, is intended to be used narrowly and only for actions, as I stated earlier, that are essential to the proper functioning of the district. It is not to be used as a tool to advance litigation strategy or to justify participation by conflicted members where no operational urgency exists. The district has continued to function for approximately 1 year without with Dr. Chanley on administrative leave, demonstrating no such necessity exists here. School Ethics Commission I'm sorry. Dr. Chanley on administrative leave demonstrating that no such necessity exists here. Accordingly, I move that this item be tabled immediately and
188that the board seek an advisory opinion from the New Jersey School Ethics Commission regarding whether board members who are parties to ongoing litigation with a sitting superintendent may participate in discussions, deliberations, or take action concerning the superintendent's employee employment status while such litigation remains pending. Until such guidance is received, this matter should be held in abeyance and considered only by the board members who are clearly eligible to participate. So, Mr. Tufano has made a motion to table, which takes precedence over any other motion that might be pending. So, let's go ahead and take a Is there a second to Mr. Tufano's motion? Is there a second to Mr. Tufano's motion? Can I just ask a point of parliamentary procedure? Do all agenda items need to be recommended by somebody? Um I believe you have a
189board policy on that, but that's >> be recommended. I think you have a board policy on that, and I believe that the board policy has been suspended. We just suspended it. >> Okay. On 164. So, is there a second on the motion to table? I don't want to lose Mr. Tufano's motion. >> Second. Is there any discussion? Roll call. Yes. Miss Alvarez? >> No. Miss Forrest? >> No. Mr. Marazzine? Yes. Dr. Peck? Yes. Mr. Piro? No. Miss Ratner? Abstain due to conflict. Miss Sharma? No. Mr. Tufano? Yes. Mr. Zeigner? No. Mr. Payne? No. Motion does not pass. Now we go back to the prior motion. >> and Mr. Piro. I make a motion for 13 W. It's okay. Okay. Cuz you suspended He suspended it, and you suspended it. So, let's just get it back.
190>> We have a first motion now. We have a right. All right. Second Mr. Piro's motion. Any discussion? Roll call, Miss Allen. >> Yes. Miss Alvarez? Yes. Miss Forrest? Yes. Mr. Marazzine? No. Dr. Peck? No. Mr. Piro? Yes. Miss Ratner? Abstain due to conflict. Miss Sharma? Sorry, what was it? I'm so lost. Item >> [laughter] >> Item 13. >> 13 W. to approve or not approve item 13. Approve or not approve it. Yes. Okay. Um Mr. Tufano. No. Mr. Zeikner. Yes. Mr. Payne. >> Yes. Motion passes. So, continuing on with the agenda, number 14, this is the nine-member personnel vote. It's recommended that the board approve the attached personnel items X through AU. X through AU. >> Motion. There a second? Second. Any discussion? Ms. Allen. Yes. >> I'm sorry, did you have your hand
191up? Mr. Zeikner, yes. Yes. Oh, no. I was asking if anybody had any discussion with it. No? Oh, no. No. Oh, she's going to take the roll call. Okay. Okay. That's okay. Uh Ms. Alvarez. Yes. Ms. Forrest. Yes. Mr. Marazin. Yes. Mr. Pero. Yes. Ms. Ratner. Yes. However, we need to recuse on items related to Mr. Ratner. Uh Ms. Sharma. Yes. Mr. Tufano. Yes. Mr. Zeikner. Yes. [clears throat] Mr. Payne. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Board action 10-member vote. It's recommended that the board approve the attached board action items A through R. A through R. >> Motion. Second. Any discussion? Roll call, Ms. Allen. >> Mhm. Ms. Alvarez. >> Yes. Ms. Forrest. Yes. Mr. Marazin. Yes. Dr. Peck. Yes. Mr. Pero. Yes. Ms. Ratner. Yes. Um however, I need to recuse due to a conflict
192on PD request for Dr. Chamley and Mr. Snyder. Um Ms. Sharma. Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Tufano. Yes. Mr. Zeikner. Yes. Mr. Payne. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. It's recommended under the nine-member board action that the board approve the attached board action items S through Y, S through Y. S through Y. Motion. Second. Any discussion? Ms. Allen? Ms. Alvarez? Yes. Ms. Forest? Yes. Mr. Marazin? Yes. Mr. Pirro? Yes. Ms. Ratner? Yes, we can use on item T for Ms. Ratner. Ms. Sharma? Yes. Mr. Tufano? Yes. Mr. Zeigner? Yes. [clears throat] Ms. De >> So, just to conclude my report, I just wanted to thank all of the staff involved with getting kindergarten full-day kindergarten embedded into the budget. It starts with the teachers, our kindergarten staff. They did tremendous job working through the entire
193year this year developing schedules, looking at their programming, working on expanding their curricula. Our building principals did an amazing job. They scheduled lunches, they identified staffing needs, they went into the classrooms, they looked at desks and chairs, and really did a fine-tune fine very granular look at exact expenditures that would be needed. They did an outstanding job. Our curriculum supervisors uh ensured that all of our documents in place are ready to rock and roll, and if there was a couple documents specifically in the area of the arts that we need to expand on and or write to embed full-day K, we will be doing that this summer. So, they did an awesome job collaborating and working on getting those things squared away, and kudos to this board and previous boards for relentlessly advocating for something
194our community's been interested in for a long time and uh uh you know, being able to get it implemented this year. Uh again, it's a timing piece. Uh we have the right enrollment. We have uh the right staffing uh to put this in place with minimal impact to our current operations. So, thank you. Um for any of the parents that are interested, you probably have a couple quick questions and we will be pushing out information shortly. But, if you're already enrolled in kindergarten, you don't have to do anything. Uh you will be in a full-day program. If you haven't enrolled yet, the process for enrolling is the same as it was um and you will just be enrolling in a kindergarten program. Again, we will reach out with more information and we will share uh
195the new and updated uh profile for our district, but uh those are just two quick questions that you don't have to worry about doing anything different if you're enrolling or you're already enrolled. And thank you. Thank you. Next, we have business administrator's report. Okay. Ms. Allen? Yes, it is recommended that board action items A through M under the 10-member vote be approved by consent roll call. Motion. Second. Is there any discussion? Ms. Allen? Yes. Um Ms. Alvarez? >> Can you come back to me, please? Yes. Ms. Forrest? Um yes to everything except for check numbers 15542, 15543. Those are on the Right? Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. I think that's on the agenda. 15542. Those are going to be on the next on the the third um It's on the agenda. It's on the addendum. Yeah.
196What are we doing now? So, this is for the 10-member vote. There's going to be a because BoardDocs was down today. So, we have a 10-member vote, we have a 9-member vote, and then we have a supplemental vote. Um a supplemental agenda, which came out today. So this is that. So that's Oh. But there is an addendum, right? Yes. >> There's two addendums. Yeah, there's two addendums. So the ones that came out today, that list, which the ones that you're talking about are on will be on the sub No. No, they're on the next They're on the next That's letter P. We're only going up to letter Um M and N. M. Okay. Okay. Okay, so So you are I'm sorry, yes on all then? Yes. Okay. Okay. Um Mr. Marzin. Uh yes to all
197recuse on myself. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Is that from Okay. Dr. Peck. Yes. Mr. Pero. I'm confused. B is not the bill list, correct? >> It is the bill list. Except for what we got today. Yes, with the addendum. Wait. It's Those Some of those are on there. Some of these are on the bill list. >> check numbers from that list from 15 >> five are on there. The first five are on there. Okay, so I need to >> And the last one. >> Okay, so I need to recuse on 15274, 15 or I'm a yes on 15315. I have to recuse on 15316, 15475, 15476, and 15420. I need to recuse on that. All right. So can you Okay, so you're on 15274, you're This is on it. Yes, to recuse. You're recusing. >>
198Okay. 15316, or yes, to recuse. You're recusing. or for 15475 Yes. You were recusing. Yeah, I have to. That's I'm involved in that. And 15476 you recused and 15420 you recused. Okay. Okay, thank you. Ms. Ratner I need to recuse on letter M for myself for workshop. And then I need to recuse on I I said it intentionally. >> [laughter] >> I need to recuse on the bill list for Mr. Ratner, Dr. Shanley, Dr. Lehman, Dr. Higgins, Ms. Francis, Mr. Lurie, Mr. Snyder, Methuselah and Werbell, Mr. Rubin, Mr. Coy and Mr. Madden. So Ru- 15274 you're recusing. 15316 you're recusing. and 476 you're recusing. Correct. Correct. Okay, thank you. Ms. Sharma Yes. Okay. >> Are we voting later on the checks, right? Or we are doing it right now? I'm a little bit confused. Letter
199P is coming up next. Next, okay. P to R is the addendum that we got today that we were not able to get because of the because of it being down. Okay, thank you. Ms. Mr. Tufano Yes. Mr. Zeikner >> Yes. Ms. Oh, Ms. Next, Ms. Alvarez. Yep. All right, so I need to recuse on the bill list for the Learning Tree and for Mr. Rubin. And also on letter M for myself. Yes to the rest. Okay. Both of them? Okay. Okay. Um And then Ms. De Paine? Yes. Yes. Okay. Who else? So Um and I think Ms. Forrest has to um Was she going to amend her >> She wanted to amend her vote. I need to recuse on the training that I'm going to >> Training. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So then
200um motion passes um for these topics. Okay. Um so Next will be It's recommended that board action items N through zero through O under the nine-member vote be approved by consent roll call. Motion. Second. Any discussion? Ms. Allen? >> Yep. Ms. Alvarez? Yes. >> Ms. Forrest? Yes. Mr. Marazian? Yes. Mr. Pirro? Yes. Ms. Ratner? Yes. Ms. Sharma? Yes. Mr. Tufano? Yes. Mr. Zickner? Yes. Ms. De Paine? Um yes to all but no No, wait. Sorry. Okay. We're voting on letter N and Okay. Okay, sorry. Yes. >> Yes. Okay, motion passes. Um and now we have the supplemental to the BA report. Um it's recommended that board action items P through R under the nine-member vote or rather 10-member vote be approved by consent roll call. Motion. Second. Is second? Second. Any discussion? Okay, cuz All
201right, so it's Can we just for purposes of public just explain what P and R are because um it's like a board actually come back up, but I just want people to know what we're voting on. Um okay. So, P is a bill list addendum number two. Um and Q is um an agreement with JCP&L um regarding the solar uh purchase and sale agreement, the amendment to the to the agreement. And that's it. What? So, there's no R? Um yeah, R Where did I miss R? And that Oh, I'm sorry, is the This is also This is a settlement um with D&N Electrical Contracting that we um have on here for approval. Okay. >> It's behind Did you see it, Kate? Behind you. >> One second. Yeah, I found it. Thank you. Okay. Motion. I
202can I second. Does anyone have any questions? Miss Allen, please. Okay, Miss Alvarez. Uh yes to all abstain on Mr. Coy. Okay. Sorry. Miss Force. Um yes to all except abstain on Mr. Coy until current litigation is it is determined that we have to pay those bills. Uh Mr. Marazin. Yes. Dr. Peck. Yes. Okay. Mr. Piero? >> [clears throat] >> Yes to all. No on the checks for Mr. Coy. Um Ms. Rattner? [clears throat] Um yes to all of the same um on the addendum for Mr. Coy. Um and I also would just like to abstain on letter R. >> [clears throat] >> Ms. Sharma? Yes to all and no for Mr. Coy's checks which starts from 15542 until 15549. Okay. Right. Mr. [clears throat] Tufano? Yes to all. Mr. Zeikner? Yes, uh except for
203uh Mr. William Coy. And that's checks 15542 up to checks number 15549 and all included between those two checks. >> What are you What are you voting on? You said Did you say no already? I'm I'm voting no on the >> No, okay. I didn't hear you say that. I'm sorry. And Ms. DePuyne? Yes to all and no on the checks for Mr. Coy. The motion passes except for the checks um for Mr. Coy. Um those are check numbers 15542, 15543, 15544, 15545, 15546, 15547, 15548, and 15549. And that concludes my report. Thank you very much. Okay. Um I just want to thank Dr. Layman, Ms. Allen, and her staff for all the efforts on creating a great budget even after losing four close to $400,000 in state aid this year. I'm elated that even
204without the state aid we were able to finally have full-day kindergarten in Monroe Township. Full-day kindergarten was a missing piece of the puzzle in Monroe. Now we are able to add the last piece of that puzzle in its place and make our district whole and ready to educate more children in their formative years getting them ready for their future. I also want to thank Senator Linda Greenstein for appropriating $1.5 million to our district over the past 2 years with the last amount of $500,000. She every time I saw her stated that that had to go to full-day kindergarten which we accomplished this evening and thank everybody. I also wanted to Last week was Administrative Professionals Day and I want to thank all the administrative professionals in our district for all their hard work and dedication.
205Other board business? Does anyone else have something they'd like to say? Miss Rotner. Um yes, a couple of things. Um first I had the opportunity to see Grease last weekend. Um I'm a little biased, my daughter was in it, but they did a fantastic job. So I just wanted to say kudos to all of the staff members and students that were involved in the production. Um I also did have the opportunity to attend the Monroe Education Foundation's fundraiser this past weekend. Um and so I just wanted to thank those who came out and thank you to the foundation for the support that they give to our school district. Um I definitely agree. I appreciate the money that we get. I still think we need to be getting a lot more. I I asked for $2
206million when we went. So I'm hoping we can get half of that. You know, that'd be nice. But I understand there are limitations on the state budget as well. But ultimately our job is to advocate for what we need as as a board. And so that's what we need to continue to do. Um I also think there's other things we need to consider asking for modifications about like looking at the funding formula forgetting about equalization aid and things like that because we've you know beat that horse to to death for lack of a better phrase, but you know, I would say like charter schools have come up a lot and I've been looking into that, right? Because we're limited in the amount we get from the state, but then they're able to raise their rates
207as much as they want and that affects our district less than others, but I think that is a valid point that we should start advocating for like maybe paying those schools directly for the students. We don't necessarily get the money for that student, but then we don't have to pay the increases that we're getting. You know, same thing necessarily for out of district students. That's a little bit different, but ultimately they still should get what they need, but that doesn't mean that we should like the state should help to pay for that so that they're getting what they need because we have no control over those increases. Um and you know, I think these are just a few of the things that maybe we need to start advocating for with other districts like I had
208sort of said last week so then I looked into a little bit more things that sort of affect all of the districts because you know, to what we sort of said at least not everyone is affected by equalization aid, but everybody is affected by those increases. And so I think we need to do something about that. Um and so then I did just want to you know, echo the congratulations of full day kindergarten. Um I think it's fantastic. Um and I I do think and I know like we've all discussed this, but I would you know, I appreciate you indulging when we discussed the idea of starting to have our budget discussions earlier moving forward. Um This is how it's been in Monroe for decades. I mean, since I've paid attention and before cuz I've
209watched some of those meetings. So it's not like we've done something different for the most part this year, but I do think we need to modify the way that we're doing it just so we can have some of these discussions before it's time understanding that we don't get some of these numbers until later. So I I did just want I know I and Ms. Forcenito of it and I had meant to bring it up during the budget discussion and I forgot. So, I did just want to bring that up now. And thank you everybody. Anyone else? Um I don't know. Mr. Tufano and then Mr. Maraziti. Uh I'd also like to uh to say I I attended Greece with my family as well and I I got to tell you it was phenomenal. There was
210singing, dancing, gymnastics. And it was just incredible. I thought I was on a in Broadway watching a play. And it was really The kids did a phenomenal job and we left there like, "Wow, we only spent 11 bucks for this?" It was just It was wonderful. Um Unfortunately, I I I disagree with our uh President Gale. I don't appreciate Linda Greenstein giving us $500,000. I also don't appreciate the silence um of our mayor who doesn't fight for us, who doesn't go to Trenton and fight for us, who doesn't involve himself in bettering our school system financially. Um As I'm sure everyone's aware here, Newark got a six billion dollar raise. Six billion. And Linda Greenstein comes here, eats our bagels, hangs out with our council, and gives us $500,000. And we're supposed to be thankful?
211I mean, I know I understand you're trying to be politically correct and be nice, but we got to call a spade a spade. She is useless to us. $500,000 is a slap in our face and we need to call her out for it. We should call her here, have her sit right where Sara Zis is sitting, and put her feet to the fire, and ask her why she's literally doing nothing for us. Like I said earlier, $500,000 is a here, shut up, don't make any don't show me any attention. And just be quiet. I don't want anybody to know I'm not doing anything for you. That's what that is. And And we all need to fight harder for it. So it was 1.5 million we got last year. >> So we got $13 million on
212a over $100 million budget and most of our tax money is going out of district. The formula is broken. I think everybody here could agree that. And the people who can change it are eating our bagels and doing nothing for us. That's what they're doing. If I can just say >> Mr. Mr. Magnier had his hand up next. >> Okay, it was just in in comment response to what he was saying. If you're doing that then can we I just wanted to say there's other legislators that we start we have to hold accountable as well. Like Senator Greenstein comes up a lot here and I'm not going to I I truly do not know why it's usually her, but we also have other legislators that are at the state that we need to hold equally
213accountable as well as other elected officials as you know, aside from the ones that represent us at the state level. So I think it's important for us to hold all of them, right? If she like if we give accolades accolades to them all, if we give criticism criticism to them all, but we need to start talking about all of them and not just one. >> Which is something Mr. Magnier we've been talking about quite a while in the Lace Committee and now starting with the CAC with the advocacy letters. I that we're beating a dead horse because we've been talking about that issue for years. And before you were here we were talking about it. Excuse me? And before you guys were here we were talking about it. >> Well, I talked about it on
214another district and we you know, we didn't get any of the rate aid equal either. I'm sorry. But it is something that I know this new director of education Mrs. Lau l a l a Dr. Lau was the first thing she said she's going to take care of that all that Yeah, I'll when I see it I'll believe it. I'm sorry. I always said state mandates, but state does not pay. They don't go in their pockets. And unfortunately, good districts like Monroe, who do everything on the up and up and bring the best education they can to the children in this town, with especially this budget tonight getting full-day kindergarten, it's not easy. It is definitely not easy. And this the state really we have to go down, I agree, en masse. But I know
215it's been done before. And I don't know if anything has come out of it. I don't remember, but >> That's when Act 2 came out, and that's when we started to get a lot of increased funding. But I mean, I I can't say it's a direct correlation of Monroe people went down, and then we got more funding, right? But the timing was then. Right, I agree. And you don't know if the timing would be right if we went down now. So, nobody knows until you talk to them. Yes, Mr. Marazin. I also wanted to go see Greece. Uh it was very good, excellent. Um I compared it to some uh shows down like the Red Bank. I thought it was better than than some that I've seen down there. Um and then not I can't
216remember the Mill Lake Art Show, was that before Oh, yes, that was also >> Yeah, the Yeah, so Yeah, we were we were at that. That was That was excellent. Um uh Mill Mill Lake Woodland, I should say, art show. Uh they had a ice cream truck. They It was It was really well done, very very well attended. Um so uh two great events. Um and and I I just I just got to say you know as board members we need to think for ourselves. Like it was very evident when Ms. Alvarez didn't go first, that no one else knew how to vote. It's It's going to be on YouTube tomorrow. I mean, I've never seen um a vice president stop a president of a board before voting cuz it was the wrong thing. I
217mean, I just never seen that before. And you know, you're going to be you're you're making faces, you know, across the table, but it's going to be on YouTube, and people can see for themselves. >> know what happened. I It isn't, yes. Sorry. Ms. Alvarez is a very essential part of the two of us up here. So, she assists me and I assist her. And we have our esteemed attorney and Laura and Dr. Layman. So, we rely on them because as board members, I'm not an attorney and I am not a an accountant. So, when I go to vote on budgets, I have questions, but I kind of rely on the expertise of these people that are are put put up here for a reason. Um that's just my opinion. That's how I've always done
218things and if it's right or wrong to you, um I don't think it is. I think um Carmen is a good example of helping uh a board member. I mean, I just I'm just saying I've never seen anything like it and it again, it'll be on YouTube tomorrow. You can watch it back, maybe. I'll watch it back, too. My only thing I did help with was, you know, distinction between the items P through R versus the others because that was added on right before the board meeting. But, >> to us before. >> video again. So, you will see that that's all it was, Mr. Mares. And truthfully, my children actually send me those things. It's very nice of them. I tell them not to, but they do. Yes, Mr. Perea. I would just like to
219say that um one thing one thing is I'm just curious as to why uh Mr. Mares would recuse on voting on a budget for the school district. That's a very important thing here. Is it because he owns a paid kindergarten? I mean, I find it astonishing that you sit on a board and you can't even vote on a $160 million budget. I mean, that's very important here. Well, Second is and second is Let him finish. >> Let him finish, please. >> second is we don't care what they put on YouTube. I don't answer to people on YouTube. I don't listen. I don't go on Facebook. I don't care what people write. They write lies on Facebook every day. Who cares? I don't care. If you want to listen to Facebook to run a school district,
220then you got serious issues. You listen to the attorney. You listen to other board members. But to sit there and always, "Oh, online I saw this. Oh, online I saw that." Honestly, you're online about a school bathroom issue? If parents have an issue and somebody calls me, I tell them ask the school. Call the school. That's right. Talk to the principal. Talk to the superintendent. That's That's what your job is as a board member. Not to monitor every Facebook page and what kind of fake news that might be out there. And I just think it's sad that it's come to this. Like, I haven't read Face- Facebook in the last few year because I'm tired of hearing all the BS on it. And my suggestion is vote the way you feel, do your research, ask
221the legal Obviously, you asked Mr. Weiss said he answered you a question today and you disregarded them. Yet you're worried about YouTube. You should be more concerned about listening to the board attorney than than what you're going to see on YouTube tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Weiss. >> Thank you. Can I respond now? Uh yes, you want to finish your statement. So, the school posts it on YouTube. That's But the reason I had to recuse was because after the last meeting, I got an email from the board vice president and board president saying they got emails or commu- Actually, Miss Alvarez said she got communications uh or saw communications, something along those lines, um that I should recuse and then Ms. DePaine said she got emails, which later I found out she saw it
222on a post, which is I'm assuming Facebook. So, she saw it on a Facebook post. I still have the emails. And I didn't want to have to bring this up, but I'm giving my answer. Then Ms. Alvarez decided that she wanted an advisory opinion on if I was um Absolutely. >> We shouldn't follow Facebook. If I was uh conflicted. The response from the advisory uh committee was "Well, we're not going to expedite your request and we meet after your your meeting." In short, I'm paraphrasing. So, Tomorrow. Yes, they meet tomorrow. So, I probably won't be conflicted, I'm a I'm going to guess. But, then I asked, out of abundance of caution, the Mr. Weiss what his opinion was and >> that you you you you you you you you shouldn't be sharing attorney-client advice. >>
223Okay. Well, I I asked uh uh opinion and I voted based on that opinion. And that's why. And it all started with Facebook. And just like he advised me to watch attorney-client privilege tonight, Mr. Tufano. Well, I mean, the first question I asked tonight was if the budget fails, kindergarten still has to go through because it's mandated by the state. So, anyone's vote here tonight is not a vote for kindergarten. The the repeating of the same thing over and over again to make the man look bad is just idiotic. It's not next year. >> It's it's it's idiotic. The man the the man cannot vote solely on kindergarten. He cannot vote solely on kindergarten. It's going to pass. It's mandated. He voted if he did vote no no on the budget. It's not mandated. It's
224it's mandated. We have to have kindergarten in this district. We have to have kindergarten in this district. That's correct. We have to have kindergarten in this district. If he voted for it yes or no, we would still have to have kindergarten in this district. We may not be getting it this year. We may not be getting it in 2 years. We may not be getting it next year. It doesn't matter. His vote had nothing to do with kindergarten. And he clearly stated, I've heard him say it, that he wants kindergarten in the district. But here, he's telling everybody great advice, by the way, you should tell your wife not to listen to things on Facebook. But meanwhile, you two, you two getting an advisory opinion about stuff you read on Facebook. No? Wait, so you
225just came up with that? No. I had people reach out to me about >> So so so people on Facebook on Sarah Aziz's page That's why she's sitting in the front row so she can write all her her tonight. Could you watch your language in the courtroom? >> I I can say whatever I want. This is America. This is not Nazi Germany. People watch There's there's kids kids are sleeping right now, okay? >> People watch the videotape. Kids are sleeping. Watch The kids should watch how you bully everybody in this committee. That's what they should do. You worry about Hibbs and you do nothing but bully people you don't agree with. That's what you do. You all make false accusations and try to ruin people's names so you could forward your agenda. I said it
226[snorts] again, I said it three times. Okay, that's fine. Mr. Mr. Pirro, did you want to say something? Yeah, uh like in reference to that, we spent money last month for police. There was no threat made against the school district. Every email I read from that gentleman said that the police should be here so he doesn't get attacked by Mr. Tufano. Are we Are we talking about something that I had nothing to do with? >> So we want to we want to Did I ask for police here? That's uh Mr. Layman, did I ask you for police here? So they were there When when when you asked me if I want a police here, what did I tell you? You did not ask for it. Thank you. We, out of an abundance of caution, had
227Monroe PD here. For something that happened outside of the school district. But we did it according to what Dr. Layman said for out of caution. And I think that was the appropriate thing to do. >> security officer here. Okay. Okay. That's enough of that. We have guys here. We don't need this. I agreed with you I agreed with that. They're more than capable. Okay. I have no questions. I just hope to say You keep bringing it up cuz you like to trouble me. Usha Usha has something to say. You are All you are is a troublemaker. Guys, You have contributed nothing to this board but start trouble. That's all you know how to do. It's all you know how to do. Start trouble. >> We've got to stop it. We have to really control this
228meeting. Not Stop yelling back and forth at each other. Usha has something she'd like to say. >> I just have to say let's respect each other. It's freedom of speech, freedom of right. Facebook, people write, they enjoy. You want to read it, read it, keep it yourself. It goes to me also. But do not bring over here in the meeting of Facebook or social media. That's my request. Because just sitting here and arguing for Facebook is not good. Read, read, enjoy. You want to write, write. Comment, comment. But don't bring it at Board of Education. I agree. We have a lot of more important things to do over here for the kids, for community, for teachers, for principals. But do not sit here and argue. Respect each other. That's all. That's what we should And
229I think I mentioned it when I was elected Board President. Do not follow Facebook and social media. >> They can follow. It's freedom of speech and right. I mean you can follow but you I said don't bring it here. Do not bring over here. >> Yeah, because Not at the meeting. And also I keep reminding everybody too board members are elected to follow policies and make sure the policies and procedures are followed within the district, not to micromanage, not to try to take over the positions of the people that are up here on the dais and in this district. So, that's another issue that I I learned 22 years ago when I went to my first board orientation. Let's all remember that, too. Uh Mr. Tufano. Okay, as a a board member, I don't have
230to open anything. I can request it from you directly. So, I would like for you to share the emails you received from the public asking Mr. Marazine if he was asking if Mr. Marazine was conflicted. So, can you share those emails with me? I don't know. Can we share them? Yeah. I can find it. I delete very quickly. >> Mr. Penn, I'm sorry, but I asked you for this. You said there were no emails, and you said that they it was a on a post you read. >> and looked back, and I I corrected it my my uh answer to you that it wasn't an email. I went and Yeah, it was a Facebook post. Yeah. Well, I Did I email you back and tell you that? Yes. Okay. Fine. >> But you're saying here,
231don't bring Facebook, but you're the one bringing Facebook. It's unbelievable. >> the one time I did it because I was concerned. Ms. Alvarez and I were talking about it. We were concerned, and I just added to it. That I had gotten a concern or I had seen a concern from someone that I know that lives in the town, and I mentioned it. And that's it. Anyone else have Well, Mr. uh Zeigler. Yeah, I I um just to move this discussion away. >> Okay? It's getting a little carried away. >> Thank you. >> Uh I would like to uh first um thank very much the community. I like to thank the um the support. I think there was outstanding support, especially of uh full-time kindergarten. I like to thank the um the administrators. I think they
232did an outrageous job, principals. Uh they just are they just did us the supervisors. This is a great district. I'm proud to be on this board of education. Fabulous people, fabulous district. It's a good board. We don't always agree, but we're trying to work together for the benefit of kids. Keep that in mind, guys, before you go at each other. It's just you shouldn't be doing that. >> There's 10 different personalities on this board. >> Yeah, I'm not done. But, I I also like to thank some very special thanks to two people on this board. This is Alan. Thank you so much. You are something else. You do a great job. You really do. And the other person, Dr. Layman. I thank you. You did a great presentation. You made us all proud. Yes. You
233really did a great job representing the board and all your work that you put in. Thank you both SO MUCH. >> [applause] >> AND YOU KNOW, YOU'RE RIGHT, MR. ZEGELNER. There are 10 different people on this board and 10 different personalities, and you're not always going to agree with each other. But, you have to try to compromise, listen, >> [clears throat] >> and then try to talk things out instead of talking behind each other's backs. I don't know if anybody's doing that, but just confront the person say, "Did you say something? You want to talk about it?" I mean, I've I've talked to Kate quite a bit this week, and I mean, Carmen and I are always in discussion. And so, if anybody has anything, you can always to any of us, our administration. Nobody's
234here to hide anything. We're here to make sure that everything is presented out front. So, I just I hope we all can Kate, you mentioned this a couple years ago. Put our differences aside, and I don't know if those are your exact words, but just to put differences aside and work together for the children of this district and and board of education. That's why we're here. Okay? I just want to remind everybody that. Now it's time for the Anybody else have anything they'd like to bring up? I'm sorry. >> just going to say regarding bringing up concerns, I think that it is important for us when we have concerns, we need to we we follow the chain of command and ask people to follow the chain of command, but if we hear enough concern from
235the community, it's okay. I'm not saying follow every Facebook post, every Facebook feed. I've actually I've really tried to like reduce what I do with that, but you know, when there's something I've got three kids in the schools, right? So I hear a lot of things and if there's enough concern about something to ask for clarification or um you know, have a discussion following the appropriate steps. I think that is something that as elected officials representing taxpayers that we should be doing. So I just want to say I agree. I mean, I've called I've called Yeah, I know. I've called Miss Allen and Dr. Layman quite a bit for explanations of different things that I've seen and they're right right on the money, right back to me immediately. So Um Let's just Anybody else have
236anything else to say on this board this night? Okay, now it's the public forum. Anybody from the public who wishes to speak, please do so now. State your name and where you're from. Good evening. Chrissy Skirbe again, Monroe Township. I guess my question is for Miss Allen. During your report, could you I didn't understand what you said when you said if the motion passed, did the checks for Mr. Rubin pass? Yes, for Mr. Rubin, yes, they passed. Okay. >> Yes. I want to thank the board for that because it only took um another lawsuit being filed for Mr. Rubin's bills to be paid. That was because I was indemnified as a Board of Education member and that indemnification lasts after you are Board of Education member. And when you talk about following attorney advice, I
237know the attorney advice was that those bills should be paid. Yet, for several months this board voted no to pay something that legally you were responsible for out of a vendetta against me. That is not properly operating as a board. I noticed that tonight you did not approve the checks for Mr. Coy, who is representing Dr. Chamley. Again, these bills are on the agenda each month at the recommendation of the business administrator, who you all just said is brilliant and wonderful. I'm sure that is coming at legal advice, as well. So, when you sit here and say, "Our business administrator's wonderful." Which, Laura, you do a great job. "And we rely on attorney advice." But then when it comes to something that you have a vendetta against somebody on, that all goes out the window
238and you just vote how you want to be vindictive. It's not okay. It it really isn't. And you're costing the district more money in legal fees. To pay to pay Mr. Rubin is costing more in legal fees because he had to get another lawyer involved to bring a claim to the Department of Education. It's shameful. You sit here and say, "We want to be fiscally responsible." But you do all these things that show you're not. You've gotten us in more legal trouble in this district with legal bills accumulating. And to sit here and say, "You know, just raise the budget. Who cares if it's an extra 19, 20, 60, 75 dollars? Who cares?" People do care. And what people have to understand is the increase this year, putting $2 million in reserves this year, that
239increases the base budget. So, next year that $2 million stays there as the base budget and you get to increase more. It's a compounding effect. So, who cares? I think the taxpayers of Monroe care. And it's not okay to sit here and fight with each other and you you make things up. It's hypocritical. Right before spring break, Mr. Pierro said at BGNT that he saw on Facebook that parents were upset because Mill Lake looked dirty outside and he brought it to BGNT based on Facebook that he wanted the district now to clean Mill Lake. So, to sit here tonight and say Mr. Marrazzo shouldn't read things on Facebook is exactly what happened. Go back and watch the video. You said there are people on Facebook, on social media complaining that the school is dirty. I
240mean, it's just it's comical that you sit here. I could go through Mrs. Z's page. I did while I was sitting there. How many countless comments and posts that the vice president is partaking in. You sit here and say, "We shouldn't bring Facebook. We shouldn't be on Facebook." But, you're all on there. And you're all commenting. I know Miss Force has been commenting on Facebook. Miss Alvarez has been commenting on Facebook. Miss Rattner comments on Facebook. Don't sit here and say, "Don't go on Facebook." Pete goes on Facebook. Eric is on Facebook. You're all on Facebook. Don't sit here and say, "Oh, we shouldn't go on Facebook." and then go home and get on Facebook. It's hypocritical. Mr. Valentine Hi. Bob Valentine, Monroe. Um I always feel bad when the budget comes out cuz I
241kind of have to like machine gun out these questions and things as quickly as I possibly can to make my 4 minutes. But, I first of all, I thank Dr. Lehman and Miss Alvord. You do a wonderful job. I you know, I don't want to be left out of the uh so of the kudos. Um what I'm trying to do when I raise these questions, it's really more for the board members to try to raise things that, you know, I'm hoping will help you interact with them in a more effective way and ask questions like the requirements for the capital reserve. And, you know, with the budget the way it's prepared and Lord does a great Ms. Allen does a great job, but it's budget to budget. I I personally can't really evaluate a budget
242without looking at what my actual spending is. And and for me as a citizen, that's really the audit. And unfortunately, I see it late. Of course, it's kind of old news by the time I see it. But there's a lot of information in that report you can go back and see trends. And some of those trends will support exactly the positions you've taken. For example, the schedule in there about FTEs and staffing ratios. And it solely supports the position that, you know, we can't afford to lay off staff. And you can see the data there. So, I got a little frustrated with the audit presentation, honestly, because I thought there was so much talk about payroll transactions, how we test payroll. I'm hoping that as as I I appreciate you bringing him here. That's a
243great thing. He's got you you're having him come to the meeting, which is great. I'm hoping over time we'll get a little more elevated that you can talk about some of the variances. Like I like I look one of the things I looked at I talked about earlier was I was looking at the expanding trend in a couple of areas and it's gone quite a bit. I'm not saying it wasn't appropriate. I'm not challenging that you did anything wrong. But those are the kind of questions and conversations that need to happen so you can do a better job of reviewing the budget because the reality is I don't think anything is changing that quickly with the funding. So, you have to try to find make sure that you're uncovering everything and asking all the questions.
244So, it's meant in that spirit. It's not, you know, I know you do an excellent job and you're on top of a lot of these issues. But I'm just trying to help focus you a little bit, maybe, and try to say, "Hey, maybe you should take a look at this." Or maybe you should take a look at that, you know. I want to make one quick comment because it's been such a topic. I'm a little more skeptical. I'm not an expert on um public relations with elected officials, but what little little limited experience I have, you have to find ways to leverage them to really get them to respond. I mean, you can shame them and woo them and all that stuff, but you really need some find a way to leverage and I think
245you really need to think about I thought some of the comments about chartering school and things like that are interesting ideas. The The thought I have is I think you really have to at least take a hard look at what is the opportunity to do some combinations, if not in total with district, even if it's just starting with services, certain services, but something that you could create some momentum, some leverage that would use against these legislators. I think that's really what they In the end, that's what they're going to respond to. So, I I have a lot of empathy for the position you have. I I think compared to some of the other town entities, you have a much more boxed-in position and you have much more challenge and I recognize that, but I just
246try to help try to help point some things that maybe you need to take a look at this and maybe you need to take a look at that. And And of course with some empathy for the taxpayers, you know, cuz we're getting hit every which way. Um There was one more thing I wanted to bring up and I think it just flew out of my head though, so I thank you for your time and for listening. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Valentine. Anything else to be brought before this meeting? I have a motion >> Motion to adjourn. Second. All in favor? >> Aye. Aye.