May 6, 2025 Board of Education Meeting

001Miss Kennedy. Yes. Miss Steven here. Mr. Henry here. Mr. Maljeri. Mr. Mesmer here. Miss Ayanna. Okay. Ready for me. Mike. Yep. Mr. Edwards. The New Jersey public's main law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Bricktownship Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be posted on the administration office bulletin board, the official district website and channel beef TV20 and sent to the Dasbury Park Press to Brick Time Star Ledger and Municipal Clerk's office. Motion in a second to enter executive session. Motion Fran. Motion all of us. Second. Second, Fran. Okay. Whereas the Brick Township Board of

002Education has been formed pursuant to applicable New Jersey statutes. And whereas the board is charged with responsibility of performing all acts and doing all things consistent with the law and the rules of the state board of education necessary for the lawful proper contact equipment and maintenance of public schools and public school property of the Brick Township School District. Where does section 7, the open public meeting act permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting of the board in certain circumstances? Whereas the board has determined that circumstances exist for such an executive session. Whereas the board has found the action described below to be necessary and proper now therefore be res excuse me resolved by the board on May 6, 2025 that the public shall be excluded from the discussion of an action on the

003executive session here and set forth. The section will session will be approximately 15 minutes and the general nature of the subject matter to be discussed as harassment, intimidation and bullying reports. It is anticipated at this time that the above stated subject matter will be made public if and when it is deemed in the public interest to do so and the need for confidentiality is no longer required by the board. Miss Pala, yes. Miss Kennedy, yes. Miss D. Benedictus, yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Mr. Mesmer, yes. [Music] Well, I want to talk loud. I'd like to make a motion to return to session. [Music] I'd like to make a motion. Please go back to session, please. Motion, Mike. Oh, second. Allie, Mary, vote. Miss Pala, yes. Miss Kennedy, yes. Miss Benedictus, yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Mr. Mr.

004Mesmer. Yes. Miss Ayan. Yes. Please stand for the flag salute. [Music] 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. Forward. [Music] March. Miss McNamera. Thank you, Mrs. Ayaneron. This evening we have uh from Brick Township High School, Paula Coben Ramos, the president of the student government association with the report from Brick High. Hi, good evening. I am Paula Kobe Ramos, the president of BTHS student government, and I am excited to share this month's BTHS Dragon Report with you. But first, I will start with the Lake Rivera Middle School report. NJSLA testing started today and continues throughout the month. Congratulations to Morgan Scott, an eighth grader student at LRMS. The winner of the

00510th annual Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority Matonk River Wershed slogan competition. This contest encouraged students to explore and learn about the water supply, water quality, watershed and local aquatic environment. The winning entry will be used in brick utilities watershed outreach program over the coming year to include educational literature project website and exhibits at various fairs and events. On Monday, April 14th, LRMS hosted its title family night to celebrate students accomplishments in the lake in the Laker Pride and LEAP after school programs. The evening began with a presentation by Mr. oil on the anxious generation, offering parents valuable strategies to support their children in today's today's digital world. Next, teachers led an interactive session where students demonstrated their growth in reading and math problem solving skills. The night concluded with refreshments and time for families to

006connect with staff. LRMS thanks all who attended and supports the celebration of student success. LRMS hosted its annual green and white night on April 29th for all Laker families. Fifth grade families from our sending schools were invited to attend as well. There was fun and there was fun and games for the whole family, arts and crafts, face painting, relay races, STEM challenges, music, and more. Thank you to all the staff and Laker families who attended to make this night a success. Congratulations to our seventh grade students for working diligently during March Madness to demonstrate Laker values and expectations. As a result of earning over 500 Laker loots collectively as a grade level throughout the month, students had the opportunity to watch a movie with their grade level peers. Students voted on the movie they would

007like to watch and the newly released Sonic the Hedgehog Hedgehog 3 2024 had the most votes. The flag football club is underway and we are excited and grateful for our students to have this opportunity. The performing arts department is getting ready for a full series of spring concerts and performances. Both band and choir will be preparing to compete at Six Flags Greater Venture with the Performing Arts Consultants group on May 16th. The junior band will perform at the NJHS ceremony on May 22nd. The LMS marching band will perform at the Brick Township Memorial Day parade on May 26th. Our spring concert for all bands and choir is May 28th at 6 PM. The science club met and completed in the watershed contest. Students each developed a slogan for the Mediton Meditershed contest. The slogan focused

008on watershed protection and engaged in local community. The science club was also an active participant at the green and white night. Participants each made a marshmallow launcher. They used differentiz marshmallows and kinetic and potential energy to manipulate them to hit the bullseye. for the sports update. Track and field. The Laker River Vera track team is having a great session this year. They are currently have a record of five wins and one loss. They are competing in their last meet of the season today at Toms River Intermediate East and Veteran and Veterans Memorial Middle School. Next week, a select few athletes will be competing in the Ocean County Middle School meet of champions. The Laker Vera softball team may still be chasing their first win, but their spirit and determination are undeniable. Made up mostly of

009sixth and seventh graders, this young squad is gaining experience with every inning and showing real growth of each game. From solid defensive players to improved communication on the field, the team's hard work is just starting to pay off. While the scoreboard hasn't reflected their efforts it just yet, their teamwork and hustle promise promise brighter days ahead. Season for baseball season record at this point is one to four. We have lost a few tight games and have had good pitching and defense so far. There is lots of enthusiasm and excitement amongst the players, coaches, and parents. We are looking to finish up the season strong with three conference games and two non-conference games remaining. Happy teacher appreciation week. LRMS wants to say thank you to our staff for all they do every day to support our

010learning community. Now on to the BTHS report. We hosted a career day on March 26th. We would like to thank the town chamber of commerce and all the community professionals who participated by generously donating their time to share their valuable insights and experiences associated with the respective in industry. The BTHS transition fair was on March 27th. We had over 70 local organizations present at this event, offering our students and families various levels of opportunity and support for future growth and life planning. On our last day before spring breaks, BTHS celebrated Bring Your Child to Work Day. BTHS also hosted an Easter egg hunt after school for staff members children. Children enjoyed lunch and ice cream from Mr. Softies before the egg hunt. NHS and SGAA members helped hide the eggs throughout the mall and I

011IMC. It was so much fun that we hoped to make it a BTHS tradition. Also, before spring break, the upperassman were treated to a presentation by a motivational speaker Rob Hall from the Tigger Savola Foundation. Rob promoted drug and alcohol prevention through an engaging and interactive format that emp emphasized the dangers of vaping. He highlighted the dangers of peer pressure in teen substance use and empowered many of her students to stand up for themselves when faced with these situations. After an enjoyable spring break, BTHS wrapped up the third marking period and is in the final stretch of the school year with lots to look forward to in the next 30 days. We are continuing to work hard to finish the year strong and we are excited for our senior ball and senior week events. Onto

012our club report. Congratulations to the Dragon Drama Club for their wonderful production of the Disney's High School Musical. The show was outstanding outstanding highlighted by several amazing individual performances. This month's NHS member of the month is Muhammad Sri. Muhammad has consistently demonstrate demonstrated exceptional dedication, especially when it comes to organizing and participating in events. He approaches every task with a positive attitude and a willingness to help wherever needed. His sweet nature, reliability, and calm presence make him a joy to work with and an essential part of our chapter. He never hesitates to step up, and he always does so with kindness and a smile. Thank you, Muhammad, for being such a valuable member of our team and for setting a great example for others to follow. Congratulations to the newest newest member of the World

013Language Honor Societies. Students were proudly inducted into the French, Italian, and Spanish honor societies in recognition of their excellence in their language studies, cultural understanding, and academic achievement. Key Club held its last general meeting on April 14th. At the meeting, they announced their new executive board members. The AFG Jrooc will be hosting a blood drive on Wednesday, May 7th, 2025. They will also be collecting sneakers from the recycling program. Student staff, students, and staff will be able to drop off their gently used sneakers at both high schools. Please look for the labeled boxes in the school offices. If you are interested in running for president, vice president, treasurer, or secretary of your graduating class, please see the eligibility requirements and complete the attachment application on the SGA council on the SGA council Google classroom no

014later than May 9th. For this month's sport report, boys track and field brought home the pen relays wheel from their four 400 race in the first heat and they also competed in the Ocean County Relays this past Friday at Southern Regional. The boys team took second in the 4x 200 and Sman Brown placed second in the Shaw put with a throw of 53. The girls team won the sprint the sprint medley in a time of 4 minutes and 17 seconds. Baseball holds a record of 8 to5 and the team went to South Carolina and won three of their four games in the tournament. Softball currently has a record of six and eight overall and six to five in the division. Ryan Rea Ryan Lra qualified for the NJSIAA tournament for the boys golf team. Boys

015tennis also qualified for short conference. The f the first short conference match is today against Cold Snack. Congratulations to Gabe Walters for being being recognized as NJ.com player of the week. Girls lacrosse is current currently has a record of 57 with a record of 43 in the division. Unified sports is back up and running this year. Our athletes are practicing after school every day. The girls flag football program has had a great year thus far. We are currently three and three with the final game of the season being tonight. Looking ahead at this month, we just finished the NJSILA ELA and science assessment last week. We will conclude NJSLA testing with mathematics portion on May 19th and May 20th. Our AP testing began on Monday, May 5th, and will end on May 16th. Good luck

016to all of our BTHS students taking the AP exams. We know your hard work will shine through. We are currently celebrating teacher and staff appreciation week. Each day is highlighted by a special recognition to ensure staff to ensure staff know that their actions are appreciated. The SGA is leading the process of providing teachers with reverse dragon scales to recognize BTHS staff members for their outstanding work. Junior prom will be held on May 8th at Jumping Brook Country Club from 5 to 9. senior will be the following week on May 15th at 5 to 900 pm. Students will students with any questions related to these events should see their class adviserss. Senior week is also coming up and it will be from May 27th to 30th with various fun events for our senior class to participate

017in. We plan on having senior breakfast, senior picnic, senior walk, and senior scholarship night. That's all for today. Be sure to stay connected to BTHS events and inside information by accessing our school website, SGA Instagram, BTHS SGAA, and our school Twitter, BTHS Dragons. You can always see our happenings monthly through Dr. Cajun's Dragon Review. Thank you for this opportunity. She's a future news reporter, I think. Great job, Paula. Next up is Brick Memorial High School student representative, uh, Kristen Mcuade. She is the president of the student government association. Kristen, thank you and good evening. Tonight, I'll begin with a report from Veterans Memorial Middle School. BMS would like to wish a happy teachers appreciation week to all the teachers in the district. The Mustang Madness attendance winner is Mr. Bart's home room. The four runners

018up were Miss Palanska's home room, Mrs. Carlau's home room, Mr. Palumby's home room, and Mrs. Clinton's home room. BMMS PBS incentive board winners from marking period 3 is team three. The green and gold program held a celebration on Tuesday, April 29th for parents and students to honor the students that participated in the program. We have seen tremendous growth with our participants this year, and we know they are set up for academic success on the NJSLA and beyond. Many thanks to our teachers who worked in the program to instill academic confidence and provide students with muchneeded support and encouragement. We are proud of you all. The Brook Memorial National Honor Society visited their friends in the autism program right before break to bring the Easter magic. Students were able to work on their IEP goals through

019Easter and spring themed activities. Their favorite activity was the Easter egg mosaic project which covered identification of colors and occupational therapy skills. Everyone had an excellent time. For spring sports, the boys and girls spring track season is going well. The boys had an impressive 79 to21 victory over Lacy on April 14th. The girls team also had a great win over McAuliffe on April 29 on April 29th. Both the boys and the girls track teams are giving effort every day in practice and competing hard in their meets. The softball team is having an incredible season as they are working hard and competing for a division championship. The baseball team is doing well and is looking to compete for a division title as well. Some upcoming events. NJSLA testing started today and the VMMS spring band and

020chorus concert is Tuesday, May 13th. Now on to the report for Brick Memorial High School. Last month we were proud to host a joint fundraiser along with Lanes Mill PTA and at Brick Memorial when we hosted our second annual Harlem Wizards game. It was a great night that saw Lanes Mill VMS and Brick Memorial teachers come together to compete, have fun, and most importantly help raise money for our school communities. We are already looking forward to next year's game. On April 2nd, we welcomed over 60 local representatives, business representatives to our 2025 career day, many of whom were Mustang alumni. It was an insightful day, and we thank Mrs. Reinhardt and our guidance department for organizing this event. By far one of the best days of the year for us was the day before spring

021break when you invited our Mustang staff members to bring their children to work. It was a fun day that saw almost 60 kids come and take in some fun activities and games and even participate in our spring pep rally. Thank you to central administration for allowing this opportunity. Last week, we kicked off our AP exam session with our annual ice cream social. It was a way for our teachers, administrators to wish our students good luck and reward them for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the school year. We started taking exams yesterday and will continue through next week. Speaking of tests, our 9th and 11th graders participated in the NJSLA last Thursday and Friday. Juniors were tested in science and freshmen were tested in ELA. Our 9th graders will test once again at

022the end of the month in math. Thanks to Mrs. Pierce, Mrs. Monager, and Mrs. Butler for meeting with our students and helping them prepare for our tests. We are hopeful and confident that our Mustangs will do well. Thanks to Chef Lebronny and his culinary arts classes for another amazing lunch supplied to our staff in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. It was great to have Dr. Frell as our invited guest. We hope you enjoyed the food and the conversation. This past weekend wrapped up an incredible year for our Mustang players and our amazing drama program with our run of Mary Poppins. In what has become customary, the performances were a huge success and we couldn't be more proud of our talented students and especially our seniors who finished up their careers with a moving senior tribute

023on stage. Thank you to directors Miss O'Brien and Dr. Fitzgerald for a great year. Finally, we offer a big thank you to our teachers during this week's teacher appreciation week. Not just our amazing Mustang staff, but to all of our district teachers and all teachers for their passion, dedication, and commitment to helping shape the lives of children and pave a path of learning and success. Finally, our BMHs sports report. Our boys tennis team has started to excel this season, recently picking up wins over Neptune and Manchester. We look forward to competing in the Ocean County tournament next week. The girls 4x4, including Samar Robinson, Sloan Kelly, Morgan Bland, and Tori Hedley, ran well and came in fourth at the Penn Relays this weekend. It was their season debut in this event, and they came in

024within a second of the school record. They look to break this record in the weeks ahead. Girls lacrosse is progressing along well this season with a six and four record as as they continue into the second half of the season. The team is working together to overcome challenges, improve on their skills, and play to their strengths. Offensively, the team is led by senior Paige Frasier, who currently has 22 goals and eight assists, followed by junior Charlotte Camp with 19 goals and nine assists, and Ella Kennedy with 15 goals and seven assists. This week, the girls celebrated both Paige and Charlotte surpassing 100 career points. The Mustangs are looking forward to celebrate their 11 seniors at their senior night celebration on May 7th at 5:30 on the BMMS turf. The Brickmoral baseball team is in the

025midst of one of their most successful seasons in school history. They won the A South Division title outright for the first time in school history and currently have a record of 11 and four. They are the number one seed in the Ocean County tournament and they are looking to claim their first county title since 1996. Girls Flag football has started its inaugural season this year and has been a great success. We have faced some tough competition with other schools having been established for a few years and have handled ourselves very well. We are currently 41 and one and have beaten state ranked 11th place team Pinelands 12 to7. We have qualified for the playoffs and hope to make a run for a title. We are very pleased with our success this year and can't wait

026to see what the future holds for this up and cominging sport. Lastly, the boys lacrosse team is having a successful season with an eight eight and five record. They currently won five of their last games including a shutout against Brick Township. They're starting to get healthy and look forward to a great push in short conference tournament and states. To keep up with all of our news, be sure to follow our social media platforms at Brooka High School and BMang Sports on Twitter and BMangs on Instagram. Also, subscribe to our podcast, Straight from the Mustangs Mouth. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you, Kristen. Great job, Mrs. Anya. Dr. Ferrell, your presentation. Sure. Thank you, Miss Sanaron. Um, we did not do a voice over this year. It was a little hard last the

027last few years. So, uh, we will actually speak to the budget presentation from up here on the deis. So, if Miss McNamera could load it. We may have to dim a few lights or rows if anybody back there. Maybe we could get a couple. Don't want it too dark, do we? All right. Uh first, let me let me thank our central office administrative team and and really everybody in the district. Uh we start the budget process right after Halloween and really get into it um throughout the holidays including looking at what's encumbered not encumbered in this budget uh looking for next year's budget. Uh this central office team has really worked so hard to create this very very tough budget. each of them work the details and put the good of the overall district ahead

028of any individual department, school or program. I want to also thank our board of education and specifically our board of ed finance committee uh for being extremely supportive during this long arduous and oftentimes uncertain process. Um, if you don't know, and I'm sure you've seen with all the special meetings and the different guidance, uh, the timelines from the state department of, uh, education, uh, just see to me seem to get worse and worse each year during the budget process and put us all in a precarious position. This is my sixth budget here at Brick, and to say uh, that I feel that we're just keeping the ship afloat uh, would be an understatement. The recommendate the recommended budget has a tax levy increase of 3.14% over the 2% cap for a total of 5.14% and

029that includes a reduction in debt service. We're down to zero in our debt service and a reduction of seven FTEEs. Uh has an average class size on the elementary level of 24 with six sections of 29 or more and five classes of 27 or more. uh brick schools is still under adequacy 28 million under adequacy. The adequacy budget is what the department of education says is a thorough and efficient or T& budget which is constitutionally required and we're 48 million under our local fair share. Our general fund is increasing 3.31%. It's actually 2.92% on the expenditure side. Uh each year, the last few years, I've been showing this slide. Um the first thing is our state aid went up 6% from last year to this year. I want to just spend a second on this.

030Um this year they did a little better job with the funding formula. We've been asking, Mr. Edwards, myself, other people have been clamoring for years. They have to adjust some things in the funding formula such as the equalization value of real estate, which they're now taking a three-year average. and not to do censusbased special ed but enrollmentbased. For example, the last few years they give you 15.9% of special ed. Many districts are way above that. The state average is above that. Now they went to enrollmentbased. Well, lo and behold, uh we got our budget uh numbers from the state and we qualified since the enrollment based of special ed and our classified number of classified students have increased, we qualified for an additional 3.8 million in special ed money um through this new formula. But

031what they did this year is they said we're going to cap the losers can only lose 3% and the winners of which we are one this year are capped at 6%. Therefore we only got an additional 871,000 uh in state aid. I show this because these at risk populations of special education, our classified kids, economically disadvantaged, our title one or free and reduced kids and our ELLL, ML population has been steadily increasing and the cost to educate these populations are many times four times greater than the average student cost and the differential uh we do not get in a subsidy from state or federal monies. The goal of the presentation every year is to review the budget priorities as well as projected revenues and expenditures. Um I really believe each year we do this, but

032we developed a fiscally responsible and balanced budget which is the state law that we need to minimize the impacts on student programs. So we started with priorit prioritizing class sizes and staffing. uh look to improve efficiencies and economies of scale wherever possible. Um like I said, special education costs have increased and our subsidy from the state did not increase with that as well as other risk at risk student populations as previously noted. In this budget, we are cutting or reducing seven FTEEs or full-times equivalent. And it is our hope as always that these job cuts are mitigated or absorbed through retirements, resignations, attrition um and vacancies not being filled and obviously those are always dependent on uh certification as this process continues. Um some key factors that affect the budget. Um, again, let me say

033that we're still not getting our equitable portion of state funding. As much as they've been adjusting this funding formula slightly, um, we're just not getting our equitable portion, especially for our atrisisk student populations. Also note that salaries and benefits in our budget make up 85, I think it's almost 86% of the budget. What that tells you is there's really no discretionary expenses. I mean it's people which is our number one asset. Now Mamemara will talk about class sizes. Thank you Dr. Ferrell. The Thank you Dr. Frell. The reduction of state funding continues to have an impact on class size. The result is the average class sizes for the 2025 2026 school year at the elementary level is approximately 24 students uh per class. At the middle school level, they range from a low of 25

034to a high of 29 in grades six through eight. And and at the high school level, uh the average number of students per core subject area will be around 27. However, other courses depending upon course selection and number of sections available based on staffing could be higher than the average. It is important to note that across the levels K through 12, the lack of funding continues to challenge brick schools in the efforts to provide for a positive educational experience and the best service to our students. I just want I saw some people with cameras. This will be posted tomorrow with the userfriendly budget to the website. So, both will be posted. We're hoping within 24 hours. I saw people with cameras and click. Now, Dr. Anderson will speak about special education, preschool, and curriculum and

035instruction. Dr. Anderson. Thank you, Miss McNamera. The special education department budget addresses the needs of our classified students who comprise 22.5% of our student population. This necessitates increased funding to support our IEP required mandates, our specialized programs to meet students needs, including out of district placements, specialized staff to address student needs, and programmatic and department of ed regulations regarding class size and space. Each year we work to identify areas where students require additional support and ensure that the money is in our special education budget is being spent on supporting students wherever their needs may be. For the 2526 school year, Brick Schools has been awarded 7,22,370 in preschool expansion aid. And that's stands for PIA, preschool education expansion aid grant. This helps provide full day preschool to our three and fouryear-olds in 36 general education

036integrated classrooms at the Herbertsville and Warren H. Wolf early childhood development centers. So in terms of our curriculum and depart instruction department, we're going to postpone adoption of new programs for the 2526 school year. This budget will only enable us to sustain our current student centered resources. We will continue to rely on linkit for standardsbased exams, benchmarks, and formative assessments. This budget will preserve our existing core digital resources like Lexia, Achieve 3000 and I Ready. Due to budgetary constraints and loss of funds, we will lose interventionists, several interventionists in some extended day programs. Although our English as a second language program enrollment has increased significantly um and we've uh you know incurred additional costs due to that increased enrollment. Unfortunately, we won't be able to add any new positions in this budget. Now, Mr. Ker

037will speak about human resources. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Unfortunately, due to continued budget shortfalls, this year's budget again results in the reduction of positions within the district. As you can see from the slide, the budget includes the net reduction of seven full-time equivalent positions. As Dr. Dr. Farrell mentioned the hope is that the net cuts are absorbed through retirements, resignations, attrition, etc. And additionally, some vacancies not being filled to help mitigate any loss of position for staff members. And now, Mr. Edwards. Thank you, Mr. Clyer. Some of my slides Dr. Farrell has already covered uh with the information he presented. So overall, the general fund will be increasing 3.31% over the prior year. Uh grants and entitlements are relatively stable. Um and and that's really um contingent upon what might be happening at the federal

038level uh with the Department of Education there, US Department of Education. As Dr. Farrell indicated, our debt service expenditures are now at zero for 2526. We have uh no outstanding debt in regards to uh prior referendums. Uh so our total expenditure budget is up 2.92% from the prior year. Again, Dr. Farrell covered this earlier as well. Uh according to the Department of Education, we are still woefully below adequacy. Uh now at 28 million, the the chart at the bottom there gives you an indication of where we've been. Um you know, as you can note from the slide, each year our under adequacy amount continues to slide away from us. uh now at almost $28 million. Uh it's a revenue problem as I've stated for years and years and years now. Uh you know, talking about

039the New Jersey Department of Education's determination for our brick township tax levy. The tax levy now is determined to be almost 214 million. Uh our adequacy is adequate spending as I indicated before at 137 million almost 138. Our total tax levy under this proposed budget is 134,76772. As you can see, that's uh significantly below the determination for the brick tax levy uh by almost uh 79 million well more than $79 million. Uh it's a new revenue problem that we have now in regards to the special education. As Dr. Dr. Frell indicated, we've been hammering away ever since the beginning of S2 that the way special education funding was being calculated was unfair to Bricktown School District. They had been calculating it on a census basis at 15.9% per district, meaning they took your overall enrollment.

040They figured out 15.9% of that and assumed that's what you had in special education. We have significantly more than that. Um, of course, since they figured that out, 140 school districts would have lost money, a significant amount of money, and those districts would have had huge problems, uh, similar to what brick had. So, it's amazing to us that in the first year, the S2 is no longer in play. They've now created a new S2. Uh, they've they've capped the districts losing money at 3% and they've capped the districts that were gaining money at 6%. So, we are now being shortch changed to $2.8 million. And as I've indicated to the finance committee, and I know we're going to talk further about this in future meetings with the finance committee in regards to litigation. Um, if

041we go back to the years of S2 where we've been arguing that 15.9% was unfair to brick, I believe that $2.8 million that we are being short changed for 2526 is similar to that number for every school year since the in sorry, implementation of S2. So, I think there's a significant amount of money on the table that we could have could be owed from the New Jersey Department of Education. Uh, but that's not something that will happen right away. As we all know, litigation takes time and it's something that um will probably be something that hopefully the district sees in the future coming our way. That is the end of what I have. Thank you, Mr. Edwards. We can the lights back there. Now, I'm going to need approval of minutes for March 18th, 2025

042executive session, March 18, 2025 regular meeting, and April 7th, 2025 special meeting. I need a motion and a second. Motion for an second Ally Mary vote, please. Miss Palaoch, Miss Pala, Miss Pa, sorry. Can you speak into the microphone? We can't hear you down here. Sorry. I um didn't have it on. Silly me. Um I was absent for the exact session on the 18th. I watched but did not participate in the regular meeting and I did attend the April 7th special meeting. So I believe that was an abstain on the March 18th the exact and regular yes on the April 7th. Miss Kennedy. Yes. Misty Benedictus. Yes, Mr. Henry. Yes, Mr. Mesmer. Yes, Miss Ayanone. Yes. I'm now going to introduce the reports. Dr. Anderson. Thank you, Miss San. The CNI committee met on April

04328th at 4:30 in attendance for Mrs. De Benedictus, the chairperson, Mr. Henry, Mr. Maljerry, Dr. Frell, and myself. Uh, first we began with reviewing the field trips and grants which are on this month's agenda. Special thanks to Carrie Baxton at Brick High School for his submission of the New Jersey Natural Gas Grant to create a rain garden and wildlife habitat at Brick High School and to Candy Rivera at Brick Memorial for the her submission to the dollar uh general uh literacy foundation for supplies for the library. Um next we reviewed the performance report highlights from the 2324 school performance report. The school report card includes the following data points, student enrollment and demographics, student growth results, statewide assessment results, graduation rates, chronic absenteeism rates, a college and career readiness report which includes college entrance exams,

044advanced coursework and career and technical education, participation in visual and performing arts programs, student safety, oral ch early childhood enrollment and students in support services and ESSA accountability trends. I explained how our network of leaders, teachers, coaches, and interventionists create a system of support which has led to strong growth and continuous improvement. A link to the presentation and the full performance report is posted on the curriculum and instruction website. Good news. Uh, patriotism is a core value of our community and brick schools had over 650 students participate in the American Legion safety contest. In the essay contest, Juliana Cast placed first in Ocean County. In the safety poster contest, Cameron Mueller placed first. Rosalie Pulis placed second and Ryder Yman's placed third. On April 14th, middle school and high school choir directors and their students

045participated in Quarrel Day at Brick High School. This event fostered teamwork, mentorship, and musical growth across grade levels and culminated in a powerful combined performance. The day showcased the collective talent and dedication of the young vocalist and underscorecerscored the strong sense of community and shared commitment to musical excellence in brick schools. And lastly, we reviewed um the list of uh upcoming concerts and celebrations in terms of family engagement and that NJSLA was occurring in May. Our next meeting is to be determined. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Mr. Edwards. Yes, thank you. Um, so I'm going to start with finance committee. The finance committee had uh two meetings in the month of April. Uh, one meeting um, geez, I got my dates mixed up here. April 7th, uh, was strictly dealing with the 2526 budget. And, um,

046that's really all there was to note on that meeting. Then we had another meeting on April 14th. I'm sorry. And both meetings, Mr. Mesmer, Miss Ayanaron, excuse me, Miss De Benedictus, Dr. Farrell, myself were present. Uh we had another meeting on the 14th uh where we again discussed the 2526 budget uh and the various levels of the tax um impacts uh and what and where we were with class sizes and discussed moving the meeting the original public hearing which was supposed to be the 28th to tonight's meeting so that the um the county office could review the application for the increase in district expenditures. Um we also discussed the 2526 medical prescription and dental rates. Uh the uh I noted for the committee that the medical plan will be increasing 8.11% prescription 2.61% and dental

0471.5% for the DMO plan and 2.57% for the PO plan. We discussed the Green Cove Marina lease agreement uh that they would like to renew with us at the warehouse property. Uh we discussed the milk bid that the vendor has committed to a 0% increase for the 2526 school year. We discussed the lease purchase for the U school buses and a and some a truck which other miscellaneous equipment. We discussed the Gallagher amendment for the wrap plan document which is on this evening's agenda. Um talked about what a wrap plan document is. It's a document that's required to uh make our plan compliant with Orisa requirements uh since we're a self-insured plan. We talked about the speech and occupational therapy services that were previously approved. However, a resolution was needed to approve the increase in

048the services for speech and OT uh in order to cover the transfer of funds that was done earlier in the year. Uh advertising we talked about with um Ocean 6 Real Estate and Brick Chamber of Commerce purchasing advertisements. Um, we had a meeting scheduled for April 15th that we canled because there was no longer any business to discuss. And our next committee meeting is May 20th. Uh, facilities committee met on April 15th. Miss Kennedy, Mr. Mesmer, Dr. Farrell, myself, Mr. Porio, Mr. Chone from FBHED Architects, Miss Galliardi from Speasel Architects, Mr. Seagull from SPE Architects, and Miss Kashman from Speasel Architects. Uh first item was the Lake River Middle School air conditioning project. Uh since Neta was not at the meeting, I gave the report. Uh the steel inspection report has been issued and the

049project closes out documents are pending. Veterans Memorial Middle School boiler replacement air conditioning. The steel inspection report has been issued. The work on the middle school air conditioning project is scheduled to restart on June 18th. Um, and then we're we'd also discussed the dispute with the federal government over the $98,000 in unspent ESSER funds that we were informed recently that they are do not plan on reimbursing us for. We're trying to recover those f those funds with the New Jersey Department of Education, but we have not received any response yet. Laneville Elementary School Air Conditioning, uh, Miss Gallardi reported that the final electrical circuit label schedules, uh, were put on over spring break and the project at this point is closed out. So, another one we can remove from the list. Midstream's air conditioning. Uh,

050Miss Galler reports that the concrete pad for the gym air handling unit was poured during the spring break and the unit is ready for installation. Osborneville air conditioning. Miss Galler reported that the condensers have been set and anchored. The roof rails have been installed and flashed. The condensers on the roof will be set. The and the next kitchen project Osborneville's I'm sorry. The condensers on the roof will be set. Uh the kitchen project with Osmoville is progressing uh with the roof structure. Um and we're looking at all the projects are running smoothly and on schedule. Warm Wolf and Herbertzville air conditioning uh the kickoff meeting for Warm Wolf was on April 3rd. The work is scheduled to be completed by December 19th. Kickoff meeting for Herbertsville was also on April 3rd. Uh both projects face

051issues with control work which we have to determine with Jersey State Controls. Um the budget they're currently over what the budget was originally set for those projects. Osborneville Kitchen Edition. Miss Galler reported that Shorelands has completed a demo of the canopy and has begun the excavation of the footings and they plan the they poured the uh concrete over spring break and Midstream's kitchen. Um I reported that the asphalt marking outs have taken place and the contractor is looking to install the pads and the next meeting for that committee is May 20th. that it this will be your fir the first opportunity for public comment and will be for agenda items only. The board invites thoughts and reactions on agenda items. Each participant is asked to give his or her name prior to making a statement.

052All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. Comments shall be limited to five minutes. The board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment, appointment, termination of employment, negotiations, terms and conditions of employment, evaluation, or the performance of promotion or disciplining of any specific or prospective or current employee and or student. Anyone like to get up, Mr. Finelli? I don't see any other hands. Oh, you want Okay, go by. Hi, everybody. Um, my name is Kristen CS. I am a parent of a Brook Township student, the PTA president over at BMMS, and I'm here tonight to try to advocate for all of our students, teachers, and staffs in this district. I'm here to ask you guys to vote yes tonight on the budget, not because it's perfect, but because

053it moves us in the right direction. Let's be honest, the cost of running this school district is inev inevitably going to rise year after year. I think that we can all agree that it's never going to go down. But when I look at this budget and I compare it to what's happening in other Ocean County towns, Tom's River, Jackson, Lacy, Little Egg Harbor, I'm relieved that I'm not in one of those towns and I'm glad that we are in the position that we are. However, in January when I was at this meeting, um Victoria had mentioned about the public hearings that were happening throughout the state in Trenton and Camden and whatnot and I went and I sat there for three hours listening to the same story that we hear at all these meetings and

054it was just a different town name attached to it. We're all in the same boat. It was really hard to stand out in that crowd when every district is begging for, you know, their teachers and kids who matter to them just as much in their communities. Um but it doesn't mean that we give up. We need to keep pushing and funding for equ boy for equity um for recognition for what brick deserves. You know it cannot just be a one night crowded room on a budget hearing night. I do sit here every month with the same five people. Um but I don't know what the solution is. Maybe it is protesting. Maybe it's more lobbying. Um but from whatever you guys need, I am in. I am available. I will help wherever I can. not

055just for my kid, but for all of our kids and our teachers and our staff. And please vote yes tonight. Thank you guys. Anyone else? Anyone else? Hi, good evening. My name is Kelly Bond. I'm the proud parent of two children at Osborneville Elementary School. Um and I had to come this evening to share um just um some gratitude and some thoughts. So under the leadership of Mrs. V and the exceptional teachers, staff and PTA at um Osborneville, my student, my children are thriving. The sense of family and small town connection that um exists at Osborneville is nothing short of impressive in a town as large as this one. Last year during budget season, I stood before the board to advocate for an increase in the tax levy beyond the 2% cap. At that time,

056my concern my concern stemmed from the impact on of class size for my daughter's learning environment that particular year. Her classroom was cramped, disorganized, not due to the lack of the teacher in any way, but simply because there was too many students in too small of a space. I want to thank this board, the superintendent, and all of the central administrative staff for working within extremely difficult constraints. Um, and you did prioritize class size last year, and I thank you for that, and so does my daughter. Um, while I can't speak for every building, I can confidently say that it made a significant increase at Osborneville. The impact has been remarkable, not just for my child, but for many others. I've spoken with many families who shared the struggles their child had in a large

057class size. People considered moving, people considered private schools. Um, however, the small class size this year did make a large um world of difference academically, socially, emotionally for their child and for mine. I am sad to see the 29 in fourth grade at Osborneville next year. I will say that. But I understand that you're working with um you know an entire district. So I'm here tonight with the same request and a renewed urgency in order to maintain the current teaching staff and preserve class sizes to the best of your ability. I understand the community has to step up and I realize that not everyone will will appreciate a tax increase, but as a parent, as a community member, I can speak confidently in sharing that there are there is strong support from families across this

058district who are ready and willing to contribute if it's going to protect the quality of education in Breck. Um, to those who don't have children in school, strong public schools are the backbone of communities. They do far more than educate children. They influence the entire town. Supporting our schools benefits everyone, not just children or families with school-aged children. Well-funded schools increase property values, attract families to our area, and support support local businesses by producing skilled people who will enter the workforce. When our schools succeed, our neighborhoods become safer and more connected. So, we should all be investing in our schools. As I said last year, Osborneville is a family, and I had to take the opportunity again to come and speak to you. I do believe class size is important. Um, and I also know

059that the community and what you're dealing with, uh, the community has to step up and what you're dealing with in regards to state funding is is just very difficult. So, I thank you very much for your service to our schools, for taking the time to listen, um, for hearing my perspective and your dedication to our students. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else like to get up and speak? W Gamble 655 Mark Manor. We need a state audit in special ed program. In 2008, Brick Township School District special ed department failed New Jersey state monitoring. Since that time, people have been concerned rightly so about the many factors that have emerged from that event to the present. Sustainability and continuity in the programs are lacking due to a high rate of turnover of supervisors and combined

060with a rogue governor squeezing the financial life out of this district and 120 others. Secondly, lack of oversight from central administration, not Dr. Yuzinski and not Dr. Farrell, has caused further negative situations in this department. political vendettas, false claims, smear campaigns, lawsuits, destroyed families, and board of education embarrassments such as no show jobs, big dollar settlements, lack of transparency, accountability, and misdirection of state funding and lawfare on the county level. This was never resolved. Nobody was held responsible. So, I think we need an audit. How many more minutes I have? Second, the capital project budget. It's reduced from what? 7 to 5 mil on your budget. is I I'm I'm assuming it got reduced. Anyway, I'm not interested in lease purchases or budgets, but a lease purchase of stuff that has to be done in

061this district because if we don't go through lease purchase, it'll never get done. And we have some kids that are going to have nice schools, some kids that aren't. And the money doesn't look too promising down the road. So the bottom line is five-year program. If you got to suck out three mil out of five, so be it. But there are just so many I don't have time here to list them. But I'll give the notes to the board uh as I usually do. And I'll alert the board right now. I have a packet that Mary's going to do for you for a lot of subject matter anywhere from building structures to things that will help us generate money, things that will help kids get the opportunities. And I'll get into that if I have

062time in the next one. But uh don't worry, don't I got it all on paper for you [Applause] guys. Hi everyone. Kathy Lindenbound, Host Landing Road in Brick. I just want to say I'm I'm a former board member so I know it's hard for you guys in budget season. I get that. But I want to say I appreciate all the work you're doing. what I could see it looks like it's a good budget and um at least I know some of the class sizes I agree in Osborneville is a little on the high side but all in all I appreciate all the work the finance committee did and the board is doing and the [Applause] administration come up on Justin Delaney the real place brick I I feel like it's every six months this budget's

063being done, not every year. So, um I reviewed the budget pretty thoroughly. Um and every year I question is why we're put in this situation by our governor. And you think, oh, because he's saving us money. No, we gave a billion dollar tax credit that we wasted for on offshore windmills. We're going to give Lakewood a hundred million loan for whatever reason after they lost $15 million, but Brick can't get a break. So, I want to give a ton of credit to the finance committee and everyone involved for the work they put into it. I by no means am an expert on budgets, but I've worked on budgets for many years up budgets up to $120 million and right now I manage and put together a $20 million a year budget. So I'm familiar with

064it and it's not easy. Um you guys did a lot of work on it. Would I have changed some stuff? Possibly. Would it have changed the bottom line of the numbers? Maybe not. Um, but you have to, you know, weigh your good with the bad. And I don't think in the end the result would be that great if you try to cut too much out of this budget. Um, you guys have taken and I said guys, everyone on this board have taken a lot of steps to try and get creative in ways to come up with spending and ways that some people never would have thought of. I wish our township would actually do something like that and get creative and try and learn to spend other ways rather than just increase spending because it

065looks better. So, I appreciate the hard work that's gone into it. Um, see, we have a lot of teachers here and I can tell you from knowing some teachers, none of them get into it because they feel it's a good job or they just felt like doing it. They get into it because they love doing it. they have a passion for it and the support that you guys give them, I know they appreciate whatever you could do for them. Um, the hard work that went into the budget, I know it was a lot of strenuous hours. Um, if we're going to have to raise taxes, I'd rather come from the schools who are losing money and need to kind of go up than the township who constantly gets money but still raises my taxes. So,

066thank you for your your hard work. I leave it in your hands because that's why we elected you and how you vote on this budget. But thanks for everything you do and the hard work that went into it and the time [Applause] I can go right up. Larry Reid, 475 Normandy Drive. Um, thanks to volunteers on the board. Thank you for all your hard work. Uh, you know, as a former board member, doing a budget is an impossible task when the state constantly cuts your monies. So, uh, as somebody that started an educational, uh, not forprofit to explain why you're not getting the money. I'm going to try and explain that in five minutes here to give you a little education. Okay? So, if I could just have a show of hands, how many people

067have heard of the property tax relief fund? Okay, that's a good start. Usually, it's nothing. Okay, the property tax relief fund is currently $20 billion in the state. Okay. So that property tax relief fund was created in 1976 when they passed the state income tax. So all the money from the state income tax goes into a fund called the property tax relief fund. Each of the last two years, three years actually, it's been roughly $20 billion with a B. So when that uh income tax was created in 1976, the primary purpose, am I too close to this? The primary purpose of the property tax uh I mean for the income tax was to fund public schools like brick like all over the state. So what happened? Well, the legislature has decided to spend it on

068other things. So, you have a $20 billion fund and the money is being stolen from that fund to pay for a lot of things that aren't related to property tax. They're called earmarks, pet projects, pork projects. So, I've talked about this a lot of times. So all these communities throughout the state that are being squeezed by the state and they're being being given a a a story and telling you to raise your taxes when they already have the money that was supposed to go to the schools and it's not going to the schools. Okay. So how do you change that? Well, you got a gubanatorial election in the fall and you have a primary. So the turnouts in voting throughout the state are very low. So if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll

069get what you always got. And if you don't go out and vote based on schools getting their share of the property tax relief fund, you're you're going to be in the same boat every year. So here you have a state that has the highest property taxes in the country telling you the taxpayer you need to pay more taxes and they don't talk anything about how they're spending the property tax relief fund. So the property tax relief fund this year in this year's budget is round numbers $21 billion. C every every month they uh the department of the treasury shows the receipts. How am I doing? Go ahead. Monet 29 shows the receipts for all the funds in the state as of March which was the last report that came out on April 15th. The property

070tax relief fund was running $800 million over budget. Okay. So that money at the end of this fiscal year will be available to the state if they wanted to reimburse all these districts that are getting screwed. Okay? Pardon my French, but this is what's happening. You folks, you citizens have to get out and vote for your schools. These class sizes have been try, you tried to keep it down. You've done a great job, but they're still too big. And it's not just this district. That's throughout the state. The state is stealing the money from the property tax relief fund. Where does it go? Well, the one of the worst examples, this is called the appropriations handbook. You can get this from your legislature. I've gone through this each of the last three years. It's a

071line by line appropriations item for each spending in the state budget. Jim Jim knows that I'll read through this stuff and find it because I'm into the detail. But each year of the last three years, the state spends $40 million for substance abuse programs in Hudson, Bergen, Essex, and Union County jails. Substance abuse for jail prisoners in those. and it they take the money from the property tax relief fund. Listen, if the state wants to have those programs, take the general fund money, which is like $62 billion rather than the property tax relief fund money, which is supposed to be going to the schools. That's just one of the glaring examples. There's hundreds of millions of special pet projects at the end of the chapter in here called community affairs. And if anybody's interested, I'll

072be glad to show them to you. Thank you. Anyone [Applause] else? M. We're ready. I'm ready. It's okay. Let me let me just say I I think I'm glad the room is full tonight, but I'm not sure. But I hope everybody that's here wearing your blue shirt stays for the whole meeting. And here's everything that goes on at the meeting. If you're going to show up, stay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Uh, so in the in first in the budget, I don't know if I missed it, but did was was the actual number for the tax levy increase in dollars in that presentation? I didn't see it, but if it was there, I apologize, but but if it's not, the actual tax levy increase, so just so everybody knows, was $6.7 million over last year. I

073know if you look at percentages, you can't know that, but $6.7 million was a tax levy increase. Uh, debt service zero. If if that's true, and I'm sure it is, Mr. Edwards said it was, congratulations. I think that's great. Also in the budget, I noticed that the t the capital outlay went from 11.5 million down to 1.9 for whatever grade. You still have a responsibility to maintain the school district, the buildings, everything else. Now, that that should be part of the budget. In fact, that should be the first part of the budget, right? Uh, and the last thing the state bribed you with $28,000 to increase the tax levy. That's all that was was a bribe. Nothing else. So much for the budget. Now for the rest of the agenda. All right. Uh, my first

074topic is always field trips. We added another four to the list. You're now up to 167 for the year. And the year is not over. By the way, under operations number 12, I I don't I don't really understand this. Maybe somebody could explain it. You You have a budget. You put a budget, you vote on it, and this one was for u speech and occupational therapy. The initial approval was for 1,158 hours or $82,000. and occupational therapy was 27 $14,000. If you look at the agenda item tonight, according to what I read, additional services were needed. Somebody made a decision to spend three thou three times that budget. I business 32 years when you got a budget, you got a budget. I don't know who has to approve or or what do you have a

075budget for if you're allowed to spend three times what that budget was and in the occupational therapy you spend two times what it was so somebody can explain how that works or who has to approve it and then under budget items that are listed I guess from Mr. Edwards on down. I have a couple of questions about that. I don't know what all the budget numbers mean, so I'll give you the budget number and ask my question. Budget item number four 4600. You reduced um salaries for principles and assistant principles by $52,000. And the thing says reduction due to other higher prioritized needs. So my question is, how do you reduce salaries and principles and assistant principles by $52,000? Did did Did you That's like a third or a fourth of a person. How do

076you do that? Under 302 purchases services was reduced by 650. Oh, not purchased. Yeah. purchase ser purchase professional services reduced by $650,000. What was that professional services that we reduced by 650,000? Health benefits went from 24 million to 33 million. And my question is, was that increase passed on to employees? Nobody's moaning. That's good. Here's my here's my reasoning, right? My my medical insurance goes up, I have to pay it. The increase, I pay that. Your medical insurance goes up. You only pay a percentage of that, right? So, who pays the rest? We do taxpayers. So, we get hit with the double-edged sword. We have to pay our own and and we have to pay yours, too. whatever you don't pay. I think there should be something in the contract that says if the cost

077of benefits goes up during that period, the employees have to pay it. I have to pay mine. I shouldn't have to pay mine and yours. Um 75780 something to do with student transportation and it went down $1 million. I I need to know what wonder what that is. 75780. I only have two more. Um on item 20 where you have the prek budget. I think I know the answer to this, but I still like to hear it. If you look at that, it says students. When I look at the other report, it says 571 students, right? So why is there a difference of almost 110? You know what I'm talking about. Okay. And and the last one I have under human resources. What is the affirmative action team going to do? It says participate in

078the needs assessment and comprehensive equity plan. Have no idea what that is. So, could you tell me what the affirmative action people are going to do or not do? Okay. Is that it, Mr. Finelli? That's it. Okay. Thank you. He's going to answer. You want to You're going to answer all of those later. No, I the Q&A for agenda items we do now. We We do the questions now. Remember, on agenda items because they'll be voting on them. I'm going to start with the budget stuff because this year is a little different. The state requires and Mr. Edwards will jump in. The state required us this year because of the application for the tax levy increase to list the budget off of our tentative budget. So when we approved our tentative budget, as Mr. Edwards

079and I say every year, it's not even worth the paper it's written on. So many things changed since then. We don't even get our projections on the health benefits till after the tenative budget. Not even close to them from the actuary. So we took our tenative budget now at the 2% cap our tenative budget had a lot of cuts right to meet that tenative budget that which is listed right now in the new budget is in that wording and format right Jim for for the new way if you remember the last years I mean I've never seen our budget usually see a grid with the general fund percentages tax levy all that this is listed that way off of that baseline so some of your questions and I'll get to your specific specific ones on

080these, but some of your questions like salaries reduced um principal the uh I think it was the principal salaries reduced purchase services and all those were going off the tenative budget that we listed. Mr. Edwards, do you want to add to some of those items? No, it's off the items that are on the agenda tonight, which is the which is which is the final budget. No. So, no. So, you're I guess you're not understanding what I'm trying to say. the way this budget is listed right now where we have the notes reduction of this reduction of that. Mr. Edwards, please feel free to jump in. That is off of the baseline of our tenative budget that we approved back in March. March. Do you want to add to that, please? Yeah, you're saying it the

081right way. So, the columns you're looking at are what was approved in the tenative budget back in March versus what's being approved tonight and then the differences, the changes. So, it's not comparing it to last year's budget. It's comparing it to what was approved in March. So, I know that's confusing uh because it's not comparing it to last year and some people may look at it that way. Uh it's comparing it to what was approved in the March meeting. Okay. So, to I mean I can give you some rough answers on these questions, but it's hard to do that because the tenative budget isn't as Dr. Fra said, it's not worth the paper it was printed on. So, you know, what was what was adopted at the March meeting was really really really really rough

082estimates in regards to positions and you know we had to in order to meet that budget we had to reduce I don't know Miss Mcdamara 65 positions out of the budget for the tenative budget. Those 65 positions are no longer reduced. So when you see something that is significantly different it's because it's significantly different from what was approved at the March meeting. Um, you know, some of them I can give you answers on. I know the per the purchase professional educational services. That's a $649,000 decrease. That number was something that that, you know, upon review after adopting the March tenative budget, we feel like that number could be reduced by that amount. So, it's now being projected at a lower number. It's not anything significant that happened. It's just the projection was reduced. So, basically,

083those numbers don't mean anything. The March numbers don't mean anything. The changes don't mean anything. It's something that the DOE is now requiring. Another idiotic thing that I can't understand why they're requiring it, but the numbers don't mean anything. I I actually said that to the county business administrator. We're going to get questions, which we are, on what these changes are, and we're not going to be able to explain them because the March budget that you had us adopt was meaningless. Um, some of your other Which of my questions can you answer? I'm going to I'm going to go to you. You asked about the um the speech related service. So I want to explain to many people how our budget works. So we we adopt the budget and um there are things that legally

084we have to do. For example, we know in special ed which related services of which speech services are part of our own special ed we are required by law to administer an IEP which is basically a legal contract. There are many times we project or estimate maybe out of district placements and students move into town, things change and the budget's very fluid, but we're required to say, you know, put those students whether it's an out of district placement and we might have budgeted for 12 and we had 15 this year for whatever the reason. Also, just so you know, there are times where we project too much and Mr. Edwards would tell you in February and March every administrator that's here and we sit in and we say wait a second you don't have a

085purchase order open for this amount of money we're taking it back and that lapses into our surplus which we apply to create the new budget. So it does work both ways. It's not an exact science I will tell you and there's many special ed people here. Special ed is a huge cost center that we are required to do. Many times it could come through litigation where a parent or someone actually sues us requiring us to do something that wasn't budgeted and we then have to find the money in some way and move it into special ed. And that is what happened in the speech therapy sources. It was underbudgeted for a myriad of reasons but it does happen um every now and then. We do the best we can. I will I've argued in front

086of the states some of our out of district placements that the states monitor. I think last year some of the tuitions went up 30% Jim on a couple of them and we have no choice and we were under a 2% cap and they went up 30% after we adopted a budget. So we had a shortfall just in that area. So um it's kind of a fluid process and it's a little hard when it comes to some of the required things we have to do. Uh you asked about the prek the 497 and the PIA grant. That's 46 467. I thought he said 497's in the PIA grant, but what's the and the five something enrolled? The difference is what's being funded via the atrisisk grant and the uh disabled kids that are paid for by

087the board of education. Maybe that's 80. Does it come out to the 83% of the total enrollment? I don't So we have to look at the actual number of students the numbers. So I don't know the 497, but we only get funded for the atrisisk children. That's the that would be the portion the state's funding out of the total enrollment. And again, they don't they don't fund the 100% of the actual student costs. You also asked about um the Oh, before you go, what were you just talking about the prek number the 497? Why was the difference between the total 467? You Why was there difference between that and the total enrollment? And that's the actual number the state funds for. That's what they're funding. Yeah. Not what you have. Correct. Okay. Yeah. That's the

088So that's the 80s something percent. I think so. I think that's what it comes out to percentage. I don't know the exact percentage as far as the number of students. 467 out of the 530 may come out to exactly 83%. 467 out of 571. It's about a It's about a 20% difference. 25% difference. Well, then it probably works out. You you asked about the um affirmative action team. Really, it's the comprehensive equity plan. I'm sure former board members know the comprehensive equity plan has been around for a long time. Every three years, every three years. Please don't make me laugh, Mr. Reid, but yes, every three years you have to present a comprehensive equity plan that the board approves. I believe we're now going on six years because they didn't ask us to do it.

089And Mr. Kisler in HR puts together an affirmative action team and submits a comprehensive equity plan based on I'm going to let you jump right in. based on hiring, based on uh students, all these things. It's been going on for years. And that is what this affirmative action team will do is look at this plan so we could get it approved and dot our little eye and check off for CUSAC that we have our comprehensive equity plan. Let me let me try to nail you down a little bit. You mentioned hiring. All right. This affirmative action and we're going to talk about that at the end of the meeting, right? I am anyway. What other things are there besides hiring and this affirmative action package? What other things do they look at? You just said

090other things. What are they? Yeah, for the most part, it's reviewing policies and procedures for the district to make sure that u we're in compliance with the requirements for the state department of education and federal title requirements. So, it's not just hiring practices, it's professional development. Um, it's what we offer in our courses. It's making sure that we have uh fair uh coursework and provided for all students. Um it's I would I would categorize it as the information that's presented at each budget meet budget meeting for what we're doing in the schools are all part of what is presented in the comprehensive equity. So you affirmative action includes your curriculum of what they're calling it the affirmative action team. So that's the title of the team that they asked us to put together. Okay. We'll

091talk about it later. Mr. Kler, that's it. Okay. Thank you. Anything anybody else about it later? So, Mr. Finelli, just to give you because I know some of these numbers are he had asked about if I can give there's a couple of them that I know specifically what changed. So, uh one of the numbers he asked about was uh 46,000 which is salaries for principles and system principles and why there was a you know reduction there and that it looks like it's a half a principal. It's not a half a principal. uh between the tenative budget and the final budget, we actually had a principal who retired and so we're replacing that retirement with a newer salary. Newest salary happens to be less. It's nothing you did to cut the budget. It just circumstance. Correct.

092It was a circumstance that changed between when we adopted the tenative budget to the final budget. Right. Okay. Again, so you asked another question in regards to the transportation one. Um we originally had budgeted for purchasing the school buses. Now on the agenda is the least purchase of school buses. So the purchase of a million dollars comes out, goes to zero. That's the change. So the tenative budget had the buses in. This one doesn't have it in. Um health benefits. You asked the question regard benefits. Do the employees contribute? The answer is yes. The employees do contribute. Uh I actually heard in my ear here when I mentioned the 8.11% increase, I heard some people go uh right. I heard that come out of the audience. So that you know when they they they made

093that noise that they do contribute. But my point is that they only pay a percentage of the increase. They do, but they pay a percentage. Yep. As a taxpayer, I pay 100% of my pay. Mr. Edwards, are you done? That's it. All right. So, uh, I I just want to say thank you to the board, Dr. Fra, everybody who put time and effort into this budget. I think it's a fiscally responsible budget. Um, I will add that taxpayers pay for Medicaid and Medicare for seniors. So, we do do our part. So, teachers do [Applause] deserve teachers do deserve that as well. And I want it on record so that Trenton hears us from the small town of Brick Township. People of Brick demand that Trenton Democrats start listening to the moms and dads and the

094teachers of this town. We demand that they fulfill their obligation to fully fund Brick Township to ensure that both the students get what they need and the teachers get what they deserve. So Trenton, we're not going to stop fighting. We're doing what we must right now. I hope that you guys do vote yes on this budget, but things need to change. Thank you. [Applause] Uh Kevin Blame, president of the BTEA. Uh first again, as always, I want to thank the board for just what you do every day, not to mention the budget and everything else. Um, we do appreciate that our teachers and we know how much you appreciate the teachers and our power professionals and what you guys do for our kids in Breck. Uh, so so thank you for that. Um, I just

095want to remind everybody too that I I'm I'm also the vice president of Ocean County, so I understand what else is going on, what these other districts are dealing with. And in comparison, we're actually in a much better place than some of these other districts. Um much much better. And I I commend the board for that, for being financially responsible. Um for example, last year we were in the same exact situation. We had the opportunity to raise up to 9.9%. The board chose not to fulfill that whole 9.9, but it was very similar to this year was what was 4.6 or something we we did. And to me, and that that limited some of the class sizes still. They're they're believe me, they're not perfect. They're they're far from perfect. they're still overcrowded and but

096we're able to maintain the teachers as well. So I just want to make sure that is clear. Although this budget is, you know, again, it's still painful, but we we need if we didn't do this budget, I I I just couldn't imagine the class sizes any larger. I walk into those elementary schools, you could you could barely walk. Our our teachers are great multitaskers. They're they're all over the place with those. And to meet the individual needs of our kids, the class sizes are so so important. They have to be low. So, I want to commend the finance committee and and Dr. Farrell and your cabinet for presenting this budget. I know it's not easy. I know it's very very painful. And uh I just really I ju I just want to um I have

097I have two asks for you uh for everybody basically. So I'm asking the board to please approve this budget and I'm asking the community to understand and have some empathy and understand what this board how hard they have to work in order to meet these needs. And the last thing is we need to remember this is not our fault. It's not the board's fault. It's not Dr. Fowler's fault or his cabinet. It's not the community's fault. It's not the teachers fault or the par profofessionals or the administrators. And it's especially not the children's fault. We all know this is coming from Trent. We dealt with it for years and years with S2 and finally we thought we were at the end of the line and now we still are not funded correctly. So please again

098I ask the public to be show some empathy and I ask the board to please approve this budget. Thank you. Anyone else out there? Any more comments or questions? Seeing Seeing none, Dr. Anderson, curriculum and instruction, please. Thank you, Miss Sanon. Under curriculum instruction, the superintendent recommends that a board approve the following items one through four. I need a motion and a second, please. Motion Fran second. Ally Mary. A vote. Mary, please. Miss Pala, yes. Miss Kennedy, yes. Miss Benedictus, yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Mr. Mesmer, yes. Miss Ayatarum, yes. Mr. Edwards, yes. Thank you. This evening, the superintendent recommends items 1 through 27. Board comments. I'm sorry, Mr. Edwards. Hang on for a second. I forgot board comments. Anybody have a board comment? Victoria. Um, first I'd like to thank Mr. Edwards and Miss Roberts

099and the finance office. No, we're on operations. We already voted curriculum. We're not on operations yet. We're still on curriculum. You got a comment? I'm sorry. I Oh, I do have board comment for that. I want to thank um the outstanding effort of Candy Riviera and Gary Paxton and all the teachers that work so hard to bring a couple extra dollars a,000 5,000 2500 to improve our students um uh experience. We really need a grant writer to take that burden off the teachers someday I hope. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, Mr. Edwards, you're on. Um, superintendent still recommends item through 1 through 27. I need a motion in a second, please. Motion Alley. Second, Fran. Vote. Mary, board comments. Oh, board comments. Doing board comments first. Go ahead. Board. You got to give her

100a chance to say thank you to Mr. Edwards. Come on. Yeah. Uh, I didn't know if I wanted board comments on this. Any board comments? This budget? Yes. I'd like to thank uh Mr. Edwards, Ms. Roberts, the finance office, the staff. They worked so damn hard and um I did have an opportunity uh while I was on vacation to hear some uh news about the budget and I text Mr. Edwards, I'm I'm in the um I'm in the sun and the sea. And he said back, I'm in budget hell. So that cracked me up. Um as far as this budget goes, I want to say that here in Brick Township, uh the state keeps reminding us that we're $28 million under adequacy. Now, where is that money supposed to come from? And how are we

101as a board to help our students get the thorough and efficient education they deserve? Um, to me, under adequacy translates to me and you providing our students with what the state won't. This is our opportunity. I want to say that if you if you want to raise teacher morale, choose to spend or raise the tax funds that our teachers and staff deserve because they're the heart and soul of our students experience. Um, I would have and I recommended um uh to raise the tax levy higher because again only brick township can provide this money. And there is um the lovely lady from Osborneville, you know, she talked about our property values and different things that that make the school district makes the town great. And I really think it's time for board members and administration

102to um not to resist taxpayers and politics over what our students need. Now, according to our charts, the tax levy is going to be an additional $78 a year. Is that right? Average household. It's not Oh, I'm sorry. 128 126. Now, think about what you spend $126 on. Think about it. I'm not talking about Starbucks. I'm talking about eggs and flour and going out to eat. Um, I really feel the town could do better. Um and um I was hoping that uh the other board members would support a higher rate for our students and it just didn't happen. So I'm sorry for that and I'm sorry for Dr. Farrell's remark that he has to keep the ship afloat every year. Um we should be cruising down that river and um that that's all I have

103to say about that. Thank you. I'd like anyone else. Yes, me. Me. Do you want to go? All right. All right. All right. That's right. Okay. So, um, yes, this does come down from Trenton as you so eloquently spoke. Um, and it to be honest, it doesn't matter what letter is next to the person's name that's in that office that's in Trenton. It doesn't matter. They're screwing us over and it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who they are. We're screwed and it's not fair and we shouldn't be in this predicament time after time after time. Um, I went and I had the opportunity to speak unfortunately to a teacher from Lacy and she was so upset because she was just let go. She's a single mom and h I get teeyed. And she's now applying

104for section 8 housing because she doesn't know how she's going to put a roof over her kid's head. And that's true for our teachers as well as for our students, which would be the taxpayer. So we have to make sure that the teachers can get the adequate money that they need, the adequate salary to keep a roof over their head as well as our taxpayers who are parents of our students. We need that that happy medium. And we worked so hard to make sure that we can keep a roof over the teachers heads and keep them in their same home as well as a roof over our students heads and food in their in their bellies and clothes on their back. These are all things that we've had to really strive to make sure that

105we can have that happy medium. And it was really difficult, but I am so proud of the work that we did and we're so grateful for all of you. [Applause] Mike, go ahead, Mike. So, as the chair of the finance committee, um, kind of deciding on where we wanted to go with this tax increase for the budget, it really was a similar situation to last year. Um, but we we do have to be fiscally responsible as well. I know as a board member, my I'm advocating for the students and the teachers. That's the most important thing for me. I have a child in the district. I want to make sure we're giving as much as we can to make sure you guys are safe with your jobs. Um the students are safe, the district's safe,

106but at the same time, we have to be fiscally responsible. We can't just raise taxes 20 30% because eventually our district's going to be in a lot of trouble. similar to where all these other districts in Nosen County are. So I think basically the number we came up with with the 3.14 or 5.14% total increase that is slightly over the break even point where we're protecting all teacher positions. We're ensuring that class sizes will not increase. There's potential for it to go down again. And uh also after discussions with President Ayanarone, we're also planning to get into litigation with the state over the funds that we feel we deserve with this new S2 formula where we think we can, you know, gain up to potentially 2.8 or three million um that Dr. Edwards mentioned before.

107So, I just want to understand we we factored in everything into this decision. Um, and we felt this was fair to protect the teachers of the district, the students, while also not killing the taxpayer because there are people that are struggling. So, we can't just raise taxes a million% and say everything's fine. So, I think this is a successful budget from where our district is, and I think that's why we are in the position we are. So, [Applause] So, I have to agree with Mike. This was our major Oh, Ally, how did you get jipped? Allie, sorry. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Um, I just wanted to say shout out to the PTAs that are on the agenda with donations to their schools. Um, I put a lot of blood, sweat, and

108tears into PTA. I can appreciate everything that goes into it. And I love that you are giving back to the school and helping out where, um, some of the gaps are in simple little things, but your impact is huge. So, um, keep up the good work. Thank you, Dr. Farrell, your cabinet, our principles, our finance committee, to everybody that participates in the daunting job of putting this budget together. Do I like that we have to raise taxes? No. is it's saving our teachers. It's keeping our class sizes down. Yes. And for that, how can you not vote yes? Because we have to keep our children first always. We have to keep our teachers. You guys are the backbones of our school. We couldn't do it without you. That is all. John Henry, you want to

109say something? You're last. But no, I'll be last. No, I No, I have a comment. So, first of all, um, this has been difficult. This is I've only been for those of you who know me or don't know me, I've only been on the board for three months. And so, we had some very difficult decisions on some of the other meetings and including this one on budget, which was a very difficult one. So, first of all, I appreciate everybody's comment, everybody who came up here tonight and spoke very elegantly about their their passion, their belief, and where we should be. And yes, there's a lot of teachers in the room tonight. The administrators, the board members, everybody spoke and it looks like we're going to be all in favor of this because it does make

110a difference in the classroom. And I do want to mention though that and I was going to save this for after the meeting or not after the meeting but final comments but I've had the opportunity to go into the school and see some plays and some other events and we talk about student achievement and we look at the numbers and statistics and you know what that is one indicator of success but that's not the only indicator of success. I encourage each and every one of you to go in if you haven't and go watch play. go spend some time at these events because they're incredible and look at it through the lens of another form of student achievement because the students are crushing it in the school and the administrators and the teachers paris everybody

111in the facilities people they're all in support and for me I'm kind of blown away because we are like doing very well compared to other I have a lot of people and friends that I know around the state and they're not doing so Well, we are doing pretty well. I know it's painful to raise taxes, but you know, sometimes we have to keep that chip afloat. And I think that it's more than just floating. I I still believe that we are moving forward and the students are crushing it in the school and the teachers are doing a wonderful job. The board, thank you my from my colleagues and administrators for doing an unbelievable job. [Applause] Okay. Well, thank you, John, for calming me down. Um, I also went to the plays. They were fabulous. Um,

112I just couldn't believe that I that young kids were doing this. It was just beautiful to watch. And I want to say bravo to all of you out here today, the teachers and all. I know quite a few of you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for showing your support. I would never ever think of raising our taxes 9.9% when we don't need to. We did what we needed to do to keep you all in a job to get the support that we needed for our children and to raise taxes at a higher rate than what we need would just let Trenton have more money in their pocket that they're not sharing with us. That's our money that we're not getting. We need to be sure that um we're responsible, which we are. We're

113in a better place than any one of the other schools in the area. Just read the newspapers. Oh, look, we haven't had to sell anything. We've had to are I I don't know. You guys are just fabulous. I want to thank you and I would never ever ever raise our taxes that high because when your taxes get raised, so do mine. Thank you. [Applause] Mr. Kler, human resources. Oh, no. We didn't vote. I'm sorry. We have to vote on operations. Mary, Miss Miss Piccolo, yes. Miss Kennedy, yes. Miss Benedictus, yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Mr. Mesmer, yes. Miss Ayanna, yes. Thank you. Thank you, M. Thank you, Mrs. Ayanna. Under human resources tonight, the superintendent is recommending items 1 through 30 for approval. I need a motion in a second, please. Motion Fran. Second, Mike. Uh,

114any board comments? I'd just like to ask um we're losing three principles. Um we're gonna comment on that at the end. Oh, okay. I just wanted to know if the positions were posted or what happened. Any other comments? Seeing none, Mary, vote, please. Miss Pala, yes. Miss Kennedy, yes. Miss Benedictus, yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Mr. Mesmer, yes. Yes, Miss Ayanna. Yes, Miss McMar is going to respond about some of the retirements. I want everybody to know until the budget was approved, we don't post for any of the positions and retirements accepted, but yes, obviously they'll be posted. But Miss Mcamer, thank you Dr. Frell and Mrs. Ayanarone. Uh this evening we have uh the retirement of Colleen Kerr on the agenda. Um, Colleen has been a longtime teacher and administrator in brick district. Uh, she

115did an extraordinary job along with Dr. Susan Jenko to really bring Drum Point Elementary School to life uh, many years ago and really changed the climate and culture of that building. She went on to be a uh exceptional interventionist at Midstream's Elementary School. I was proud to work with her as a teammate at Veterans Memorial Elementary School. Uh she was my assistant principal and eventually became the principal there. Uh before moving back then to her love, Drum Point Elementary School as principal. She has served this district well. uh she is an extraordinary individual, an extraordinary educator and we will miss her greatly. Can we please have a round of applause for [Music] coming? The other retirement on tonight's agenda is Terry Goodfellow. Terry's in the audience. I know she is. Um, Terry again has been

116a longtime educator and educational leader in this district. Uh, Terry was at Osborneville Elementary School, uh, Lanesville Elementary School, Warren H. Wolf when it was an elementary school, and then the Early Childhood Development Center. Uh Terry has served in a number of positions, but the one that has impacted this district most is the way in which she has brought to life the preschool program. Brick would not have a preschool program if it wasn't for Terry Goodfellow. She has created an environment and a climate for our three and four year olds to not only survive but thrive and succeed in an educational environment that embraces each child for their unique talents to move them forward in our school district. Terry, there aren't enough words of thanks for all you've done for Brook Township Public Schools. Please

117stand and be applauded. [Music] [Applause] [Music] And of course we applauded uh we applauded Mr. Campbell on the last agenda, but Mr. Campbell is also leaving us. Um, he's here tonight and we're all here. So, let's wish Mr. Campbell [Music] well twice. Thank you, Mrs. Rone. Thank you, Dr. Farrell. Miss McNamera, policy and planning. Thank you, Mrs. Ayanna. The superintendent recommends the board approve the following items for policy and planning one and two. I'm going to need a motion and a second, please. Motion B. Second, Ally. Any any board comments? Seeing none, Mary, vote, please. Miss Pala, yes. Miss Kennedy, yes. Miss Benedictus. Yes. Mr. Henry, yes. Mr. Mesmer, yes. Miss Ayan, yes. This is our time for our second public comment section. Guys, let me read it first. This is the second opportunity for

118public comment. Each participant is asked to give us his or her name prior to making a statement. All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. Comment shall be limited to five minutes. The board will not during the public portion of this meeting discuss matters involving employment, appointment, termination of employment, negotiations, terms and com conditions of employment, evaluation of performance of promotion, disciplinary or any specific or prospective or current employment and or students. I do want you to know that this is comments. The questions will be answered um at the end. Just a comment if you can. Okay. Thank you. All right. So again, I am Kristen Sts and I'm here with some positive news. We're going to be hosting our um Ocean County PTA election installation on May 20th. It's going to be in

119person for the first time in a long time and it will be over at Vets Memorial Middle School on May 20th at 6 p.m. We do need to make a quorum in order to have a vote. If we don't have a, you know, the people to do so, then there is no installation. And so I would really advise if you can find at least five people from your school that are PTA members. It can be parents, it can be staff, we just need bodies. And I'm going to run May 20th, 6:15. There will be dinner. $5 charge. If you don't know how to buy a ticket, I will help you, but the more bodies we can get there, the better. Um, right now the positions are just one person running in each for the board,

120but the committees are all open for running. So, if you're interested, please join. I'm going to run because I guarantee my kid is still playing video games and they're state testing tomorrow. So, good night. Thank you very much. [Applause] I apologize. I didn't want to have to get up a second time, but I'd be remiss if I didn't address two things that I heard tonight. The first was that about teachers health benefits. So, yeah, all public employees pay percentage of their health benefits. Their employer pays the other percentage. When that goes up, both halves go up. And that's contractual. There's nothing that could be done about that. the teachers agree to the contract. It's not up to the board to decide that they're going to pay less and make the teachers pay more. The other

121thing is I have no doubt that this board did not want to raise taxes. You were forced to. You were forced to by our state not funding this district properly. But when you do that, you have to weigh the good and the bad. You need to weigh how much you're going up and where you could cut and sacrifice and still keep the teachers jobs that you want to keep. To go off and say we should have raised taxes more to do more is just unprofessional. If you do that and you raise taxes so much just because you think you want to do more, what you do is the exact opposite. is you make it too expensive for people to move into this town, which then brings less students into this town and then you lose

122teachers. So, you're not really doing more by raising taxes more. So, you did a good job. You raise it where you needed to do. I'm more than happy to pay my share of whatever that is, but I appreciate you not raising it more just to make it appear that you're going to do more and force people out of this town. It is a good town, and thank you for doing what you guys did. [Applause] John Sluka 950 Sylvia Court. Um just an important thing as far as I'm concerned with this budget this year we got through it but the first thing I want to know before that is the student population now compared to 10 years ago has gone down. Do we have an idea of how much it's gone down in 10 years? And

123the new one includes preschool, I think. And the old one didn't have preschool. So 10 years ago. Um again where I worked it was always 10 years or five years and then the one year. Um also many people don't have any more money to pay any tax increase 5% 3% 10% over two years. Anybody that wants to pay more taxes, they're willing and able to do so can donate the money. There's not a chance in the world people will do it because you can do it. You just got to go out and say, "I want to pay more and you pay more." Nobody's stopping you. Some people live in two families in one house, which I've seen, trying to make ends meet, and we're worried about raising taxes. I'm worried about the people. And what

124about the seniors that we have? Thank God, you know, the state's screwing us over. That's great. The problem is it's hurting everybody. You know, somehow we got to call the state government and try to make them change their minds. It's not happening, but it doesn't hurt to call them and annoy the hell out of them. Um, so no one really wants to pay anymore. If you want to pay more, $5,000 donation, $8,000 donation, the school will actually take that money. Okay. Uh but if you do if you can tell me the possibility of what the school population is. Thank you [Applause] Mr. Finelli. Go ahead. I don't see anybody else with their hands. You can leave anytime you want and send your check in for an extra 5,000. Um, I'm going to read a statement

125first before I make my other statements. I actually don't have any questions, but just in response to what was said, I I don't think so much about the $75, $100, $200 that the average increase is going to go up on a house that depending on which meeting you are, the average cost of a house in brick is $250 to $300,000. I got news for you. To get a house that price, you have to live in Greenbryer. What I think about is the $125 I give you every week. And in order to make $125 to have that, I have to make $150. I give Brick $125 every week. That's what I concerned about. And everything else goes up. I'm glad everybody stayed. Thank you. Because your report card is in and we're going to talk about

126it. Before I do, I just want to read a statement and answer the question partially that was asked by a former speaker. In 2003 and 2004, you had the highest school enrollment in BRIC's history. That was 11,64 students down in 2003 2004. It has gone down every year since then. Every year. At present, you have 8,152. That's off the latest report that I saw. Back out to prek, which wasn't around in 2004. So, we're just looking at K through 12. PreK is an add-on, a whole different package. And preK is 571 according to the report that I saw. That leaves in the main body of the brick school district right now 7,581 students. That is 4,023 students less than you had at your peak, which was in 2004. I realize I'm not answering the last

12710 years, but that's the history of brick, the whole thing. That is a 35% decrease in your main student population. Even though the last two demographic studies said that this population was going to stabilize, I told you it wasn't. And unfortunately, I was right. In the last two years, that population has gone down 70 students and 87 students. That's the last two years. It's still going down. Anybody watch 60 Minutes on Sunday? You saw another reason why it's going down. And that one is really scary. Right? You have not decreased 35% of your teachers over that period of time. You have not decreased 35% of your administrators, 35% of your n nurses. You haven't decreased 35% of anything. But your student population went down and it is still going down. PreK is handled as a

128separate entity and a separate funding. That's all I have to say about that. You you need to understand that. Okay, let's talk about your report card. Last year when I asked about this, you said you're not going to present it because you don't have to. So, I'm assuming that's going to hold true this year also. So, I'm not I'm going to present it. All right. It's your report card. It's your report card. And it's your report card. You're all part of it. All right, let's talk about absence. We had a slight improvement in overall absence last year. The U absent number for this the absence was 21.1%. This year it's 18.7%. So it went down 2.4. All right. Yes, you you you might want to applaud for that, but I'm not I'm not applauding for

1292.4. And and and I'll tell you why in a minute. All right. Now, in the past, I've heard things like partying students, Mr. Finley, I have to say one thing. Please don't talk to the teachers. Just tell us what questions you want to ask. You shouldn't allow them to clap because they're not supposed to be clapping. Clap after he speaks. Thank you. Okay. Now, in the past, I've heard absence was that we have a lot of problem with Hispanic students going back to to, you know, their countries for a month and that affects absence. That that that doesn't hold water. It's not true because your Hispanic students actually had better attendance than your white students. So, that excuse can have to come out of the book, right? The new report breaks it down a little

130better than what it used to be because it used to be they just told you how many students missed 18 days or more and you don't know how many days they missed. The new report if you looked at it now breaks it down to where they go how many missed 18 to 23 days which was 9.6% of your students. How many missed 23 to 35 days which was uh 6% and how many missed 36 days or more which was 3.1%. In every grade compared to the state average brick is worse than the state average. Every grade. There is not one grade in the school system that's better than the state average. By the way, the state average was 14.9. You're at 18.7. So you want to Excuse me, Mr. Finelli. Just one second. I would

131just like to um um speak to the president for a moment. Victoria, please let him. We have a policy. Please. We have a policy. Victoria, enough. Go ahead, Mr. Finelli. Mr. Finelli, continue real quick. You're going to give me another minute. Come on. Okay. Last year, I brought to your attention that you were part of the problem because you have this at home suspensions. And I told you last year absence for at home suspensions total 1,829 days. You're creating your own absence problem. I'm glad you paid attention and listened to me because this year that number is 2,141 days. You went up another unbelievable amount of numbers right now. Okay, Mr. Mr. Fil, I'm getting near the end. I'm getting near the end. I only have two more things. Lanes Mill Elementary School, somebody ought

132to go over and see what they did. They went from 20.8 to 12.5, a reduction of 8.3. You want to clap for that? That That's a That's an increase. That's That's better. However, okay, we got to wrap up. Seriously, come on. What's the next on the flip side of that? Veterans Memorial Elementary School, which I noticed on the on the presentation had one of the highest class sizes. They went from 21.8 to 24.4. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Finelli. I'm not done yet. Yeah, but you are because we have I'm going to put my hand up and come back again. Okay. Yes. So, two things real quickly. I do not agree that we should be raising taxes to the maximum because or raising taxes to an additional amount besides what was done. I've sat in

133HOA meetings because there was increases in the HOA because of the state laws again and I saw seniors crying because they couldn't pay an additional $30 a month and that they were going to have to sell their home and try to figure out where they're going next. So, it'd be irresponsible of us to do anything like that. Secondly, I would say good job to the teachers of this town because you got Norc, New Jersey who gets billions of dollars in funding and you guys have a fraction of that and your math scores are better than theirs. So, congratulations to you all. Okay. Is that it? Mr. Campbell. Mr. Campbell. This won't cost any money. Inserting life skills into middle school grades 6 through 8. Remember, middle school programs make or break a student for future

134endeavors and success must be addressed. Suggestion to modify at each grade level. create one period per week by shaving 5 to 10 minutes off each period that day. Students rotate each week through a eight core subjects cycle one, two, and three. That's all you can fit in during the year. The core subjects are reading comprehension. uh you run a test at the end for the eighth grade in the first half and those that didn't make it get remediated in the second half so they don't escape to nth grade remediation for those that will be needed dovetail the new reading comprehension program into the core subjects I think that's a good be a good uh marriage there be able to write six types of paragraphs followed by six additional types for comprehension. Basic financial literacy start

135them young. Practical math for survival in today's society. Some aspects have already started with the new I think it was what 7 to 12 program they started in the math. Next core subject communication skills all forms phone texting oral speaking video conference inpurpose interviews. Next course subject teamwork and individual respect not just on the athletic field. and cite the different [Music] examples. Basic culinary skills. Many students fend for themselves. It's a sign of the times. Positive uses of the social media platforms followed by safeguards against the dark side. Must start thinking outside the box. Every employee who has contact with these kids should be involved. No excuses. And don't forget, school choice is coming. So, let's get a little originality. I don't have time. I don't want to bother you people with uh outdoor building

136structures and pre-cast concrete units. They can look at that on your own. But I have immediate attention. There's two things that have to be done. their liabilities. One, we had the visitor bleachers at Brick Township High School. They're probably the only wooden bleacher in the state. Now, what people don't understand about the floorboards, the seats, and the steps, they're wmanized wood. But there's two types of wmanized wood. One is the cheapo that gets to the outside but not to the center. And obviously we can't afford the premium gets all the way in. So it rots from the inside out. You got to replace this thing. No ifs, and buts. 1,500 uh capacity probably cost you about 1 mil. But it's a liability. took me five, six years to get them to do risers over at

137Brick Memorial. It's you can't mess around with that kind of stuff. The other thing is Mr. Erd told me that and it is the brick memorial roof. The longevity on that is up and he already told me it's leaking inside. Now, there's only one thing you can do. that's put a ceramic silicone coating on that roof and every 10 years you just put another coat on and it is the most durable and practical thing to do. If you've ever seen the ice palace, that roof still looks like new. 10 years ago when the Demis were screwing around killing that program, I got a contract for Joanie Deletion to do that roofing job and it still looks like brand new. That's the only way you can go. You can't lift those brackets. Okay, thank you. There

138are two things you can't screw around with. Otherwise, you have the ceilings coming down or someone's going to go through those steps on the bleachers. Thank you very much. Okay, it's tough to give uh a lesson with only five minutes and five minutes, but I'll try. I'm really disappointed in these school district that are getting strewed by the state. They should all be down there someday. on mass with school buses. Not school buses, that's not allowed. On buses, drives, whatever. These 281 districts should be on mass down in Trenton with the media there. Us talking here and blaming the wrong people is the wrong message. Lawsuits will take forever. They'll double talk you and you'll not get anything out of it. The lawyers will get rich. Nothing will happen as long as you have the

139current system, the administration that's in Trenton, nothing will change. So those of you that are on the board and you have kids in school, this is going to happen every single year unless you change what's going on down in Trenton. So a lot of people don't vote and they don't seem to care. They just take it. So you get what you got. But uh the this needs to be a coordinated effort by all these school districts that are getting screwed. Uh also this property tax relief fund, the state income tax four years ago was $16 billion. The last three years because we had a lot of people move in from New York City with higher incomes after COVID, it's now $20 billion. So that's a 25% increase. The schools districts like brick saw nothing of

140that money. You saw a dis a decrease. I don't know the number, but somebody could shout it out over there. How much money did the school this school district lose in S2 over the last four years? 27 million. 27 million. 27 million. Okay. So 27 million. All these teachers want their salaries. Everybody wants everything. And you're not addressing the people that sold the stole the money. Come on. Let's Let's be honest about it. Um the the the money they do the budget. It's 350 pages. They do it like your school district does. It's an incremental budget. The governor prepares the budget. Okay. You think he goes through and writes a new budget and analyzes all the line items each year? No. You need somebody else to do the budget other than this Democratic government. And

141unless you change things, it's going to be the same. So, you know, right now you're running to the plus $800 million. Are the schools going to see any of that money? No, because they're going to spend it on pork projects. It's already going to be built into the process at the end of June, right before the calendar, the fiscal year ends for the state. They present hundreds of pork projects at the 11th hour and they all get approved and they come out of the community affairs project uh department. Okay, just again to be more specific about what I'm talking about, the Department of Community Affairs spent in this this uh fiscal year spent $954 million. Okay, Department of Community Affairs for the state of New Jersey. Guess how much money they took out of the

142general fund for that 954 million. million. Nine uh the property tax relief fund provided 99% of that budget. Okay. So, what were some of those projects? What does that say? 45 seconds. All right, here's some of the projects. County of Bergen, Saddle River County, P Park Park Pond dredging and ecological restoration, a million dollars. Township of Lakewood, public health and safety, $7 million. City of Planefield recreational improvements, $4 million. So this only benefited those districts. Those elected representatives got their port projects. There's a hundred projects on these two pages here. They're all the same $8.5 million. Mi Middle Sex County Improvement Authority. So you got to focus on where the problem is. It's not in this room. It's not with your taxpayers here. their money, their tax money that they're paying for the state is

143not going to the primary purpose of public school education. Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Finelli. Mr. Finelli, you have five minutes, not over because you went over the first time. Good job. I only had a couple items to finish. I want to just go back to my last thing when I got cut off again. Lanes Mill Elementary School went from 20.8% chronic attendance to 12.5, an induction of 8.3. I don't know what they did over there, but somebody should go over and find out because that's what's can be done. And if everybody, every school district did that, I'd be the first one up here applauding. Trust me, I really would. All right. And I already talked about the other one that went the other way. That's an example of I guess what you don't do

144anything what happens. Um graduation rate unfortunately was still down to 92.2% 2%. At one time it was up in the 95s. Basically what that's telling you is eight eight out of every hundred students aren't graduating. Um, AP classes, we talked about this last year, brick. 20% of the students are in AP classes and the state average is 36% in AP classes. Whatever reason, you're almost only half of what the state average is not acceptable. minority teachers. And this is what we we uh we talked about for the last six years when you brought it up the first time before you were on the board. Don't answer. Right. Don't answer. Right now, you've got 34% of your students are minorities and 3.4% of the teachers. In the last six years, that minority representation in teachers has

145gone up about 04, not even one. I I don't know why you don't want to set an example for the students. I don't know why you want to have don't want to have more teachers here that can communicate with the students, show them an example, whatever. Dr. Finel, that has to improve. Mr. Finelli, just give your comments, please. It's my comments. Well, what you're doing actually is is you're putting down some of our teachers, and I don't appreciate that. Putting down some of our teachers, and I don't appreciate that. They're doing their job the best they can. Okay. Not good enough. And the story, right? Uh there was a comment made before about my comment about um benefits and cost of benefits and whatnot. And I hear this all the time. It it's in the

146contract. It's in the contract. It's in the contract. Well, yeah. And contracts are negotiated and contracts can be changed. Contracts are not cement. There's something that's negotiated by you people every couple of years. Things can change. It's a give and take. This has to go up. that has to go down. Contracts have to be negotiated and they can be changed. Right? I'm not going to talk about test scores because we did do that last back in October other than to say across the board test scores are below the state average in every category. Right? So what what do I give you for your report card? Unfortunately, you still get an F. Right? And my last comment is you can't fix a problem by throwing money at it. If you think that's the way to get

147things fixed, you're wrong. It does not work. You can't fix the problem by throwing money at it. Thank you, Mr. Finelli. Things don't cut me off. I got you. You said your last minute 18 seconds left. I know, but you said your last comment. I'll tell you when I'm done. Thank you. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. All right. Okay. Yes. Go ahead. Okay. No. No. Thank you. Let's sit down. Mr. Finelli. Rebecca Matazooki. Um I just have a just like more of a comment and question. Um, I've been coming to these meetings for a little while now and every meeting it seems that the board and the administration have been getting badgered about what they're not doing and what they need to do. But those of you that are doing that, have you gone to

148the state yourself to help or are you just going to continue month after month badger this team which is volunteers for the most part? So that's all I have to say. Thank you. [Applause] Is that it? Anyone else? Dr. Okay, Dr. Farrell, I'll try to wrap up a couple things. Um, Mr. Sluca, um, so I don't know enrollment from 10 years ago. I know Miss McMurray is starting to work on that. Um, I could tell you I just want to talk how enrollment's calculated and what we do here. So October 15th is the snapshot. After October 15th, whatever the enrollment is in our school, they show. However, we get increases, decreases moving out. Now, the last few years, we got a little more in January because of the um our um just because of the

149southern hemisphere. As I said, we have more enrolles in January. We took the snapshot at the time of the budget this year and last year exactly at the date I created that presentation, I think a month ago. So if you saw on my slide as of a month ago we had 8275 last year at the same time the budget was 8216. Enrollment is decreasing. Um I want to caution us. I want to caution any statistician when you look at a number from 20 years ago. You go back to 2003 we did not even have prek and you know it was the highest the peak. And just by definition, if you're a math person or a logical person, you understand highest or peak means it's going to decline from then. That's just mathematically uh what happens.

150I like to look at the last year since we've had prek because I do believe prek has not only helped uh with enrollment, it has helped in a myriad of other reasons. And again, we don't foot 100% of uh the bill. Um, I think the other thing we got to look at when we look at test scores and student performance scores, and I've said this a hundred times, we look at a growth model, we compare ourselves to ourselves. And this is important to know, and I've used this analogy. If I said to you that, you know, last night Brick Kai football played, you know, won, you say, "That's great. They won." And if I said they lost, you said, "Oh, that's not good. They lost." But if I said they lost to the New York

151Giants, you said, "Oh, of course." But if I said I lost to the New York Giants 126, you'd say, "Whoa, well, that could be possible with the way the Giants are lately, of course." But you'd say, "Well, so all statistics are relative." And we compare growth to growth. We've put in our strategic plan to improve attendance 2% per year. We actually are approved over to 2%. The way the report card and the the data comes out. So after the October 15th snapshot, we get in the end of October which we have to do for QAC is report out on the students performance test scores. Okay, those scores from this past October are from the 23 24 year. Now fast forward to now. Then the state in their wisdom and the department of ed, they now

152embargo and put out the school report card which has more than just the test scores. It has attendance. It has demographic. Has a lot of but again that's from the 23 24 year that you see now we then report out again in October which will free from the test scores we're taking right now again because we have to Dr. Anderson goes in and puts this out. Dr. Anderson also shores shares the report card data with the CNI committee. She has all these slides. She goes through them. Hey here's what we asked for in strategic planning. We wanted to make a 5% increase in ELA, elementary, and math over a I think it was a three-year period. You actually hit some of those milestones in some areas and some areas we didn't. We always share that

153data. Now, it's hard when you have expectations here and we listen, I want to win every single game. Always have. But it's hard when you have limited resources. We do the best we can. We made a comment about AP percentages and I I just need to address that. Our high schools are like medieval study halls. They're not comprehensive high schools anymore. We don't offer a lot of AP courses. We don't have the ability to offer AP courses and electives. I wish we would because you get ranked on the percentage of people that enroll in the AP class, not even the scores. We actually implemented something a few years ago since I've been there is there are some students who I say gain the system I had at Shore where they said they take an AP

154course but not sit for the exam which hurts us but they get AP weighted on their GPA so they can get a higher wreck. We said now if you don't sit and we'll help you fund if it's an financial but if you don't sit for the exam you get honors weighted credit right so we've have implemented some things to move that but we are not offering electives we're not offering enough AP courses our strategic plan which is online we try to align and grade ourselves according to that and compare ourselves uh to ourselves now when you look at enrollment from years ago I will tell you I've been testifying in front of the state that we have cut 450 50 Jim is the number or either more or a little less on the around 450

155I don't know exact but around the over just the last five years of estate 50 positions not talking people we've been trying to say positions across the board now that tells you if we're around staff total staff now that tells you that just in the five years I've been here that we've decreased positions I would say people probably more we decreased positions about 25% unfortunately. The other thing is um I Mr. Finelli brings this up all the time and I'm 100% agreement. We always look to model our student population when it's hard it's hard to attract teachers in general. one town over across the border, you know, for example, offers whatever full family benefits, higher salaries, and have a higher influx of courses where people with different certifications can teach because, and this is not

156just New Jersey or brick, it's nationwide. There is a shortage out there. It's hard to attract good talent at all into the education field. Um, so we look for the best candidate. We do try to model and give peel and match uh our demographics. We always look to do that. I think we we've known it. We're trying to do a better job on it, but it's not something that's easy to do right off the bat. I just wanted to put that out there. I always said at the second public comment session. Uh it's not a Q&A. Everybody's entitled all their comments, but I just want to uh give a narrative. And as always, if there's something you feel in the second public comment that rings a tune, you can email me directly. I'd be glad

157to respond to any of those um questions or concerns or if something you remember even after tonight. Thank you. Board comments. John Henry. So again, I said it earlier, thanks everybody for coming out tonight and stepping up in the lect turn and providing your comments and for supporting this. The teachers who showed up in in great numbers tonight. So, thank you. And again, from what I've seen, my short time here, the administration, staff, this board is doing a great job with what the with limited resources. So, and and oh, by the way, Dr. Frell, congratulations on your recognition of superintendent of the year. So, [Applause] actually, it was Ocean County Superintendent of the Year and also New Jersey Region 3 Superintendent of Year. So, yes, congratulations. Other than that, everybody have a safe ride home

158tonight. Be well. Thank you, Victoria. I just want to thank everybody who came out because we had the rainbow here tonight as far as uh what you represent and what your needs are. And I want to especially thank those that participated in a positive way tonight. Um, we like to hear that. I just want to say Trenton is Trenton. And what I said before in my comments is this is the opportunity for the board and the town's people to do what Trenton's not going to give us. We're not going to miraculously get eight more million dollars next year. it's just not going to happen. And um you know the window to to raise the tax levy is this year. Just this year. So um um I'm sorry to see in the budget there's another year's

159delay in providing our students with an up-to-date reading program. We have a lot of reading supports but our our basic program needs to be put in place um something up to date. I had a opportunity to attend some events. Uh on April 10th I testified at the Senate budget hearing. Um it was it the meeting went all day long. all day long and I watched as much of it as I could. You know, I advocated for an increase in reimbursement levels to sustain our financial health. I talked about um the uh advocacy for full specialized reimbursement based on our population. There were there were quite a few the the um lobbyist from New Jersey school boards spoke about different legislation that's coming up and priorities. It was it was an honor to do that. On

160April 30th, we had the uh Ocean County School Board honoring Dr. Farrell. The teacher of the year this year was fabulous, too. on f Friday May 2nd I attended the board of directors meeting in Trenton and they were talking about all these events that they're having and that they're improving for board members and I I hope everybody gets to read their email from New Jersey school boards. Uh last night I went to Trenton for the New Jersey School Board County leadership meeting where all 21 counties uh that had officers in in in their were officers in their county board uh uh were were present and had a dialogue and to hear everybody from different parts of the state it was really inspiring. Um, happy Mother's Day. Don't forget May 21st that military recognition ceremony at

161noon at BTS BTHS is one of the finest programs we put on. Um, please join us. Um, I want to thank and say goodbye to all of our retirees and thank them for their contributions to brick schools. They've been overwhelming. I I also would like to talk about our three principles. Colleen Kerr is so consistent and her support has been critical to the students that she's reached and to brick schools. Terry Goodfellow, you changed this district in the 10 years I've been here all in positive great ways. the preschool program that you headlined and the work that you did even on the application for the state grant really made a difference in the lives of the people in brick and I really commend you for that. I thank you so much Terry and Mr. Campbell

162you know I love you. Um the green fair is Saturday May 17th at the um on Herbert'sville. what is anset? Um, and I just want to also ask if everybody can um understand that the hard work that we do that you commended us for. Um, I don't think it's difficult to when you're elected for this position to put your whole heart and soul in it. And I'm glad that I've had that opportunity. and Memorial Day parade, our our brick um marching dragons and our Memorial Marching Mustangs, Lake Riv, that's middle. They put on a show like you you've never seen. You really if if you don't care about the Memorial Parade, come out and cheer our kids because they're amazing. the teachers and and parents especially who support that program um are gems in our

163district. Have a nice Ally May. Okay. Um first, if you're here in a blue shirt or if you oversee someone in a blue shirt, for those of you at home, the blue shirts are the BTEA or if you own a blue shirt and just didn't get it on for this evening. Um, I want to thank you guys for coming out. So many of these men and women are at their posts and in their classrooms by 7 am or maybe even before. So, the fact that you gave your time this evening and did come out. Um, I just want to recognize that and say thank you. My kid came home today and said he had to be at school at 6:20 tomorrow morning. What? So, kudos to you guys getting up early and coming here late.

164We appreciate you. Um, I know there's one thing that I'm I'm certain majority of you talk about in your classroom. And if you're ever in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, you should remove yourself from the situation. So, if we look around this room, I do apologize to those if any of you felt uncomfortable and needed to remove yourself from the situation tonight. But, um, in light of teacher appreciation week this week, I would like to let you know that you are all appreciated and what you do is amazing. You are the backbones of the school. We could not do it without you. And I am talking starting at the little guys. I'm talking to the the the littlest people in the building, not the children, the teachers, the the custodians, the support staff,

165the the classroom teachers, the special ed teachers up to the administrators. We couldn't do it without you. I hope that your PTAs and PTO's are supporting you this week and spoiling you because they should be because you deserve it. every single day of the of the week of the year. So, I hope you're enjoying this week. Um, that's that. Uh, Mrs. Kerr, who um was my very first principal at Vetsel when I became the PTA president. So, um I adored working with her. Um Mr. Blessing, who is now the principal over there, um was our vice principal. We made a great team. We've really had a great time. I love you, Mrs. Kurt. I um congratulations on your retirement, Mrs. Goodfellow. Incredible. Thank you for our preschool program. Um I wanted to shout out, this

166is super exciting. Brick Memorial High School golf team. I would like to congratulate senior Peter Tadrick. Um we played, I say we, my son's on the team. They participated on Monday in the group three NJSIAA state sectional championship and Peter Tadrick the brick memorial senior came in first place in the entire tournament. So for what the he is the first student in brick memorial history to win that tournament. So he shot a score of 75 which for you golfers that is four overpar. That is pretty impressive. Um, so he Peter is moving on to the tournament of champions and I think that's next week and it's the first time in school history. Um, it is prom season. Prom season is upon us. I hope you all have a fantastic time. All you juniors and seniors,

167I beg everyone attending that you make smart choices in your after prom gatherings. And I am 1,000% certain that regardless of how you're having fun, your parents would not be mad if you needed to call them to get home safely. Um, last but not least, Mr. Finelli, I just wanted to clear up for you. The minority teacher's comment was not with me. It was with Missy Parker, who sat in the chair before me, so that's okay. No problem. We're often confused. She's one of my best friends, so I take it as a compliment, but it was not me. Um, that is all. Happy teacher appreciation week. Thanks for coming. Thanks for staying to all of you who are still here. Fran, I'm going to be very short and sweet because it is way past my

168bedtime. Um, happy teacher appreciation week to all of you. We love and adore every one of you and all the staff. Um, and I am so excited about everything going on in the schools. I got to see several of the plays, Mary Poppins and um 101 Dalmatians, and it's just so nice to see all the fun stuff and do all the great things. And tomorrow we have testing, so go home, go to sleep because I'm going to do that because I have to get up at the crack of dawn with my kids. But thank you all. Mike, so many incredible comments there to end the night. Um, I just want to say thank you to everyone who came out and to the teachers. Um, I just want you to know that as long as I'm

169on the board and I don't want to speak for everyone else, we're always going to put you and the students first in every decision we make, regardless budget, anything that comes through to the board to vote on, our focus is on the teachers and the students. So, happy Mother's Day. Have a good night. Okay, I'm going to read something that I wrote. Um, I voted yes on the budget not because I support the circumstances forced upon us, but because I re refuse to let our students, teachers, and families suffer the consequences of failure from both state and local leadership. Trenton Democrats have failed us, and so has our Democratic controlled administration right now. Over the past seven years, Brick Township has lost more than $23 million in state aid due to the S2 formula crafted

170by Governor Murphy and supported by Trenton Democrats. According to the state's own calculations, our schools are now 28 million below adequacy and $40 million under what the state says we should be contributing locally. In 2020, Brick has had fewer than 100 non-English-speaking students. Today, that number has grown significantly. Yet, the state has not adjusted our funding to match our needs. On top of that, our special education programs, which qualifies for millions of dollars in additional state support, is being given less than $1 million. That's unacceptable. Locally, our school system continues to be hurt by poor financial decisions. The Democratic le brick administration approved a tax abatement for the sport dome project at the former food town site, eliminating a source of funding that could have supported our schools. That's big. What makes it worse is

171that our district would have paid less for that facility. It is not free to the school system and it's It's it it takes away from our taxpayers and our students when our tax money is not being given to us. We are not alone in the struggle. Neighboring neighboring school districts are dealing with the same attacks on public education. Just last year, several towns voted down their budgets and were hit with an even harder percentage. Trenton stepped in and imposed additional 9.9% tax increase because they refused to raise the taxes. Trenton came in and added 9.9. That's the risk we were force facing tonight. I simply could not take a gamble with the people of Rick's money. Despite the circumstances, I want to recognize and thank those who work to protect our schools. I'd like to

172thank Dr. Ferrell, our superintendent, and our finance chair, Mike Mesma and Fran the Benedictus, and John Henry, who is also on the finance committee with us, for working tirelessly and transparently to build a responsible budget. I also thank our school administrators, our dedicated teachers and staff, and especially our students who count on us to defend them and their future. And I'd like to thank the parents and taxpayers for their important feedback that we received. There were many times that we would ask people on the streets or people who would call us how they felt and what we needed to do. That's very important. Your voices matter and they were heard. This budget ensures no teachers will be laid off, no staff will be laid off, no increase in class sizes, no sports programs will be

173cut. Daily school busing will remain intact. Some of the the districts have to cut school busing. Some of the districts are cutting sports. We're able to keep that intact. After school busing will not be cut. Sports busing will not be cut. No schools will be closed and no buildings will be sold. It's not a perfect solution. It's a necessary act of I'm sorry of defense. I voted yes tonight because had we rejected this budget, Trenton Democrats could have stepped in and taken control, imposing whatever increase they decided, whatever increase they saw fit, even if it meant maxing out the tax levy without any regard for our local needs. Bottom line is they have the money. They're not sharing it and they're looking for you to pay that. I refuse to let that happen and so

174did our committee. We want to thank you and read the calendar. I'm sorry. Calendar of events. May 23rd, 2025. Early dismissal. May 26, 2025, Memorial Day, schools are closed. May 27, 2025, regular meeting 7 p.m. Brick Memorial High School. We're doing a nice high school. I'm excited about that. And I'd like to make an adjoinment in the meeting. Motion to motion to adjourn. Motion Mike. Second, Fran. Roll call. Mary, Miss Palao. Yes, Miss Kennedy. Yes, Miss Benedictus. Yes, Mr. Henry. Yes, Mr. Mesmer. Yes, Missy. Yes.