001And a moment of silence. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. Mr. Shahada, Miss Bassford, here. Mr. Brunette, here. Mr. Kenova, here. Dr. Danny, here. Mr. Mahia. Mr. Ciano, here. M. Suarez, here. Vice President Santiago here. President Paris here. We have the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal community partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate, lifelong learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a democratic society in an everchanging world. The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced
002notice of and to attend the meetings of the public bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. In accordance with the provisions of this act, the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date, time, and place thereof posted at the City Clerk's Office, Clifton Public Library, Administration Building, Senior Citizen, Nutrition Center on Cable TV, and the local press on the district's website, and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations. This meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168. So what we'll be doing this evening, we'll be starting out uh Dr. Robert Toy will be giving us a presentation on the budget. We'll then move to uh a round of the commissioners asking additional questions. We'll go around the deis.
003Everyone will have an opportunity to ask Dr. Robert Totoy um whatever questions concerning the budget might be on their mind. We'll then open it up for public recognition. Um and then after public recognition, if the board so chooses, we'll have another round um of questioning um that you may want to partake in. So that's the basic organizational game plan for this evening. So Dr. Artosi, I will leave it up to you. money, you're the man. Good evening, Mr. Paris, members of the Clifton Board of Education, faculty and staff who are here in abundance tonight, which is so nice to see, members of the community, students, and all watching our live stream. Tonight I'm going to give uh what I think is a really important presentation about the state of the district and the state of
004the budget. But I want to preface it by addressing the last meeting we had here on March 13th where we were administration was voting on administration was recommending a preliminary budget to go to the county with an increase of 2%. And I visibly expressed frustration with the way that night turned out, which is very unlike me. And I was frustrated um upon reflection, I was frustrated for two reasons. One, I felt that um I didn't do my job well enough to make sure that we were all on the same page in regards to what that meant. And the second thing and the thing that bothers me the most is that I felt a lack of trust on this day and that has not happened to me in six years. So that's why I was frustrated.
005I want to be very clear. The board of education is the stewards of the public money. I am not upset if you vote 0% or if you vote 10%. My job as a superintendent is to give you the facts, to give you a recommendation on what's best for our students, what's best for our staff. Ultimately though, I know that decision is up to you. And if you make that decision with a good conscience and for good reasons that you have, I would never be upset with you for making that decision. What I was upset about was I felt there was a lack of trust and we'll regain that back. That was a blip on the radar and now we're back. So, as a history teacher, cuz I'm a history teacher in my heart, I think
006it's important to know how we got to where we are today. So, please excuse me, but I got to go back in time a little bit and explain a history of budget funding in New Jersey and particularly in Clifton so that everyone knows why we are where we are today. First thing you should know is that we are a pretty large operation. close to 11,000 students, 1,800 staff members, the 11th or 12th largest school district in the state of New Jersey, depending on what list you look at. So, we're a big operation. And the issues that we're dealing with today, many have nothing to do with anything that was ever done here in Clifton. We are dealing with systemic issues coming from the state funding formula which stems from the New Jersey Constitution. Now, a
007little quick history lesson, ladies and gentlemen. Have you all heard of the US Constitution? You know that document. The word education not mentioned in the whole document. Not mentioned. So therefore, my favorite amendment, the little unknown 10th amendment comes into play. And the 10th amendment, for lack of a better word, basically says if there's anything not in this document, if there's anything not in this constitution, then we leave that decision up to the states. And so that is why since the founding of our country, education has been a local function. It has been a state function. And in New Jersey, schools historically have been funded through property taxes. And that was the predominant way that schools were funded until 1972, a famous New Jersey Supreme Court case, Robinson vers Cahill, which basically the New Jersey
008Supreme Court said, "Hey guys, the way you're funding schools right now is not fair. It is not uh equitable because the way you're funding schools solely based on property taxes makes it unequal depending on where a student lives. meaning a wealthy town has the ability to raise a lot more in taxes than a town with very little tax base and low wealth. And so the state supreme court said, "You have to change it." Said to the legislature, "You have to change that." And so in 1975, New Jersey passed the School Education Act. And the New Jersey School Education Act for the first time provided state aid to school districts. And that state aid was predominantly funded through everybody's favorite, income tax. There was no income tax in New Jersey prior to 1976. And the income
009tax was created primarily to fund schools. In fact, 40% of the state's budget today comes um uh excuse me, goes towards funding schools through state aid. But that wasn't good enough either because if you've been in education long, you may have heard of Abbott districts. and Abbott districts came from another New Jersey Supreme Court case, or should I say a series of Supreme Court cases from 1981 to 2011 that basically said that law you passed in 1975 was unconstitutional because it still caused significant disparities between poor urban and wealthy suburban districts. And so they identified 31 of the poorest districts and those became Abbott districts. And the state poured millions and millions and millions of dollars into those wealthy districts uh excuse me into those poor urban districts. didn't end there because there were still
010fighting over funding, decades of fighting, which ultimately re resulted in 2008 in what became known as the school funding reform act, the current formula that we use today in New Jersey. And whereas previous to 2008 the state wanted every district to be treated equal, wanted every kid to be treated equal, in 2008 that whole philosophy changed and said we don't want equal. We want adequacy. And adequacy is not what you might think when you hear the word. It doesn't mean you're provided an adequate education. Adequacy means that you're provided with enough to meet your needs. My needs at dinner may be more than your needs because I'm a large mammal. So funding then was changed to a weighted formula for each district based on the number of students in that district and the characteristics of
011those students. And what do I mean by characteristics? meaning we know it costs more money to educate a child with a disability. Okay, we we we know that takes more resources takes more resources to educate a child who's an MLL which is a multilanguage learner. So, the state created a weighted system and the weighted system is based on a base amount and that base amount is what the state says it costs to educate an elementary student in New Jersey. And that number has gone up over the years, but this year the base number for every elementary student in our district to be provided with an adequate education or to meet adequacy is $14,972. That's the baseline. To get the weighted formula, you take that number and a middle school student, you multiply that by 1.2.
012And a high school student is, I think, 1.4. And a special ed student is weighted more. And an MLL student is weighted more. And so, there's a very important day that happens each year in my world, and that's October 15th. And that's the date of the ASSA. That's the application for state student aid. October 15th is the day we count the children in our district. If you're on our roles, October 15th, you count as our student and we get state aid or at least our adequacy budget is made up of the number of students on our roles by category on that date, October 15th. Now, it's a little complicated here, but stick with me. It's actually pretty simple. The state says that every district should have an adequacy budget. Meaning, there's a certain amount of
013money it costs to educate a child. That number for an elementary student is 14972. So applying the funding formula says you take the 11,000 students in Clifton, you take a regular elementary education student, you multiply it by that number. You take the rest of the student and you multiply it by their weighted number. that total number minus what the local township contributes via property taxes or excuse me or I'm sorry that total number is your adequacy budget. The money you get in state aid is the difference between that total number and what your local district raises in taxes. So let's make the math easy. Okay, you have a th000 students and they're all elementary. 1,000* 14972 is how much? Where are my math people? I hear a lot of mumbling. I don't hear my math
014people. 1,00 * 14972. Let's move the move it over three zeros. Okay. 14 million. Okay. Good. 14,972,000. Okay. If our district was 1,000 elementary students, the state says our adequacy budget should be $14,972. You with me? Good. The state also has another number and that other number is how much can a the district afford, right? I own a house. I pay property taxes. How many people pay property taxes? Yeah, we know most of your property taxes go to the school district. The majority and a bigger percentage in different towns, but that's another story. So the state calculates the percentage that the district pays based on the wealth of that district and based on the property value in that district. Okay? And the difference between those two numbers, the adequacy budget and how much the local
015district can be afford can afford is how much money the state gives you in state aid. So back to our initial example, our budget's $14,972,000. The state says the city of um Reading, Alabama can come up with $10,000. That means the states I'm sorry, $10 million. That means the state's going to give you how much in state aid? $4,972,000. Everybody's with me, man. This is a good class. Sorry, I forgot I'm not teaching. Good class, though. you know, it doesn't always work out like that, right? So, that was what the law said in 2008. But in 2008, if they implemented that law as they were going to, 180 of the 600 districts in our state would have lost money. That would have been political suicide for the governor, for the legislature at that time. So
016they said, "Well, we're going to we're going to fund this formula, but not yet." So for the 180 districts that would lose money under the new formula, we're going to give you something called adjustment aid or what we're going to call hold harmless aid, which means we're going to make sure you don't lose any money. That was supposed to be a year, two years, maybe three years, four years. That went on until 2018, which meant for almost 10 years, districts that were overfunded based on the formula got additional money each year after year after year after year. And a city like Clifton under the funding formula was underfunded all those years. All those years. All those years. That changed in 2018 with a new law called S2 that said, "Uh-uh, we're funding the formula and
017to all you districts that have been overfunded over the next six years, we're going to take some of that overfunding away and we're going to distribute it to the districts that have been underfunded." And here's what that looked like in a uh district that was overfunded. This green money, and this is only going back to 2013, this green money, this is a district a little bigger than ours. I'm not going to throw anybody under the bus, but they're in every newspaper complaining about how their aid get how their aid got cut and they got to lay people off. But since 2009, they've been getting an additional $12 million a year. They're warned every year, this is going to stop. It's going to stop. It's going to stop. It's going to stop. It's going to stop.
018It never stops. Then 2018 comes along. All right, we're finally going to do it now. Even though you've gotten $12 million a year, every year for the past 10 years, now we're really going to do it. So, they must have planned for that, right? No, they didn't plan for that. So now they've lost state aid over the last 5 years and they're saying they cannot fund their budget and pay their people. Now I feel bad for the kids. But here's who I really feel bad for. This was Clifton. And this is only 2013. We could go back to 2008. The maroon is the state aid we got. That's the allegedly the difference between the adequacy budget and the local fair share. This number is the number that we were shortch changed every year starting only
019going back to 2013. 64 million 63 million 64 million. If you added all that up it's a half a billion dollars. 2018 comes along, S2 comes. S2 says, "We're going to take money from those overfunded districts and we're going to give it to the people who should have had it." So, you'll see it starts to happen. We start to get more state aid, more state aid, more state aid, more state aid, more state aid. And as of last year, we are fully funded under the state aid formula. Good, right? Go back to this fake news. Anybody see this article this weekend? Fake news. Go look at the districts. Not all of them. I'm not throwing anybody under the bus. But how many of them got extra money all those years? We didn't. My kids didn't.
020Clifton kids didn't. Clifton teachers didn't. And we're supposed to stop everything and give loans to districts and give more aid to districts. And I'm not getting any additional aid for my kids. You know what we could have done with a half a billion dollars, guys? I explained this, but this is the technical term. It's adjustment aid. That's that extra money those districts got. It was called adjustment aid because it was supposed to be temporary. And it's just an example, a district, it was also called hold harmless because you didn't want to punish the districts in the beginning. So we gave them millions of dollars for the next 10 years. And that's the example. I don't need to go over that. So now Clifton this year, this is our state aid. Although last year they said
021we were fully funded, our state aid increased. You want to know why our state aid increased? Because our number of special education students has increased a lot. Our multilanguage learner students have doubled in five years. That's not that's not an exaggeration. Our MLS have doubled in five years. So, we have extra students. You get more money for those students. So, we did get an increase in aid. Wasn't a gift. It was what the formula says we should have received. But the reality is even with an additional 5 million almost 6 million in state aid there are increases in the fixed costs that we have and I just want to point out two of them. We negotiated collective bargaining agreements in good faith with our with our unions and we still have a couple more that
022have to be done. We have $5 million in salary increases next year. Our staff deserve more than that. But that's not a number we can change. We owe that much. And here's something that is completely out of any of our control. The cost of health benefits will increase next year $7.5 million. Just those two things wipes out the additional state aid we got. We do have some one-time credits you'll see there. You see our number of PCTI students has gone down each year. If you're going to PCTI for a vocational education, I wish you all the best and thank God you'll make more money than we'll ever make. Go. But there's they're taking less of our most academically um motivated students because our students are starting to see our families are starting to see the
023value of an education at Clifton High School. So, we got a that's a one-time credit. I I can't count on that million dollars next year. Transportation went down. I can't count on that. Okay. So, on to the present. On May 3rd, excuse me, March 13th, guys, we sat here with a preliminary budget. We don't pass our budget till May 1st. On March 13th, we sat here. We gave you a budget that said we recommend that we raise the tax levy 2% because we are legally allowed to do that without any additional vote. The board can do that. That's the law. We're allowed to do that each year. In fact, the state funding formula makes the assumption that you go to 2% every year. That's part of their calculation. Nevertheless, when we and this is the
024part I take responsibility for. We made it clear that night that we needed 2% to just maintain what we have, to keep what we currently have. But I don't think I know that I didn't fully explain all the things that we have to say no to in order to just maintain what we have. Meaning I think people were under the mistaken idea that maintaining current operations means we didn't look for other ways to save money. We did. Not only that, this process starts in October and November. Mr. Shiada and his team meet with every principal and we start planning our budget for the new year. And as part of that budget process, we ask, "What are the needs? What do you need? What do you have to have?" And then in the event we get
025that half a billion dollars, what's your wish list? Knowing they're probably never getting their wish list. So that 2% wasn't just to maintain operations. That was also a no on every need that came from our staff member, every request that came from our staff member saying, "We need this." And it was also a no to any possible wish list item. Let me read to you some of the needs. These are needs that come from the day-to-day challenges that my team experiences that my staff experience. This is what we said no to. Additional paraprofessionals, three ABA autism teachers. Not because we just want three ABA autism teachers, because we need three ABA autism teachers, two middle school inclusion teachers, speech language specialists, a BCBA, a new child study team that's bilingual to address the growing number
026of MLS who come to this country maybe not speaking English and we don't know if they're not learning because they have an English uh lack of proficiency or they have a disability. Secretary Schools don't run with those without those. District doesn't run without those. Two preschool preschool disabled teachers. Three inclusion elementary teachers. Two instructional coaches, a an ESL teacher at the high school, an ESL teacher at the middle school, basic skills math, a new instrumental music teacher, two media technology specialists, one at the middle school, one at the elementary. We said no to two reading specialists. We said no to um an assistant principal. We said no to interns. We said no to additional maintenance staff. So when we came here and said, it's my fault. We came here and said we need 2% to
027maintain current operations. But we didn't tell you that we also need all these other things. we said no to because we wanted to give you something that you could say yes to. Give you something that will allow us to keep making the progress that we're making while also while also keeping the taxpayers in mind. And then remember I got frustrated last month because I said, "Guys, it's March 13th. We don't know what's going to happen between now and May 1st. We don't know. So, you vote tonight. You're just voting to give us permission to send this budget to the county. We could raise it 10% or we could reduce it 10% when May 1st comes. It was a vote that gave us the authority to submit it to the county for compliance purposes. And then,
028guess what? Two major things changed. Two major things changed. On Friday the 28th, we received a broadcast from the New Jersey Department of Education telling us that we're eligible to apply for additional money. Get there in a second. That we're eligible to apply for additional money above the 2%. The following Monday, it was Eid. I was off and my phone started blowing up because Governor Murphy released a press release about the federal government rescending ESSER funds. ESSER funds that we were promised and that have already been spent on major capital projects going on in our district right now. So, let's start with the first one. Here it is. I don't need you to read it, but let me explain to you very simply what it says. It told us Clifton is eligible to raise taxes
029above the 2%. As much as you need to bring your budget up to your local fair share. And when I show you what that number means, you will be word I used last month flabbergasted. State says we are one of the cities where according to New Jersey, not Danny Roberts, according to the DOE says Clifton does not pay enough in its local fair share. So this year and this year only, you can raise taxes above 2% till you get to your fair share. I'll show you that number shortly. That was number one. Actually, no. Here it is. Go back to the beginning lesson, folks. Adequacy budget. 11,000 students times the base times the weight of the types of students gives you is is one half of the equation. The other half is what your district
030can afford, the difference you get in state aid. State of New Jersey says that based on the property wealth of our district and the wealth of the town that our adequacy budget we should be raising $197 million in taxes which means we are 44 million789,000 under what's known as local fair share. Basically, guys, the state is saying, "You're asking us for money, but you aren't doing enough locally to raise taxes in your town." Now, I'm not going to tell that to a homeowner in Clifton who's working three jobs to pay their property taxes. Believe me, I know I pay taxes, but under the state formula, Clifton is $44 million under the local fair share. And here's why. And this is not blame. It's because the state expects you to go to 2% each year. And
031every year you don't go to 2%, that money that you didn't raise compounds and eventually reach $44 million. But I know I was here in 1920. I know what the conversations were. The conversations were, "Hey, we're finally get the money that the state told us we were going to get. We're finally get the money that we deserve. Let's give the taxpayers a break. That was and that made a ton of sense and then we did it again. Then we did it again. And those three years, it's not just three years of zero, guys. It's three years where the price of everything goes up. Collective bargaining agreements go up. And not only do we lose that percentage of the tax levy, but we lose the compounding of it. We did make up for it. It's 4%
032because we utilized uh last two years we utilized bank cap which helped. But once you fall behind you can't ever catch up. You can't ever catch up because of the mathematical principle of compounding. So that's one major change. I am not advocating that we raise taxes. Let me be clear that we raise taxes almost 40% to get that $44 million. I'm not I'm just saying it's my job to tell you that you you could go above two without a vote. I have to let you know that. That's my job to give you the facts. And here's the second thing that changed. And this one came out of nowhere. This was on the on Monday 3:31. This was Eid. School was closed and my phone starts blowing up. Danny, why is Clifton on this list? Why
033is Clifton on this list? And I said, "Oh, that says Clifton Township. That's not us, is it?" I thought maybe it was Clinton and I thought maybe it was a mistake. But Governor Mur Murphy releases a statement that says the Trump administration, federal government, doesn't matter who the president is, the federal government is trying to take back $85 million in federal funding that we were already promised. Of that $85 million, ladies and gentlemen, 11 million of it is ours. Here are the facts. Don't just read the headlines, read the facts. The facts are we have replaced windows in almost every school in the district. And these were the last five schools to get done. We had an architect do drawings two years ago to get these projects done. We were finally able to bid these
034projects in 2024. In June of 2024, we got approval from the state of New Jersey for what is known as late liquidation. Meaning there was a deadline, but every state got more time to spend the money. Because very simple reason, there's only so many things you could have going on at one time. There's only so much money you can spend. There's only so many window vendors. There's only so many things you could do. So, we got an extra year in writing from the state. Why does it matter that it's from the state? Because the the the funding process, the federal government gives the state money. We apply to the state to be reimbursed. This is June 2024. The projects started that summer. High school. You like your windows? Where's my high? Nobody. Nobody from the
035high school here. Nice windows, right? Almost done. 12 is done. Nine is done. 15 would have been done, but we found as best all taken care of. No worries. Right. So, the point is the projects are 70% complete. We've already spent $4 million expecting to be reimbursed. We reached out to the state in the fall. They said, "We don't have a process yet for reimbursement. Await further instructions." And that was not because they were anticipating anything. There wasn't even uh it was there was no election yet. There was no change in federal government. There was just no process yet. And then this comes out on Monday the 31st. We didn't get a notification from the federal government. We didn't get a broadcast from the DOE. I found out, like everybody else did, a press release
036from the governor. And that press release says that we could be on the hook and probably will be on the hook for $11 million. For sure. For sure. 4 million we've already paid. So those two major things changed since March 13th. What does that mean? I don't know yet. We're going to talk about it tonight. But I will tell you this. If we have to come $11 million out of pocket, there won't be any other capital projects done in this district for the next several years. It will deplete um our our our capital reserves for projects we have planned. Um and it will put a significant debt uh significant dent in our budget. And then finally, for my part, and I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Shahada for some of the technical stuff.
037All right, he just gave me a dirty look. I'll take I'll do it. I want to share with you some fun facts. Somebody said to me, "You got to trim the fat." And I took offense to that because I thought they were calling me fat. They're like, "No, the budget. You got to trim the fat." Because, you know, I'm a large mammal. So, everybody thinks there's fat. I don't know. There might be fat. Maybe maybe Mr. Rose is hoarding boxes of pencils up in her office. I don't know. But here's why I will tell you there's no fat to trim. And here's just a few things. And please fact check me. Anybody can Google the New Jersey taxpayer taxpayer guide to education spending. And how they do this is they separate districts. They compare districts
038by their size. And so we are in a cohort of 96 districts with a population of 3,500 students or more. And in that cohort, our administrative costs in this district rank the 19th lowest out of 96 districts. That's the lowest 20%. That means we don't spend as much on administration as 80% of the other districts that are size 3500 students or more. Our operations and maintenance cost, look at this, ranks 14th out of 96 districts. That's all the things to maintain our buildings, our 100-year-old buildings. 14th. Our per pupil costs are in the bottom third, 33rd out of 96. That means we spend less per money than twothirds of the other districts. Our classroom instruction costs, direct costs for classroom instruction are in the bottom third of the 96 districts, 31st. By the way, that
039per pupil cost uh last year or it might have been two years ago, I think we were 15. It was because of the we we raised taxes the last two years we went up. We were 15th two years ago. Our extracurricular costs, something I know has the ability to change kids lives. Speaking from the heart, speaking personally, 34th out of 96 districts. Again, we're in the we're in the the bottom third compared to other districts. What does that mean to me? That means we have been good stewards of the public's money. And if I said we were in the 50th percentile, I think people would say that's good. We're below that. We're much below that in some significant categories. So, I'm really going to turn it over to Amed now. But before I do that,
040will you speak from there? Yeah. Come on up. Come on up and join me. I'll stand by you. I'll hold your hand. I want to say something very clear. And I want everybody to hear me. When we get to the slide that says 0%. You're going to see that if we do 0% it has the potential to impact staffing. Okay? I just want you to know it is absolutely the last possible thing I will cut in this district are people. People make a school district not supplies. Relationships with kids make a school district not supplies. So even if we do a zero, which is not going to be my recommendation, I will do everything in my power to make sure this does not impact staff. And there are there are couple ways to do that.
041One of them is just simply through attrition. And that means not rehiring people who retired or leave. Now that's a problem, right? But if we are at zero, I will do everything I can to not impact our current staff. Thank you. Good evening, guys. Uh it's pretty hard to follow Dr. Roberty. He's definitely a showsman. Uh but I'm just going to go over some of the the math parts. So I just want to explain to the public and the board uh the difference between a one and a 2%. So, if the board decides to increase taxes 2% this year, we can maintain all programs and services. As Dr. Roberts stated earlier, with a 1% increase, we would have to cut about $1.5 million, which could come from programs, staff, and anything else that the board
042they were given a list, and you guys will see it uh shortly. Opting for a 0% tax increase, we would be trying to find $3 million somewhere in the budget just to try to maintain and not disrupt the children. So you guys are going to see two lists. One is can't touch. These are legally obligated contractual agreements that we have a duty and essential to provide under the state of New Jerseyy's constitution. And then there's ancillary support programs. They're not legally required, but they are crucial to our student success. So here you will see the district's budget is $300 million. These are all of the things we have a legal obligation to pay. salary, benefits, tuitions, charter school, grants, repayment of debt, transportation, special ed, legal services, an auditor, postage is not legally required, but
043is 100% necessary, record storage that's mandated by law, and insurance. So, out of that $300 million here, 294 million of it we can't touch. The budget continues. These are the ancillary support programs. These are things that are crucial to student success but are not 100% necessary. It continues. So ancillary support is about $5 million. Out of the total of the can't touch and the ancillary support, it comes out to just under $300 million, which means our discretionary spending is 04% of our budget. Now, as Dr. Roberts stated earlier, this is the list that was asked of us by the board on March 13th. So, with a 1% a 1.5% increase, what would we have to cut? I'm just going to let you guys just take a look at this for a moment. for a a
044for a non-teer that's excellent use of wait time. Mr. Shahada, I picked up some from Janina. What would a one 1% increase? What would we have to cut with that? Just going to let you guys just take a look at that as well. And what would we have to cut with the 0% tax increase? Everything combined on list one and two, but we are adding an additional amount to about $1.8 million. Thank you guys. Yes, Mr. Paris. I I said it, but I need to repeat it. staff. I'm not I'm not worried about reducing staff because of the budget. Yes, based on those numbers, we're going to cut a whole bunch of things if necessary. Staff is last. And it's absolut my word. Barring any new surprises, right, that come from on high, staff will
045be the last thing that we ever cut. And I won't speak for the board because they speak very well for themselves, but I I'm very confident that they agree with that sentiment. So, thank you, Mr. Paris. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Robert Toesy. Um, so before we go to public recognition, let's do a round of questions. Anyone like to start? Commissioner Basser. Yes. Um, I don't know who's going to answer this question for through you to administration. Um I heard through my colleagues in the state that a district can actually go past the 2%. Correct? Um so say we wanted to go 5% 6%. I know in Paramis they're contemplating 4% increase. I was just on the phone last night with one of my colleagues from West Milford they're contemplating 4.7. Jersey City's 20% but that's
046just that's another story for another day. Um what is the reasoning behind that? What is the rule that they're allowed to do that? because I always thought it was 2% that we could go up to and nothing more than that. Yeah. So, this year seems to be an anomaly uh in public education. Everything that I'm hearing from Trenton is that districts are districts all across the state are facing uh serious budget issues and they are noticing that a large portion of that contribution missing is from the local fair share. So, yes, this is a one-time thing that came out to us. I believe Dr. repository said on like March 15th or something like that that the districts can go above the 2% to recoup any missing monies of their local fair share. So ours would
047be about 38.34%. I have one other question. Can I do that? Okay. Thank you. Um last year we raised it 4%. because of um our our lack of information in previous years on the value of raising the budget and raising the um the percentage. If we didn't do that last year and looking at all these tax cuts, the cuts in title one, title two, title um four, all the tax cuts that are looming over us. What is your like can you give us like a a ballpark synopsis of what this district would look like if we don't increase to 2% and with everything looming down on your neck right now. What are we going to look at? Um so that's roughly $5 million of last year's money. If we didn't go to 4% we went
048to zero. Um it would likely mirror that list that was on the thing. It would be a combination of programs and god forbid staff. But that's where you make unfortunately staff is the largest contributor to our budget. So that and programming a combination of the two. Obviously the recommendation would come from Dr. Robertsi to the board and we would do everything we possibly could to safeguard the staff. Um so that's where that combination would come from of $5 million. Thank you. President Dr. Danny. Um, yes. Little bit something different about the um the 11 million that we might be on the hook for. Um, I don't like that. No. Um, but is it possible that maybe we can, you know, in legislative committee maybe there could be something set up with the, you know, state.
049I know it's with federal, but maybe they could, you know, speak to people there and, you know what I mean? because this is money obviously that we were expecting and I understand what they're trying to say you know maybe they might say well the local fair share and all that I I understand but just to try because in the past you know you you've tried and was pretty successful and so you know maybe we can speak to the legislators maybe they could do something maybe you know just you know again since they did do something where for 10 years they funded so maybe in light of the econom economy and everything. Maybe, you know, they can actually Dr. Danny, you're actually you're actually a step ahead because um last week after this came out, I
050was um reached out to by both of our assembly um people. And I also saw our assembly woman at the Boys and Girls Club uh gala. Yeah. Um last last week, uh she said her office is going to be contacting me to meet and I could just very simply make that a legislative committee meeting. What we expect to happen, although New Jersey legislature doesn't have anything to do with this, what we do expect to happen is that the New Jersey attorney general is going to bring suit on behalf of the districts affected by this along. And it's not just New Jersey, it's every state. Every state, our number is 85 million. Some states are a lot more, some states are less. But what's happened um on some other issues that states have gotten together to
051sue the federal government and let a court decide. Basically what the court has to decide is is a promise made by the federal government valid a year later when they change their mind. I mean to me that seems pretty simple but uh we don't know how a court will rule and we don't know if that could be a year from now or five years from now. I think we have to plan as if we're never seeing that money, which is sad, but yes, we'll set up a legislative committee meeting. Commissioner Brun. Thank you, Mr. President. I I'm looking at this article from the Asbury Park Press. They're they're saying that the education secretary would consider extensions on an individual project basis. This was a week ago. So, Governor Murphy made a statement last week. Has
052there any been any public press release since last week? Has he reached out to the Department of Education or anything yet? The issue is here is that even in our audited financial statements, there are also statements within it that say yes, there are certainties that occur within any given fiscal year. So these these projects have already been encumbered, which means we already committed to them. So it's around it's going to be approximately 7 mil. We don't even know if the four million is reimbursed. It can be reimbursible yet. But that a press release was made last week has a second one ever been issued since that initial one that basically essentially Governor Murphy said um Washington is failing the next generation. Mr. Mr. Bronzac, the only thing we've received officially from Trenton besides seeing that
053press release was we received an email from the county office as did other superintendent in other counties that I'm aware of simply of those districts simply asking how does this affect you? Um, you know, what projects were you utilizing for this? Are the projects underway? And asking those types of questions. So, I think they're in the gathering information stage now. Although they should have that stuff because they approved it in June, but they're asking about like how how far along the projects are. I don't know if they asked anything else, but those are basically and the and the amount of money, which they know the amount, but they don't know how much we've already how much we've already spent because obviously they didn't refund us. It's just mindboggling to me how long it takes just
054to get a response. So, if the if if the education secretary, US Department of Education, uh, Miss McMahon, whatever her name is, if she she said she were to already review it on an individual basis, what, you know, can you at least tell us you reached out to her to see how it would affect these respective districts on here? They they can't even get our city correctly. They call Clifton a township. So, Mr. Bronziac, I don't I wouldn't try to make too much sense of it because you'll drive yourself crazy. Uh we're dealing with a government bureaucracy and it's unfortunate, but these decisions impact ultimately kids in our district, but you're you're right. Um I did see that that that statement came out from the US DOE, but nothing yet from the Department of Education.
055Thank you. Anyone else? Commissioner Kenova. Um, what do we currently have in our cap reserve budget in this? I'll I'll defer to a med. Mr. Kova, to be to be clear, are you asking capital reserve? Yeah. Uh, about $12 million. And and of that, what do la let's say let's take last uh fiscal year. Do what do we spend in that cap reserve? Like what are we generally spending? 20 It varies. It really depends on what the what the needs of the district are at that time. I know um as of June 30th, so last budget, we pulled out 7.92 million off the top of my head, uh to be used for this year's projects, which are the stadium renovation, the u locker room renovation, and at a few others. So, all said and done,
056all projects are near completion. But but also, Mr. Cha, just to just to clarify, some of those projects are planned, but capital reserve is also for those things. God forbid the roof uh flies off in a tornado and we have to replace a roof. So, that's our kind of emergency money, too, in addition to our long-term facility plans. Now, I remember you sent out an audit and it said, you know, if we lost x amount of funding, that was obviously prior to any any of all these happenings. Um, so I have a couple questions around that. one is um for the federal level and and uh Miss Bassford spoke to it a little bit. What does that mean for us? I know we have a lot of title one funded schools. So what is the
057amount of money that we would be in a deficit for? So if you guys look at that list that I put in the folders for you, this maroon and gray one of the federal grants and the state grants which aren't in question. Um so for the projected 420 2526 projected we are with title one title 2 title three title 4 IDA Perkins and 21st century we are slated to get $7.6 million. Um this is not including the late liquidation of $1 million that is already in limbo. Um so let me just throw in the state grants as well that totals about 15 million. So between those two, the state and the federal, we received $23 million. Obviously, things happen overnight in the federal government and in the blink of an eye, all that money can
058be gone. So in my mind, we're planning worst case scenario. We're thinking that $7.6 million is gone. Uh because we can wake up tomorrow and be having this conversation and the $1 million I'm already wiping that off is gone until the the DOE tells me otherwise. So, right now there is I'm game planning for a $20 million deficit. Don't know how I'm going to make it happen, but that's that's our reality right now. Mr. Shad, I I don't feel like I explained it well enough. Um, and if you could please explain for me. I had I had some heard some people commenting on this on the money being taken away and and the the the people who were um you know pro you know cut cut the waste out of federal government and that's a
059very good thing. We should cut waste. But the proponents of taking this $85 million away, their main argument was well this was CO money. CO was over several years ago. I don't think I I don't think I did as good a job explaining why um we had an extension to use that money. So, just to diffuse that argument that this was about COVID and it should have been spent, you know, two years ago, three years ago, can you do maybe explain better than I did? Yeah. So, um if you guys look at the other sheet that I gave you, uh let me just pull it up here for you. uh of the one that starts off with. I want to clarify if you look at that sheet on the back, the Excel that I printed
060out for you, we got three grants in the span of 2 years, let's say, totaling $37 million. That money went to air purifiers, Chromebooks, windows in every building except 16 in Woodro cuz those had been done previously out of just local monies. Um learning loss teaching programs, teacher salaries, counselor salaries, and special education common corner. um requirements, $37 million we had to spend in two years. A good problem. Excuse me. A good problem to have, right? That federal money came in handy at a time when we all needed it. So, you know, not be smurching the fact that we got $37 million. That was a good problem to have. We covered all grants. Um $37 million in two years. It's an impossible thing to do in nonpandemic related situations. Now we're dealing with everybody buying
061everything on this list that we are that I just listed off on top of worldwide supply chain issues on top of a workforce shortage. The government realized the DOE lobby the federal New Jersey DOE lobby the federal government and said we have too much money that our people can't spend because there aren't enough products out there for us to purchase. understanding that these products are essential and to deal with the learning loss and to deal with the the ventilation systems. So, we were given until March of 2026 to spend this money. Granted, we had all of this already mapped out pertaining to the windows specifically. It's encumbered, Mr. Shahada. That's why. Correct. So, we are done. We were just waiting on windows to be manufactured, which they all are. Uh the projects, as Dr. Robert
062said, are 70% complete. So, we're in a tight spot right now. And it's not as simple as well, you know, stop the project and don't pay these people because then, you know, we're we're on the hook for it. Then then we're going to get sued and, you know, Yeah. I mean, we could I mean, that that's an option, guys. That's but you know then we're going to be in a lawsuit and we're going to spend money to defend a lawsuit for a problem that we didn't create for doing something that we were allowed to do under the rules at the time on a project that is falls clearly under the guidelines of what the money was allowed to be used for. I mean, new windows. It's not like we're we're spending the money on something
063that is not valuable, right? I mean, so it it's frustrating. Ultimately, I'm hoping that what Linda McMahon said is accurate, that there will be an opportunity to appeal to say, "Hey, we've already encumbered this money. We've already got 70% of the project done, and then we get, you know, the stay." And that's happened. We've seen we've seen federal policies come one day and the next day change. We've seen that. um that just recently happened with the health department stuff. If you were paying attention at this at the city level, they uh changed their mind on some some health funding. So, we're hoping that happens because we're hoping that people see that that these projects weren't for uh for wasteful things. They were for good things ultimately for teachers and kids. So, if you can walk
064me through the situation of this $1 million. So we have these projects already 70% completed. They come back and they say this this money we don't have for you anymore. It's gone. Do we then not pay the vendors and then we're just taking it to court in federal level? Are we paying the vendors and then somehow figuring things out in the meantime? Like what would be the process of that? That would be something that we'd have to discuss in executive session for just legal purposes. It could Mr. Shout I was just going to say that Mr. Kov, I think it's a discussion worthy of having. I think it might need to be a discussion in executive for legal advice Mark if in case and we might want to get the advice of our attorney and
065then when we get that advice if if our attorney advises us that it should be for public discussion I think we should do that but in the event we're going to do anything that might cause us litigation I would suggest we discuss that in executive session and then my other question was around so we were talking about this this shortfall here shortfall here like you said around $20 million that's already assuming We go to a 2% budget that already has wish lists cussed out of it. Wish wish list cut out of it. The wish list was never in the budget. Yeah, that was so so this 20 million is assuming we take a 2% increase. This 2 20 million down. Yep. So the budget that you guys approved for preliminary purposes on March 13th assumed
066a 2% tax increase. bringing the budget to 300 some odd million dollars. Um all of this are guesstimates that we have to make according to the feds and to the state comes out to about a little under $20 million for the 11 that were on the hook for these windows and the 7.6 that could possibly go away in the blink of an eye. So Mr. Kenov is asking does this include that 2%. So in short it does. So% So if we do not go to 2% 23 million it's 23 million. Correct. Thank you. Okay. As as you know I'd like to get to public recognition by 8:00 PM if the board is willing to. Let's cut to public recognition. We can get back to this after we have a lot of people here this evening.
067So um we are going to hold you to the time limits very strictly this evening. This portion of the meeting is open to the citizens of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to andor directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District. Residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to state their names, addresses, and subject matter. Comments are limited to five minutes per person. Issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board. All comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate. The board asked that members of the public be courteous and mindful the rights of other individuals when speaking. Specifically, comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged
068and will not be responded to by the board. Students and employees have specific legal rights afforded by the laws of New Jersey. The board bears no responsibility, nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public. Members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected are identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments. No one in virtual. Okay. No one virtual. So motion to close. Uh motion motion to close virtual by Commissioner Brunack, seconded by Commissioner uh Bassford. Um anyone wishes to speak? I guess you want them at the table today, right? That's what the mic is. So, please come up and have a seat and uh let's get started. I need my glasses.
069Blind in old age. I'll be less than five minutes, I promise. I have to pick up a kid. Good evening, K Commissioners, administration. I'm Dr. Valerie Cropen. I'm the K8 ELA supervisor here in Clifton. As a supervisor of the K8 English language arts department, I want to express my deepest gratitude for fully funding our district budget. Your continued support has allowed us to build and sustain programs that directly impact student growth, teacher development, and long-term academic success. Thanks to a fully funded budget, we've been able to maintain and expand highquality programming that meets the diverse needs of our learners. We've added vital positions such as reading specialists, basic skills instructors who work closely with our students to close learning gaps and provide individual support. We've also been able to deliver highquality embedded coaching to our
070teachers, ensuring that they are equipped with the tools, strategies, and professional learning needed to strengthen instruction and maximize student outcomes. This funding has also allowed us to invest in up-to-date inclusive instructional materials, classroom libraries that reflect and engage our student population. We are giving students access to meaningful texts and the foundational literacy skills that we will serve them through throughout their academic journeys. As someone who has proudly served this district for 16 years and as a Clipsson resident, homeowner, and a parent of a first grader at school 9 and a fifth grader at school 5. This support holds steep personal meaning. And as a proud graduate of Clifton High School, Clifton Public Schools, class of 1992, I know firsthand the power of a strong public education and the lifelong impact it can have. The investment
071you have made through a fully funded budget is not just financial. It is a powerful vote of confidence in our mission, our educators, and most importantly, our students. Thank you again for your partnership and your continued commitment to literacy, equity, and excellent in Clifton Public Schools. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Good evening, administrators, commissioners. Before I begin, I'd like to thank you all for the time and effort you dedicate to leading our district. I respect the balance you're trying to strike between fiscal responsibility and educational quality. The decisions that you make are never easy ones. I'm not here to repeat what others will likely and rightly say. Excuse me. One moment. I'm sorry. Could you please tell us who you are? Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm Lisa Post. I'm the district English language
072arts coach. Thank you. I'm not here to repeat what others will likely and rightly say about class sizes, staffing, or the excellence of our programs. Instead, I'd like to offer a simple truth. A 0% increase sounds reasonable on paper, but in reality, it quietly dismantles what we've spent years building. Great schools don't erode all at once. They chip away in pieces. And when we start chipping away at the people and programs that make a difference, a clear message is sent, not just to our dedicated staff, but to students and their families that we're willing to settle for less. I offer to you all a cleareyed perspective on the real cost of a 0% increase with rising costs in areas beyond our control such as contracted salaries, health benefits, transportation, special education services, and out of
073district placement typically increasing between 3 to 6% annually. A flat budget isn't maintaining the status quo. It's cutting into it. On our $300 million budget, a 2% increase equals about $6 million. That is not a cushion. That is the bare minimum needed to preserve the programs, support staff, and essential services our students rely on every day. It is the difference between retaining programs that support mental health, academic intervention, and enrichment, and cutting them to make up the shortfall. 0% may feel safe today, but it's like taking the roof off of your house because you're trying to save on heating. It may feel more affordable at the moment, but we all know how the story will ultimately end. I urge you all not to make a short-term decision that will undoubtedly have long-term consequences. A minimum
0742% investment isn't excess. It's simply what's required to preserve the value we've already created here in Clifton. Thank you so much. And Commissioner Brunak, if you would please tell say hi to Melanie and Frank and tell them I miss them very much. Have a good night. Good evening everyone board members. My name is Gary Reid. I am a head custodian at school 17 and I am also the president for the union for custodian maintenance. Um, I've been employee in the district about 18 years now at school 17. On behalf of the members, I'm here and we all are here to express that we are proud to work in Clifton Public Schools. We all take pride in our work skills and performance dayto day, week after week, year after year. With that being said, we all
075work very hard and a lot of members and employees are struggling to make ends meet. We all know grocery bills increase, rent, mortgage, utilities, everything. The list can go on. We signed a one-year deal to extend our contract, hoping for better wages and and a better salary guide in the future. As of now, it's that time again, and we're still here trying to negotiate a decent and fair increment for all employees. The maintenance and custodian team haven't had a salary guide step increase for over four years. We are currently in a time of economic uncertainty as evidenced by the recent decision from Washington that eliminated the remaining ESSR funds our district was still utilizing. We are all asking you board members, can you provide some type of stable footing for the upcoming school year by
076allocating a budget which meets the needs for our district. We recognize the board responsibility to manage taxpayers money wisely and invest in our schools is the is the proper way to do that. A 2% cap will help our salary guide and give members and employees better wages. We encourage the board to look into any additional funds you can receive through our newly introduced New Jersey tax incentive aid. This aid is only available to selected districts who spend less than what the state determines adequate amount to provide through a through a decent and effective education. The Clifton and custodian maintenance teams work hard every day to make Clifton a wonderful school district and we only can continue to do this with appropriate funding from the board of education. I thank you all for your time. Have
077a good evening. Well, good evening. My name is Lori Lama and I'm the president of the Clifton Education Association. There is a growing concern that without a minimum of 4% increase in our school board budget for the 2526 school year, Clifton may not be able to meet the basic demands of operating effectively. the cost of running our schools, including the new middle school, utilities, transportation, insurance, instructional supplies, and paying towards charter schools, as well as PCTI, have all continued to rise during due to inflation. If our budget does not keep pace, our school district may be forced to make difficult decisions which will impact our students directly such as cutting programs, increasing class sizes, or reducing support staff. There are out there are outcomes Clifton does not want to face, especially when the goal is
078to provide our students with the best possible education. The situation is further complicated by the state's continued implementation of the school funding reform act which is designed to bring fairness and adequacy to public school funding as what Dr. Roberts has discussed. While the state is increasing its share to school districts, it is expected that the local boards will also do their part to support educational growth. A budget increase of at least 4% is not only prudent, it is necessary to match the state's investment and meet the needs of all students, especially those requiring additional academic or emotional support. Falling short could risk undermining the progress districts have made under this guidance. Our concern is even more imminent as our district prepares to open a new middle school. The initiative brings with with it a host
079of financial responsibilities from hiring teachers and staff to outfitting classrooms, maintaining the facility, and providing transportation. These are not optional expenses. They are critical to ensuring that this new school is safe, functional, and ready to serve students from day one. Without an increase in budget, the district may struggle to launch this new school successfully without negatively impacting our existing buildings and programs. In Clifton, property taxes are the primary source of our school funding, which makes local real estate values a key driver of Clifton's financial health. When property values are high, Clifton receives more revenue, enabling it to provide better resources, support, and opportunities for our students and staff. The decision that you will make, whether it's investing in our new facilities, enhancing academic programs, or ensuring our students health and safety, can build Clifton community's
080trust, which in turn influence and boost real estate demand. At the same time, our school budget plays a powerful role in shaping Clifton's property values. Families often choose where to live based on the strength and reputation of our school district. This not only attracts families to Clifton, but also helps increase housing demand and sustain property values. Simply put, investing in Clifton Public Schools is an investment in the long-term success and stability of the entire Clifton community. Ultimately, this is about protecting the quality and consistency of education for all students, present and future, in Clifton. We cannot afford to shortch change our children here in Clifton again by underfunding our schools. A minimum 4% increase in our budget is not an overreach. It is realistic, responsible to the economic, logistical, and educational needs we face. Clifton
081depends on strong, well-funded schools. And now more than ever, we must ensure that our students have the resources they need to strive. Thank you very much. Hi, good evening. Uh, my name is Shahie Morola. I'm a proud Clifton art teacher at Wooder Wilson Middle School, an artist, a mimi to a very intelligent grandson, a district collaborative facilitator, and the incoming president of the Clifton Education Association. I'm here tonight not only to thank the members of the CEA for using their voices, but also to say how excited I am to continue the important work of those who have come before me, especially the amazing Lori La Lama. The teachers I walk al work alongside every day are truly incredible, creative, compassionate, and constantly giving of both their time and their own re resources. And that brings
082me to my concern. I'm deeply afraid of seeing vital programs and essential staff being cut. What's happening in Wayne is unsettling. Our Clifton team is worried and rightfully so. But you, our board, have the power to support one Clifton by voting for at least 4% if not more. Please don't ever doubt the value and dedication of Clifton staff. When you have a chance to give them more tools, more support, more room to shine, please take it. Let them teach. Let them thrive. And in doing so, let our students thrive. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Christy Wilson. I an American history and civics teacher at Woodro Wilson Middle School. I also have strong ties to this community. My grandparents met at Clifton High School, now known as Christopher. My grandfather dedicated 38 years of
083his life to teaching math here as well. My mom, aunts, and uncles all went through the Clifton school system. My aunt started her teaching career as an art teacher at Woodro. My uncle spent years as a PE teacher at school 13, the high school, Christopher, and school 5. I started my schooling at school one and my entire 12-year teaching career is here. Needless to say, my family and I are invested in the Clifton Public Schools. I'm here tonight because like many of my colleagues, I'm deeply concerned about the impact of potential budget cuts on our students. Specifically, reducing the levy from 2% to 0% could result in a loss of $3 million money for our students. In addition, Governor Murphy issued a recent statement about how the Clifton School District will be one of the
08420 districts affected by the elimination of federal ESSER funding. With both of these items weighing on my mind, I felt compelled to speak here. I attended the three strategic planning meetings. We worked together to help develop goals for our district over the next five years. We talked about the incredible programs we have in place, but we also acknowledged our concerns about staying competitive with the surrounding schools. If our funding is cut, I fear these goals will remain just that, goals and not realities. At the first district planning meeting in Dr. Robertsy's state of the district speech, he reviewed the budget which included that our district is 21,272,923 under adequacy. According to the Department of Education, a 2% annual levy is what the Department of Education recommends, and we spent years not taking advantage of that.
085Clifton staff members are already doing a lot with the little that we have. The last two years, the board of education recognized this need and provided resources which benefited the welfare of our students. This is more than just reorganizing the allocation of funds. We need sufficient resources to support our school community. While I understand the importance of wisely managing taxpayer money, we also need to ask ourselves, are we investing in our future when we short change our children's education? Our students are counting on us. If we reduce funding, these students will be the ones who suffer. They will lose access to the programs that help them become well-rounded individuals and responsible citizens. We owe it to them to ensure they have the tools and opportunities they need to succeed. I implore the board of education
086to consider at least a 4% levy. Thank you for your time and consideration. I trust you will make a decision that reflects the best interests of our students, our community, and the future of Clifton. Good evening, uh, board commissioners, Dr. Central Administration. Thank you for having us here, uh, this evening. I definitely will not need this alarm clock. Uh, my my bedtime alarm is going to ring in about 3 minutes. So, um, with that being said, uh, when I first arrived in September of 2022, and I was right here at this very podium thanking you. Excuse me, one moment. Could you please I'm sorry. I'm Steven Vienna. My apologies. Stephen Vienna, supervisor of health and phys. Um, so like I was saying, when I first arrived in in September of uh September 1st of 2022
087and I was given the fizzed schedule, um, one eyepopping stat came to mind and I saw it and, uh, we're going to talk a lot this evening about dollars and cents, but the first thing that I saw was relationships. And, uh, Dr. Robtos, you took the the wind out of my sales with that when you when you spoke just now. Um, I noticed on that schedule that there were 39 expected doubled classes in the health and phys department. Uh, that that to me is not the norm. It's not the expectation. It's not what I would want for our students because I know that puts our teachers in in a situation that uh doesn't allow them to build the relationships that they would we would like to see within my first year. I made that my
088my top priority. Um, with that being said, uh, with enrollment changes for year number two, that number, if we, if we did the math, ballooned up to 69 doubled classes for the 23 24 school year. With the support of this board of education and our central administration, by the end of that summer, my first summer doing that schedule, that number came down to six doubled classes for the school year. I want to thank you even further that I'm very proud to say that with this support and obviously the tough decisions that you have to make. Uh we are now currently at zero doubled classes across the district which is a tribute to the relationships that we've built to the work that you do up here. Um it is a very difficult decision but we support
089obviously we thank you for your support and we understand it's a difficult decision and um we obviously have been the fruit we have been receiving the fruits of your labor and I thank you for that. Good evening commissioners Dr. Robert Toy in central administration. I'm Aaron Jagger. I'm the supervisor of math and business at Clifton High School. Um I'm coming to speak to you today both as a supervisor and employee and also as a a Clipton graduate. So as a Clipton employee, I want to thank you all for all that you've done in the past and all that you continue to do for us. I know that it's a lot of time that you all spend here discussing this and worrying about our students and our staff and this community. Um, and that's something I
090wanted to come and say thank you for in our programs that we have here as well. Thank you for helping Clipton to grow. It's something I've seen in my 16 years here working as a teacher and an instructional coach and now as a supervisor, but it's something I've also seen as a resident and my mother has seen as a resident. My husband, my mother-in-law, we're all Clifton graduates and we've seen our community and our schools grow and it's something I'm proud to say that I'm part of the Clifton community and I always mention that because I'm so proud of that. Um, so I want you to take that into consideration. Something I always tell my husband is, you know, follow your dreams. And he did. And I've seen so many of my friends do that
091as well. And I don't want you to take that away from our students and allow them to follow their dreams. allow them to have those programs that they may need to support their mathematics instruction, their ELA instruction, the after-school programs, our academic awards dinners, field trips, those opportunities that our students don't get and they get at our schools which are such a a hub here in Clifton. So, please when you're making these tough decisions, and I know that they are tough, think of those students and their dreams and how are you helping them achieve them. Thank you. Good evening board. Uh my name is Marie Rose. Um I'm speaking as a teacher from Clifton High School and as a parent of Clifton. Um, first as a teacher, I do teach the MLL students, the multilingual
092students, uh, algebra 1, which can be difficult at times, but such a pleasure at the same time. Um, I know one of the best parts of the day is the morning announcements, the morning show, which is created by the students. That's a program by itself where they broadcast um all the different organizations, extracurricular activities, sports, and that really gets my MLL students very motivated um and try to get stay engaged in the community, uh integrate and everything. I'm also here to speak as a parent because I think that's even more important. That's why I'm really here. Um I have two children. They both go to Christopher Columbus Middle School. I'm very proud of their accomplishments. straight A students. They're um involved in the band. They're involved in sports. Um and I would love for them
093to continue to be in these extracurricular activities that we do offer at Clifton. So, I do thank you guys for providing those uh funds so that we are able to create it and I do ask that it continues. Did you guys know that uh the robotics team just went in Philly, the regionals, and they're moving on to nationals? So, that's a wonderful accomplishment and that's one of the things I noticed on Mr. Shahada's list. Um, as well as the IC program, which is the enrichment summer program my kids do every year. Uh, where they play band, they do plays, they do all sorts of stuff. Speaking of plays, at the high school, have you guys seen what an incredible job they do every time? The Sweeney Todd show that just happened. and the kids own
094it and we do not want to take away from those opportunities. So I do ask as a member of this community as a staff member um and you know as a one of the many staff members that are here to please uh approve this budget uh so that the kids may continue to enjoy these uh extracurricular activities. Thank you. of course my lights on on my phone. Um, good evening board commissioners. My name is Aaron Muda. I'm the K through8 math supervisor here in Clifton School District. I'm going to make this uh short. Um, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for continuing to fund our curriculum and our programs here in Clifton. Our students deserve the best academic programs that um we can give them. And I thank you guys for
095always funding uh our programs. To be honest with you, the current funding proposals that are less than what Mr. Shahada and Dr. Robert Totoy are asking for um are unsettling at best. Um while we have come a long way, we have a lot farther to go. Um so it is my sincere hope that you continue to vote for uh and fund our district at um the recommendations of Dr. Roberts and Mr. Shahara. So thank you very much. Uh, good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board. My name is Jeene Carlos Gonzalez. I'm a criminal justice teacher at Clifton High School. Clifton is known as a city that cares. Today, I urge you to live up to that promise, not just in words, but in action. Just look around us. In Wayne, 40 district employees are
096being laid off. On top of that, 18 retired staff members won't be replaced next year. They're privatizing before and after school programs. Students may now have to pay fees just to participate in sports and extracurriculars. Even school security is being scaled back with police officers replaced by in-house personnel. In our neighboring town in Pake, they're eliminating 51 positions due to financial strains. These are not abstract numbers. These are teachers, mentors, custodial staff that are being taken away from children. The question is simple. Is this the Clifton we want for our kids? We do not uh do we not see the warning signs from our neighboring towns? Do we not value our children's future more than a rigid 2% tax levy? We have a choice now. To invest in our students or to watch the slow
097erosion of our quality and care we built over this generation. Our students deserve more. Our community can do more. Let's be bold. Let's be compassionate. Let's be the Clifton, the city that cares. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak this evening? Thank you. Good evening. I'm Donna Papowitch. I do not work here. I used to. Okay. Um, I have no position. So, I guess I should disclaim that everything I say is just for me. Um, first I'm just going to ask the people sitting up there. You see how I'm sitting forward speaking into my mic. That's what you all need to do. I'm sitting in the room and I can't hear you. Okay? You and and I'm hearing impaired. So, it's really not fair if you have a mic if you're not
098using it correctly. So, please do like I'm doing right into the mic. Okay. I had time to prepare something because I was teaching today and as usual, no one's listening to me. Um um egg prices are going up. Um everything I want to buy goes up. We just had a floor collapse in my bathroom. We had to redo everything. I mean, man, you're talking about economic uncertainty. That's like in my own house. It looks like we're heading for a recession. And I know everything costs a lot. But if we're only thinking locally, you know what? That's selfish. We have to think broadly, globally, about what is needed. Now, my research says, and I'll phrase it like that before everyone jumps on me, that Gondi said a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its
099weakest members. Our weakest members or some of our weakest members are our children and they are the future of our country. There are present innocents and in the future they will create a world based on their past and their past is our today. And they didn't vote for an administration to cut all our aid or crash the stock market or ruin all our retirements or raise prices. They had no part of that whole thing. Okay. So why are they being punished? You know, there's a lot of ways people in this community can tighten your belts. I haven't seen one nail salon close. Coffee shops are popping up all over. I don't know about you guys. I know I got a lot of years on many of you, not all of you. But to me, coffee
100was I bought a travel mug and I brought it from home. I didn't go out every day and spend $10 at Starbucks or, you know, uh, Paris Baguette or, you know, God, even Duncan's like five bucks now. Okay, you brought something from I brought my brown bag from home. Um sometimes we're pennywise and pile is foolish and especially in government because we're worried about spending today but we're not looking towards the future. If we don't educate these kids today they and I hate to use the word drain but they're going to be a drain on society in the future. They are not going to be able to make it. They're not going to be able to hold jobs. They're not going they're going to need our assistance. And this isn't just special need or or
101some category of student that we come up with. This is all of them. If we do not give them an education and give them the chance to get forward, even if they get into college, they won't make it. if they go to a trade, you have to do the trade school at night to get certified. They're not going to make it. So, um there's a big cause and effect and we see it throughout history. So, let's not be part of it. Let's make things better. Um let's make things better for all of them because all our students need help. And just before I run out of time, one of our other groups that is um shall we say uh innocent our seniors, but they have a senior freeze. If we're making over 150K, they're not
102getting a tax raise. And you know what? If you're making over 150K, God, I wish I was you. And I could Mark, I hope Chew's here because I think we could all use a little Chewy tonight. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak this evening? Good evening, commissioners. Uh, my name is Matt Ward, Ven Sulav. Um, I've been watching your meetings very closely on television. I had the pleasure of being at the strategic planning sessions. I was probably one of the few community people that were there. Okay. Someone not working with the board, but actually as a community person. I know most of you very very well. I'm a former board member and past president of the board as well as being a former councilman in the city. I know what
103it can be like when budgets were defeated and what that means to have to sit through that process. I'm one of the very few people that's been on both sides of that discussion. So, I know what it's like. Let me just say this. There's two words in the state constitution. One is the word thorough and the other word is the word efficient. So you must balance both of those and to take to heart what was said by the business administrator. You have to assume worst case scenarios. Now this is not the time to think otherwise. More importantly, I would urge you and I know that there was in my time and there probably still is the municipal alliance where certain members of the board and certain members of the council, the superintendent, we have an
104interim city manager. You folks need to make sure that your case is being thoroughly understood by the people who are on both sides of Clifton Avenue and make sure they're aware of it. I don't need to say what the needs of kids are there. There is certainly there. Anybody who's seen the district over the years, as I have, my my middle brother Tom was in the first graduating class out of the Kofax building. My brother Ed was in the last class that came out of school 10, which is now a parking lot. So, we've seen the progression, but I will tell you this, you need to make sure you reach out to our legislators. Make sure they're thoroughly aware of what's going on. We have an important governor's race coming up. It's time to get
105those candidates on record about where they stand for districts like Clifton. We're not an Abbott district. This is not Park Ridge. This is not upper Saddle River. This is real. 85% I could be off by a few percentage points is picked up by local property taxpayers. So, you really need to make sure you understand where the money's coming from. I'm not going to talk about 2% or 4% or go zero. I'm not sufficiently up to speed to comment on that. But I will tell you this, there are ramifications. There are people who won't be at this microphone that are citizens of the city and they have to pay for this increase, whatever it is. So I would ask you to make sure that you get your message out as best as can be to any
106community groups that are available. Talk to the municipal alliance. See what is possible that can be done. The county is looking at an increase. In all probability, the city will. Down the pike, the city is looking at a revalve situation. These are really tough issues on all sides of the of the can. So, what I was going to say to you tonight, it is very difficult being where you're in the position you are. The world changed as we know it as we walked into 2025. All the assumptions of the past can be gone. I'm sorry to hear what those words are that you had to indicate about worst case scenario, but they're true and they need to be taken seriously. Um, I would just ask you in conclusion, reach out and communicate to as many
107different people as possible. I don't think anybody wants to see a kid go without the proper learning. There's nobody, I don't think, that wants to see that happen. There are needs today that people who went to school 30 years ago had no idea what's going on in the schools today. And you need to communicate that to them as much as possible. It was a learning experience being at the strategic planning meetings and getting to understand what teachers are going through today. Okay. My time on the board seems dinosauric from when I was on the board. But I will tell you that some of the same needs are still here. You have to communicate. If you don't do this correctly, what'll happen is we'll be in a situation where we'll be playing catchup and we can't
108have anybody be embittered that they weren't listened to. You know, my father used to say this all the time. He said, "Matt, never forget you're born with two ears and one mouth." So, what I would say to each of you really simply, start to divvy up and how to get out to community groups. We don't have as many as we used to in Clifton because the internet basically has become the community meeting ground, but you need to make sure that you get your story out there. I'm willing to help. I had the pleasure of meeting many of you folks at the strategic meetings. It was a good opportunity. I congratulate the board for that. But more importantly right now, this is really tough folks. We just lost three senior people on the city side and
109the city right now is trying to get its act together on what it will do with its budget. The county is going through its situation. So, you need to communicate as clearly as possible what's going to go on and what's taking place. And I just want to say to you, I appreciate the time and the service that you do as a volunteer. People have no idea the amount of time and active involvement that a commissioner does. And I applaud central administration, okay? The people that are on the front lines. These are our kids. This is our city. So, I want to say I wish you well on this, but please think long and hard. It's a thorough education, but it has to also be an efficient one. Thank you very much. Good evening, board commissioners,
110people at everyone at home. Um, I want to start off by saying that I wholeheartedly Excuse me. Could you please know who you are, but and I've been here enough to know that Elias Ragsdale. Thank you. Um, I understand many in this room and those that spoke today advocated for a tax increase even up to 4% to ensure that our schools remain well funded. And while I wholeheartedly support this investment in education, our students deserve the best. That's undeniable. I was a student uh in June, right? Less than a year ago. But at the same time, it's important that we balance this investment with fiscal responsibility. Before we ask tax taxpayers for more, we need to ensure that every dollar we currently have is being used as efficiently as possible. We have to be creative
111in how we approach our budget, looking for ways to eliminate waste and streamline services that don't directly benefit students or things that we have provided to students that simply don't work. Cuts if needed should come from top down focusing on administrative cost and areas where we can improve efficiency not from the classroom or for ser from services that directly support our students. I know recently we created the position of assistant superintendent of business for how long did we just have a business administrator and actually we still both we still have both of those positions and I'm yet to receive a difference in those job descriptions. This is about prioritizing what truly matters in ensuring that every dollar spent contributes to student success and and as Mr. Ward said, you guys have a very hard decision
112because you have a commitment to the student success as well as to the taxpayer. And once again, I was a student less than a year ago. But I also understand the more complex role that you take on. So, by making smart decisions, strategic decisions, investing in education while being responsible stewards of taxpayer money, there is a way to find a balance that ensures our schools are well funded, our students have the resources they need, and we remain accountable to our community. And lastly, I want to say that I've come to this mic advocating for tax increases as well. We h we cannot keep the pattern of zeros, but we also cannot keep the pattern of continuing to burden the taxpayer. And that's where administration comes in and that's where the creativity of you all come
113in to finding that equal balance. Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak this evening? Seeing none, motion. Seeing none, motion to close. Motion by Commissioner Batford, seconded by Commissioner Brunak. Okay, so let's open it up for a second round here. Um, Commissioner Suarez, I know had a question before we broke to public recognition. Thank you, President Paris. And just briefly, thank you for everyone who spoke. It was so heartwarming to see the community and staff come out in in these numbers. I wish we had those numbers on many other meetings so we can hear from the community. But thank you to everyone. Um, but that was an aside. Um, my question, thank you Dr. Robertsi earlier for describing what we said no to. I thought that was extremely important to express. Um
114I noticed I tried to jot down many of the things as you were um naming them and I noticed most of it was to support our special education students. Um what number would we need to go up to in order to and and to be quite honest, I don't see this even as a wish list. I see this as how can we best educate our students? Um, wish lists to me are, you know, I would like to paint over all of our walls kind of a thing. But, um, what number do and and Mr. Shahada perhaps can answer this as well. What number do would we could we go up to to meet the needs of, um, what we said no to? So, I um, Miss Morris, thank you uh, so much. I do have
115that number in my papers here somewhere. So, Matt, if you find it before me, um, see that um, you want to borrow it? I don't mind you take I don't mind you answering the question. So I think just to reiterate the question is of those things that I listed as needs that we said no to what what's that total number and what would the budget have to be increased the tax have to be increased to get those things? Uh that's very uh tough just because special ed positions those were mainly special education positions. I would say 90% of them um they are coming at a premium nowadays just because they're a dime a dozen. It's very hard to I think I use that phrase wrong. They're very hard to come by. Um I don't want
116to lie and guess but comfortably I'm not advocating for this. I'm just answering the question. So you know people talking about trim the fat have a seat. Uh I would say about 12% which come out to about 17 million because you have to include benefits as well. I did want to say, Miss Suarez, and I feel for our neighboring districts, Wayne and and Pay and the districts that are cutting, it may be a blessing in disguise for Clifton. Um, unfort I hate to say it like that, but uh that they may lose some good staff that that come down the street to to Clifton and join us because there is still a significant teacher shortage, especially in the areas of special ed regardless if we hire additional just on our needs right now. Anyone else?
117I have a question. Yep. Commissioner Kenova, how how long do you mentioned how there's this one-year sort of like magical we could we could go up to a number. How long do we have to decide on that? If we pass a budget of 2%, do we have until the end of the year? Is it the fiscal year? Is it just in that time frame of of May? May 1, whatever whatever time we do that vote, that's that's the Mr. Shone. Wasn't I'm sorry. I want to go back and clear. Wasn't there an April 14th date? we have to let the county know. So, you have to apply, but applying does not mean that you are okay going to do it. So, that's important. It if it's something we're even going to consider before May 1st
118to go above 2%, we have to apply, which is not like a big thing. It's not a big deal. Um, so if and if we're going to continue to discuss this, um, then we probably should just apply. And as Mr. Mr. Shah said applying doesn't mean you're doing anything. Um, but I I knew there was an April 14th date. I just wanted to clarify what that was. You are correct. So, so here's my concern. My concern is that we all agree on a budget whether it's 012, whatever it's going to be. Um, and then that $20 million shortfall becomes reality and then what do we do? So, if we had time with that, if we could have some sort of extension and say, "We're passing a prelim preliminary budget now because you don't even have
119your act together to tell us, you know, about this money." Um, and and I'm willing I'm willing, you know, to take the reigns on that and talk with other districts. I see there's 20 other districts there. Let's get them all together and uh and get their representatives, too, and figure out, you know, what's going on. I don't mind doing that. So, I'm I'm pretty sure Mr. Tabicanin can clarify this, but there is like a statutorial date where the budget has to be passed by something by the governor and the legislature. I'm assuming it has to do with tax purposes and getting everything ready for the July 1 uh payout. So, we get paid twice a month from the city on taxes and uh this and once a month, I believe like on the fourth of
120every month from the state for state aid. So, they have to know what they're doing to be able to get their ducks in a row. So that's why the budget is due first or second week of May, something like that. I don't know the number off the top of my head. The $20 million shortfall that you're talking about this evening is not a creature of the New Jersey uh state government, it's a creature of the federal government. Um so while it may be that there's an appearance of um strength in numbers so to speak that you can get 20 other districts to go petition the state of New Jersey to do something about it the um likelihood the political reality of that is deeply troubling. Um and so to the extent that uh New Jersey
121will join very likely I agree with you Dr. Robotozi that there's very little likelihood that there's not going to be some level of litigation arising out of what's going on in Washington and percolating down. Um the the scarcity of resources in the state of New Jersey is acute and um the belief that the state is going to be able to ride in and and bail whether it's Clifton or any of the other 20 some odd districts um is um very very challenging to believe that that's going to be a reality. Uh, I think the the prudent um conservative approach would be to believe that that $20 million is not going to be a reality for your community and that you should be planning accordingly, whatever that may mean to you all. Um, but the idea
122that Trenton is going to come in and and save the day on this one is is problematic. The 20 communities on that list do not include the double that number who have suffered reductions in state aid who are equally stressing um having financial distress as a result of of what's going on. So it's it's I think you need to plan that you're in this on your own for the foreseeable future. And I don't want to be a Debbie Downer. I'm not I'm not and I think we should do that. I think we should go to an executive session and talk about some of those things we mentioned earlier. But I was under the impression that by removing the board of the education at a federal level that they're allowing states for control, which I'm assuming
123would be then the state if we wanted to pick up these additional programs of title one, etc. would do that or for these special needs um laws that are enacted in the federal level that they would do that. So that's my position of where I'm coming from. Yeah. I I think Mr. Kenova, I think what we were expecting if the Department of Education was eliminated at the federal level that some of the functions that they finance would just be moved to different departments. For example, Title One is the biggest one, right? The president was quoted as saying they were not going to touch Title One money. And this was a couple months ago, so things change. So even if the Department of Education was eliminated, maybe that was going to go to Treasury or some
124other department that would distribute the money. That was our expectation. HHS. Yeah. H um was that human and health services. Yeah. I don't know that the state was actually going to just be given those funds. Okay. One more question. I just want to be clear on this so people from the community can hear. We have how much money in cap reserve? Uh what is left in the bank is uh 12 a little over 12 million. Okay. And what is the cuts that we're projecting that we're going to receive from uh or get cut from the federal government? Uh 20 million. But I just want to make it clear that that 12 million is put into a special account for capital improvements raining day funds for fiscal I mean um facilities issues. Okay. couldn't supplement the
125This is I'm I'm thinking like that's in a bank. That's in an account. God forbid we get the 20 million cut and they come out with a rule that you're allowed to use cap reserve in this district. How many buildings do we have? 24 fish. We have a freak storm. We have a freak storm and three of our roofs bu blow off. Ballpark estimate. How much does three roofs cost? Oh, depending on the building. Um, I would say on average 3 million. No, I'm I'm trying to make I'm trying to There's a reason why I'm going here. Anywhere between three to three and up. So, we have to save that money for rainy day. Absolutely. Period. That's why we have So, we can't touch that money for uh instruction, extracurricular, nothing. That is our rainy
126day fund for any kind of emergency. If we do have a sunny year and we have a little extra, we can do a project here or there. Correct. So we can't use that for salary. And Miss Bazford, you know, there's something that happens every year. I know because if it's going to happen, it's going to happen in Clifton. June, right? We have a flood. We have a a bad snow a rainstorm. One of our schools suffer from those rainstorms all the time and it's always an issue there. So that can't be touched. Correct. Yes, ma'am. So we're looking at a deficit regardless of where we go, right? Yes. We started off last year in the right direction. That's all I'm saying. I got accused and former people being on this board got accused of not
127going in the right direction for years, which was not really our fault because we were advised that way. We were told. So, I'm asking everyone on this board, whoever sits on finance, whoever is in in involved in those conversations for years. Now is the time to speak up to tell us if we don't do this, how are we going to recover two years from now, three years from now, four years from now, because now we're seeing those effects from all the years that we did not fund this district. So I I guess you know where I'm going with my comments, but or how I'm going to vote, but I took an oath on a Bible. I was there to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I'll keep it for my comments that thank you
128for answering those questions. Commissioner Suarez, thank you, President Paris. Um, and and I just wanted in reflection from what was mentioned before and I'm sorry I'm a bit of a processor, so it took me a few minutes and thank you um, Commissioner Basford for sharing your ideas. Um, in connection with that, if it would be I wouldn't say the word reasonable, but we would have reason to go up to 12% if necessary in order to meet the needs that were mentioned on uh things we said no to. Um, and we are only asking for a 2% increase to maintain what we already have. And as many of the educators in the audience today requested a 4%. I just wanted to it is my opinion that at this time after everything that has been shared tonight
129from Dr. Robert Tozy's um excellent presentation to what has been shared with the educators who are in front of our students every single day. I happen to care deeply about education but they are on the front lines seeing the impact of our budget decisions. I personally thinks that it's actually irresponsible to stop at 2%. I think there's reason to go higher. I'm not saying that that is on the board, but I think that it should be a discussion at some point um because of the everything that has been shared, potential decreases, what's been needed, and all the things that we additionally need in the district. And I just wanted to share that. Okay, good good meeting everyone. Thank you for all your input. Thank you to the public for for your input as well. Um,
130we're up to board member comments. Well, I can remember who I think we're up to Mr. Kenova to start actually. Is that okay, Mr. Master? I try to do it so that everybody's in right queue there. So, I think we're up to him. I mean, most of my comments are really have been said here tonight. Um, I think everyone realizes that I'm in favor of at least a 2% increase at this point. Um, you know, when when I was looking at this, I was looking at I went on the state website. I had given the link. Thank you for that. Where it shows an Excel file of all the districts across the state and you could filter it by county. You could filter by state. You could even say just show me cities that have
131the word city in them. And in every single category, we're at the bottom third, sometimes the bottom quarter. In the city category, we're actually fifth. Fifth, not good. Fifth, the bottom fifth from the bottom. Meaning that we're not even we're not even average. So, I was on this board for the first two years. I did Mr. I'm sorry. I know it's your comments, but not in what in spending in Oh, average spend per people. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you. I just wanted Yeah. So I was on the when I got on this board the f the first year as we were seeing state increases we said why would we go out to the taxpayer and bop them on the head they've been overfunding because of this right so we said as that moves forward we're
132going to we're going to give them a little bit of leeway and that's where the 0% increases came from but then the third year I was here I said the same thing we were looking at 0% I even said not not this year we'll talk about it maybe next year until Dr. Robert Toy brought up and said, "You realize that we're not even average, right? These are all things we didn't talk about necessarily in finance at that time." You know, uh we talked about our class size at that point. It came all came out in a meeting and you all watched the meeting. Um and literally mid meeting I said we can't do this. When we say we're giving status quo, we're not even giving status quo like the average status quo. We're saying we're
133a poor district and we're going to continue that for next year. That's literally what we're saying. So, we're not putting we're not putting anything behind our students when we talk about things that we want to do. We we just went through a strategic plan where they literally laid out a plethora of things we could do and we should do and none of them had a zero dollar amount attached. I'm sorry. It's just that's just the way it goes. So, if we are going to fund education, which I think we all swore to do, we we all swore that, you know, we want to see this thing move forward, I think we have to put we have to put something into it. Um, not sure what that is yet. Again, I do want to meet with
134an executive session. I don't know if we could do that tonight to talk about some of those things. We'll not be doing that tonight. We can, but that's up to you. We want to add it. It's certainly up to you, Mr. Paris, and the board. We do have items Thursday night for executive session. We could include it Thursday night. We'll add it to Thursday. Okay. On Thursday, right? I am not. You can Maggie will be here. Um, I have confidence in you and Maggie. So that's up to the board. If if the board wants to go on executive tonight, we can. I we definitely have to go in Thursday. So the only reason why I would say tonight is because this meeting is for tonight and we're specifically going to talk about that tonight if
135we do go into executive tonight. But um because it's so pressing that we only have a certain time frame to to do any of this stuff and to understand what it really means financially for us if we don't pay our certain things. I'm not even going to say what that is. Um I I think it's important that we do that now. I that would be my recommendation. What the will of the board is? Yep. Okay. We will have it in executive session then. So do you want to pause comments now or do you want a break for that or do you want to finish comments and then make a motion for comments? We can make Okay. Someone make a motion for executive session to discuss. You have to make a mo motion eventually. You have
136to make a motion to go into executive session. The question on the is whether you want to finish your comments first. I just want to clarify we could add this to Thursday's executive, too. Is that correct? Yes. Yes. Thank you. I'm done with my comments. Okay. We'll we'll finish comments and then we'll take uh take motions if there are for executive session. Dr. Danny. Uh so I I'll just be brief. Um, I just want to say that, um, you know, I don't think at, you know, going to a 0%, you know, is is is good or, you know, I I don't believe in that. But when it comes to thinking about, you know, Clifton and what you do, um, you know, I have to say like, you know, Joe, you were saying about, you know,
137like kind of giving a crappy, you know, um, like not an and cost per is lower than average. Yeah. Yeah. But what you were it I don't know. It seemed to me like you were saying what we offer or or something. I don't It was just the way you said it. it seemed like it was like like average or below average of what we're sort of giving. But, you know, um I work in a district and a lot of the things that we give our students here, um our students don't get. They have to pay. They have to fund raise. They're always having bake sales. They're always doing things. They don't, you know, project graduation is is not something that's given. It's like they have to fundraise. they have to do senior fundraising, junior fundraising,
138you know. So, I see a difference in what is offered here and what is offered. I mean, we offer excellent electives here. Um, we offer that in my district as well, but there are a lot of electives here. And, you know, um, AP courses and and things that, you know, that when I look at it's like, wow, you know, there's a lot. And um this district, you know, does help out a lot with students in terms of putting in the money there to make sure that the students have this great academic experience. So, you know, I I have to say I mean I I think that they do a great job. And if you're you know, if the administration is saying 2%, I think that's fair. I think going up higher and I mean we
139did we asked um you know again the taxpayers for a referendum and they did it and in the past you know they they didn't do that and they they said yes to it and you know maybe that's because of all the zeros that we put there so maybe that's why they said you know what okay and you know we've went to 4% and I think that it would be unwise to go I don't agree with you Miss Suarez and and that's all All right, because we can have differing opinions, but you know, I think the the administration said the 2% I think it's fair and we offer a lot for our students. We pay for a lot. Maybe in the future we won't be able to pay for those things. Maybe we won't be able
140to. And so again, I think um you know, somebody in the public said it was Elias and he said, you know, it's that that delicate balance. And I think Mr. reward too. That's kind of like that delicate balance. Um just one second. I I never go over um you know and I think it's that delicate balance of you know keeping in mind the taxpayer but yet you know thorough and efficient and you know this is what is needed and we don't know. I mean maybe next year you know we'll have to look at that. But I mean I just think for for this year um we've just got to you know think outside the box, look at things a little bit differently. And as I said, um I just see that Clifton offers a lot
141of wonderful things for its students that my district has, you know, the parents paying for and the students um going and, you know, fundraising. So, I think we're doing a great job. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Danny. Commissioner Mahia has arrived. Yes. Thank you, everybody. I was at work, so just came here, rushed over. Um, but I was listening to the whole thing about working and I know Commissioner Bassford mentioned something before talking about well before the passports weren't really aware of all the repercussions that were going to happen because of voting consistently 0% 0% point I think it was 75 that they voted one time. So they weren't really aware of all the things that were going to happen because of it. you kind of like not to say we dug our own hole,
142but you know, the board kind of dug their own hole and the past couple years has been slowly trying to climb out of that ladder and then boom, we get hit with what recently happened the past couple months months. So you think to yourself like, well, what's next? We we're losing money. Are we going to cut staff? Are we going to cut faculty? And that's honestly nothing no one wants to hear. Imagine. I can't imagine it because I know there's going to be students crying saying, "Hey, what happened to my favorite teacher who was here, you know, last year? How come all of a sudden my class that has, you know, 16 kids now we have like 27, 28 kids?" Um, hey, does my teacher even remember my name? Um, just looking around here, I
143see some of my former teachers. Shout out Mr. G. How you doing? Um, so I remember it vividly for me. You know, you look back at it. Um I remember when I was serving as a graduate assistant in the school of education at the time when you're sitting in in that classroom you don't realize how much impact you know your teachers have on you. It's not until 5 10 6 years later that you realize like wow they had such an impact on me that because of that I'm now where I am today because of all the things that they've done. Um, and it is sad to see that unfortunately, you know, based off the climate we're living in today, you know, things like that might happen, they might not happen. Um, but to hear that
144we're going to lose almost $20 million is, you know, blows your mind because those are things that are, you know, believe it or not, they're unpreventable because if the government says we're taking 20 20 mil away, well, guess what? They're taking 20 mil away. And if we don't have those reimbursements in already, well, too bad, so sad. That comes out of our own pocket. Um, just want to leave it with that. Um, thank you and have a great night. Thank you, Commissioner Mahia. Commissioner Ciano. Thank you, President Paris. It was funny because I was like, "Hey, we're going to have two meetings this week, so we should make a motion to suspend comments tonight, but there's so many speakers tonight. I didn't think it was fair." And a lot of good things came up, so
145I'm going to be as quick as possible because my handwriting is horrible. I could hardly read it. Uh, so I appreciate all the speakers that came out tonight. Uh, I want to address the issue Dr. Roberts made with the lack of trust. I just want you to know I have nothing but the utmost confidence in the administration and I myself personally just couldn't send the budget to the county that I didn't agree with. That was my own personal thing. Uh, raising taxes does not drive people to Clifton. I just want everybody to know that. Um, people come to Clifton for its proximity to New York City and its transit. Uh, and there's a lack of inventory in New Jersey right now. Uh, I speak to homeowners every day and they are begging for a break.
146We've gone up 10% in three years. That's not a small number. I'm not saying that I'm going to vote on 0%. 0% is unreasonable, but 2% to me at this time might be two. Uh, our obligation to the taxpayer is non-existent at this point. I said it once, I'll say it again. People are drowning, and I see it every day. Uh, I want the students and the staff to have the best experience in town, but sometimes, unfortunately, cuts need to be made. in Clifton. 32% of the households just approximately have children under 18. 60 80% of the people are screaming for help. Please help me. Uh county tax, sewer tax, city tax, everything's going up. Um you know, eggs have come down a little bit, but they're still really high. Uh the tax uh assessment
147is coming and it's been 30 years. And I know people don't think that's a big idea, but I have to promise you that it is. Uh typical tax assessment, a third go down, a third stay the same, a third go higher. We've talked about this. The higher is going to be an astronomical number this time no matter what they do to the tax rate and all signs are pointing to a number much higher than a third. Uh so everybody has to remember that the homeowners are very much hurting. It's not only the homeowners, it's the business owners, it's the people that just own properties in this town that are screaming for help at this point. And that's all I have for tonight. Thank you, Commissioner S. Commissioner Suarez. Thank you, President Paris. Uh, thank you,
148Commissioner Siana. That was really helpful information. Um, and you know, I just I'll keep it short as well. I am absolutely in support of 2% and I'm open to a discussion for a higher increase. You know, when I think about comparing to other districts and what other and and Dr. Danny, thank you um for your input as well. I think having different opinions allows me to be a better thinker and understanding how other people perceive a situation. Um, but I came on in this position as a steadfast advocate for public education and I I I stand on that and and with that when I hear our vulnerable students needing more support that they're not getting um that's what gives me pause when I hear that we're at the fifth percentile of uh cost per pupil.
149That gives me pause and it makes me think where are we imagining the district to be? I I don't want the strategic planning meetings that we've had to be for not to be just to show. Um I think there were excellent ideas shared during that time and I think we should start making moves to make to plan for that. Um so thank you current commissioner Kenova for for making that clear that we had these grandiose ideas but with no financial plan to meet them. So, I think if we begin this conversation now, um I'm not here in this seat to plate to people and and a popularity contest and and that's no shade to anyone. It's just my personal thing is about public education and I strongly believe in in supporting it and funding it
150in the best ways we can. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Commissioner Suarez. Commissioner Bassford. Yes. Just so for public knowledge, the per pupil spending for parameters is $26,625 a year. I sit one office away from the Paramis board of education president and they're going up 4%. Okay. I'd like to take this moment to speak about trust. While some may feel that it is shaken, I want to be clear that for me trust is not lost. Danny, I can only speak for myself, but I believe that the integrity of our process and our shared commitment to doing what's best for the students staff of Clifton is intact. I think that uh we were all expecting a different level of of the budget meeting last time. I myself I was a little disappointed that that level wasn't
151there. I did speak to Mr. Shahada about it and I think that the expectation going into the last meeting was very clear to all of us that we expected certain things and it didn't happen. I think that's what you saw was the outcome. But trust is not lost on this board. I think tonight um the transparency of this open discussion, the the community weighing in uh and also the staff weighing in is what we needed as board members. Every one of us took an oath to uphold the New Jersey Constitution to support and advance public education, not to diminish it. That responsibility is not just symbolistic. It is our duty. And I take that duty seriously. Being able to sleep at night means knowing that I've made decisions that protect our students and support staff
152and respect our taxpayers. I want to be clear that I have not aligned myself with any partisan group or made promises to any special in interest group to vote one way or the other. My vote is always based solely on what I believe is in the best interest of the district with the knowledge that I'm given and the community as well as a whole. This reality uh is that we shortchanged the district for many years. We shortch changed the district for many years. We asked our schools to do more with less. And while our educators did their best, the impact was felt. Last year, we finally took a step in the right direction with the budget that we acknowledged the real needs of our students and staff. That progress cannot stop now. This the needs
153need to continue. I will not support any budget that cuts essential services, academic program or ex extracurricular extracurricular activities that help shape and inspire our students. The Clifton Public School System is one of the uh city's largest employers and with that comes a tremendous obligation to maintain fiscal stability while safeguarding educational ex excellence. Last year, we raised taxes to meet what we called our wish list, a budget that included a 4% raise for most bargaining units. With the rising cost of health benefits, inflation, and other uncertainty of the looming federal co cuts, it is imperative that we preserve the process and the progress that we have made to keep our district operating at its current level. I cannot in good conscience support anything less than a 2% increase. I do not want this board to
154be remembered as the one that cut programs that truly impact the lives of our students. Extracurricular activities are not luxuries. They are the lifelines for many of our young people. They offer structure, inspiration, and opportunity. They make a world of difference in the life of a child. Can I continue? And I will not support a budget that puts them at risk. I stand by a recommendation that our superintendent has made and the budget that was submitted to the county for approval. The proposal is not about e uh excess. It's about protecting the heart of our district and doing the right by the community we serve. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner B. Commissioner Brenak. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to give a shout out to everybody who came here personally to comment. It's It's very
155concerning to me what I'm all over this city. Um maybe not as much as Commissioner Ciano. We didn't have one person call in via Zoom and one person come in here physically to oppose a tax increase. It's it's mindboggling to me. You got a bunch of keyboard warriors out there. They scream at the world, then they post misinformation about our administration, about our colleagues on this board is absolutely unacceptable. to the city of Clifton, to my colleagues on this board, to the to the residents of the city of Clifton, to the staff that work for our district, I'm asking you to be courageous and I'm asking no matter what decision that this board comes to May 1st, I want to let everybody know that this administration, the top of this administration, Dr. Roberts, Miss Cusvich,
156Mr. Mr. Jenaro, Mr. Shahada, they have my fullthroatated endorsement and u no matter what we have to go through, I believe we will survive it and we will get through it. Um, but it's it's got to stop. Make sure you know what you're talking about before you start punching those keys on the keyboard, before you hit that post button. I'm begging all of you to do that. It it gets me a little upset, especially when you're not posting information that's true at all. This board has been very This board has been very transparent about relationships that have that currently exist on our board and the administration. We've done everything in our power to make sure that conflicts do not occur within this. We don't that's the last thing this board needs. We want to have
157transparency. We're showing you the numbers. This is the second budget meeting we're having prior to the final vote on May 1st. And I'm asking all of you to please act like human beings. Finally, I want to give my deepest condolences to the Bow and Diesel and Daris family on the loss of Trish uh who tragically passed away Thursday. Uh way too young. Um born, you know, she graduated Clifton High School, class of 86. Wonderful family friend. spent lots of Christmas parties with her in addition to other events, other charity events. Um, she moved back to Clifton in 2017 to take care of her dying uh mother-in-law and uh sadly she just lost her battle to cancer. So, uh to the to the Bentonistl and the Remis family who have strong lineage here in Clifton, please
158accept my deepest condolences. Thank you everybody for your time and God bless America. Have a good night everybody. Thank you Commissioner Braki. Vice President Santiago. I did not forget you. Thank you. Thank you, President Paris. I almost did. Thank you to um Dr. Roberts and Mr. Shiada for providing the the information. We're lucky to have them so that they can provide to the public transparency. They explain it so that our our public is informed. I want to thank the public for coming out. There were several Clifton Public School alumni who are living examples of our investment in our in our district. Imagine if they didn't have the proper funding when they were students. Um we had strategic planning sessions as mentioned earlier which were great. Some of the themes of the challenges were classroom space,
159more prek, more before and after care, bus transportation for all of our students, just to name a few. So, a lot has changed since our last meeting. An executive order was signed to eliminate the Department of Education. It's not just talk uh at this point. They're actively attacking our students, Clifton children. We talked about 11 million in COVID funds. Uh, but there's another roughly 8 million, if I'm not mistaken, in other federal department of education grants, including title funding that may be cut. Title funds go to lower income students, ELLL students, and special needs or students with disabilities, the most vulnerable students. Um, this is not wasteful spending that's being cut. um you know, you've got to be some kind of evil to harm students, especially these these students, the most vulnerable. Uh so, as
160far as wasteful spending in our district, we get accolades on our audits. Um and again, the administration provides presentations, information like like today. If we lose 20 million in federal funds, that would be devastating not just to these students, to all of our students. it would have ripple effects. Um, just a reminder that our district, as you know, is 11,000 plus students. We are not a Mayberry school district. We were talking about Washington. I do not trust anything that's coming out of Washington. I don't trust them to do the right thing. They're the ones attacking our schools. We should assume that money will be on us. If if the state gets less funding overall, then they're going to have to make adjustments for themselves. We We can't rely on them. We don't know what that's
161going to look like. Last year we approved 4%. Not all of us but the board approved 4%. This year administration wants 2% to continue current obligations, fixed costs and the current educational experience. As Dr. Roberts said they cut to get to the 2% already. Again, that was before this attack on our kids and a possible loss of $20 million. An argument can be made that the district should be asking for more than the 2%, but they're not asking for more than the 2%. I'll be honest with you, it's hard to do more than two because the price of groceries and everything else still has not changed. But if they go through with eliminating Department of Education, 2% is not going to be enough to make up for that deficit, that deficit. There will be harm
162to our students. This is an unprecedented time, a historic time. We need to fight for our students and their future, Clifton's future. We need to do what's right to protect our students because if we don't do it, who will? Thank you. Good night. Thank you, Vice President Santiago. I I don't think there's much more that I can add that what has been stated already other than I just read to you our second code of ethics for school board members. It's the second one. First one is to uphold laws regulations of the state board of education uh pertaining to schools. Number two is I will make decisions in terms of the educational welfare of children and will seek to develop and maintain public schools that meet the needs of in of all children regardless of their
163ability, race, creed, sex, or social standing. I'm sensitive to taxpayers. I'm a taxpayer and my 95-year-old mother's a taxpayer. My sister's a taxpayer in this town. But our obligation as commissioners of the board of education are to our students or to our children. That's our primary obligation given all the numbers that we've heard this evening. any metric you want to look at, whether it be our state funding situation, whether it be the formula formulary of our needs as local taxpayers to do our fair share, whether it be the inflation rate that we're experiencing to the real cost increases that are fixed in our system, be they contractual health care benefits. If you look at any of those numbers and you look at 2% um I don't know I I never was good at very high
164mathematics but all these costs are more than 2%. So I believe the presentation Dr. Robertsi gave us. I believe that these cuts and the list is alarming, Commissioner Suarez, because the cuts, the non-additions that we're making affect in a large part our most vulnerable students. And that's something that over the past several years we had the increases for. We added special ed. We added reading specialists. We added counselors. We we added resources to help our most vulnerable students. So, if this administration recommends 2% to keep the lights on and keep the services going, I'm certainly going to support that motion to adjourn to executive session. I al excuse me before you make the motion. I have something to add to executive session. It's very short. Thank you. Okay. It's uh uh CL uh CL I
165can't think of the word. Client privilege. Sorry. Thank you. Okay. Motion to go to executive session. Motion. Second. Motion by Commissioner Suarez. Seconded by second. Commissioner Kenova. U we need action. No action. We need to action will not be taken. So we will take approximately how long do you think? Minutes I'm going to say 30 minutes and then we'll be five minute recess Mr. President. Yes. Yes absolutely. Thank you. Motion to go real nice. Okay, welcome welcome back to uh from executive session. Um motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion second. Motion by commissioner here. Seconded by Kosher Suarez. Everybody have a lovely evening. Thank you.