001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act of New Jersey, adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising on the legal notice page on the district's and on the district's website. Please rise for the flag salute and stay risen for a moment of silence. Moment of silence for those uh in the military and those affected by the uh conflict in Iran. Thank you. Mr. Labou, roll call, please. >> Okay, Mr. Forcarino. We have uh Mr. Diaz. Absent. Mr. Taylor. >> Present. >> Mr. Otto. >> Present. >> Mrs. Hassan. >> Present. >> Mr. Keles. >> Present. >> Mr. Gaber. >> Present. >> Mrs. Petire. >> Present. >> And Mr. Forcarino. >> Present. Dr. Tomko. >> Yes, sir. Good morning. First, just to um acknowledge Mr. Diaz had work commitment couldn't
002get out today and the the new policy of the board You call in unless you're sick and there's a, you know, um an arrangement made prior. So, I just wanted to make that very clear to everyone here. But, good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming by or tuning in or whatever it is for another extremely important day here in the city of champions. So, I'm going to take a few minutes to go over a few things with regards to process and whatnot and then um I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Labou here who's done an incredible job in his first budget here. So, um very difficult budget cycle as you could imagine. I'm sure you're all um anxious and not in a good way to hear what's happening here. But, I'm going to
003let you know. But, first I just wanted to talk about Excuse me. What today actually is um and some of the other key points. So, this this vote today from the board is a preliminary budget vote. It's also called technical review. It's a technical review of the budget. This is not the final budget. So, a yes vote today from a board member does not mean that it is the final vote on the budget. What happens and it's not nothing new. It's been around This is my 30th year doing a budget, believe it or not, which I was looking at the other day and this probably is the toughest cycle um that I've ever gone through in my career. So, what happens today is we put the preliminary numbers together so that we can balance the
004budget to technically a zero effect. Not zero increase or anything like that, but just to get to so the left side matches the right side, basically. Um and we we do all this with aid numbers, etc., etc. And we present a balanced budget to the board. So, every year every school has to balance a budget. It's nothing spectacular, believe it or not. Um but, they have to balance a budget. So, today um with the board's blessing, that we will present to them a balanced budget. What that does then is this allows Mr. Labou and myself to go back after this meeting over the next several days and put some additional numbers into a formula and a software system that the state runs and we come up with things called fatal errors. I know it sounds
005odd, but that's what it's been called for 100 years. And we fix some of those. Has nothing to do with any of the changes, but it's just, you know, we housekeeping stuff and then we submit it to the county superintendent who then will put our, believe it or not, put our budget on top because we are one of the only April election. So we our timeline is a little quicker. We should get that approval back somewhere around the 18th or the 19th, which is next Wednesday, Thursday. We'll hopefully get the stamp that everything's okay. Maybe they'll talk to us a little about about a few submissions that we made with regard to tax levy, etc. And then at that point this board, these committees, and myself, Mr. Labou, um, we really start, and I keep
006calling it scrubbing. You scrub the lines. You do everything you possibly can to make sure that we are being the potential effect of students, programs, teachers, staff members, and of course the tax impact. So all that is still to come. Okay? So today, whatever you feel, whatever you hear, really it's important to get this to the county so we can start making some of those changes. Nothing may change from today. I've never seen that happen in my career. Usually usually a board comes in and, you know, get some feedback here and there, looks at some things and says, all right, maybe we could change this, maybe we can do that, etc. Okay? All right. I will also say this. I say this a lot. I mean, last year was my first year, so I was
007kind of sitting back and, you know, watching a lot of it. This year is technically I guess my first true budget year. Um, it's not easy being up here on the dais. I think people think it is. Uh if you've sat up here, if you know somebody who has, they'll tell you sitting out there is a lot easier than sitting up here even as um chief administrators in a district. Nobody wants to affect livelihoods. Nobody wants to affect programs. That's not how it is. And we are absolutely not here to blame any past administrators, any past board members, any past boards of education. Things were done for a reason at those times. I can't go back 7 years, 5 years and say, "Oh, they shouldn't have had a 0%." I don't know what was happening
008at the time in the city. You don't remember maybe what was happening at the time in the city. So, so we need to concentrate on now. However, some of the decisions in the past obviously affect moving forward. And that's not just decisions of the city, decisions of the state legislatures, cuts, etc. Underfunded programs in New Jersey in schools, you cannot have an unfunded program. So, if the governor gives us a dollar to fund a program, it's underfunded. It's not unfunded, right? So, we have a bunch of those, right? HIV is one of those. Um there's a lot of underfunded programs. So, a lot of that comes into play here. Okay? However, um there are a few things that got us to this budget that the board is seeing preliminarily this morning. Number one, I would
009be remiss if we didn't talk about health care. Everybody's talking about health care. I don't think anybody realizes uh the impact um in in employee pockets. That's separate. That's going up again. Okay? Again. Also, the impact is on the the board on the uh the local share of the levy. The taxpayers have to uh furnish that um that uh furnish that burden as well. Um we talked about this when I got here last year. We had we had the ability to lock in the 16 months and have a savings. Board decided not to not to do that moving forward. And and again, we're here now with exactly what I talked about a year and a half ago, even worse, even worse than what I predicted. Some of the 0% increases in the past, the reason
010why those occurred, I I don't know. Obviously for good reasons. You had a zero, a 9.something and then a zero. I mean, you know, the city year and the school year is different, so technically that 9.6% which was probably necessary to run and fund programs, really is only a 4.8%. It's half the year. Okay, so you have to think about it that way. When you get your tax bill, you'll see it, you know, you'll see it's it's um it's different unfortunately how they do it in New Jersey. Excuse [clears throat] me. Um but that affected us as well. No one's fault, it just it's a compounding effect. Uh negotiated contracts, we could sit here and talk about everyone's negotiated contract and the increments and all those things, but those bargaining units negotiated in good faith.
011They negotiated in good faith. We knew four years ago or five years ago where these numbers would be. So, knowing that four years ago and now we're at year four, we have to budget for those. So, all of these things are real numbers. They're real numbers and and unfortunately um or fortunately, we knew this coming, right? It's called projecting. It's called budget projecting. So, I knew when I first got the job here that in a few years we would have to budget 4 and 1/2% this year for increases. That's that's what the way it goes. And the only way you can fund that is usually through a tax levy. It's by increasing the tax levy every year because you don't know what kind of state funding you're getting. We got very lucky here the last
012two years. We got a 6% increase two years in a row now. Two years in a row, but I I'm going to say that at some point that's going to stop as well. So, we just don't know when it is. Um So, again, that's these are not surprises. Um Again, to be very, very clear, to run this district the exact same way we ran it last year, the tax impact for this community, and the board was aware of this, the board is aware of this, they were aware of it last year, too, but this year the tax impact would be 20% 20% on average assessed home. That's close to $1,000. That's to run it the same exact way. That's the reality. And the breakdown of the actual general budget is very, very simple. It's a
013simple computational equation. 80% is salary, benefits, etc. 10% 10% goes right to the charter schools, tuitions, etc. 10% and the other 10% of the full benefit of the full budget is everything else. So, all of your programs, all those things that we run for our kids, it's really only 10% of the budget. Now, that's a sad number, but it might be a sad number, but it's normal, it's everywhere. Some places have a larger tax share or a larger tax base because the taxes were consistently increased over time and we'll get that's the one of the last things I'll talk about, but I think it's important that we get it all out here now because when the hearing does come in a few weeks, I know there'll be more people here to, you know, put their
014concerns in, but I'm hope hopefully as this is recorded, you can hear it first hand before this board makes any additional cuts. So, we do cut from any of this, if the board's desire, which I'm pretty sure as of what I've seen for the last 2 years, programs, things that are influential to students, graduation pathways, all those things, we want to keep those intact, right? We don't want to affect the kids, that's why we're all here. So, in order to do that, we have to reduce that 80% number, that 80% line, which unfortunately is staffing, etc. But I but I think it's important right now as we go into these next 2 weeks of making a little bit more cuts to to kind of make you understand this because I'm not saying that Garfield hasn't
015cut in the past but this is not your traditional oh, okay, all the non-tenured people are going. That's not how this works. Okay? So, I'll give you a great example. If the board desires to keep a German program, right? They want kids to speak German in um uh Garfield then the new German teacher that we just hired last year is not going to get cut. She could be the first or he could be the first person in, but if you want to keep German. So, it goes by certificated staff. So, there is going to be with these cuts not only um different layers of cuts through different, you know, non-tenured and tenured spots, but there also may be some reductions um based on uh not on seniority, which I think everybody isn't aware of. There
016is language in most of the contracts that talk about seniority, so that'll be a little different, but but I think it's important that you understand this because people just say, oh yeah, don't worry about it, get rid of all the new teachers, etc. That's not how it goes. All right? So, it's important that we bring that up now as as we're scrubbing some of this data, uh reducing some of that number. Um, those numbers don't lie. They don't lie, and Mr. Labou is going to clarify some of this after I speak just so we can both make sure that everybody knows what what what type of impact we have here. The energy cost increased just like in your house, too, right? The energy cost increased to the district is 45%. That's two tax points. Okay?
017That's two tax points, 45%. The state health increase, now this is important cuz I want to everybody understand this. The state health increase in this district is 41%. Everybody's throwing around 30%, it's 41% here. >> [clears throat] >> Okay? That represents >> [snorts] >> 10.2% increase to the to the tax levy. A 10% increase to the tax levy. So, before we even talk about anything else, we're at 10%. All right? So, that means that if you take all the new funding that the governor just gave us the other day, the 6%, which was $4.9 million, right? Everybody has a paper, "Oh, you got $4.9 million. It saves the day." We take the $4.9 million, take 10% off the top for charter schools, right? So, we're about $4.5 million. Okay? That's the the increase to the
018benefits themselves is $3.7 million. So, you take the the benefits, you take the energy cost, and that $4.9 million is completely gone. Okay? So, the the thank goodness that we got 6% from the state to cover just the health care and the energy. So, what does that leave us? That leaves us with the increment that leaves us with a bunch of other things. Okay? So, in order um in order to do the increment, and we haven't even talked We haven't even talked I haven't even mentioned facilities yet. Okay? So, we have facilities, we have programs, we have salaries. All of that is directly going to be impacting the the tax dollar. That's That's There's those numbers are real. There's There's no fluff, there's no anything. Okay? So, to be clear again, the entire 6% covers
019the health care increase and the energy cost. And maybe a little bit of trans- maybe a little bit of transportation. Okay? All right, I'm almost done. Give me one more second. It Again, this is There's nothing fun about this. So, what we did was wait for this number, basically, right? So, before we were waiting, we were you know, she she gives her speech, we have to wait 48 hours, they check everything, we finally get this number midday, but before that it was and the committee will attest to this, it was very, very grim. The word that we were getting from Trenton was flat, you're not going to get anything, right? You got enough already, do what you have to do, blah, blah, blah. I mean, the numbers were out of control, okay? Um we get
020the number, we we don't want to affect any programs, we put it into those two major cost um effects of the impact. So that means that the board then needed to cut $6.2 million though in order to get to the tax levy we're presenting today, which I still think the board is not comfortable with, which is understandable because you're not going to be comfortable with it, okay? So we cut, Mr. Lebou and I took $6.2 million out of the salary lines. Okay? And that equates right now across all the bargaining units, across all the departments, that is 60 positions. Okay? No no programs are affected um at this point. Okay? Um so in order to accomplish this still and maintain everything status quo okay, and continue to build the foundation for the students here we
021still need to raise the levy by 5% Okay? So 5% is about $245 on an average assessed home, which I think is 230 230 2 I'm sorry, 285. Okay? 285,000 is the average assessed home. Okay? So whatever your assessment's at, if it's 285, that's what we're looking at for for an increase, okay? The proposal today for preliminary review is not the final proposal. So So board hopefully will vote yes on this today just so we can bring it to the county we get the rubber stamp and within the next 2 weeks if the board says we got to go less we got to go more I I don't know that's that's going to be their decision they were elected by you all they represent your constituency that's how it goes okay um I serve at
022the pleasure of the city and and make it happen all right but this is what I am saying and this is very very thin like very thin and and nobody wants to make any cuts if there's a way that I can keep everybody tell me if I'm missing something that's what we need to dialogue about let's go let us know um you know even grants everybody has all these oh do this you know do different bottles of water we're talking about 6.2 million dollars okay so yeah every little bit helps but again what are we impacting they have to be big numbers unfortunately in districts that that are uh strapped with not raising funds over time which we didn't do here which is fine I don't know what the reason was okay everybody was happy
023at the time but here's where we are and I'll tell you this next year the conversation's either going to be the same or worse all right because it's not sustainable it's not with the proposal today which is 5% and those cuts 6.2 million dollars in cuts we're still 18 million dollars under adequacy 18 million dollars that means that the state is saying for Garfield to be on the same parallel with other districts to be adequate spend adequate money on this the programs and students we need to put another 18 million dollars 18 million dollars into um the kitty and guess what that's 15% I've been saying that since the day I I got here the the board members that worked with me last year know this I said we need 16% to fund this um
024fund this program uh fund this district okay 16% so until we get there a little bit at a time it's going to be a long road uh of doing some of this stuff nobody wants to hear it I don't want to say it but this is where we are um I think you have to understand there's no mechanism of revenue. Okay, that a board can come up with enough to fund programs except tax levy. Right? We get a a nice portion of money from the state. Our title one money was is now less. So, if you if you are following along with the board the past year, we [clears throat] use our title funds for a lot of programs, right? You see it on the agendas. Title here, title one. We just We lost 200,000
025or something like that. We used to lost 200,000, but then we think there's going to be more. I think the president is going to take all the titles, squeeze them together like Ronald Reagan did back in the '80s. You guys remember that maybe. Squeeze them all together and give you one bucket of money and say do what you want with it. Nothing wrong with that, but when you squeeze, you know what happens, right? Stuff falls out. So, I think we're going to be even getting less. Um special ed costs are skyrocketing. Last year, in order to get the tax levy down, there was a couple of things that the board needed to do to help with the tax impact for last year. All right, we put money from one year into this year. We have
026to do that again for next year. It's it's dangerous. We took out a million dollars in special ed cost projections last year just to get it down. Guess what? We went over a million this year. We had to come up with it. This year, I'm proud to say that we are going to be solvent and we will not end the year in a deficit. Our projection is not to end in a deficit because of all those extra things that were cut out to get to this meeting last year. It's the same thing. We had it Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Um last year, the increase the impact was 4.47%. Okay? Right now, we're at 5%. So, it's it's not too much, but I will say this, for every percent that we want to go lower,
027I'm making this very clear, that's an additional the additional five or six positions that will be lost. Okay? So, you just do that math, too. So, if you go close to a zero, right? Because everybody talks about zeros and zeros and that what That's what God is partially here in the first place, but to help the taxpayer if we wanted to let you know no impact, then again, we have to come from the other end. So, to go to a zero, you're looking at 90 positions or more. Again, it's very difficult to tell you who like how much exactly yet because we're not really confident in those positions yet. We're not confident in what it is. So, every person impacts it a little differently, right? Um you know, that includes benefits, etc. So, it's sort
028of like um uh you know, a double effect, right? When you when you take away a salary, you also take away a benefit, you save on both of those pieces. So, um you know, again, uh definitely not something I wanted to say this morning, but I but I I I really want to be very clear. This is not the final say. Okay? This is just the board's blessing today to basically get to work. Right? It's time to get to work. But we can't do that without your approval. Without the approval today, Mr. Labou and I still do what we would do anyway, and we still send to the county, but now that county takes over the budget. All right? I don't know what that means. That can mean, "Hey, you need to raise We want
029you out of adequacy. You need to raise the taxes 17%." That's on them then. We don't want that to happen. We want to keep control of this. We know we can do it. It's going to be some There's going to be some tough decisions. We already spoke with some of the bargaining units with regard to possibly what's going to happen. There's going to be more conversations, you know, um there are there are some ideas. Um again, uh I I think everybody's quick to say, "Oh, if everybody freezes their salary." That's not That's not how this works, either. These individuals also have energy costs that are going up. These individuals also have health care costs that are going to come on on their side. And all of these units negotiated in good faith. Okay? So, again,
030we'll be we'll be having discussions, but the the hard cry right now is to reduce some of those things that have been incredible programs uh here with regard to teachers, um but there are ways that we can kind of you know maybe ship some things and move some people around because we do have teachers here that have and staff members who have multiple degrees, multiple certifications. So we have to look at all of that. We've already started doing that but until this vote today there's really not much to talk about in that area but it will happen. Okay? So that's where I'm at Mr. Labue if you wanted to add or confirm any >> of that for me? >> Yes, thank you Dr. Tomko. So Dr. Tomko touched on a lot of of what we
031talk about in terms of our spending and appropriations and as many of you who have been watching our board meetings or have been here this board has scrutinized purchases, check registers, the conversations in the back directly um discuss what we're spending on for our students, what we're doing day-to-day. So this board has challenged the administration to make good decisions, sound decisions and has kept the taxpayers in mind. But where we are today from a revenue standpoint is just as Dr. Tomko said facing some increases that we do not have the ability to meet on our own and in our own hands by our tax levy. Um what this budget at 5% and a balanced budget we are using an anticipated 3 and 1/2 million dollars from our fund balance, okay? We are being fiscally responsible
032and keeping the limit of 2%. Um in our excess again projections we're working off of the concept that in this 25-26 year we faced historic increases in tax excuse me in health care and health benefits and projecting the same amount for another year ahead of us. So it is crucial that that this board supports maintaining a surplus, protecting the fiscal integrity of this district and ensuring that we can be here again next year sound and looking at a projection where we can we can pay all our bills and we can sustain the programs that we put in place for 26-27. Um Dr. Tom alluded to that the the charter school. That number is increasing as at the rate of our state aid. And that comes right off the top. There's no questioning it. Once we
033get to the to the midpoint of the year, we'll look at enrollment, we review the all of that information and we ensure that those numbers are accurate and that they're getting paid uh for the for the Garfield students that they are servicing. Um you know, our preschool aid essentially remained flat. Um there's a misconception at times that the preschool is just all on the grant. It is not. Special Ed preschool is funded through our general fund. Contributions are made to make sure that that we support that program and we run it um in the best way possible. Um so that that flat funding on the preschool end is certainly has an impact. Uh our federal funds um anticipated at 75% of what we received this year. And those decreases directly impact things that happen for
034our students. Having having worked in this district for a long time on the academic and the program side, I know what that means. I know how bad that hurts some of the programs. So um this board is faced with some tough decisions. We've appreciated their involvement to this point. We're going to appreciate the finance committee continuing to stay involved, continuing to voice their concerns, the concerns of the public, um and you know, I think we're at a point where, you know, less than 48 hours from the release of of the the budget numbers and the state aid numbers, I just want everyone to just be conscious. The conversation this year was that that funding formula is going to be reviewed. That funding formula in many ways has respected the needs of this community. Any changes
035may negatively impact this community. And I think it's important that we understand that. So, at this time Dr. Tomko and I have worked diligently to make sure that we have a balanced budget, a sound budget, and in the next phase we'll be submitting it to the county for for that technical review, and then ensuring that we collectively put our minds together to make sure that we we provide the best education, and of course be mindful of of of the taxpayers and the fiscal integrity of our district moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Labou. Uh with that I'm going to ask the finance committee chair to uh make a report. >> We had a finance meeting that really wasn't didn't make us happy. When these numbers came to us, we still at that point
036didn't realize what we were getting. Myself and Mrs. Hassan sat with Jack Labou and Dr. Tomko for almost 5 hours going back and forth with this. We're still not happy with it. But this is what we're dealt right now, and now that we did get some extra money, we'll see where we'll go from here. And we'll be in many more finance meetings before the final budget comes out. Thank you. >> Uh this time I'm going to break with tradition and I'm going to ask the public comments at this time. If anybody would like to make any public comments, please uh come to the podium. >> Abdel Serrad uh >> Uh good all right. >> Abdel Serrad uh Abdel Serrad uh 33 Wood Street, Garfield, New Jersey. Good morning. My name is Abdel Serrad uh I'm
037running for the Garfield Board of Education because our students, our teachers, and our taxpayers deserve leadership that's tired of games. Yesterday we received a letter explaining why the district is facing budget crisis. We also hear about rising health care costs, mandates, energy bills, and aging buildings. But what we didn't hear is accountability because none of these problems started yesterday and they definitely didn't appear overnight. We get a rubber stamp letter year after year and the people of Garfield continue to paying higher taxes expecting better for their children. So, the real question is this, how did we get here? More importantly, when are the problems actually going to get fixed? Because taxpayers in Garfield deserve a straight answer to something very simple. Are we going to keep hearing the same exact excuse every year to raise
038taxes or are we actually finally going to start fixing problems? And let's be honest with each other. Many of us have seen this show before. We all have pre-budget meetings where everybody gathers, we hear a higher percentage of an increase, and the board saying that, you know, this is the number that is needed, and then 2 weeks later we come back with a lower number, and it's the number that everybody already knows. And all of a sudden everybody in the room looks like a hero. But the taxpayers of Garfield don't want to hear political theater, they want answers. Parents in Garfield already know the reality because they see it every day. Students in the classrooms sit without proper air conditioning or heat. Teachers buy supplies with their own money just so kids can learn. Buildings
039that need real investment instead of temporary fixes. So, let me be very clear about something. Garfield students should never be the ones paying for the price of poor planning. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Balancing a budget at expense of the students is not leadership. And here's another concern the community is starting to talk about. We're seeing school districts all around us failing into massive deficits. And the people in Garfield are asking a very fair question, are we going to be the next one? Because that's exactly what happens when problems are ignored for too long. The people of Garfield are hard working families, support their schools, they pay their taxes, they deserve honesty, they deserve transparency, and that's why I'm running. I'm running to bring accountability to every dollar spent. I'm running to make sure
040teachers have the tools that they need. I'm running to make sure that every decision made in the district starts with one simple principle, Garfield students first. Garfield is a proud city, the city of champions, and it deserves a school system that lives up to the name. Thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Chairman, can I just clarify something? I know Mr. Gasser is going to go nuts right now, but I I cuz it's important cuz I I I think one of the things that I found here was that um again, no one's fault, but I I I think that this process maybe was never really been clarified to the to the city. So, the technical review process when you send it for um review to the county superintendent, um I know it it it does seem
041like uh theater sometimes when it Right, but you you can't go after you send it to the county, you can't now say, "Oh, we we forgot. We need to increase taxes the other way." So, you have to come in and balance your budget. No one is balancing a budget without it being high. It's the same even in your own house, right? You It's So, so the next 2 weeks is where you scrub and you and you do all this stuff. So, it's almost everywhere lower. So, I know there's maybe that perception, but I I think people have said it too many times since I've been here. Um and I'm not saying that because this gentleman got up, but I'm saying I I I think we need to kind of stop that now because it's important
042that we understand that the amount of time that all of us spent Saturdays, Sundays um getting to this number when the original number 4 days ago was 840 45 845 dollars a house. Okay? So, again, trust me, this I'm not even comfortable with this number. I think it should be higher right now. Um but I think half the people up here would have killed me if I said that uh couple days ago. Um so, just want to be clear on the technical review part. That was it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Tomko. Any other public comments? >> Marlena Zawatska, 67 Morris Ave, Garfield. So, I personally, probably not the best opinion, I don't mind the 5% increase because you guys got to get your done. What I do mind is always blaming it's the
043teachers. We need to cut the teachers. We need to cut their health insurance. You guys hired 58 new hires since August to now, that's $3,766,000. You have 27 of them making over 70k while still teachers here do not make that. So, I understand you need to raise taxes. I understand 5% 6 I get that. But, it's always the teachers at fault. You have consultants for like everything. You have some, you know, our favorite person back, $15,000 a consultant. Another consultant, um I don't know if I could say the name, but Alan Rado Consultants. George A. Cohan Associates. Why do we need constant consultants if they It's little money, like 15, 30,000, whatever, but that adds up. And if you need consultants to help you work, maybe you should fire the people hire up that can't
044do their job alone where you constantly need consultants. You guys are putting like such a bad image for the teachers with the lead teachers, professional development, like as if they suck. Look at your tech department. They're still paying for Real Time cuz they couldn't transfer everything in time for PowerSchool. I don't understand you guys stay with Real Time or do PowerSchool or fire the person that can't do their job. So, that's all. I'm not complaining about the tax increase. Probably all of you are mad at me, but I don't care. I get it. Make our school better, but don't blame the teachers, the classrooms, the whatever. And you're not going to cut teachers. You have All the classes are overcrowded already. Who are you going to cut? You can't do that. So, stop threatening them.
045That's it. >> Thank you. Any other public comments? >> Most of you know me. Lee Discafani, 136 Morris Ave. I worked in this district for 30 years, coached 37 years in this district. First of all, number one, I got a problem when Mr. Tomko tells that we are underfunded. The reason why we became an average district was because we were poor district, a blue collar district. And the state gave us funding for that. And then all of a sudden he's telling us now that we're underfunding what we should be with other schools? That doesn't make sense. And remember, Board of Education, you know how much money we're spending a year? Like people think they look at $144 million. That's a 15th of a billion dollars every year. Every year we're paying that kind of money.
046For what? Since I worked in the district, standards have dropped, kids learning abilities have dropped. We haven't got We haven't been a better school district with all this money, preschool money. Kids going to preschool, they don't learn anything in the preschool. How does that benefit the district except becoming an overpriced daycare center? Now, Jack, I got a question for you with bank cap. Where do you guys come up with the money for bank cap? Like what I I I need a list of different things where you come up with it because as I was reading about bank cap, the number kind of is subjective. What you What you think or perceive. Last year Dr. Topko said, "Oh, I think health care was going to go up 36. Now he's saying 41% next year." They already
047projected 36% for next year. What are we doing about it? Electric costs, heating costs. We're having a new school. We're having a new school. Anybody take into consideration how much money that new school is going to cost the taxpayers of this town? You're going to keep number eight school. You're fixing the boiler there. Who's going to this new school? The 750 capacity. Who's going to this school? Like you guys don't understand. It's like It's like you're spending other people's money. And we're not getting any benefit for it. I just heard a couple days ago. Hundreds of Hundreds of thousands of dollars for teachers who were getting extra students in their classes? Are you kidding me? I taught with 35 kids in my class. Are you I mean ridiculous. We have a football coach who's getting
048paid, not only as a football coach, but a weight room instructor over four over four quarters? Are you kidding me? And a girls golf Which wood doesn't have a girls golf coach? THEY HAVE ONE GOLF COACH. I mean what are we looking at, people? Substitute You said in the last meeting, substitute teachers increase of a million dollars. For substitute teachers who sit on their phones ALL DAY DURING CLASS? Are you kidding me? Guys, reality check. What's going on? A 15th of a billion dollars. If you really looked at yourselves, even the teachers know. We're not getting any better, we're getting worse. In September we were praising graduation rates. Oh, 9 or 299 out of 300 GRADUAL ONLY 30% PASSED THE TEST. So somebody So some finagle of a root work Oh, we only had one
049person that didn't graduate. Are you kidding me? AND YOU'RE PROUD OF THAT? I know Kirk's got me on the clock here, so I will I will end it real quick here, but I would also like First of all, I remember somebody when he first got to the district, Dr. Donkoh, somebody said that we're an untapped gold mine? I don't know who said that, but somebody around you said that Garfield's an untapped gold mine? What are we? Some guy What are we What are we What are we somebody's support group? And Jack, I would like a list, if I can, and I'll get back to you. I would like a list of every vendor, every consultant, and the money that they're getting. And I want to know if there's any kind of affiliation between people in
050this district and those vendors and those consultants. Thank you. Oh, by the way, Jack, how how many people do work in the business office? Four? Just four? Okay, I know you had me on the clock here. >> Thank you. Through the chair, can I just clarify something technical review again? The other stuff is I'll I'll talk about the hearing, so. Um the under adequacy number is a state number, coach. Um that's not my number saying it's under adequate. You've had that number here for probably when you were here as well. Nobody probably said it though. That's a That's a combination of your aid versus your tax levy, etc. So, just so the board's aware that That's That has nothing to do with us. That's a number that's given to us by a formula. So, I
051think it's important that everybody understands that that includes the aid that you're getting. Um so, just I just wanted to clarify that. It's not It's not really a back and forth there. >> one more question. Do you How many students Do you know how many students that are in the um the charter schools? And And comparing to the 13.7 million or the 11.7% increase as compared to what we pay our people um per student? Do we have a number there? Sorry about that, but I I I I need to know these numbers. >> Thank you. Any other public comments? >> Good morning, everyone. Danielle Marcello, 66 Crack Ash Street. Um not necessarily a dig at at any stretch of the imagination, just a comment. So, I'm very familiar with the budget process. I'm very familiar
052with coming down to a bottom line. I unfortunately or fortunately have a revenue stream. You guys don't, and I appreciate that tremendously. But in the grand scheme of what we're looking at, and this is a principle that I I live by with my teams on a daily basis, we look everywhere else first before we look at positions. Someone's livelihood should never be in jeopardy when there's opportunities in other places. Looking at lean principles, tapping into your community, there are so many of us in this community that have backgrounds that could support you. I'd volunteer my time. You want an objective outside look? Call me up. But when we're looking at positions as the solution, what positions? What impact does that have? It's a It's a cost benefit. You have to look at what that money
053is tied to and what is on the other side of it, and what's that impact? What is that direct line impact? Is everyone functioning at the top of their ability? Do you have people who are highly efficient in those roles? That is what I look at. Just because someone's in a role and it's no it's no shame to the work product that they do, but are they the most efficient? Is there a way that you can look and and again, looking at a lean structure, if you have people who are in a position and it takes five of them, but they don't have a tool or resource that can make them more efficient, where is that done? And so, yes, my insurance went up. I work in health care. I get infected by people every
054day. You would think that they would not take a dig at our health insurance and raise ours, but guess what? It went up, and I get that. And the cost of electricity went up, I get that. But I think, and again, yes, increases are necessary, but I think perhaps maybe this year we should start looking because it is going to get worse. Health care is going up, I'm telling you. It's my specialty, it is going up. But perhaps now this year we should start planning for next year and start really going through the lean process now so that we don't have to face a potential 2018, 17, 16% increase dangling over our heads. So again, not a dig at anyone up here, but just a recommendation that there's a far different view for people who
055are not intimately ingrained in this every single day that could be a benefit to you all. So, that is all I have. You can tap into me 100%. I'm more than willing. You don't need to pay me. It will be all volunteer, but I do I do encourage you all to look to the community for us that would be willing to give back our time and our specialties. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Thank you. A motion to approve resolution 8.1. Mr. Taylor. >> I'll second. >> Mrs. Petrie. Any discussion? Roll call. >> Mr. Taylor. >> Aye. >> Mr. Otto. >> Aye. >> Mrs. Hassan. >> I'm going to vote yes on this preliminary, but I think I've made my position very clear about how I agree with some of the things that
056were said about some redundancies that we need to look at before positions. So, yes. >> Uh Mr. Kilis. >> Aye. >> Mr. Gabbard. >> Yes, what is >> Mrs. Petrie. >> Yes. >> Mr. Focarino. >> Aye. >> With that, I will reopen it to public comments if there are any at this time. Seeing none, I'm calling for an adjournment. You want to open it? Uh we'll open up comments to the board. >> Okay. Coach, to one of your question about that uh teachers getting paid extra, that had nothing to do with us. That was part of their union, which I think they deserve if they have 28, 29, 30 kids in the class when I think there should be only 24. So, again, that was a union thing that we didn't just decide. That was
057under the union. As far as a lot of these assistant coaches, we are looking at all of that, combing through everything. Um Danielle, thank you. I pick your brain a lot, and I sure will be doing that some more. And actually, about transparency, if you are lucky to be elected, just remember that song, A Whole New World. When I sat there, I thought it was one way. I came here and realized it's a whole new world. And if you feel we are not being transparent in any way, shape, or form, could you give us a specific area where you feel we're not, or where you feel in a specific area where we could improve or do better? There's a lot of things here we're not allowed to say right now. I mean, everybody knows that.
058Everybody in politics knows that the confidentiality, what you could say, what you can't say. But like I said, give us a specific thing. As far as number eight school going back years, the school's 100 years old. I am not knocking any other board that sat here. Nobody. But they tried to save money, which everybody tries to do. Uh as far as the boilers, that that problem wasn't even boilers. It was other things that were I don't want to use the word Mickey Mouse, but they were temporarily fixed because they had to save money. Now comes the time where we have to fix it. And coach, getting back to you about the new school being built, thank you to the last boards who were here. You know, that came at the state were very fortunate. There's
059other towns that would love new schools. Again, we don't say how they're built. They come in, we're going to build your school. Thanks to other boards, we said sure. I mean, you have to be dumb. Is it going to cost us money? Yes. Well, you know, how you going to fill the schools? Don't worry, we will. There's so many possibilities out there that number eight school could be used possibly not as a school. We have a lot of leases on buildings. Possibly, we don't have to do that in the future. So, there's a lot that res It's not There's a We're never going to put 10 kids in a classroom. That's not going to happen. But, there are future plans for that. Thank you. >> This vote today allows us to move forward and look
060at the bottom line of everything and we have to do this today. Um we don't like the numbers, but we might have to live with some of them. So, well, we appreciate what the administration is doing to try to sharpen their pencils and uh we're going to do further consideration on that. Uh with that, motion to adjourn. Mr. Garvin. Mr. Mr. Quiles. All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Thank you. Adjourned.