001[Music] Okay, good evening folks. Today is Thursday, August 28th, 6 uh not 6:30, 6:59 p.m. Sorry, we are delayed today. Uh we needed to wait for quorum and some of our members were slightly late. Uh Brian, can we have roll call, please? Mr. I here Dr. Henry Mr. Jackson >> here. Can you also please read the open public's meeting acting [Music] act copies of the public meeting notice were sent to the courier news the home news tribune the star ledger the Franklin reporter tap into Franklin Township Franklin Township clerk manager district schools offices and associations PTO presidents and posted on the district website. Thank you very much. Can I get a motion to move into confidential? Moved by Nancy, seconded by Jimmy. All in favor? Thank you. We're going to motion to adjourn to confidential
002for the purpose of discussing confidential matters, including personnel matters. Minutes of the confidential will be made public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists. We'll be shortly back. Thank you. Good evening. We're still on Thursday, August 28th. Time is 7:35. We're just coming back from confidential session. For the purpose of discussing confidential matters, including personnel matters, minutes of the confidential session will be made public when the reason for confidentiality no longer exists. So, if you are able to, please stand up and join us with the pledge of allegiance. Jimmy, can you lead us, please? >> That's right. 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. >> Representative. >> Thank you. Nick,
003can you read the mission statement, please? Franklin Township Public Schools embraces its diversity, fosters excellent educational innovation, and empowers all students to achieve their highest potential. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda? >> Moved by Bill. Can I get a second? >> Seconded by Nancy. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Uh just for the record, um board member Dennis Hopkins, Erica Inisencio, and Walter Jackson will not be in attendance today. So all the members that you see here tonight are the members who are in attendance. um last few days of summer and uh in September we will have our student leaison from Franklin High who will be giving our report and we're going to move to the superintendence report. >> Thank you Miss Singh. First on the docket
004here, school readiness. Campuses are near ready for receiving staff and students. The 25 26 school year, which kicks off for staff on Tuesday, September 2nd, and students on September 4th 3rd, rather. Uh I'm sorry, students on September 4th, which is Thursday. Our custodial maintenance crews are currently putting the finishing touches on schools and campuses. Summer capital projects are finishing up and everything should be near wrapped up by Monday with the exception of the high school air conditioning project which we anticipate will be completed by the start of the first full week of school which is Monday the 8th. We look forward to the return of staff and students next week. the school-based health center. I'm excited to announce the work on the Franklin Township Schoolbased Health Center is uh near complete with the exception of
005Zoo Fall's work to install equipment and furniture. As a reminder, the health center will be located on the Hamilton Street campus in the area of the old tennis courts. We look forward to the grand opening of the Zou Falls school-based health center in the early fall. The 25 2025 administrators retreat. The annual administrator's retreat occurred last week on Tuesday and Wednesday. The district administrative team participated in professional development covering a variety of topics such as data management, staff evaluation, school law, school safety, restorative practices, building positive school climate and culture. It was a great two days organized by Dr. Logan and his team. Thank you, Dr. Logan, and thanks to the PD team. The activities all took place right here on the administrative campus. Actually, right here for the most part in this room and
006uh it was a great opportunity for collaboration aimed toward gearing up for the upcoming school year. New staff orientation. Uh new staff orientation began last Friday and ran Monday through Thursday this week. New staff were involved in several activities that will help them to successfully transition into their new roles within the Franklin Township Public Schools. We look forward to a great year with all of our staff, including our newest team members. And today was the last day. They did wonderfully. I'm being told we had a total of how many, Dan? Do you remember? Not to put you on the spot, but [Music] Excellent. Great job. Um, convocation and professional development. Our annual staff convocation and professional development days are scheduled for September 2nd and September 3rd. This year at the elementary level beyond the traditional
007training, there'll be an emphasis on social emotional learning strategies while at the secondary level, special emphasis will be placed on restorative practice training. We look forward to welcoming staff back on Tuesday, September 2nd, and then the start of school. Finally, as a reminder to our families, the 2025 2026 school year kicks off with a full day of school for all students in grades kindergarten through 12 on Thursday, September 4th. Then our prek students will join us on Monday, September 8th. Again, the 2526 school year starts with a full day in kindergarten through 12 on Thursday, September 4th. So, next week, next Thursday. And then our prek kids will follow and begin their school year on Monday, September 8th. So, we'll see you all very soon, I guess. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Dr.
008Raleigh. So, for the board president's report, um once again this month, we're going to start with a moment of silence for a few people. We recognize the loss of several people who have touched the lives of our district community. But firstly, on behalf of the board of education, I want to offer our sincere condolences to our board of education member, Mr. Walter Jackson and his family on the loss of Walter's father, Mr. Walter Bernard Jackson, Senior, who passed away last evening at 7:40 p.m. Late last month, we learned of the passing of Alfreda Freddy Dej Geronomio. Freddy was the mother of Sarah Oliveria, preschool teacher at McAfee Road School, as well as our district employee for over 20 years. She served the district as a teacher and later as the supervisor of language arts literature
009K through 5, supervisor of early childhood and supervisor of academic support K through 5, and librarians K through 5. and then former board of education member, Miss Mary Pearl Brooks, who also passed away late last month. Miss Brooks served the students and staff of Franklin Township Public Schools for two terms from 2001 to 2007. Our thoughts and prayers also go out to families as well as the Minneapolis, Minnesota community as they struggle with the senseless tragedy which occurred yesterday. So please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. [Music] On Monday and Tuesday of this week, our district welcomed hundred of student families to the board administrative campus right here and was able to give out over 1,530 backpacks filled with school supplies. This event was made possible by many very generous donors, including
010Assemblyman Danielson through his annual backpack drive, the Franklin Township Community Relations Bureau and Police Department, the Franklin Township PBA, as well as the Franklin Township Administrators Association. Representatives of local organization KDMA attended the event and distributed water and snacks to our families. Our food services staff was on hand to facilitate school meal applications. At Monday's event, the Franklin Food Bank set up a farmers market so our student families could pick up free produce after choosing their school supplies. A list of donors is posted on our district website and we thank them all. I would also like to commend director of research planning, accountability, and assessment, Miss Anna Washington, for organizing the event and her team for filling countless number of backpacks and arranging them so our students could shop for their supplies. This event truly
011brings the community together and puts everyone in the back to school mindset. As the students at Franklin High School head back to school, they will be greeted with some special news. First of all, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the present Franklin High School building. Secondly, Franklin High School has once again been included in the US News and World Report list of the best high schools in the US for the 2526 school year. We are very proud of this distinction and grateful to all these dedicated administrators, faculty, and staff who have served our Franklin High School Warriors over the past 20 years. That brings us to the end of my report, and I would like to now ask for a motion to open for comments from the public, 5 minutes per speaker on agenda
012items only. >> Moved by Nancy. Can I get a second? >> Second. Seconded by Bill. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Comments from the public. Five minutes per speaker. Agenda items only. [Music] >> Seeing no one coming forward. Madam President, I move to close the public session. >> Okay. Motion to close public session on agenda items only by Bill. Can I get a second? >> Seconded by Nancy. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Next we are on to committee and liaison reports. Um we will pass those on. They are all listed on the website. So I would encourage all of you to go on the website and read the committee and liaison reports. I would uh request if the board members have read them um in preparation for tonight's
013meeting if they have any questions with regards to the committee or leazison reports. We have some of the board chairs available and they can answer those questions. So I'll start with my left. Nick, you have any questions on committee or leazison reports. You may want to press the >> no. >> Okay, Nancy. >> Jimmy, >> no question. >> Lori, >> no questions. Thank you, >> Bill. >> Uh, some of the items were discussed and confidential for the athletic committee report. We'll get into that later. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay, we're on to new business. I'd >> like to make a motion to approve R1 monthly reports. A1, travel and related expense reimbursement. A2, affirm harassment, intimidation, and bullying decisions. A3, memorandum of understanding with Rutgers's dental um medicine school. Um A4, facilities use. A5 maximum
014allowable cost of independent educational evaluations for the 2526 school year. A6 revised policies first reading for policy 2422 and policy 62202. A7 new policy first reading for policy 5339.01 revised regulation adoption for R5112. district vehicle usage which is A9 A10 which is 2526 PA budget um I'm sorry that was A10 A1 um accept donations B1 warrants and payrolls B2 financial reports B3 from A until R S has been re um withdrawn and T until Y change orders Um B4 change reward award of RFP 201619 asynchronous learning platform elementary Spanish which is B5 B6 receipt of bids student transportation services bid SA2526. B7 award of bid student transportation services bid SA2526 uh B8 natural gas and electric supply for districts. C1 out of district students 25 26 school year. C2 field trip destinations. C3 uh field
015trip applications. There aren't any. C4 new course and curriculum. C5 new curricula. C6 memoral memorialize minor curriculum changes. C7 RERS University hiphop and spoken word therapy study. C8 uh University of Dayton student expectation studies. C9, math content acceleration pilot. C10, district professional development plan, 2526. C11, District mentoring plan, 2526. Uh C12 district evaluation onboarding plan for 2526. C13 district sheltered English instruction training 2526. C14 New Jersey QAC planning team. C15 uh class dojo for K5 communication. C16 agreement with knowing science. C17 accept ESSA consolidated grant funds for fiscal year 26. Uh C18 authorized submission of the ESSA consolidated grant fund for 26 fiscal year 26 application. C19 application for the reading intervention for secondary engagement rise grant. C20 application for the literacy initiative for families and thriving communities lift grant. P1 revised job descriptions. P2
016personnel report number two. And that's it. >> Okay. Okay. So, we have a motion on the agenda for R1, M1, A1 through A11, B1 to B8, C1 to C20, P1 to P2. Any questions? Jimmy, >> Lori, questions. >> Bill, >> Nick, >> I just had a clarifying um a couple of things under B3 for contracts. >> Sure. the technology order for Sadique School, the security order for Rutgers Prep, technology order for Cedar Hill Prep, and a security order for St. Matias School. So those monies that we get and pass through to the schools that's exactly right. It's called chapter 192 193. They're flow flow through funds. That's state money that we're responsible to distribute because the state obviously wouldn't have a direct tie to the uh private schools within a particular community. So, we become
017the agent for distributing those funds on behalf of the department of end >> and there's no impact to the taxpayer, right, John? >> No impact to our budget. No, it's state money that flows through us that we become responsible to distribute. >> Okay, then I'm I'm good. Okay, Nancy, any questions? Okay. Can I get a second for R1, M1, A1 through A1, B1 to B8, C1 to C20, and P1 to P2? Okay, we have a second from Lori. Brian, can we get roll call, please? >> Mr. >> Yes. [Music] I I said >> I'm sorry. So, I'm going to abstain from the one personnel matter, >> but I'm good with everything else. >> The vice principal appointment at >> elementary um Elizabeth Avenue Elementary School. Thank you. >> Mr. Grio, >> yes. >> Miss Lort,
018>> yes. >> Miss Maris, >> yes. >> Mr. Parker, >> yay. >> And Miss Sing, >> yes. Motion pad carries. >> Thank you very much. So, with that, I would like to welcome our new vice principal for Elizabeth Avenue School. I'm going to try and not butcher your name, but I'm going to say it. Ashley Delgado D Amore. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Welcome. [Applause] Thank you. Good evening everyone. It's an honor to be here with you tonight. Franklin Township Board of Education members, Dr. Ravali, and district leadership and board of education staff as well as the community members. I'd like to thank my family for being here today. Um, my mom, my dad, as well as my father-in-law, and my husband, Drew, our daughter, Delta, who is in the back. She thinks there's
019going to be singing. I'm disappointing her today. and one of my dear dear friends, Andy, who's here to join me. Um, as well as my new colleague, Mr. Greg Romero, principal of Elizabeth Avenue School. I am truly honored to begin my 18th year in education as the newly appointed vice principal of the Elizabeth Avenue School. I am beyond excited to join the dynamic and dedicated team at EAS. Over my past 18 years in education, I've had the joy of serving in many different roles, including paraprofessional, classroom teacher, and science instructional coach. All of which have shaped my journey as an educational leader and provided me with unique experiences and lessons that I will carry with me into this new chapter. I could not be more excited to join the Franklin Township School District family as
020a proud Franklin warrior and EAS Tiger and I am looking forward to working alongside and learning from Mr. Romero, a passionate and seasoned administrator here in Franklin and working and collaborating with the amazing staff, families, students, and community partners at EAS as well as across the district. As the new vice principal of Elizabeth Avenue School, I am committed to cultivating and supporting a school environment where every student and staff member is seen, valued, and empowered to reach their highest potential. I will work alongside the students, staff, and families of EAS, leading by example, in order to continue to foster a collaborative and inclusive school community rooted in the Franklin Township School District values of equity, diversity, and high expectations for all. I am so grateful for this opportunity and so excited to begin the year
021as an EAS Tiger. Thank you very much. [Applause] Thank you. Congratulations. Now I would like to get a motion to open for public comments. 5 minutes per speaker any topic moved by Nancy. Can I get a second? >> Seconded by Bill. All in favor? >> I. Okay. Comments from the public. 5 minutes per speaker. Any topic. Please come to the microphone. State your name, address, and you can speak. >> There you go. >> Just sign in before after you speak. Just say [Music] Okay. Hello. I'm Alicia Thompson. I live at 131 Arlington Avenue, Somerset, New Jersey, 08873. Um, I have a quick question and I'm sorry if I missed it. I was doing bath time with the kids, so I came a little late. But um I'm noticing that Franklin public school um Franklin Park
022School where my children go, there's going to be a lot of changes. I noticed that the vice principal left. So now we have Mr. Sorski as our new vice principal. Um and then as of yesterday, unless things changed online, there's still an open position for principal. So I just want to know what does that transition look like? if you already named an interim. Sorry for the question, but um I just want to know what does that look like? What is the transition going to be for our students? When will parents be made aware? And if there is an interim, is this supposed to like or are we still on the hunt for a principal? What is going on? Cuz school starts next week. And a lot of us either a didn't know that we uh
023our principal was leaving unless you're on the PTO. um or um we just have a lot of questions because there's so many changes with the vice principal leaving as well as the principal. So I just want to know what is the status of that and what does that look like timeline all of that. >> Thank you. [Music] >> Yeah, we we're going to listen to all the comments and then we'll answer at the end. Anyone else? Uh, hi, my name is Yang Zo. I living in uh 128 Selby Court. Um, I come to this meeting. I asked question about is the uh property tax increase is too much this year and from the bill uh compare bill last year and this year my bill increase 22.8%. and biggest part is the uh through the the
024uh property tax contribute that so I have a documentation about is the how is the revenue how is the the budget I don't know if the uh right now it's increase uh 10.7% for this the uh increase for the property tax regarding to this the school uh the budget. Uh I want to uh ask uh can you give uh the explanation why they increase too much? And also I also noticed that uh in this budget there was the one item called a personal services employee benefit that increase 22%. Up 22.7%. Can you explain to me why they increase so much? And another item is also increase is regular program instruction. The increase is the 14.4%. It's also a lot. So I I want to give a uh explanation why. Okay. >> Thank you. Anyone else?
025Hi, good evening. Uh, my name is Vicki Quan. I live in 128 Gwen Drive and I have two kids who attended uh Franklin uh town school. My kids went to the charter school CHCP. So I really appreciate what have been done to support the school choice in the district. But I have the same concern as uh Mr. Zooyong just expressed. As a resident, we feel very shocked for the sales I mean for the property tax increases. I we hope that at least there will be some heads up not just like when little green car arrived and then we were told that wow this year's tax increases so much because yeah we understand there is inflation there might be you know school aid you know being cut from the federal or from the state and then
026we went to the town hall meeting not sure if any of you attended the last meeting on August 21st, it was packed and then uh so many furious residents expressed the concern for the Sunday increase without heads up. So I'm here to express the concern of my neighbors. I live in a town home community. 186 resident I mean 186 household in my uh uh town home and then I walk every day talk to neighbors everybody feel the pain and a shot. So I was ask I'm asking I'm here to express my concern and see if there's possible a tax freeze for the next few years or even adjustment because economy is not that ideal. You know none of us increase our salary over 17% to 22% overnight. I understand school might be overfunded. I mean
027underfunded and then we were told explained by the mayor and council that you know school was given a blame check this year um governor allows a school increase the budget without voters approval. That's what we were told. So I'm here to direct the questions to board of education because when we communicated with the mayor and the council on the town hall meeting on August 21st we were told that please come here express our concern otherwise board of education may not be aware the anger frustration we have for the poverty increases. So um every one of us none of us have unlimited resources. We all learn to spend on thing that matter to us the most. So I'm asking for the next few years I hope this time school already have enough funding they've been longing
028for and then for the next few years I'm really hoping that if there will be some surplus that will help lower the property tax because Franklin is really not the most affluent town in New Jersey and then we have to consider those people who live on disability I mean who are disabled and and they are living on social sec social security only. We have two residents show up crying to the mayor they are not able to pay the new assessment. I really feel for my neighbor. So I'm asking that since every one of us watching our dollars and I hope school will be the same. The administration will feel the pain. Maybe the administration live or may not live in this uh district, but I think that it makes sense for all of us to
029watch and then spend wisely. So uh my question is would it be possible to have a tax freeze in the next 5 years? Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody [Music] else? [Music] Okay. Hi everyone. My name is Halen Fu. I reside on 128 SB Court. Uh I have two questions. Number one is about the uh uh this fiscal year's school tax increase which is uh 10.7%. Uh this is what the mayor told us during the last town hall meeting. Um okay. According to state government, uh it's approved by Governor Murphy that um this year uh there's no I mean uh school districts can increase school tax uh above the cap which uh uh which was uh 2% in the past years. Um but uh there's a maximum which is 9.9%. I would like to know
030why Franklin Township um uh Board of Education increased our school tax by 10.7%. Why it's not 7 uh 6% or 7%. Okay. how you decided on this uh tax increase the percentage increase. Okay. Uh it brings a drastic increase in our uh property tax. So for this year our property tax increased by um 1,500 which is over 20%. from last year. Okay. My second question is um there are three charter schools in Franklin Township. Um there's a Central New Jersey. [Music] Central New Jersey, right? Central New Jersey Charter School. And another one is Energy Thomas. Thomas Edison energy something charter school and another one that blows my mind. Okay, it's um Barack Obama Green. I've never heard of this uh charter school, but it's uh obviously it's sponsored by the board of education. Okay. the
031the location is Planefield, New Jersey. It's not even in Franklin Township. So, why should we use uh our taxpayers money to support the charter school? Okay. Yeah, I'm done. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> No one else. Mr. President, I move to close the public. >> Motion to close by Bill. Can I get a second? Seconded by Nancy. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Public comment is now closed. John, would you like to address them? >> Uh, well, I'm going to talk to our Franklin Park question. Let me speak to the Franklin Park question. Um, yes. Our principal has moved on to another principal ship in a school district that is closer to our home. Um, so her resignation is actually on the agenda tonight. It came about very quickly for her. Um,
032so she has just recently resigned. Once her resignation, of course, she told her staff, once her resignation is formalized, which means the board accepts it. Now, tomorrow, she'll have a letter that will go out to her community, her school community. Again, she's already spoken with her staff, and it will speak to the fact that she's moving on and leaving the district. and uh uh so forth and so on. With regard to our situation, so we'll have her for 60 days, 60 days from the point that she submitted her letter, which was a couple weeks ago. So that'll take us to about mid-occtober. And then um if we don't secure a replacement for her by then, which would mean we'd have to appoint somebody at the September board meeting, and that likely won't happen, but if
033it were to, then there could be a principal in place as soon as she leaves. And of course, the school community through the PTO will be involved with that. Um if uh by chance that happens, the likelihood likely not. So then we could end up with an interim principal which is you know someone who is experienced who would run the building in the absence of the permanent replacement and that likely could occur and that would carry us probably until the winter recess which the holiday time um or somewhere close to near to that. Um, so we wish Miss Stein well, Principal Stein, we wish her well. She's been a fantastic assistant principal at EAS for us in the past. She's been a fact a fantastic principal at Franklin Park. But, uh, she, like I said,
034is relocating to a district that is very near to her house. So, uh, we're happy for her and I'm sure she's going to do a tremendous job there as well. So, best of luck to her. And uh again that will be our process and our personnel department has started or will start with the advertisement process now that the resignation's official and uh and we'll go from there. So I hope that answers your question. That's pretty much the standard process um whenever we have a vacancy like that especially one that comes about. I mean, the timing isn't great, but uh again, we're happy for her as it will shorten her commute and put her in an area that is very close to her home. Um, with regard to the budget process, I guess uh the the
035the couple things that I would probably say about that is yeah, the charter school issue, we'll start with that, which was the last thing mentioned. Very complicated situation, but we do pay that tuition. So, that is a bill for us. Um so for every child that goes um we get charged a tuition which is 90% then with weights added for grade level and so it does get somewhat complicated for each child that goes. So we pay that tuition. So like if you were to go to a private school you pay that tuition. The school district pays the tuition for each of those kids. That's how the law is. That's how it's written and that's what we must do. our total charter school bill, which we typically read in our finance minutes, it's uh for the
036entire year, we pay over $26 million uh for roughly 1,200 to,300 kids that attend the various schools. Also, the law doesn't prohibit school by proximity, meaning you don't have to attend a school within the boundaries of Franklin. You can attend a school in Newark if that's where you choose to want to go to a charter school or any other place in the state. Um, now we don't have to pay to bus you, but when you do go to a school that might be that far away, we do have to offer the parent something called Aiden Loo, which is about 1,200 bucks. Um, if you go to one of the charter schools that are within our boundary, separate and aside from the tuition that we pay, we also have to pay the transportation costs. And, you
037know, the philosophy that I think is built behind that is, you know, you're not spending that money on the child within your own district. But I you know what what's what's not built into that formula is the fact that we're a large district. So we have seven elementary schools. If you have a group of students that go from a particular grade level, they might come from one of any seven elementary schools. So we're not laying off a teacher because of that. We're not cutting a classroom off of the building. we're not we're not really getting a dollar fordoll savings even though we're sending all the money. It's been a long argument um you know whether you're you're on the school choice side or not on the school choice but that doesn't matter. This is an
038economic issue in New Jersey. Um, and it's one we've talked a lot about over the years cuz it's that's that's a large amount of money that comes from the budget and goes to the various schools uh for a small population or a small representation of the larger population of the district. Um, with regard to the budget, I first let's briefly just talk about the process. So, we start the budget process for the new school year now. We'll set some goals. We'll begin preparing the budget. We'll work on it December, really tighten it up in January, and then in February, although it won't be this February because we'll have a new governor, so it won't be probably until he gets to delay or she gets to delay their first state uh financial announcement. Every governor in
039their first term, first year gets to do that. Then they'll announce state aid. Um then what we do is we have and we had one for this year as well. We have a preliminary budget hearing. So a forum just like this. It's advertised and folks come, they ask questions, we explain what we anticipate we'll be spending this year. Um, we did that and we had quite a few cuts involved because the initial money that was released or what initially came from the governor's office was very different than what ended up and we had a number of positions on the chopping block. We had a number of programs on the chopping block because um we had a loss in state aid and we are below adequacy and below fair share. What does all of that mean?
040It means the state runs a formula and they they come to and this gets a little complicated so I apologize but I'm do my best to break it down because we do empathize and this is happening all across the state and even if you don't live in this community um and I don't I don't live in this community my community is not excluded from this experience um it's just how the formula is running this year so you have something that the state determines as a base per pupil amount. So they say, and I'm very animated, so I apologize, but um they say it takes X amount to educate a child based on what they consider a thorough and efficient education. So they look at curriculum expenses. They look at personnel expenses as it relates to
041teachers. And so they look at the different expenses that tie into educating a child. and they come up with what they call a base pupil amount for T& and you can look that up online. Once they have that, they wait it for a variation in population. So they say, "Okay, it's a little more expensive to educate a student with special needs, a a child who might be classified and have an IEP. It's a little more expensive to educate a high schooler than it is maybe a third grader and a little more expensive and they so they start waiting it. So now if you're a high schooler and you're below a certain income level, you're considered um you know a title one student. Um you're you're English isn't your first language. you're a multilingual learner and
042um you're getting weights for each of those things and that increases the base pupil amount for each kid. Then they take that total population for your district and multiply it by the variations in the formula and they come up with what you should be spending as a total for your budget. They call that your adequacy budget. If you're below that, they used to give you a contribution towards that in the form of state aid. In the formula, now there's something called fair share. They also look at your community's average income and your community's property wealth. If you're below adequacy, meaning according to the state formula, you're not meeting the needs of your kids because you don't have the financial ability to do it and spend what you need. You're below adequacy. an above fair share,
043meaning they look at the wealth of your community and the property value in their formula and your above fair share. They give you state aid so that you can raise your adequacy spending and spend what you need in order to keep your staff and buy your books and do everything you need to do. If you are below fair share, what the formula is telling you, if you're below fair share, it's not us telling you, it's what the formula is telling you, and it's a state department of ed formula, is you're you need to raise taxes to raise your adequacy budget. We're not going to send you the adjustment aid we used to send you so that you can maintain or spend your budget. So, we were pretty far below adequacy. And how do you get
044there? You get there because that 2% cap sometimes just isn't enough with inflationary expenses and when you're adding students and you've got all the other challenges, charter schools that might be growing and so forth and so on. But you're only allowed to grow by 2% over the years. That spending gap gets a little larger. And then when you're below fair share, you're not going to get the state aid. The only way to make that up is in the current formula is to levy additional tax. Now, we qualified for quite a bit more. I'm not sure where you're getting the 9.9% maximum. What they do is they give you the ability to raise your levy in an amount equal to what you're spending under adequacy, which we didn't do. I mean, some communities did. Some of
045our neighboring communities did, but we didn't do that. We we we raised our adequacy spending just enough so that we didn't have to cut staff, so that we didn't have to cut some of the programs that were on the chopping block, all of the things that we had said we were going to need to do on our preliminary budget. So, from the point of our preliminary budget to the point of our uh final budget, because then there's a second budget hearing in April, which you're all invited to. um you get the opportunity to comment again and then the board finally approves that budget. Once the board of education agrees with what is presented um then it becomes the final budget. So that's how the process happened this year because we were in our original budget
046which became the advertised budget with the additional levy. We were so far below adequacy and according to the state not not taxing enough. We had to the only way we could maintain our positions and maintain our programming at the current level that it's at was to raise some additional taxes. Uh so we did have a lot of discussion about that and um you also had to apply to do that. So it's the commissioner of education not the governor that approves it's the commissioner of education for the state of New Jersey that approves the application. So what he did, and it is a he, um, what he did was he looked at your proposal, looked how far you were under adequacy, looked how far you were under what they consider fair share, and then said, "Okay,
047well, I see what you folks are doing and the expenses that you're raising, you know, the teachers that you're maintaining, the technology that you're maintaining, the programs that you're maintaining, are all qualifying under T&E. We are approving your application for the amount that you submitted for. Now, we discussed that application in an open forum like this on April 10th. So, the original preliminary budget where we announced we were making all these cuts that happened I don't remember, but it was March because it always happens in March. That was like March 28th, I think it was somewhere in that neighborhood. Then shortly thereafter, we've got the DOE memo that talked about what I just went through and said, "But in order to do this, you're going to need to hold a hearing and talk about the
048application and advertise it." So, we advertised it. We held the hearing. We talked about the application. And we did have some folks, including some council folks. Um, we talked about the application. Um, you know, I don't want to say because believe me, again, even though I might not be here, we're all in this situation, no matter what community we're in, depending on your school district and where they were. Um, but, uh, so we do empathize, but we talked about how much we needed versus how much we qualified for, and you know, we took about half of what we qualified for and added it to the levy. So believe it or not there was you know if we raised 10% we could have actually raised well we didn't raise above the 2% we raised another 8%
049something um but we had qualified for even more than that but we didn't need that right so um again other districts because we use some surplus somebody else mentioned surplus and we used surplus meaning um that's the reserve banked re you know the money we had in the bank we about a million if I'm not mistaken yeah about a million we took out of the bank and put that towards this too rather than passing that million along so you know we have that challenge now too cuz one of the things you have to do in school budgeting is the first thing you need to do is now save money really and somebody said it but we always are you know we're good stewards believe We have been doing this for a while and we will
050try and do everything we can cuz we do you know that's the unique thing about school budgeting and if I'm talking too much I I just this is you know intriguing. Um the thing about school budgeting is you're predicting what your expenses are going to be for a school year in the April before the school year is going to begin. Makes it really tough because you know things are fluid right? So now our teacher comes back this month and orders materials that they estimated to be X and now they're X plus whatever because of you know a a new the cost of trans transporting it here or whatever. So um it makes school budgeting a little tougher than your even your own home where you're maybe a month or two ahead. We we've got to
051be like five or six months ahead. So, um, but we will do our best to try and generate what we call undersspending. But the first thing we have to do with that underspending is put it back in the bank. That's the first thing we have to do is we have to get the reserve back to 2% of our total budget because that's what the auditors expect and that's really what we should have. But again, the board chose to utilize some of that surplus, so they didn't have to yet even add that much more, another million dollars to what already was a fairly large increase on the school side. So, um, you know, again, it's a it's it's a that was the funding formula. That's how it worked. um you know where we used to get
052adjustment aid to assist in getting us to be able to pay our expenses in order to be able to reach that adequacy. And you know, we're not at adequacy now. Um nor were we even when we were getting the state aid. Um but the only way that we could do it now was the additional levy unfortunately. So, I think that's what the mayor might be referencing and uh you know, school budgeting is different than municipal budgeting. So, that's why I took the time to kind of explain that and I can explain it even more. I don't want to take up everybody's time. There are a lot of people here that maybe not have this concern, but I certainly will talk to you afterward. I'm always hanging around, so I can even talk a little more
053if you'd like to learn a little more about it and the situation we're in. Now, for next year, you know, we don't know what next year looks like. Um, we don't know what next year looks like because even though that formula is a legislative formula, it's in legislation, it could change, legislators could change it. So, the whole formula could change and that's part of the issue, too. It's, you know, it's very difficult to stabilize a budget when the rules are always changing, right? So, um, we have to see new governor. Uh, maybe they propose something different to the legislature or maybe the legislators change. I mean, lots of things happen, right? And it it could be all new rules and um, we'll wait to see what the new rules are and then but I can
054guarantee you this because this is also in law. There will be a preliminary budget hearing and that will be in March. There'll be a uh budget hearing the following month. So there's a month in between. Those two things have to happen. And the board has to vote in April one way or another. They have to vote on something because you can't go without a school budget. all the way out to July. Um, you know, some districts tried because there was lots of this going on back and forth and you know, ultimately like a district in Ocean County that I know, um, they were forced by the commissioner ultimately to strike a budget and they raised taxes more than 10%. I can tell you that. Um, but that's kind of the best I can do with
055it. Um, so I hope I answered questions and I will hang around afterward. I promise. to get a half a million dollar. >> Uh well, that's a good point. There was they called it incentive aid. So, the commissioner, the Department of Education incentivized the additional levy. See, I I think they didn't have a lot of money, so they incentivized and gave for every dollar you took, they gave you a nickel, basically. So, for every dollar that you were willing to raise taxes in order to get clo closer to adequacy, um, they did give you a little additional state aid. So, we did get 500,000 additional aid for raising the levy, if that's what you're referencing. They called that tax levy incentive aid. Also part of the formula. [Music] You have a question? >> Yeah. Um,
056John, can you talk about how charters how they're duplicating our services? They also have a superintendent um making um >> I'll let you talk about that. >> Oh, goody. Okay. um or that we have Roger Jinx that that is our county executive superintendent and he's approving all of these steps along the way. So we do have checks and balances and everything that we do, every dime that is spent, every budget, every policy, every piece of curriculum, every personnel report, every everything that we do is available and has been available on our website. Everything that we vote on because we vote on every dime that we spent is is online. It's on YouTube, so you know exactly what it is that we're doing. So there's 100% transparency. So I just I think that's important to um
057to note that and also how our we're taking students um some of our students have severe disabilities and the cost for educating those students up until they're 21 can be extremely expensive. Um some of the programs we've been fortunate enough to provide programs inhouse. So, it's less expensive and it's also better because it's a community school. It's community environment, but for some kids, we can't do that. So, there's a huge expense for that. Our special education budget is extremely expensive. And um um and and our English language learners and or um and and students that are are title one students that are economically disadvantaged. So, there's all different costs for that that I don't think that people really understand. um that that's what Franklin has. You know, we're fortunate to have a diverse community, but
058um we take everybody and we provide everybody with opportunities and our mission statement is what we live by. Um Franklin Township Public Schools embraces its diversity, fosters excellent educational innovation, and empowers all students to achieve their highest potential. So, we're giving them the opportunities to do that. With respect to the charters, can I go on? >> Please go ahead. Okay, now I'm now now I'm hot. Um, with respect to the charters, we're paying a superintendent. First of all, you you see our budget. You have two meetings on our budget. Our budgets posted online. Everything, all the money that we're spending, it's all online. But I've looked very hard to find charter school budgets. When I have been fortunate enough to find them, after hours of searching, their personnel is one line. They have a three-page
059budget. We'd love to have a three-page budget, but we have like probably a 600page budget because every single line is included in there. Um, but so it's hard to see what they're spending their money on. And you're paying for a superintendent. We have a superintendent. We have a good superintendent. Um, you're paying for teachers that might not have the qualifications that our teachers have. you're paying for students that um there's a student activity fee and the charters wanted us to to allow their children in their schools to participate in our sports, but they didn't want to give us the all of the student activity money back. They wanted it to nickel and dime it like we'll give you for this kid and not for these 15 kids or whatever. And that wasn't really fair and
060it's an administrative nightmare. Um, I mean, I there's like so much of of charter stuff that I really don't think that the public understands and that it is it's you're duplicating services, unnecessary services. We have the capability of educating our children. Clearly, we're doing a good job of doing that. We're providing our kids with 20s something AP classes. Our kids are passing it. Charters don't have that capacity. We have kids that are learning how to fly airplanes. Um, we have, you know, kids that are going on to to Broadway and performing and winning Tony's. We have kids that are are doing a whole bunch of different things because we have the opportunities to give that to our students that the charters don't have. And they if they get an extra kid, they can just expand
061their classroom. We can't expand our classroom. We have to add another section. So that's another teacher. That's another room. That's more electricity. That's more everything that goes with that additional room. Assuming we have the additional room to have that. So, um, sorry, I >> I'll hang around. Answer any questions that anybody How's that? >> How How did I do? How did I do on that? >> Can I go now? Can I go now? I don't want >> Okay. So, we'll just move on to good of the order and we will start with you, Jimmy. >> Uh, nothing. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Lori. I just want to say that all of the board members by law do live in this community. Our administrators do not, but our all of your board members do and
062we do empathize and we try to spend the money in the most responsible way possible. And other than that, I would like to say that we're looking forward to welcoming the students next week and we're going to have a great 2026. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Bill. [Music] [Applause] >> Nancy Nancy gave a a great overview there and so did Dr. Ralli. I almost wish that more of you people showed up tonight. I was looking for a big crowd. You have a half a dozen people that spoke at the microphone and this superintendent gave a brilliant you're sitting there nodding your head agreeing with him. [Music] I've been here 50 years, not in this seat but in many seats in this district. Put five kids through our public school 12 years each.
063Each kid is super super with a capital S successful, brilliant success because of what they learned in the Franklin Public Schools. And every one of the years that I've been an administrator or on the board, every year we have to fight for the budget. The first 30 years it was elected and it was defeated and we had to go through that. It was a mess. What people don't realize and and you lay people and you I give you guys credit because you're very articulate all of you who spoke. We have let's say 8,000 school kids. We have a thousand staff members. They get health benefits. They get a decent salary. If they don't get a decent salary, they go to another district. And then a member from the public, like the young lady to my
064right, will come and say, "How come that person left the district? Maybe they got more money." So, we have great facilities. Our high school is a state-of-the-art building. all the buildings that were renovated in the last six to eight years. Deglo and I did a referendum that that raised millions of dollars to upgrade our schools. You know how much rubber we work? We waste not waste but use on bus tires. [Music] This is 47 square miles that we're busing kids in the rain and the sleep just like the postman. A lot of districts in New Jersey, you walk to school like I did. There's a lot of expenses to this particular district. I could tell you that no one's wasted any money up here. We've got a brilliant arts program. It was referred to by
065Nancy or Ottoman. Excellent sports program. All things that create good citizens. I looked at my phone a little while ago and what Ruters won tonight big time. Five of my kids went through Ruters master's degrees all because of Franklin schools. So I I get a little antsy when people and not you guys cuz you came up very intelligent people. I mean the superintendent had to really work to answer those questions. You don't know what goes into the formula and what goes into the effort to run a school like this. Part of the success of my kids is based on the diversity of Franklin Public Schools. One's a top engineer for Amazon. You have to know people and how to handle people to have a job like that. And in Franklin schools, you're rubbing shoulders with
066white kids, black kids, Asian kids, you name it. Some of these other schools don't have what we have. So, you know, I'm I'm going to defend. Can we save money? Yeah. I mean, you you come up with some good ideas. The superintendent is not throwing money out the window. If we could if we say to him, hey, we can save money on this particular situation. He listens. Plus, we have people breaking the doors down to find a preschool with us. Thousand kids want to come to our preschools. That's another story you're going to hear about soon. So, you know, my days on the board event are numbered. 50 is going to be my magic number, but then I'm going to be sitting out there defending the schools because of be able to kick these guys
067in a different way. But this is a very good school district and a lot of people use this time of the year. Now, I'm political. I'm very political. This is the silly season. People are running for the board of ed. Maybe you're in the audience today. I mean, that's good. If you are, you should be. You're running for counsel. But you're not going to do anything different that we did. What are you going to do? Hire a cheap superintendent? Cut teacher salaries? I mean, right, Jimmy? I mean, think about it. Use common sense. We're doing the best that we can. And finally, finally, what happened in Minnesota yesterday, and I'm a Roman Catholic, believe me, I was going to be a priest. It kills me. What happened is an absolute tragedy. by an animal, especially
068during the holy mass. Terrible. Our superintendent and our board of education have upgraded every building like Fort Knox. We I used to call them man caves. You're not allowed to say that now. There's a lot of nonsense, but you know, little hallways where people can't get in the building, new windows, police security at every building that we have to pay for. When you see police at the buildings, they're not doing that because they're Boy Scouts. They're getting paid. So, we keeping our students safe is a big emotional argument every year. Are we going to get metal detectors? No. Are we going to do this? No. How do we keep the kids safe from some lunatic that could come in? This is all on his plate. So, I hope more people come out to these meetings
069cuz I'll take everybody on. [Music] When my daughter calls me up and says, "Dad, I just landed Disney World Project Disney World for our business." That's Franklin Public School Warrior talking. So, bring them on. I mean, that meeting last week was disrespectful to the mayor. People standing up screaming at the mayor. At least you people had courtesy and intelligence tonight. God bless you. That's it. >> Thank you, Bill. Nick. >> Sure. I was actually at that meeting last week with the mayor and uh I expected a lot more people here tonight, but I want to just piggy tail on what's been said about the budget. Um I'm the newbie to the board. This is my first year, but I will tell you that I ran the president's council for the district. um where all the
070parent organizations belong and we had Dr. Ravali come to our meetings almost every year to discuss the budget because we all wanted to know what those line items were and I can tell you from being on the board and going through this budget process and the explanations um there's not any money that's wasted. I'm Brian our business administrator. I'm always questioning what's on the on the um list to pay every month when I see the board agenda and everything is is legit. There's no money that's being wasted that I see. I'm not an accountant, but from what I see, it's all in order. I do want to also um I was out last month so I wanted to publicly thank the parents and the teachers and the administrators um that um came out to support
071Project Graduation in June. It was a memorable event. This year it was amazing. We couldn't get rid of the kids. They didn't want to go home. 4:30 in the morning and we still had 350 kids there. It was amazing. Great event. Everybody had fun. Um, I also wanted to give kudos and a shout out to Anna Washington. I know Artemon spoke about it. I was here on Friday last week and dropped off donations from businesses in town and then I came back on Monday um to watch it all in action. She does an amazing job putting that together and thank you to the businesses and the police department for their donations. Um, and my last thing is happy birthday to Franklin High School. 20-year uh birthday. I remember when that building was built. My nephew
072was one of the students in 9th grade when that building opened. Um, and I remember um Mr. Westfield was the principal there. Um, and they had a hard time getting supplies and furniture. and um it's come a long way 20 years later. So that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Nancy. >> I'll go on. Sorry. >> Go for it. Okay. So, this is my last year on the board. It's my last couple of months. So, I I've decided um I'm just going to say whatever I'm going to say. Um, I got on the board in 2006 and I handed my son Evan his diploma um at the high school and it was the first graduating class at the high school and it was just amazing that that it it was such an honor
073to be able to do that. Um, Ma Pearl Brooks was on the board with me when I first got on the board. We didn't televise our board meetings initially and it was something that I ran on and um because parents are putting their kids to bed or they're doing whatever or maybe you don't even have kids, you just like want to know what's going on in the school cuz you really should know what's going on in the school cuz it is a lot of your money that's being spent on the school and the most important things in your in your town are your police department for security and your schools. An educated community is a good community. It's a healthy community. Um so um anyway, so um the other thing um so so we do
074um uh we we do we're excellent stewards of the money. Um I remember when I first ran, Brian Lavine, I was running for mayor. Maybe he was mayor at that point, but he told me that he was going over to talk to some residents um when they were about to take their property for imminent domain to put up a a box store. And he said that there was a woman who said, "I can't afford this." And there's a lot of people every single day that say, "I can't afford this." And that woman, I can't remember her name now, like suddenly, but she sits on my shoulder. She's sat on my shoulder for the past 19 years. Every time I spend a dime, I think, can she afford it? Can my father, who was a senior,
075could he have afforded it? Could I have afforded it as a single parent? Could I afford it now? Could I could my children not afford to have it? Is another question you have to ask. Um, another thing that we do in Franklin that actually has helped us save money is the um, first of all, ZuFall came to us and um, it is a community health center and they wanted to with a $250,000 grant I think it was no 50 >> $50,000 grant and whatever recovery my uh >> co >> yeah co but there was a name for the recovery money and that was from the township. >> All right so um the the purpose of zufall coming to us or the purpose of having them was if our kids are sick they're going to come
076to school because they might not have a pediatrician that they go and see on on the regular basis and they might not get wellness visits. So that started with them and now it's actually going to turn into something for the community. So it shows that the that the town and the school district have an excellent um relationship and a lot of towns, most towns actually don't have that. Um another thing that we have is because we're self-insured is the Warrior Wellness Center. So, um it's another way for the for the district to save money in health insurance for um for our employees to be able to go to the Warrior Wellness Center, to go see a doctor, to go see a chiropractor, to get a prescription filled to whatever it is. And it's right in
077town, so they're not like taking the day off. They can go on their lunch hour to go do this. Um, when I first got elected to the board, I thought like everybody else who's running that it's like I could change everything. What doesn't matter what you're running for. I could change everything like that, right? It doesn't happen. It it I've never seen so much red tape as I've seen in government. It's disgusting how much red tape. It takes forever to get anything done, but sometimes it's worth the wait. Um, and sometimes it's not, but it's not going to happen tomorrow. So, if you think it's going to happen tomorrow, it's not going to happen tomorrow. Council, because this was brought up at that um at at the uh mayor's um tax meeting was that somebody
078said um well, council controls the school budget. Well, council does not control the school budget. They haven't controlled the school budget for years. What they did do was when we when we voted for budgets and Bill was talking about how we would have to sit there and and as a board member working with the FTEA and and calling people and saying, "Please vote yes for the budget and by making gazillion phone calls and praying that the budget was passed. If it didn't pass, then council could make cuts." But they couldn't tell you where to cut. They made they said cut x amount of money, but they couldn't tell you where. They do not have anything to do with our budget. Their budget is separate from our budget. So, they're not the ones saying, um, you're
079spending too much or you're doing this or you're doing that. We're two separate types of government. We we work together well, but we're two separate buckets of government. Um, and I mean, that's it. I like I have a lot more. um it's late and um I could just keep going about like this is a really good town and every dime that's being spent is being spent wisely and and I'm proud of what we're spending. I'm proud of what it is that we've done where we from where I started to where we are now. It is a completely different board. It is a completely different district. I wish that I was a student now at Franklin High School because the opportunities that our kids have in forensics and and just I mean so many different really
080cool things. Um it's just amazing. And other school districts and big wealthy affluent school districts that are large don't have the same opportunities that our kids have. They don't have the same classes. They don't have the same um a they don't have the same amount of AP classes. They don't have the same amount of honors classes. They don't have a lot of the things that our schools offer. They don't have the same diversity where which is like so incredibly important. So when you graduate Franklin and you go out into the world, um the world is a very different place than what you might think that it is. And and the diversity in in race, religion, soioeconomically, um every single way that you can think of diversity, that's what it is. And it also means inclusion
081and belonging. And I think that Franklin is very good at at getting people to feel like they belong. And and that's it. Oh, wait. Have a good school year. Like, I'm really excited about the beginning of the school year. And um good luck to our teachers and our parents and to our kindergarten parents and prek parents. It's okay. We're going to take really good care of your kids. That's it. >> Thank you. So don't be sorry. This is our time. This is good of the order for board members to speak. So I will end with saying that I landed in this country in 198 1998 and I landed in Franklin Township and made Franklin Township my home. I know one of the community members spoke and said, "Franklin is not even an affluent town in
082New Jersey, so why do we have high taxes?" Everybody has a different definition of affluence. I think Franklin is phenomenal. Frank Franklin has raised phenomenal kids. I raised my two kids in Franklin. They are doing great. and I gave all of my volunteer hours to Franklin. Even before I had kids, I started working as a substitute teacher in Franklin. Even before I had kids, I saw the high school being built. I was a substitute teacher and then when I had kids I got involved with the PTO's and you know then I got involved on the board and I have two phenomenal administrators sitting here tonight Dr. Solomon Mr. Seagull who actually taught my kids and they know um Franklin is family. Franklin is the extended family that I feel so proud to be a member
083of. Um I am happy to call Franklin my home. This is my home. And everything that the board members said here tonight, I can't say more than that. I don't want to give like a longer speech or say anything else. I wish you all a great summer, the rest of the school year. Let's look forward and see the next school year starting in next week. With the yellow buses back on the roads and let's move on positively for a new phenomenal school year. I will miss not seeing my kids in the school district anymore, but I look forward to hearing the chatter, hearing the sounds, and move on, move forward, and even though I'm not a Franklin warrior, I will always have my wishes for Franklin to be the warrior town in the best district
084in New Jersey. Have a great night, everyone. [Music] I think I [Music] you out you around I you out you out around you I you [Music]