001Hello and welcome to the Monday, July 28, 2025 Hillsboro Township Board of Education meeting. In accordance with the state's Sunshine Law of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting of the Hillsboro Township Board of Education was provided on January 8th, not January 28th. It would be July 8th, I guess. Dates wrong. >> Oh, this from the advertising. Okay, sorry. January 8th, 2025 to the Hillsboro Beacon and the Courier News. Uh we are not moving into executive session, so we'll just skip over that. Uh we will >> having trouble hearing me. >> All right, Cass, mic up. Good. Okay, I'll repeat what I said. So uh in accordance with the state sunshine law of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting of the Hillsbor Township Board of Education is provided on January 8th, 2025 to the
002Hillsborough Beacon and the Courier Courier News. We are not moving into executive session. Um but first we will do roll record. >> Mr. Davis >> here. >> Miss Jackson >> here. >> Mr. Craig >> here. >> Miss Lanning Beater, Mr. Lee, Miss Nurse, Miss Stats >> here, >> Mr. Hill >> here, >> and Mr. I'm ready. >> Here we have a quorum. We'll stand for the pledge of >> allegiance [Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. I would like to acknowledge the correspondents as listed. Uh we will move on to the board president's report. Uh so welcome everybody to a summer meeting. As you can tell some members are on vacation
003and are not here uh this week but thank you for everybody for joining up. Um for those who aren't aware we did uh finish registration for board voting for next year and we had we were informed that there are six names on the on the ballot this year. Uh three incumbents and three new folks. Um I see we have a lot of folks here. Uh just a reminder as we go to our comment period during the meeting, there will be two uh sessions for public comment. The first is if you have any comments on specific items on the board agenda and we'll ask that you'll call out which agenda item you're speaking towards. And the second uh public comment period uh any member of the public is free to speak on any topic. So um
004if you're here to speak on something on the agenda, that would be the first session. And again, any other topic would be the second session within the meeting. Uh that's I think all I'm going to give for my board president's report and then we'll move on to the superintendent report. >> Yes. Thank you, President Marini. Uh hello Hillsboro. First item in my superintendence report and I see there are a lot of new faces here tonight and one of the things that I want to make sure of is that these new faces don't just hear news from the school district occasionally or from other people. So, uh Mr. Mr. Handler here to my right has set up uh some laptops uh over by the table over there and there's also QR codes on the wall over
005there. We send out a weekly email newsletter during the course of the year from September to June where you can get information about everything involving the school district including the budget uh each and every week that it is sent out during the course of the school year. So if you would like to get that kind of information uh before you leave today, please sign up on the laptops or the QR code. The other thing that if anybody signs up tonight that I will uh send out to you as well is a lot of people have questions about the budget. We've been getting emails about that too. It'll be very difficult to try and have board members respond to you about the you know seven or eightmonth process the three public board meetings and the community
006engagement nights where the um budget was discussed. But if you sign up for an email email address tonight, tomorrow I will email you uh an email obviously with links to all of those meetings so you can watch them in detail at your leisure where you may have further questions. Um each meeting community engagement night was about two hours. Our other board meetings are usually between one hour and two hours. So it's a lot of information to get all at once. So the bottom line is if you want more information from the school district, please sign up before you leave tonight. Thank you Mr. Mr. Handler for setting that up. Speaking of Mr. Handler, Mr. Handler is uh spearheading our redistricting effort that is going to take place for 2026 2027 at the elementary level. We've
007been talking about that for about a year plus. Uh but now at every board meeting, we're going to take a couple of minutes to update you as to where we are in that process. And again for elementary students and parents that does mean that in 2026 27 there are going to be some students who are attending a school this coming year that in 2627 may be going to a different school. That's literally what redistricting means. Um so Mr. Handler I will turn it over to you at this point if you can update the community as to where we are and what's currently going on with the redistricting process. >> Sure. So, uh, currently, um, we're engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of all the rooms throughout the K all K4 schools. Um, we're doing a comprehensive
008walkthrough, uh, determining how many rooms specifically can hold a home room size classroom. We're looking at all spaces. Um, where, uh, whether the room can hold a full size or a smaller size class. Um the other thing we're looking at too as part of that walkthrough um very specifically is particularly bathrooms because as part of um uh state law uh kindergarten classes have to have a bathroom um in the room uh there is the ability to do a waiver so that uh if we don't have a room that has a bathroom um if the bathroom is within near vicinity and and visual sight that that is a possibility. Um we also have um uh multiple specialed self-contained programs that also require a bathroom in the room. So one of the things we're doing right now
009is currently um evaluating all of our spaces throughout the entire district to determine truly what we have available for use um for a full day kindergarten program. Uh once we have that data, and we're pretty close to finishing that up now, uh we'll uh next be meeting with both special ed and transportation to really look at um how the special ed programs uh their locations um if they're optimal or not. And then from there looking at uh what our school boundaries are to try to help um um equalize, equate, I'm trying to think of the best word there. um but kind of uh build it so that we're not overcrowded in one building and undercrowded in another which is currently the situation we're in right now. So >> thank you Mr. Handler. So every month
010Mr. Handler will be updating us on redistricting and where we are and probably as it gets closer to the end of the 2526 school year you may see more of a formal presentation with notes as to where people are going. Right now we will just be updating you. And I'd also like to introduce Dr. Lisa Rabimus to the days for the first time. Um she is also involved in the full day kindergarten process and she's the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She's looking at this from an educational and instructional point of view. So I'll be asking her to update the community from her point of view as to what we're doing in looking to implement full day kindergarten as well. So Lisa, if you can do a similar similar update there. >> Sure. Good
011evening everyone. So during the month of July, the elementary principles and I met to discuss the current status of kindergarten and to design a plan moving forward for this school year so that we can so we can implement full day kindergarten in September of 2026. We reviewed the curriculum, instruction guidelines, current staffing and scheduling, and our next steps in the process will involve a further review of the New Jersey Department of Education kindergarten guidelines, a further analysis of our schedule, impact on special education, our expansion of curriculum, and staffing. So, we're at the beginning stages of the actual curriculum portion of full day kindergarten. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Rabimus. And Mr. President, that concludes my superintendence report. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh, next we'll move on to committee reports and,
012uh, we will start. Miss Jackson, are you good to go for education? [Music] >> The ED committee met on uh, July 8th. Um, it was a relatively short meeting for us. Um, but we did review the HHS electives. Um, we had some outstanding questions which Mr. Vulpi addressed in his weekly brass tax. Um, Mr. Handler gave us a redistricting update as well. And then we reviewed the curriculum revision cycle. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh, Miss Nurse is out, so I will cover the HR communications committee uh, meeting. Um, again, another short uh, shorter meeting. This was on Wednesday, July 23rd. Uh we did discuss the termination of an employee contract which will be on the agenda for tonight. And we also uh discuss something uh I find exciting which is uh the
013full board uh will be voting on an additional stipen for the creation of the uh girls wrestling head coach position. The girls wrestling team uh next school year. [Music] >> All right. better. >> Okay, I'll start over. So, we had two items on the agenda. One is the termination of an employee contract, which will be on the agenda for voting tonight. Uh the next one is uh an exciting one, which is the um we'll be voting on the additional stipen for the creation of a girls wrestling head coach so that we can start a girls wrestling team uh in the next school year. And that uh was the two main items that we discussed in the human resources committee. Uh I will m move over to uh Mr. Handler for sorry wrong Mr. Davis uh
014for the operations minutes. >> Thank you. Uh operations met on Friday the 25th just the other day. Um and a few housekeeping things. Uh we discussed the the policy of requiring groups that rent space in in the district having to hire security folks and those things and that's still on the table to be discussed. Um some in-house things. the state has increased uh what is called the bid threshold which really increases the the latitude that the business administrator has for approving contracts and stuff without having to go out to bid. It's just kind of a procedural vote. uh we voted to uh accept uh an increased insurance policy what is called deadly weapons protection uh which is a testimony I guess of the times in which we live uh that protects us from any damages
015or injuries that may occur at school as a result of deadly weapons having been smuggled into the school and uh I don't think that would have been a budget item 40 years ago, but uh there you go. We spent a good amount of time uh interviewing uh attorney firms. Uh our the attorney that has been with Hillsborough for many years uh is stepping aside. They had stepped aside the principal. And so we're looking for a new firm to to take over those duties. And we interviewed three different firms. um and everyone thought some of them were good and uh it'll just take time to sort through that and see where the strengths lay. And uh we also reviewed a a proposal from LAN Associates, L Associates, uh to do some preparatory work having to do
016with full day kindergarten uh engineering review, site review, these types of things. specifically uh to address bathroom questions in buildings uh where that would be required. And uh there was some hesitation uh because there was some lack of clarity with the results of the demographic studies that have been done, but it was passed through uh to the board. It was kind of a 5050 thing. So it is on the agenda tonight and you know if all day kindergarten full day kindergarten is going to happen and it would seem to be an inevitability the whole bathroom thing has to be addressed because it's code and but we talked about it on Friday and kick some things around. So that's it for the operations committee. >> Thank you Mr. Davis. Uh and for governance, we met on
017Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday, July 23rd. Uh we discussed a couple of items. One was the scheduling of the uh board retreat. Uh which is an basically an off-site meeting for the board to discuss items uh within the board. Um the next one was discussing uh recognition. So for those of you who have been to some board meetings, we recognize students, we recognize uh students for student athletics, student academics. We also recognize things like um suicide prevention month and and other uh uh holidays and other uh things throughout the throughout the uh throughout the year. Uh we do our best to kind of align with the township or we have up to this point. Um but there was a question on if we could define what those recognitions are and have kind of board agreement on how
018to approach that. So the first step was taken uh as a kind of a baseline calendar of events uh were designated going against I think the federal register of recognized holidays um as well as uh what the township recognizes as well. Uh and then uh last but not least we did obviously discuss uh feedback from the from residents around the budget and uh ways to try to uh stabilize the budget over future years. And that was the end of the uh governance meeting minutes. All right, we will move on to comments from the board and public. Uh we very much welcome in from the public. During board meetings, there will be two 30-minute periods of time that the meeting will be open for public comment where members of the public are invited to comment, which
019they may do if they are attending in person. During the first public comment period, members of the public may comment about items that are listed on tonight's agenda before the board votes. During the second public comment period, members of the public may comment on any school or school district issue that a member of the public feels uh may be of concern to the residents of the school district as per bylaw 0167. Before you state your comment, you will be asked to provide your name and address. There's a threeminut limit on public comment. Please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions, but rather offered as opportunities to share your thoughts with the board. In instances where the board believes there is a misunderstanding or inaccuracy, the board president or superintendent
020will address the comment. There may be times when a member of the public makes a comment or asks a question about personnel or hiring decisions. Kindly note that the open public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encompass therein do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues in public session. So, if anybody has anything on the action agenda that they would like to make comments on, uh, please come forward and just mention which agenda item you're speaking on. Okay, seeing none, we will close the public comment and if there's any board comment before we move on to the agenda items generally. Okay. Seeing none, uh uh 10. Uh motion to approve executive I'll take a motion to approve executive sess uh approval minutes. 10.1 motion to approve executive session minutes 62325. A
021motion to approve regular meeting minutes 62325. Can I get a motion in a second? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion before? >> Okay, seeing none, all in favor? >> Thank you. Uh, as we move to vote on agenda items, just a reminder, there are six of us here, so it is a majority, which means four votes for something to pass. Um, because there's six, three would be not passing. All right, Mr. Superintendent. >> Thanks. I'd ask for the board's consideration to approve the following motions in the area of education. uh travel and related expenses affirming the superintendent's HIV determinations, overnight trips, revised sta staff for title one summer program, approve the staff of the summer multilingual learners program, revised curriculum writers, submission of application for the TCJ educator grant, the substitutes for
022the summer credit advancement program, submission of IDA grant for funds, approving the acceptance of the fiscal year 26 teach STEM classes in non-public schools grant submitting the statement of assurance for the fiscal year 26 teach STEM classes in schools grant approving staff to administer the model testing for ESL approving virtual or remote instruction plan for 2526 and approving the five-year curriculum revision review cycle. >> Okay, I get a motion and a second. >> So moved. >> Second. Any discussion by the board? Okay, seeing none, we'll move to roll. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Miss Craig, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Heo, >> yes, except on 11.1, no to travel, Mr. Vulpi's travel to Chicago. >> And Mr. Merin? >> Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. In
023the area of human resources, I'd ask for the board's consideration to approve the following motions. Resignations, appointments, revised appointments, revised salaries, coaches for 2526, changes in employment status, transfer and changes in assignment, leaves of absence, turnkey trainers, extended school year program and special services, summer work staff, revised summer enrichment program stipens, building monitor, summer work, student teachers, extra coverage. Motion to create two unbudgeted instructional assistant positions. Motion to create unbudgeted girls head wrestling coach position. And the motion to approve the suspension of a district employee. >> Can I get a motion and a second? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion before the board votes? >> I do have I have one question on item 126 on the stipend. Um I didn't see a notice as to what that stipen would be. Is it
024what would that >> um it's a head wrestling coach and the contract does state uh for a head wrestling coach so it would be the same as the boys head wrestling coach there wouldn't be any difference I don't have the number off the top of my head but I thank you very much >> any other comments all right seeing none we'll move to roll Mr. Davis >> yes >> Miss Jackson >> um yes with exception on 12.2 two. I am a no for um Alvaro, Galleta, G and Robert. >> Let's just make sure we have that right. So, >> can you provide the last name slowly just so sure >> we can do this? Uh >> Alvaro. The second one, second person on the list, >> uh, Valleta, G and Robert. >> So, it's Al.
025>> Is that 12.2? >> Yes. >> Alber. >> And what was the third one? >> Robert. That's the fourth one. So there's >> there were four >> Albero G >> Galleta and Robert. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, >> Miss Craig. >> Yes. >> Miss Stats. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ho. >> Yes. >> And Mr. Murray. >> Yes. Motion passes. >> Thank you. Thank you. I ask for the board's consideration in approve the following motions in the area of operations. Monthly bills, financial statement, financial status, line item transfers, professional services with Learnwell, professional services with the canopy tree, a shared services agreement with NJ Stride, contract for commercial interiors direct for flooring work, the disposal and sale of obsolete equipment, disposal of books, the increasing of the bid threshold, approving Lance's proposal
026for A&E services for the full day kindergarten, Approving land to submitted amendments. Approving a settlement agreement and a second settlement agreement. Approving professional service agreement with Energy for America. Approving commercial driving license drug and alcohol screening vendor. The revised 2526 parent transportation contract. Transportation contract with first student for ESY program. Transportation contract with first students for the school year. Transportation contract with MTOK for the school year. transportation contract with Val for the school year, approving the use of alternative space for instructional services for the coming school year, approving the resolution for bathroom waiverss for 2526, and approving out of district placements for the 2526 school year. >> Okay, I got a motion and a second. >> So move second. >> I have a question if I may. >> Uh questions by the board. Um, I'm
027not sure what Learn Well, what service learn Well provides. >> Jerry, do you have that? >> I'm sorry I couldn't hear the What service does Learn Well provide? Learnwell is a lot of the um when a when a student is out for home instruction, sometimes in a hospital setting, sometimes they provide it there or just home instruction for students. >> Thank you. I also I did not check my email after I messaged um Mr. Vulpi and Mr. Eert about canopy tree. Um the the file was an old file and I didn't know if that got updated. >> Yes. So we will get we will get the the dates updated on that before I sign it and return it to them. Uh but the rates are what they are proposing. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any
028other board members? >> Okay. We'll move to roll. Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Miss Craig, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Hail, >> yes. Except no on 13.12. >> And Mr. Money? >> Yes. Motion passes. >> Thank you. In the area of policies and regulations, I'd ask for the board's consideration to approve policy 511, eligibility of resident non-resident students, as reviewed by the operations committee for second reading. Can I get a motion in a second? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion by the board? >> Okay, seeing none, we'll move to roll. >> Mr. Davis, >> yes. >> Miss Jackson, >> yes. >> Mr. Craig, >> yes. >> Miss Stats, >> yes. >> Mr. Trillo, >> yes. >> And Mr. Marin, >> yes. Motion passes. >>
029Okay, we'll now move on to the second public comment period. We very much welcome input from the public. During board meetings, there'll be two 30-minute periods of time that the meetings will public comment where members of the public are invited to comment, which they may do if they are attending in person. During the second public comment period, the members of the public may comment on any school or school district issue. Then member of the public feels may be of concern to the residents of the school district as per bylaw 0167. Before you state your comment, you'll be asked to provide your name and address. There's a threem minute limit on public comment. Please understand that our public forums are not structured as question and answer sessions but rather offered as opportunities to share your thoughts
030with the board. In instances where the board believes there's a misunderstanding or inaccuracy, the board president or superintendent will address the comment. There may be times a member of the public makes a comment or ask a question about personnel or hiring decisions. Kindly note that the open public meetings act and the privacy rights of public employees encompass therein. Do not permit the board to discuss personnel issues in public session. So um just a reminder, we'll have a clock going. If you hear the beep, we've hit three minutes and appreciate your um cooperation. >> Josh Gamy, Marty Drive in Hillsboro. I'd like to speak in favor of the recent increase in taxes to support the Hillsboro Township public schools. Why? Because keeping a strong school system in Hillsboro is the right thing to do from both
031a civic and a financial point of view. We've been getting cuts in state funding and I encourage everyone to talk to their state representatives about this problem and to vote this November. But in the meantime, we need to fill the gap and keep the schools fully funded. Let's say you're a parent with children in the school system. Your average property tax is 11,418 of which 7,535 goes to the school system. Now you look at private schools in Somerset County. The average price is $21,158. You're getting a good deal. We moved from Nashville, Tennessee, where the property taxes may be much lower, but this is reflected in how wretched the public schools there are. My wife Stephanie worked in the governor's office for children's services. And the joke there was that the only reason we kept
032Mississippi in the US was so that Tennessee wasn't dead last for school quality. You get what you pay for, and what you get in Hillsboro is a great education for your kids. Okay, but let's say you don't have kids in the school system. Let's say you don't even care that it's a good thing to have a well educated population, although it certainly is. But keep in mind that people buy houses in Hillsboro because of the great schools. If we do not keep the schools high quality by funding them fully, then the local housing market is going to end up in a downward spiral where no one wants to come here because the schools are bad and the schools remain bad because property values and thus the tax base have tanked. I recognize that your house
033value isn't money you can spend today, but don't you want that value to stay high until you do sell one day? And don't you want to live in a thriving town? The economy of Hillsboro absolutely relies on the quality of the schools. And so the quality of the schools affects all of us, not just school age families. The New Jersey Department of Education keeps a list of school spending. For the 104 school districts with at least 3,500 students, Hillsboro has the 20th lowest spending for total cost and the eighth lowest for administrative costs. Think about that. You're getting great value for your tax dollars. You don't enjoying pay enjoy paying taxes. No one does. But I know what you would like even less. A town in a downward spiral because we didn't support our school
034system. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. >> Hi Bala Mahadevan Lawrence Court 25 Lawrence Court. Um first of all uh many in this uh in this room have watched a lot of the videos and we totally disagree with this significant increase. Just to give you an idea my taxes have gone up by 22% just this year and many in this room their taxes have gone up from 20 to 30%. Just to give you an idea, right now per student in Hillsboro and my kids go to Hillsboro High School, it's average per student is $25,000 per student is the average per student. Bridgewater, which is our neighboring school, better rank and Montgomery is average 21,000 per student. So this increase of $22 million is totally unreasonable and unsustainable. U per the New Jersey state
035law, all the you know residents here should be voting for any such significant increase and we expect that we get a vote on this increase and let us decide if most people residents or taxpayers say yes there needs to be an increase then we all will pay for it. But if most of us do not agree, I think it should not be it shouldn't be taken based on one or two people coming and speaking here, a student or or a teacher coming and speaking. But the taxpayers have to have a say. Lastly, I would like to hear also from the five people in this uh committee who actually voted yes as to the reason because in the next election cycle, we will then get a chance to decide why you voted yes. Thank you. >>
036Thank you for your comment. Yeah, I'm Hassid Dani and I'm also on Lawrence Court Hillsboro. So if I compare the number of student enrollment between last four years, the number of student enrollment has gone down in Hillsboro. Still the budget has gone up quite significantly. One, we are comparing Tennessee versus New Jersey. Why can't we compare Montgomery versus Hillsboro? And those people who are voting to increase our taxes, do they really live in Hillsboro? Are they impacted by this tax increase? If not, who are they to decide our future? Thank you. Mark Aaron Crrance, 42 Highre Drive, Hillsburg, New Jersey. Uh, I just want to put the tax incre uh increase in perspective. It's costing me one month social security payment. Everybody who's on a fixed budget in this town just got beaten over the
037head by a hammer by five people rather than a referendum by the people. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Mohammad Khan uh for Loots Drive Hillsboro. So um as Mr. Bala said I believe uh people aren't come are not coming into Hillsboro people are actually moving out of Hillsboro because of tax hikes [Applause] and I urge the board to explore you know creative solutions other than just saying yes or no. I mean there must be some solution we should come out. I understand the importance of supporting this school but I have a neighbor who was a retired teacher just moved out of the town. So please do consider this transportation. Somebody mentioned Bridgewater um other neighboring town shared transportation services whatever we can do to keep us in the town not force force us and the
038kids to go out of the town. Thank you. >> Thank you. Folks, my name is Shangar Nandra from 12 Davenport, Wales. Um, I think it's obvious that the budget has gone way above what was ever expected. The complaint that I have is really the salaries of people who work for the school district. Superintendent 220 230,000 something. Why? You have assistant uh superintendent 22,000. You hire a consultant 222. I don't see anybody less than 200,000 when they hired people. All of a sudden now Montgome people have mentioned Montgomery. I've been looking at Montgomery because my daughters live there. About five, six years ago, their superintendent was making less or more than Hillsborough superintendent and now the previous governor Chris Christie had put a ceiling a cap on the superintendent salaries and all salaries. Now the Montgomery
039superintendent makes about 188,000. Ours has gone way up. The point I'm really making is that 80% I think of your costs maybe are involved in salaries and benefits and all the rest of it and you need to look at that. It's wrong also to say that to have the best school with the high uh property taxes will keep this town flourishing. Wrong. People are literally they can't wait to get out of this town. There are many many people who are whose children have already gone through the school system. My last kid was I think about um 25 years ago. So for the last 25 years I'm just paying all this property taxes. I can't move because my wife says she wants to just live in the house she lived all her life. So there are
040all these constraints that people have and I don't think that you guys are looking at very very objectively. I'm looking at some of these things here trip uh expenses or dash group or this group. Well, they should be privatized. I don't think the school should be paying for all those things. It's the taxpayer. And remember, not everybody's part of the dance club. There's only a handful of people. So why should everybody else be paying for that? You got to look into Oh, and and one one other thing. You hired a a business uh operations manager. You pay him $22,000. What is his deliverable? How is he going to benefit the school district, the town, etc. He was there last year, now he renewed his contract. What is his deliverable? Can the public look at their
041deliverables? Is it worth the value that we're going to be paying for? Thank you. Thank you very much. [Applause] >> Is there anyone else who'd like to make comment before we close public comment? Sure. >> Good evening. I'm Brian Jennison. I live at Grafton Court, Hillsboro, New Jersey. Quick question before I start, but by all means, run the timer. I'm okay with it. Are you guys allowed to field questions? No. Then I'll put it as a rhetorical and then maybe someone can correct or retort. The $1.6 million that we got from the state for the raising of the 20 million was it only used for the football, the track, and the bleachers? Um, I'm guessing yes, because that's what I had read, but you know, obviously you can't put everything. Maybe you did. My question
042is, was there any academics that that money went to? Maybe something for the elementary school, the middle school, the intermediate school. Did it all go to a track, a football field, and bleachers? And I understand that you guys said that it would save us money, that we as taxpayers would not have to put money towards that, which I'm sure the taxpayers appreciate, but it's a football team, a track team that's benefiting from that 1.6. What about the academics? We're a school. You guys are in the business of educating. And I'm not saying that sports are not important. It teaches so many things from teamwork to working together. But the elementary schools then would not be getting anything. The middle school, the intermediate school. I have kids in the elementary school. If my taxes are going
043to go up $20 million, my kid's not going to play football and he's probably not going to run track. I'm taking a 20 Well, we are taking $20 million for for two groups to more or less benefit and for us to have really good seats to enjoy that. Was it worth 20 million? You know, could something else have been done with that 1.6? I don't know. You guys are in that position. But I'm I'm hoping that it went to more than just football, track, and some really sweet seats. Thank you. >> Thank you. I can so I can clarify just a little bit of confusion here. So there was a comment earlier about uh people not from Hillsboro voting. The board of education is the one that collectively a majority voted to increase taxes. Those
044are residents of Hillsboro that are paying the same taxes that you increases that you are. Um that may not make it better, but the question was raised. Was this somebody outside of Hillsboro that approved the 20 million? shared. >> Yeah, it's public record. It was uh myself, uh Miss Nurse, uh Miss Lanning Beater, uh Mr. Lee, and who am I missing? Oh, Miss Crack. Uh so there's five that voted yes, four that voted no. The additional dollars that you mentioned, the 1.6 million, so that was um something added. >> You can if you want. Yeah, sure. Yeah, there's a lot of money numbers being thrown around, too. And that's why I again encourage everybody before you leave to sign up for our weekly email newsletter that comes out during the school year to help. I
045understand why that seems confusing. So, when the board raised the taxes to a certain level, there was something called tax incentive aid. So, it was an additional $1 million for any schools that took advantage of what the board took advantage of. The $1.6 million that you mentioned are completely outside. And I'd like to explain that. So there's clarity. So everything with the 20 million and the one million that is instructional stuff that's going towards the schools. I continuously advocate that Hillsboro is not getting its fair share of funding. I've been down to Trenton more times than I can count. I was on the floor for the governor's uh state of the state address. I've testified before both the assembly and the senate and I get our representatives to come to my office to discuss things.
046So, the last time I had a representative come to my office to discuss things, I told that representative, "There's no way I'm ever going to budget for a whole bunch of things because what the state is doing for us." He asked me, "What kind of things aren't you going to ever budget for?" I said, "We have athletic facilities that are kind of falling apart. A football field, a scoreboard, uh bleachers. I am never going to budget for these things within the tax levy because we don't have the room to do that." The representative asked me, "How much does all of that cost?" I said, "You're talking like $1.6 million." End of conversation. Our budget was finished aside, the 20 million, the 1 million, that's all different money. And then we found out from the state
047that we were approved for another $1.6 million. Essentially, what happened is the state recognized the things that I'm never going to be able to put in for a budget, and they gave us that same amount of money equaling that. Now, that's where that number came from. I think Miss Stats, you had asked a question. I've been sick. I haven't been been around the past few days. Um, do we have to spend the money on that? The board doesn't have to spend the money on that. Uh, but that's where the amount of money came from. And the reason why I asked for that amount of money was because I don't think I'm ever going to be coming to the board and saying, "Hey, we have to squeeze in half a million dollars to redo the turf
048field or we need $600,000 to replace the bleachers that were getting sued because somebody fell down." That was something I could never see building into a budget. And that's why I was thankful that we got some extra money. In the end, any actions that we take to repair these things, the board does indeed have to vote on. So that's the clarification about that money. I just wanted to make sure you understood that. >> And and I'll just add on the the increase in state aid that we approved has to go for a T& thorough and efficient education. So the state had to approve what those dollars were going for and they had to be education focused. So may not make anybody feel any better. Just an explanation of how the process works. But that was
049what was required to even get that budget approved. And they actually came back to us when we put our original piece in and said we you know we don't approve a couple of things. So we had to make them education focused. The other thing that we discussed in a couple of meetings is when those dollars are identified we tried to put twothirds uh towards non-recurring expenses. The reason being if we spent the whole 20 million on teachers say for example and then they cut 10 million of the 20 million next year like additional funding cuts somehow we then have to cut teacher positions. So, we don't obviously expect that much of a cut, but we wanted to put some of it in improvements in the district that are education focused and some of it towards
050teacher salaries and recurring costs uh each year. But the goal is we want to hopefully last five plus years where we're not every year trying to figure out do we have to cut teachers, do we have to cut things that are important to students? And this gives us that cushion for an extended period of time. Um, as I mentioned, it was a 5-4 vote, so not all board members obviously approved of either any increase or the level of increase that was approved, but uh that was the decision made by the board. The other thing I think, and I'm I'm not a tax guy. I don't work for the tax office. The jump this quarter in taxes, I believe specifically that the amount of it was to cover that increase per household. I don't believe people
051should expect that amount to be the standard every quarter. Am I am I misspeaking here? I don't want to speak about taxes specifically. >> Um but uh the big jump was to cover that amount for this year. >> So that was the the this coming quarter plus your regular uh value uh cost your house increase whatever that was valued at and that changed. So was a couple things that that led into the the large jump for one quarter. Uh but we do we did speak to the the tax office within Hillsboro and they said they don't want us discussing taxes. So any questions that you have around that you should go to the tax office. They actually sorry tax assessors office and they said please reach out to them and to point any questions back
052to them because they don't want us trying to explain what they do the same way they would not explain to you board of ed policies and procedures. >> They they did receive emails asking us not to talk about the taxes themselves and to go to the tax office. Correct. >> So, hold on one second. if we didn't close public comments. So, if somebody who has not spoken wants to come up to the podium and speak, it's not a Q&A session, but if somebody has comments, uh we're not going to stop people from be able to speak, but please do so within the uh the confines of the meeting. >> Uh hello, uh David Goran, uh Dumont Round. Um I'll be brief. Just want to take a moment to thank the board for the really really
053really hard work you're doing. Um maybe people here who don't come to a lot of meetings or don't know a lot about school of finance which I know a little bit about not a lot. It's very very very complex. Um and especially New Jersey where so much of our our school money comes from the tax base um and especially with the problems we've had with the state. So there have been it's a very difficult situation no matter what. Um and I do thank the board for doing your best to really maintain the level of schools we have even if it's unpleasant for all of us including you know you guys are all taxpayers. I do want to also mention one of the gentlemen who spoke before was used the the idea of what's the deliverable
054like what are we getting for this money? Um and it just occurred to me that I mean my in my view my our deliverable is like my son who just graduated after having his entire year entire career in Hillsboro from prek up through and just graduated is heading off to college with a great school with a great merit scholarship. Um and due to the education he's received here I have a daughter to high school. So in a few years I'll be one of those people who say I have no kids in the school. I'm still paying taxes. But that's that's the way it works. and that's the investment we have to make in the future. So, we hope I hope things can get better with state funding, but in the meantime, thank you for what
055you're doing. >> Thank you. >> Uh good evening. This is Ajitraati from Target Road. Uh I have a situation where my son graduated or graduating this year. So very thankful to the Hillsboro school schooling system. I have also a situation where my second kid is now first grade going to the second grade. So I have 10 more years to go. I love to stay here. Now looking into the budget tax increase now I'm thinking what situation will happen to me? I'm around 50s. I'll be 60s. My salary probably won't be increasing that far and that fast. And when he will be graduating, it will be way high from my pay grade to pay him stay in this school. Of course, appreciate everything. We know the system. We are working through the system. But it's also
056challenge for me now to look in how to leave a livelihood. Now, I'm not probably a millionaire dollars which earning. So, I have my cutthroat budget to pay myself as well as for my family. Now, how to balance this out? look this part of his ongoing education whether he will be at par to the competitive getting into the college or not is what I'm looking out so what I'm trying to say is that very difficult at this point and now I'm also challenged along with all all of you that how to maintain this kind of statuses compared to the schools or college should I go out or not I'm not planning to sell my house but I'm trying to be very cognizant the situation that what we whatever we are discussing We have favor we
057have not favor of the discussion of the budget but some of the parents may have an opportunity to go out because their kids are almost there. My situation is I have to stay because I want to have a better livelihood. So uh what I'm please help in terms of somebody said can we manage the budget don't need to spend everything we already voted for this one but definitely want to have a better approach how to hold this do a betterment not increasing any more budget going forward. We want to be watchful to oursel and we are responsible to tell our own situation and explaining how we can do better job. So I'm going to read out all the meetings emails I'm trying to compare and also come prepared to ask more questions and hopefully one
058day I will be at that chair to vote for the betterment. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And I will say if you guys do want question and answer, emailing the the BOE at https is a good way to do that. We can respond to those emails and explain things if there's questions. >> And Sha from Lawrence Code, Hillsboro. Uh thank you board members and everybody a proud father of two daughters who graduated from Hillsboro Township. Right. I've heard about everything and I just am here to give some statistics so that you know uh superintendent when I see your weekly response or anything you can respond on the same like Bridgewater School District has 8,000 students versus Hillsboro school district has 7,300 students Bridgewwater getting $15 million state aid while Hillsboro gets $17.3 million
059state aid. Also, Bridgewater Board of Education budget is dollar 188 millions, which is 2.5% increase versus Hillsboro 176 million, which is a 16% increase for only 10% less students than Bridgewwater. So my question is which already has been asked by others that what went into the thought process and everything when the board approved the increase of taxes and what this education board is going to do different for the students so that you know they can really have a cherished life and everything because most of us are in retirement age and everything and I do you know I see people who are already retired trying to make uh their ends meet And this tax uh increase is really impacting our lives very bad. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. [Applause] >> Good every good
060evening everybody. Can you hear me well? Because that's my most big comment there is that it's very difficult to understand the discussion in this enormous room. So I don't know if the sound system is up to the par or anything. But I would suggest to make the meeting in a smaller room so people can really be part of the discussion. I'm not going to comment on what people are saying or say things that are equivalent to that. I kind of agree with some of them. My question is like where is the discussion on how to save money for the school system while maintaining a good education? Where is this discussion taking part? Where are all these people that have high salary apparently? Are they there to solve this problem? I I know it's complicated but
061where are the people to solve this problem because it cannot keep going up and up driving people out of its borrow. So that's my question. I don't know if you have an answer. What what are the solution for example that were proposed and not taken to try to mitigate the problem of the budget for the school system here. >> So this is not a Q&A session. So we appreciate the comment. We can provide some uh outside of the meeting we can have those question. >> Thank you. I'm not really familiar with this system, but maybe a more open discussion will be good as well with Q&A, you know, just a suggestion. Thank you. So, for those in the room, we do have uh a couple of times a year we have a what we call
062community engagement nights and those evenings are built specifically as Q&A in the entire meeting. Uh we invite the public to join and ask questions and we can answer them in a Q&A session. So, uh, these regular board meetings are effectively for the public to watch us do the board business. That's really the intention with the ability for the public to provide comment. So, that's why it's not Q&A. >> Hi, my name is Rebecca Falenstein. I'm Dipmar Circle. Um, so although I appreciate you mentioning before that you were told by the tax office not to discuss taxes directly, I think many of us, probably you guys as well, >> I apologize. I'm going to interrupt for a second. Uh, they didn't want us to talk about assessments or anything related to this. >> Okay. So many
063of us, I'm sure you guys as well, also saw the post from the talk with the mayor and the tax assessor's office where they said that they can't answer any of those questions for us to come here and talk with you guys. Um, so I guess my question is I don't even know. I mean, I've never been to a meeting. This is the first one I've come to. I will scan your QR code and follow and all of that going forward. Um, but is it even a possibility to have all the players in the room to have a conversation, to have a meeting together? Because it just seems kind of ridiculous to ask the mayor and the tax assessor and then be shuffled to the board of ed and then be told to go back
064to the mayor and the tax assessor. It just seems like this giant game of pinball and I think a lot of the questions can be answered for people that way. I don't know even know if that's an option. Okay. >> Thank you. >> So, I I can say at the last community engagement night, I believe members of the township committee were in attendance, I believe. So, I don't believe they asked any questions or or joined the conversation at all, but they did attend and listen, I think, at that point in time. And and that was when we were discussing the budget. There was a handful of people supportive of the a full increase, some that wanted none, some that wanted a partial increase. So there was good uh conversation. I think the links that you
065provide, one of them is the community engagement night. Uh so you can see that conversation that occurred, but we will have the another we have them a couple times a year. And uh if you sign up for that newsletter, that information will be in there as well as listed on our meeting agenda, our meeting list. >> How are you? Uh my name is Matt Hershorn. I live on Pleasant Pew Road in Hillsboro. Um we're new to the area. We've only been here for I think about three years now. Can you guys hear me? Okay. All right. Um, and my cousins grew up here. Uh, they recently moved out. Um, but I knew that the school system was good. That was a big reason that we came here to start a family. Um, and we have
066an 18-month-old now. Uh, and so I understand about budgets and how hard things in uh, things can be and we understand the world around us obviously is changing as as time goes by. Um what I would say is uh a lot of people in my position who are fortunate enough to move here um are a little upset about obviously the changes that have occurred is my child is not in the school system yet and I moved here to make sure that they would be in the school system. Um, and if if things are tight and we're having trouble making ends meet, then I look at a lot of the numbers on that sheet that are salaries for the individuals in front of me. And I know your jobs deserve pay. But I know in my
067household, if things are tight, my child eats first. Okay? And if your salaries are able to go up year over year over year, that doesn't help make ends meet. and there should be changes in that regard. Um, and I definitely think the community should be very involved. I appreciate obviously that we can be involved and that's good that I that obviously I can get those emails and and start to look into these things. Um, but hearing from a lot of people and just talking to a lot of people in town, it seems like a lot of people were left out of that conversation. This was just something that basically showed up at our front doors and now also we're being told, "No, you still don't have a say in it. We're just going to move
068forward with it and we're not going to have any questions about it." And everyone as usual in politics is now pointing fingers back and forth. So, I think especially as you're going towards maybe some new elections and things along those lines, there needs to be accountability. It's like we're all adults here and, you know, really take that to heart. Um, and understand that you will definitely see changes in town if these things continue to go up and all these people that now have children that are graduating and doing well, which is a good thing. They're going to move away and there's not going to be anyone like myself to fill those roles and it's going to be even harder for you to make those end. So, thank you. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Hi, my
069name is Francis. Uh, I live in two O'Neal Court, Hillsboro. Uh, I know it is very tight for everybody in terms of paying these taxes. I have my wife who was working. She lost a job 9 months and uh, the entire household income is myself. Okay. Now thinking about my family I am I'm sure there are many other families who are undergoing in the same direction because the markets are not good in that aspect uh if I'm in working in a private company they look at who's good and who's bad and they remove people right my wife unfortunately their company got merged and uh they had too many people and they have to get get them out in the same direction how is this board of education looking into into that kind of area because
070you are not just increasing the budget you're putting u you know the pain onto onto the people who are living here myself I I think you know I go to Allentown it's only 10,000 taxes for me it's now 16,000 taxes I save 6,000 I have a kid but uh but I I I'm looking in that aspect I what I want to try to say is don't make this as a ghost town when when you are trying to increase the taxes see the variables of other other things like you know people's job people are liking it or not maybe there should be a voting system with the residents voting it saying okay the they are they are accepting it I agree with Bala and a lot of people were saying about it I don't mind education
071is important it gives gives you a lot of things but you know understanding the market situation people losing jobs people not getting jobs um I mean of My wife started taking a tion. She started tion she said she will do anything she wants but again to again revamp and bring bring back to the level where she wants to be it will take a lot of time and to pay such taxes is is horrendous for us. I just want to put that into into the perspective. Second thing is when you're increasing taxes, there are so many expenses you have on your list, right? What are unnecessary expenses? Have you identified that? Have you removed that from from the budget? I would like you guys to look at it and I I will subscribe myself also to
072to see that. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. >> Okay, I see nobody else. Oh, Miss Gabriel Bailis. >> Hi. Hi. Can you hear me? Um, my name is Licia Gabriis. I live in Hillsboro. I just wanted to mention a couple things in case you're not aware. Um, there are three programs, especially if you're over 65, that might help you. Um, the stay in New Jersey, the anchor program, and the senior freeze. Senior freeze is definitely for age 65 and up. Um, one of them is for people who earn 500,000 or someone just came to my house and talking about that today, so it's on fresh my mind. Um, let's see. So, just I know that the township is saying, okay, look at the schools, look at the township. Um, just letting you
073know that they've raised their tax levy 6.9%, then 15.34% and then 10.6%. But you have to think, what are you getting for that? Everyone likes to have new roads, right? Um I know that was a big thing on their budget. Um so the roads, the sidewalks, police just so just I'm just helping you to see like where things are going. And also I know that their budget is a quarter of the size of the schools, but just wanted to mention that. Okay. Um let's see. Uh just with healthy start hours, I just wanted to mention that again. I have my little t-shirt on. as you're thinking about redistricting, if you could think about how you're going to be possibly changing this um the bus schedules, if you could think about possibly pushing back the high
074school by at least 30 minutes. I've talked or a group of us have talked with the sports director. He thinks that would be fine to do it about 30 minutes. Um also, if changes are happening in in the high school, that would be a possibility. Um I just put random things on this to talk about. Uh, also as you were saying that they've always been saying with the um quarters, uh, with going back to the taxes, third quarter, you don't just multiply that by four. Um, I think that they just haven't gotten all the different pieces together of of the budget, so that's why they haven't, um, sent out the fourth quarter amounts yet. Um, oh, another thing. if you wanted to help the schools, uh, if you could talk to legislators, ideally, like I
075think that the ones in our town like that represent us understand this and know this, but if you know of anybody outside of our area, ask them to please keep the state aid loss at 0 to 2%. So that we are not still going to be losing more money. I know that some people have been advocating for that. Um, but if more people understand it, that would be helpful for the schools. Thanks. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Now, seeing no others, I will close public comment. And I'll actually start um with a comment. Um so, first of all, we're not blaming the township. I know people say, you know, kind of blame the school, blame the town. Uh the town does their own thing. They have uh their assessments that they do and that
076affects something. Uh the board did uh with the 5-4 vote approve the tax increase. So, uh that's the decision of the members up here. I know when I joined the board um it was right after I think 51 positions were eliminated and I ran on the idea that I was never going to let something get so bad that we had to hire fire hire dozens or even like 50 plus staff and uh over the last couple years um budgets have gotten thinner and thinner and thinner and every year it starts out with here's our budget from last year we have you know x% salary increase. Buses is up 9%. Costs of goods are up 6%. And here we are getting a 0% increase or a loss from the state. So when it comes down to
077it, it's not bad budgeting. It's the cost of living in the state and us getting not only no increase from the state, but getting reductions from the state. And this is because the state in their formulas says there's a local fair share, which is what they say you should be paying as a town, what adequacy is. And if you're below those numbers, they take money. So this year's opportunity was for any school district that was below >> adequacy fairacy. >> I think it was adequacy, right? >> I think it was adequacy also. >> Yeah. So if you were below adequacy, you could raise taxes up to adequacy. And that is the level at which the state says is the bare minimum that local citizens should be paying taxes in which in theory they would not
078then take away additional funds from you. So, as crazy as that sounds, this is the level the state thinks the township should be taxed and where we're at. And other areas across the state that are getting more money is because they are above adequacy or or some combination of of mathematical equations that the state decides which they don't give us kind of a clear example. So, every year the budget starts out with what do we have? What did we do last year? Where can we trim? And this year before we did the increase, we were going to have to eliminate I don't know what it was 15 to 20 positions um within the district and potentially the following year another 15 20 positions within the district having eliminated software and spending and goods and supplies
079and everything throughout the district to bare bones. So I want the community to know um with a 54 vote it was agreed to to raise taxes and this was not taken lightly. We are all taxpayers. We share the burden of paying taxes just like you. Um the level of impact is different per family, per person. Um but I felt strongly that when I joined the board, my goal was not to have this district take the enormous hit that it did whatever it was six years ago where we lost 51 staff. And that was my mindset and you may disagree with it and I I appreciate that. And there are four board members that voted no against this because they either didn't think the amount was appropriate or they didn't think any tax increase should be
080done without uh you know voting for that tax increase. So I just want members of the public to understand um I I understand your frustration. I understand the concern. Um but in my position I'm a steward of the school and that's what I was elected to do and that was the decision that I made. So um I I respect everybody's opinion here. appreciate you guys showing up and coming to the meeting and speaking. Um, we do care about your opinions. Um, we're doing our best in future years to reduce the tax increase burden. Again, every year it depends what the state chooses to do. There may be a new governor. Well, there will be a new governor and they may decide, hey, we're going to change the formula and now Hillsboro, you're getting 10 million
081a year every year because now you're you're paying too much taxes. I mean, who who know? Or they could come back and say, Hillsboro, you're under again. Please, please, guys. This we don't know what the state is going to bring to us is my point. >> Public comment is closed, please. So, we'll have more meetings and we we encourage you guys to come back and provide more comments again or to email the board where we can have a conversation with you. But, I'm just explaining my perspective on here and every board member has their own perspective. Um, as we go around, if anybody wants to make comment, I I really encourage board members to do so if they feel so inclined. Um, but like like I said, this decision was not taken lightly. There was
082a lot of discussion, a lot of committee discussions, a lot of on the day discussions and we had a community engagement night specifically around the budget that we had about a hundred people show up to and have conversations with them. So, um, I will end my comment there and I'll open up to other board members if they'd like to make any additional comments. Miss Jackson. >> Um I just um I'd like to say thank you to the mayor and the tax assessor because when all hell broke loose essentially they did step up, >> you know, and they they went into the fire instead of running away from it. So it shows a leadership role. I'd also like to thank the township committee because they are trying and they have set push back on the affordable
083housing mandates. So that's part of our problem here as well. So um you've made comments, the first speaker made comments. I think look at the root cause of the problem and it all boils down to the governor's S2 formula and if you're going to vote for a new governor, please make sure you read what their policies are. And another gentleman mentioned that it's the cost of everything in life. It's the cost of unemployment. So again, you know, my hope for everyone is that you look at truly who you're voting for and what they stand for so that we can stop this abuse. You know, it it's just plain and simple abuse to keep taking money from people and thinking that it's okay because it's not. So >> yeah, and I'll just add on to that.
084You know, when it comes down to it, there's about twothirds of the districts in the state that get money every year and about a third of the districts that lose money. We've been in that loser role for budget year after year. I think it's like 10 plus years in a row we've lost money. And if you think about it, to make change, you need a majority vote. And if twothirds of the two-thirds of New Jersey is happy because they're getting money year after year, how are you going to make meaningful change? So, uh, to Miss Jackson's point, look at who's running at the state level. uh look who your local representatives are and look at their approach to state funding when it comes to education because that's going to decide year after year what kind
085of funding we get to support our schools and hopefully if that increases it's less of a burden on the taxpayers. That's that's our hope uh moving forward. Hope doesn't pay the bills though unfortunately. >> Question. Do we have a date? >> Uh do we have >> Sorry, can you uh the microphone just make sure you're >> I'm leaning into the microphone. Uh, do we have a date for the community night? >> We have one on the books for the fall, but we need to I think we need to adjust that date. >> Yeah, I don't know if we have it solidified yet, but we are going to have another community engagement night in the fall. So, I think your point is, Mr. Davis, we will get that out to the community as much as possible.
086However, if you are not connected to the schools, meaning you don't have a kid in there, it's often tough to get that out. We do send messages through the township, but that's why I want to make sure before anybody leaves tonight to please sign up. That even if you delete half of our emails during the year, there's going to be that one that says there's a community engagement night. And our budget season generally starts, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Der, we generally start in October and then it ends at the end of April. And starting in October, one of the things that you will get out is a community input form besides a community engagement night that you can come out to and talk and discuss. And that's why it's so important to get
087your contact information so that we can tell you, hey, fill out this form and tell us what you're looking for or not looking for or come out to this night where you can have the back and forth with board members. Um, and like I had said, I will if you sign up tonight, I will send you a link of four videos and one of them is the community engagement night so you can see what that looks like. It's not set up like this with formalities and going through motions. It's question, answer, question, answer, question, answer. And we know that you as a public need that too. We just need to make sure that you get that information and the best way that you can do that is by signing up. So Mr. Davis, long story
088short, I don't think we've finalized that date yet, but we can do that within the next couple of weeks. I think we were looking October, November. So we we will certainly get that out in plenty of time in advertisement. >> Mr. So I think part of the issue for this budget cycle was that although technically the budget gets started in October for this budget cycle, we were not informed by the state that we even had the ability to go above the 2% cap until April 7th board meeting. And then we had a our community engagement night on Thursday that week on April 10th. And then there was one week spring break and then we were back and then we voted on April 28th and we had a lengthy discussion the four of us miss stats,
089Mr. Davis, Miss Jackson, myself who voted no um you know for various reasons and I think Miss Stats you brought up about some compromise didn't have to be nothing. It didn't have to be the 22.6 six. My one of my concerns and since everybody is here is the number that was rep that is reported in the news it it's either wrong, inaccurate or it changes from whatever news outlet some news outlets are reporting and I think some speakers tonight are reporting the overall school budget. That's not really fair and really doesn't impact you. What you really need to look at is the local levy portion of it. And one of the one of the comments that I made on April 28th, I think that was the date, was that last year in July of 2024,
090the state gave this board an opportunity to go up 9.9%. So exceed the 2% cap, go up 9.9%. This board voted seven to two to exceed that cap. So we added $5.7 million last year's budget beyond the 2.96 budget that we'd already approved back in April. So that budget increase was above 2%. Then with the 5 to4 vote back in April, we raised the the tax levy by $26.6 $6 million because the number that's reported, some of the numbers are like 22 million. That was a difference between the tentative budget and the final budget. But between last year's budget, which was already increased to this year's tentative, that was um something on the order of $4.6 million. So that when you ended up and on April, you ended up with a $26.6 $6 million increase,
091which meant that over two years this the local levy rose $35 million and that's a 32% increase. And that was the reason I voted no because that to me was well ridiculous and unsustainable. So could not convince my fellow board members. Um well I can I don't know I think other the people who voted no with me had already had their own reasons for but it could not convince others that we really should if we're going to increase the taxes by that much really to ask the taxpayers. You know, we asked the taxpayers back in November 2023. We we asked the taxpayers in November 2023 for the security and the staffing referendum and they said yes. And I don't hear people I don't excuse me. I don't hear people, you know, complaining about that because
092they had a voice in it. And I think that's that's what's most troubling for me. >> Thanks, Mr. Hill. >> Anyone else? Miss Dance, >> just some uh random notes that I took here, but to follow up on what Mr. said, um uh so it's two years in a row we've gone above the the the uh cap. Um, and what I worry about is um, uh, we're jeopardizing the the goodwill of our residents, our taxpayers, and that could be a problem in the future if we we we're pretty sure we want a a new high school, and uh, we'll definitely have have to have a referendum for that. So, we might be jeopardizing that. Um also uh as as has been stated we've uh our amount of state aid has gone down uh several times
093and the state formula we had the S2 formula I think that's passed but the state formula has been in existence even before the budget cap was put in which I think makes it obso should makes it make it obsolete. Um so we really need to encourage our uh state lawmakers to come up with a new state formula. It will take time. Um probably a couple years at least, but they need to start now. Um like I said, this has been going on uh for probably I don't know 15 20 years through several administrations and everybody just keeps passing the buck. So if you can encourage your lawmakers to do that. Um there there's more than one reason why the taxes went up. Uh property reassessments have increased. Uh but you know, I'll admit it. Most
094of it's because I I think 66% of the taxes are go to the school district. So we're the big reason for it. Um we did have it wasn't all or nothing with that for to do that. If we did not take advantage of u you know going above the the cap yes we would have lost as Mr. Marine said we would have lost a lot a lot of positions a lot of other things that we've already gone bone dry on uh Mr. record and his team uh they've done a great job trying to find places where we can cut back without hurting students because that's what this is all about, right? It's about students. Um but we could there was a way we could have gone increased gone above the the the cap but still
095have a flat school tax rate. Um that didn't happen. Um and we would not have lost positions. We would have even uh been able to even go beyond that. Um, and also, uh, the amount that we, you know, we went up 20ome million dollars and then the state kicked in an additional $1 million. That was not the reason why people voted for it, though. I It's almost like an afterthought. You know, the reason why people voted for it was because they could then get 20 more million dollars. It wasn't say we weren't saying, "Okay, let's let's, you know, increase the tax levy by over $20 million just to get the $1 million." That was totally irrelevant. Um, also, um, all of us who are property owners, we all do pay taxes, but it does hurt
096some people more than others. Um, people have different circumstances. So um uh that's something we we should always keep have in the back of our mind. But and also for those people who are um you know not in were not in favor of of this increase that doesn't mean they don't like the school, they don't support students. I mean people are really in a hard place. So and that's that's where they're coming from. It's not because they don't like like students. On the other hand, people who did vote for it, that doesn't mean they're totally disregarding people who are struggling. It was a hard decision for all of us to make and um that it ended up being uh a big increase that is going to be a hardship for a lot of people. >>
097Yeah, I'll second Miss Stat's comment. Um those who voted no care equally about this district. It's just a different approach to to funding. Um, and the goal is and the hope is that this stabilizes the district for quite some time and allows us to plan for the future and and hopefully never have to go through this again. The state told us this is a one-time opportunity. Um, so that kind of put us on it a little bit to make a decision. Now, who knows if that's true or not, but that was the the message we were given. So, all right. Anything else from board members before we close the meeting? Okay, I will take a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> All in favor? >> Thank you.