No School Staff on Chopping Block in Latest Budget

No staff positions would be cut under a new version of the Hopatcong School District 2012-13 budget that would slash $500,000 in spending, board of education members said as they OK'd the spending plan at an emergency session Thursday morning.

The proposal, which must be submitted to the acting superintendent for Sussex County's Educational Services Commission, keeps Hopatcong's tax levy growth from year to year under 2 percent, and meets all state requirements, business administrator Theresa Sierchio said. Staying within a 2 percent tax cap .

The emergency session was called after Gov. Chris Christie announced the district than it did in 2011-2012.

Sierchio said that when she met with the administration members to show them the budget, they were willing to work with anything as long as staff wasn’t cut.

Due to previous cuts in state aid, staff sizes have already taken hits. In 2010 the district released 28 full-time staff members and one part-time staff member. The same year, programs such as freshmen sports and the student council and newspaper were also cut.

“So instead we’ve taken from everywhere we possibly can,” Sierchio said. “We’ve come to a time where I’m just hoping we can make this work.”

The budget proposal cuts supplies and materials such as paper and crayons. It would not restore an administrator position eliminated last year. It reduces legal fees compared to the current budget, and anticipates salary savings as staffers retire and are replaced with counterparts lower on the pay scale.

It reduces tuition payments to Sussex County Technical School, which dropped its rates, and moves payroll processing in-house.

“I think this is the best thing that can be presented at this time. It’s a workable budget,” school board member Frank Farruggia said. “Unfortunately this is the hand that was dealt, and given the time parameter provided to us by the state, we have to abide by it.”

—or $764,329 less than it did in 2011-12, when it got $11,866,390. The loss was buffered slightly, as Hopatcong's school board decided over the summer to hold onto an unexpected award of $340,601 made at that time, to help with the 2012-13 budget.

On March 19 there will be a board meeting to discuss whether to instead exceed the 2 percent cap. After this meeting and once the budget is published, there will be a public hearing about the budget on March 22; at that meeting, further changes can be made to the budget. After the March 22 meeting the budget would be sent to the county office to be finalized.

If more cuts need to be made, the board will discuss possibilities such as consolidating buses and routes, implementing paid busing and instituting fees for certain programs. Extracurricular programs could also be reviewed.