Board Approves $1.75M in 'Least Harmful' Cuts

The Board of Education approved cutting $1.75 million from its 2011-2012 budget Thursday evening.

Board President Donald Pavlak Jr. said the cuts that were made are the “least harmful” to students.

“Every cut was looked at,” Pavlak said.

Pavlak said that the board asked district administrators for student impact statements regarding each of the cuts.

“We wanted to know the affect each of these cuts would have on the students,” Pavlak said.

Approximately $360,000 will be saved through breakage from veteran teachers retiring and incoming teachers being hired. Breakage is the salary difference between a veteran teacher and a new teacher. The amount is in addition to $610,000 the district will already be saving in breakage for the upcoming year.

Approximately $405,000 will be saved through reductions in transportation, facilities, and technology equipment and $400,000 in health and prescription benefits for district employees. The district will purchase buses, and other vehicles, and computer equipment with money borrowed from the Passaic County Improvement Authority rather than lease the vehicles. The district will save $405,000 by doing it that way.

The district will also cut $110,000 from the high school budgets, $100,000 in both new textbooks and from the building services and maintenance budget.

Approximately $150,000 will be slashed from the new Math Connects program for kindergarten through fifth graders. The cut will not affect the start of that program, which will be implemented in September. The program is replacing the Everyday Math program.

An additional $125,000, $65,000 in “general administration” salaries and saving $60,000 on a new middle school math teacher will be cut. The teacher’s salary will be funded through the No Child Left Behind Act rather than the budget.

There will be a special presentation on the cuts at the board’s June 9 meeting.