Mat-Ab school budget rejected again by voters
BY MARC CAVELLA
Staff Writer
ABERDEEN - It's back to the drawing board for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School district.
Voters in Aberdeen and Matawan rejected the proposed $54.6 million school budget on April 20 by a count of 1,704 to 1,026.
If approved, the budget would have meant a tax increase of 28.4 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation
for Aberdeen residents and 26 cents for Matawan homeowners.
"It's discouraging when the budget doesn't pass," said Board of Education member Lawrence O'Connell, who was re-elected April 20. "It makes it that much harder to keep important programs going."
"We're disappointed," Superintendent of Schools Bruce Quinn said of the budget defeat. "We knew the tax levy was a high number. If the tax levy wasn't such an issue, then I think we would've had a better chance at passing [the budget]."
"[Residents] want good schools and programs, but they have to make choices," Quinn said, noting that since voters can only vote on the school budget and not on the municipal budget, they may have rejected it in an effort to save themselves tax dollars.
Voters also rejected a separate budget item of $900,000 that would have been used toward extracurricular activities in the district, by more than 500 votes.
Quinn finds the failure of this question especially troubling, since the money would have been used to try and catch up for years of not being able to offer our students what other high schools are able to offer in the way of extracurricular and music programs, he said.
The school district had also hoped to use some of the $900,000 to make repairs to Matawan Regional High School's track and field facilities, most notably the track itself and the triple jump pit.
"We still have to talk to town councils about helping us with the track," Quinn said, adding that if something is not done about it now, repairs "are going to cost that much more later on."
The budget now goes back to the governing councils of both towns for some tweaking.
"I'm quite upset," said Matawan Borough Councilwoman Debra Buragina. "I'm upset as a parent and I'm upset that now this gets dumped on the council."
Still, the Board of Education remains hopeful that an acceptable compromise can be reached.
"I'm committed to working with the two councils and coming to an agreement [with regards to the budget]," O'Connell said.
"I don't think any of us are going to comment on it because we're going to be negotiating with Matawan (Borough Council)," Mayor David Sobel of Aberdeen said. "We've already contacted the superintendent and we advised him that we'd like to meet with him and his representatives regarding the budget, just as we did last year," Sobel added.
Quinn realizes the situation that the district now faces.
"We're all doing what we can [to find a solution to the budget question]," Quinn said. "We'll start having some informal meetings with councils [this week], and we'll give them some assistance in finding places where they can make reductions. [The councils] might want to do more research before they talk to us about specific [reductions]."
If the two councils cannot agree on the numbers and reductions, then the state commission on education may have to make the decision for the region.
Quinn hopes it doesn't come to that, however.
"We'd prefer to solve the matter locally," he said. "I don't think the public likes the idea of an official from Trenton making this decision for them."
No matter what the outcome of these recent events, Quinn says that the board's number one priority is still the students in the district.
"We're hopeful when we get done with this that we still give students the best quality of education we can, given the reduced funding," Quinn said. "That's our goal."
BY MARC CAVELLA
Staff Writer
ABERDEEN - It's back to the drawing board for the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School district.
Voters in Aberdeen and Matawan rejected the proposed $54.6 million school budget on April 20 by a count of 1,704 to 1,026.
If approved, the budget would have meant a tax increase of 28.4 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation
for Aberdeen residents and 26 cents for Matawan homeowners.
"It's discouraging when the budget doesn't pass," said Board of Education member Lawrence O'Connell, who was re-elected April 20. "It makes it that much harder to keep important programs going."
"We're disappointed," Superintendent of Schools Bruce Quinn said of the budget defeat. "We knew the tax levy was a high number. If the tax levy wasn't such an issue, then I think we would've had a better chance at passing [the budget]."
"[Residents] want good schools and programs, but they have to make choices," Quinn said, noting that since voters can only vote on the school budget and not on the municipal budget, they may have rejected it in an effort to save themselves tax dollars.
Voters also rejected a separate budget item of $900,000 that would have been used toward extracurricular activities in the district, by more than 500 votes.
Quinn finds the failure of this question especially troubling, since the money would have been used to try and catch up for years of not being able to offer our students what other high schools are able to offer in the way of extracurricular and music programs, he said.
The school district had also hoped to use some of the $900,000 to make repairs to Matawan Regional High School's track and field facilities, most notably the track itself and the triple jump pit.
"We still have to talk to town councils about helping us with the track," Quinn said, adding that if something is not done about it now, repairs "are going to cost that much more later on."
The budget now goes back to the governing councils of both towns for some tweaking.
"I'm quite upset," said Matawan Borough Councilwoman Debra Buragina. "I'm upset as a parent and I'm upset that now this gets dumped on the council."
Still, the Board of Education remains hopeful that an acceptable compromise can be reached.
"I'm committed to working with the two councils and coming to an agreement [with regards to the budget]," O'Connell said.
"I don't think any of us are going to comment on it because we're going to be negotiating with Matawan (Borough Council)," Mayor David Sobel of Aberdeen said. "We've already contacted the superintendent and we advised him that we'd like to meet with him and his representatives regarding the budget, just as we did last year," Sobel added.
Quinn realizes the situation that the district now faces.
"We're all doing what we can [to find a solution to the budget question]," Quinn said. "We'll start having some informal meetings with councils [this week], and we'll give them some assistance in finding places where they can make reductions. [The councils] might want to do more research before they talk to us about specific [reductions]."
If the two councils cannot agree on the numbers and reductions, then the state commission on education may have to make the decision for the region.
Quinn hopes it doesn't come to that, however.
"We'd prefer to solve the matter locally," he said. "I don't think the public likes the idea of an official from Trenton making this decision for them."
No matter what the outcome of these recent events, Quinn says that the board's number one priority is still the students in the district.
"We're hopeful when we get done with this that we still give students the best quality of education we can, given the reduced funding," Quinn said. "That's our goal."
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