If budget fails, field will proceed
Critics say Mat-Ab plan puts athletics ahead of academics
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
The Matawan-Aberdeen Board of Education sent its $59 million budget to the voting booths with a binding $1.4 million capital outlay contract for athletic improvements in tow.
In a special budget meeting held March 27, the board adopted a proposed 2006-07 budget that includes a $43 million local tax levy, which would translate into an 18.25-cent tax rate increase for property owners in Aberdeen and a 15.69-cent increase for Matawan. Approximately one penny of the tax rate hike will go toward installing artificial turf and new lighting on the high school football field. It is a lease-purchase agreement that must be paid whether or not the budget passes.
And pass it may not. The last four years have seen consistent budget defeats at the hands of voters, even in times when the state's financial condition was better. Board President Catherine Zavorskas implored voters to curb the impulse toward voting down the school budget as a response to sweeping tax increases on the municipal and state levels that do not come up for referendum.
The lease-purchase agreement is essentially a loan to be paid over the next five years at a rate of nearly $300,000 per year. Covering the cost of track repair, artificial turf installation and installation of new lighting, the $1.4 million price tag comes while salary and benefits costs have grown and state aid has remained flat.
Proponents of the field have argued that better sports facilities may be an impetus for students achieving in the classroom by giving them something to be proud of.
"We need this field," Charlie Rogers, a former NFL kick returner for the Seattle Seahawks and a Pop Warner football coach in Aberdeen said at the meeting. "Why do we have to be the last place people?"
Rogers said that for students coming from Cliffwood, college scholarships for academics are minimal.
"They get it [scholarships] from athletics from that part of town," Rogers said.
Rogers said that many districts across the state are installing artificial turf, and that not doing it would put this district at a disadvantage.
"We're going to be the last ones to get this turf," Rogers said, "just like everything else."
Board member Carolyn Williams echoed the idea that better facilities may lead to stronger student achievement.
"We have to do what we can to make ourselves happy and our kids achieve," Williams said. "If this is what will do it, then I will vote yes for it."
Gerald Donaghue said that while the cost is large, and the timing bad, the field was something that needed to be addressed.
"For the nine years I've been on the board, we've never addressed the field," Donaghue said.
Donaghue said that the two municipalities should be helping to cover the cost of this field because they have done things in the past that have cost the school board money.
"We don't have the ratables, we had no land to build on," an impassioned Donaghue said at the meeting. "all the money comes from the residents. In this day in age, we need to work together."
Donaghue said that while development decisions by Matawan's municipal government have brought more students into the schools, the district had to cover the cost of rising enrollment.
"We had to add on to our schools, add new teachers," Donaghue said. "I want a little bit for the field."
Joe McAleer, a resident of Aberdeen, called the field renovation "a boondoggle" and a waste of taxpayer money.
"To waste $1.45 million when we have test scores in the basement, when we have computers in the middle school and school system that do not work ... makes no sense at all," McAleer said.
The three board members who voted against the budget fear that the field renovation cost could come at the expense of academics.
"I will not risk losing teachers or staff for a capital outlay," board member Charles Kenny said at the meeting.
If the budget fails, it will be sent to the Matawan and Aberdeen councils to be analyzed and reduced at their discretion. Kenny said that the councils are limited in how much they can cut because the bulk of the budget falls under required costs such as teacher salaries, benefits and building operational costs.
He fears that the councils will be forced to cut money earmarked for academic improvements because the funds for the field, under the lease purchase agreement, are not allowed to be cut.
Larry O'Connell said that cutting funding to academics would hurt an already struggling academic district.
"I have to admit that I am biased toward academics," O'Connell said. "We're training our kids for the industrial age, in the information age, on the verge of the biotech age."
O'Connell said that he agreed with 95 percent of the budget, but called the field renovations an extravagance.
Board member Kenneth Aitken said that approving the athletic renovations was "the height of hubris" and made a motion to table the lease-purchase approval until after the budget is passed by the public. That motion failed.
"Why can't the people be trusted?" Aitken asked.
Critics say Mat-Ab plan puts athletics ahead of academics
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
The Matawan-Aberdeen Board of Education sent its $59 million budget to the voting booths with a binding $1.4 million capital outlay contract for athletic improvements in tow.
In a special budget meeting held March 27, the board adopted a proposed 2006-07 budget that includes a $43 million local tax levy, which would translate into an 18.25-cent tax rate increase for property owners in Aberdeen and a 15.69-cent increase for Matawan. Approximately one penny of the tax rate hike will go toward installing artificial turf and new lighting on the high school football field. It is a lease-purchase agreement that must be paid whether or not the budget passes.
And pass it may not. The last four years have seen consistent budget defeats at the hands of voters, even in times when the state's financial condition was better. Board President Catherine Zavorskas implored voters to curb the impulse toward voting down the school budget as a response to sweeping tax increases on the municipal and state levels that do not come up for referendum.
The lease-purchase agreement is essentially a loan to be paid over the next five years at a rate of nearly $300,000 per year. Covering the cost of track repair, artificial turf installation and installation of new lighting, the $1.4 million price tag comes while salary and benefits costs have grown and state aid has remained flat.
Proponents of the field have argued that better sports facilities may be an impetus for students achieving in the classroom by giving them something to be proud of.
"We need this field," Charlie Rogers, a former NFL kick returner for the Seattle Seahawks and a Pop Warner football coach in Aberdeen said at the meeting. "Why do we have to be the last place people?"
Rogers said that for students coming from Cliffwood, college scholarships for academics are minimal.
"They get it [scholarships] from athletics from that part of town," Rogers said.
Rogers said that many districts across the state are installing artificial turf, and that not doing it would put this district at a disadvantage.
"We're going to be the last ones to get this turf," Rogers said, "just like everything else."
Board member Carolyn Williams echoed the idea that better facilities may lead to stronger student achievement.
"We have to do what we can to make ourselves happy and our kids achieve," Williams said. "If this is what will do it, then I will vote yes for it."
Gerald Donaghue said that while the cost is large, and the timing bad, the field was something that needed to be addressed.
"For the nine years I've been on the board, we've never addressed the field," Donaghue said.
Donaghue said that the two municipalities should be helping to cover the cost of this field because they have done things in the past that have cost the school board money.
"We don't have the ratables, we had no land to build on," an impassioned Donaghue said at the meeting. "all the money comes from the residents. In this day in age, we need to work together."
Donaghue said that while development decisions by Matawan's municipal government have brought more students into the schools, the district had to cover the cost of rising enrollment.
"We had to add on to our schools, add new teachers," Donaghue said. "I want a little bit for the field."
Joe McAleer, a resident of Aberdeen, called the field renovation "a boondoggle" and a waste of taxpayer money.
"To waste $1.45 million when we have test scores in the basement, when we have computers in the middle school and school system that do not work ... makes no sense at all," McAleer said.
The three board members who voted against the budget fear that the field renovation cost could come at the expense of academics.
"I will not risk losing teachers or staff for a capital outlay," board member Charles Kenny said at the meeting.
If the budget fails, it will be sent to the Matawan and Aberdeen councils to be analyzed and reduced at their discretion. Kenny said that the councils are limited in how much they can cut because the bulk of the budget falls under required costs such as teacher salaries, benefits and building operational costs.
He fears that the councils will be forced to cut money earmarked for academic improvements because the funds for the field, under the lease purchase agreement, are not allowed to be cut.
Larry O'Connell said that cutting funding to academics would hurt an already struggling academic district.
"I have to admit that I am biased toward academics," O'Connell said. "We're training our kids for the industrial age, in the information age, on the verge of the biotech age."
O'Connell said that he agreed with 95 percent of the budget, but called the field renovations an extravagance.
Board member Kenneth Aitken said that approving the athletic renovations was "the height of hubris" and made a motion to table the lease-purchase approval until after the budget is passed by the public. That motion failed.
"Why can't the people be trusted?" Aitken asked.
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