To reduce staff reductions, "the goal is to minimize the impact on programming and focus primarily on increasing class size."
Alexis Tarrazi, Patch Staff
BASKING RIDGE, NJ — The Bernards Township School District is hard at work looking for alternative ways to close an almost $4.4 million budget gap. One of those ways could be increasing class sizes.
At the Monday night Board of Education(BOE) meeting, an update on what changes or cuts are being proposed to balance the proposed 2025-26 school budget of $128,523,243.
The district first introduced the budget at its March 10 meeting with the news that it must reduce staff by $2.51 million by May 5 and will also have to raise taxes.
Board member Keith Molinari shared with the BOE on Monday the Curriculum Committee report, from its March 7 meeting, where he said the budget discussion took up the bulk of their meeting.
"The focus has been on what the impacts to programming will be," said Molinari.
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The Committee first looked at non-staffing reductions.
"Materials, curriculum writing, things of that nature. We are trying to cut these areas by half," said Molinari. "Program evaluations have been cut for the time being. Many new textbook purchases are being put on hold, many program updates are being put on hold, some class sections are being eliminated."
Staff reductions are still under discussion to decide who will be cut across what subject areas and grade levels.
"As these are finalized, the goal is to minimize the impact on programming and focus primarily on increasing class size," said Molinari.
Additionally, each department reviewed what has been eliminated from supplies, textbooks and curriculum writing as well as the potential impact of staff reduction on programming.
Molinari noted that based upon the outcome of staffing, "students and parents will have to understand that there's going to be less flexibility in changing levels once the school year commences."
He added that the Committee did find around a $100,000 cost savings in educational technology. The district will be switching to GoGuardian(a classroom management software) for a savings of around $80,000 and cutting the Seesaw program in Grades K-2 for another savings of around $14,000.
One resident, Frank Klausz, thanked Molinari for the Curriculum Committee report.
"Llooking for every penny that we can save the teacher's pay and the number of teachers we can keep - I think is a goal we should all be striving towards," said Klausz.
Superintendent Nick Markarian and Business Administrator James Rollo initially presented the budget on March 10. Read More: $2.51M In Staff Cuts, Tax Increase In Bernards Township Preliminary School Budget
Rollo noted that the largest driver in the budget can be attributed to healthcare costs. Additionally, other main factors included:
"With healthcare benefits increasing over 21 percent, electricity 16 percent, custodial and grounds 13 percent, losing state aid - all those combined is a recipe for a tough year for us," said Shaw.
The average home property value projected in Bernards Township for 2025 will be around $871,769.11, with a tax bill of $9,542.89. Rollo estimated residents would see a tax increase of $405.92.
"We scrubbed the budget - health benefits, transportation, utilities, supply accounts, professional development, staff college, summer curriculum writing, textbooks - to get down to the $4.4 million gap," said Markarian.
To close the rest of the gap, Markarian said the district is looking at the other 60 percent of their budget, which is staff salaries. The district will be reducing staffing by $2.51 million.
Staffing cuts will be decided by May 5.
A public hearing and final vote on the budget is slated for May 5.
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