Towns agree on restoring $57,330 to school budget
Additional position will help district keep class sizes down
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

The Upper Freehold Regional School District will hire an additional sixth-grade teacher this fall.

The Upper Freehold Township Committee voted 3-1 at its May 18 meeting to restore $57,330 of funding turned down by voters when they defeated the second question on the Board of Education ballot on April 18.

While voters approved the Upper Freehold Regional School District's nearly $28 million budget during the election, they rejected the second question pertaining to an additional allotment of $556,454. The district wanted to use the money to hire more teachers and personnel. However, the measure failed in Upper Freehold and in Allentown in a vote of 720-685. In Upper Freehold, 534 voters defeated the measure; in Allentown, voters turned it down in a 186-175 vote.

Because voters defeated the second question, the matter went before both the Upper Freehold Township Committee and the Allentown Borough Council. The school district is a regional district, which covers both towns.

At its May 4 meeting, the Upper Freehold Township Committee voted 3-1 to restore $325,000 of the funding in the second question, which would have allowed the district to hire the additional sixth-grade teacher and three teacher/curriculum supervisors at Allentown High School. Deputy Mayor William Miscoski voted against restoring the funding and strongly opposed restoring any of the funding that voters rejected.

Allentown officials also had to vote on what to do with the defeated question. At its May 9 meeting, the Allentown Borough Council voted to allow the poll-goers' decision on the second question to stand. However, both municipalities had to come to a joint decision on the matter.

After meeting with representatives from the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education on May 15, the borough and the township decided to restore $57,330 of the funds the second question would have allotted for the sixth-grade teacher. This action nullified the earlier decisions made by both municipalities.

Allentown officials, who held a special meeting the same night as township officials, approved the restoration for the teacher in a 4-0 vote, with Councilman Michael Schumacher abstaining and David Strobino absent. In Upper Freehold, Miscoski cast the only dissenting vote against restoring the funding.

Former Board of Education member Barry Wright told the Township Committee he was "appalled that three [committeemen] voted to take constitutional rights away from the people of this community.

"In 43 years of voting," he said, "I've been sometimes on the winning side [and] sometimes on the losing side, but no one tried to take my vote away."

Wright said Mayor Stephen Fleischacker, Committeemen Sal Diecidue and David Reed all "decided [they] are above the law."

Jen Stampe, the wife of Board of Education President Joseph Stampe, read a letter to the Township Committee. The letter was co-written by Susanne Shaw, the wife of board member Chris Shaw.

The letter stated that the New Jersey State Legislature set up the process that allows the Board of Education to appeal a failed budget or additional question to the governing body of a district, and to ask officials to overturn the voters' decision.

"This is not circumventing the democratic process," Stampe said. "It is the democratic process established by our elected officials."

While some have characterized the May 4 Township Committee vote to restore $325,000 of the question as "selfish," Stampe said, "It was arguably the most selfless vote the committee has made in recent years."

Without the additional sixth-grade teacher, according to Stampe, the average class size in that grade would grow to about 30 children from its current 23-24 students per class. She cited studies about the impact of class size on student achievement.

Stampe said residents should not use school budget votes as a vehicle to communicate their disgruntlement about the state's current tax laws. She said residents who are dissatisfied with how education is funded in the state should take it up with their state representatives, not a class of sixth-graders.

Stampe thanked Fleischacker, Reed and Diecidue for "fairly evaluating and recognizing the aforementioned deficiencies in our school district."

"The fact that you did so for those without a voice or a vote is true testament to your strength of character," she told them.

Current Board of Education member Howard Kreiger said he agreed with Stampe. He said the board would have put the funding in the second question into its operating budget, but that the amount exceeded the cap. He said the basic $28 million budget did not include any staff positions, but did cover increases in salaries, benefits, energy and transportation costs.

Fleischacker said this was the most difficult decision he has had to make since joining the governing body in January 2005.

"We knew the choice would go against voters' rights," Fleischacker said. "Either way, we are a split community. In the end, we voted in favor of educating children."

"I think it is important to educate kids the right way," Reed said. "I don't think Allentown is leading the way in education right now, and I'd like to see [it] get there."

Allentown Mayor Stuart Fierstein later said he thought the public was correct in voting down the second question. However, he thinks the municipalities have done what the public expected them to do with regard to the single item involving the sixth-grade teacher.

Fierstein said the position equates to two-tenths of 1 percent of the budget, and that it should have been part of the budget question rather than the second question involving the additional allotment of funds.