Committee begins task of paring school budget

LAKEWOOD — The defeat of the school budget may have disappointed members of the Township Committee and the Board of Education, but working together on revising the budget has brought about a camaraderie that was absent in the past.

According to Deputy Mayor Charles Cunliffe, officials came together on Mon-day night "to roll up our sleeves and get down to business." The meeting, which Cunliffe described as "tedious, but very productive," included members of committee and the board, as well as the township’s chief financial officer and attorney.

Also present was Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ernest Cannava and Frank Marlow, the former superintendent of the Leonia school district in Bergen County who was hired by the committee to help municipal officials review the defeated school budget.

On April 16, voters rejected the board’s proposed $78.57 million budget for the 2002-03 school year. The budget, which included an 11.7-cent increase in the school tax rate, went down to defeat 3,992 to 1,860.

Cunliffe said that after one meeting the attitude of all of the people working on the budget is extremely positive.

"I am encouraged by the attitudes of everyone involved," he said. "In the past, the tension between the board and the committee was thick. At Monday’s meeting we all had the same attitude, putting the students first."

Cunliffe went on to say the group examined every line of the 2002-03 school budget during their three-hour meeting.

While he would not say exactly which items looked like they could be cut, he did say that "absolutely no cuts will be made in the area of teachers or textbooks."

He said the group will most likely have two more meetings before holding a special meeting on May 14 to certify the reductions and the tax levy. Cunliffe said the overwhelming defeat of the budget told him that officials can not keep asking taxpayers to pay more taxes.

"I really feel that the Lakewood school district is not receiving the amount of funding that we should," Cunliffe said, adding that he believes Lakewood should be classified as a special needs district.

"If we were classified as a special needs district, we would be entitled to more core curriculum funding (and) that would make a world of difference," he said.

According to Cunliffe, Lakewood is rated as one of the poorest school districts in the state, but yet does not qualify for additional funding.

"Because we are not getting the funding, we have to turn to our taxpayers and ask them to compensate," he said. "That is just not fair."

Cunliffe said he believes a new chapter is being written between the board and the committee.

"We are closing the book on the animosity that existed in the past and starting a new chapter, which is wonderful," he said.

— Cindy Tietjen