okay good evening everyone it is um June 13th 2024 and I'd like to welcome you all to the meeting of the South bronzer Board of Education and to call the meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all very good go very good that was very good okay the New Jersey open public meeting Act njsa 10 4-6 also known as the Sunshine Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon the primary purpose is for board members to discuss and vote on board business in accordance with the provisions of this act the board secretary has caused notice of this meeting 48 hours prior including date time and location to be posted in the South Bruns Public Library the board office and filed with the Township Clerk and communicated to the home News Tribune and the Star Ledger it is also posted on the district website Mr parowski may we have roll call Miss Julie farara Miss Laura Hernandez here miss Deepa carthi here miss Alicia Khan here Mr Raja Krishna Mr Mike Mitchell pres Mr Barry nathon Dr Smith Raj Miss Lisa Rogers present we have a quorum thank you sir next on the agenda is the approval of meeting excuse me yeah approval of agenda sorry may I have a motion and second to approve tonight's meeting agenda uh Mr Mitchell move second Miss Hernandez all in favor any Nays motion is accepted no uh next order of business is the approval of minutes um Mr uh excuse me board secretary Mr kow's draft of the minutes from May 7th 2024 board as well as executive minut were posted on the board portal are there any changes by any members present no then the minutes stand as posted uh next is the uh report of the super excuse me the report of the student representative however before we move on to that report I'm going to turn the mic over to our superintendent for a special announcement all right welcome everyone thank you all coming out tonight for the budget meeting appreciate that uh it's about 90 minutes we're going to start with we're going to change the order budget first everything else after actually the reason I'm talking first tonight is Tonight is the last night of our student rep on the board Dean has done an amazing job and uh a few things I like to say about her so um I want to share that Although our district has faced great obstacles this year deepan always emails me and and asks me to do extensive budget presentations so Defan don't worry I have an extra one for you tonight as your goodbye gift um but all getting aside she has done a great job at each meeting keeping us informed of happenings at the high school has been a great addition to our board uh we're excited to share that her new role will be the student council president for the 24 25 school year I am sure Defan is eager to see what the future holds and we wish her the best of luck for future we would like to present you with an engraved pen as a token of our appreciation and wish you well on this next [Applause] chapter and now uh Dean is going to introduce and share a little bit our new student repres representative Samra TOA good evening everyone um before I introduce our new board of education representative I just wanted to say a few words of thanks so I'd like to thank this board for this opportunity um to be here at these board meetings and learn a bit more about our South pen School District um the passion that I've seen from all of you for our um our schools and our students has been truly truly inspiring um I'd also like to say that I am now officially Mr Scott F's number one fan and I'd like to thank um Mrs Olen and Mrs Morris for all their unwavering support um because I would not be here at this Podium without their help so without further Ado I am honored to announce the newly appointed Board of Education representative for the South Brunswick School District Samara tadia she's delighted Samara is delighted to have the opportunity to serve both her fellow students and the community outside of school she has dedicated herself for seven years to being a student volunteer at Hindi USA teaching young students to read and write in Hindi she also enjoys doing Indian classical dance and inspiring young children to pursue their interests in her free time samyra enjoys going on runs debating and spending time with family and friends as the Board of Education representative for the the student council she's eager to take on the responsibilities to create a positive learning environment for all students thank you everyone and have a great [Applause] night good evening everyone so starting off with some news from the high school student council had a spirit Day on June 7th for the torch run and today was throwback Thursday schools out for summer will be taking place on June 19th student council also hosted the very successful Viking cup volleyball tournament on June 10th and our annual senior sunset on June 11th more than 500 seniors were in attendance and they enjoyed Goldie's Ice Cream pizza vaita good food good mood and Zeno's be Zena's beastro catering service additionally there was space painting and Hanna and DJing our school also hosted the Viking cup Home Run Derby at the softball field on June 13th seniors had a great time dancing and eating at senior prom at the marry gold on June 7th and it was also a huge success with the school year coming to a close we are excited to remind everyone that graduation is next week on June 20th at Cure Insurance Arena congratulations to all the graduating seniors of the class of 2024 now for athletics the girls track and field team had a successful end to a great season over the past few weeks the team finished second at the Central Jersey group five sectional Championship meet Violet Gila posted placed fifth in the povall and EM Emmanuela coroma placed six in the 400 hurdles the 4x400 relay also ran one of the fastest times in the State history and placed ninth in the state the boys tennis team placed second in the Red Division and top 20 in the state nithan SAR received a top 16 medal for being one of the top players in the state of NJ for this for the second straight year Akash godate and Amrit mjo Kumar finished in the top 32 double team in the state before falling to number three ranked in Westfield the boys track and field team won the njssa Central Jersey group 5 State sectional championship at Hillsboro High School the team was led by seven sectional Champions Braden palman Jason Kaiser Mario Williams Bryce Ellison J Jaden Davis and unel joof that's all I have for you today and I hope you have a wonderful night thank you and again to defund from the entire Board of Education thank you for your support and your work uh you did an outstanding job and to Samaya welcome we look forward to hearing from you and the wonderful things happening around the district thank you okay so so the next order of business is the report of the president there are two uh three things uh tonight's agenda just so everybody is aware lists three public comment sessions please note that the first will be on the budget only the second on questions regarding the consent agenda and the third will be on any comment regarding any item as advised to all Board of Ed members this week we canceled the retreat that was originally scheduled for Tuesday May 7th due to the budget hearings which took precedent I would like to recommend that the retreat be held during our July 20 fifth board meeting I will address this again in new business if there is any need for a discussion uh finally I just want to um just a couple comments from the Board of Education as we approach the end of yet another school year we all all members here of the Board of Ed would like to extend our gratitude to our teachers our support staff the administration students and families for their unwavering dedication and remarkable contributions throughout the year teachers your commitment to providing a high quality education to every student regardless of their background or circumstance is truly amazing to the support staff your Collective contributions from are the backbone of our school community and we are profoundly grateful for your dedication to the supervisors the principles the vice principls and Central staff central office staff your leadership sets the tone for our district guiding and empowering every member to strive for greatness and achieve their fullest potential as I would like to also give a shout out to Mr Carlson Dave and Marvin for your unwavering support during every board meeting you're here every time we have it and you do a fantastic job to the parents whose unwavering involvement and encouragement have played a pivotal role in our success and your appreciation excuse me your participation enriches the educational experience and strengthens our community immeasurably lastly to our resilient and enthusiastic students we commend you for your remarkable achievements and determination throughout the year your pursuit of knowledge creativity and personal growth is inspiring each of you have made significant strides and we cannot be more proud of your achievements as we approach graduation please listen to the commencement speeches see the pride on the faces of every single graduate and the joy of the families and friends witnessing this achievement and the thoughts of the possibilities that lie ahead as we enter into summer break it's a wonderful time for exploration reading for pleasure engaging activities make sure you all relax and recharge preparing for our adventures ahead again on behalf of the South Brunswick Board of Education thank you all for your support and partnership and for those coming back next year we look forward to welcoming you back in the fall refreshed and ready to embark on another year of growth and Discovery have a great summer everyone okay so moving on the next order of business is the report of the superintendent Mr feder all right thank you first Welcome to our retirees that are here tonight and all the people that are out here to support them it's a great showing tonight so thank you all for coming we have our Special Olympics and Unified sports being honored tonight as well as our spring athletes so we have a lot going on tonight before the budget talk promise um I have to share the traic tragic news that happened you all should have received um our communication about a house fire of one of our own high school families if you would like to consider assisting the family we did put out a GoFundMe link um and I'm sure donations are being greatly appreciated it was real um bad situation um a little bit happier note last day of school is June 20th and that is followed actually by June 21st which is the recognized day for juneth the school district will be closed on June 21st um but our last day for students is the 20th and everyone will be off on the 21st um as you heard from uh president Rogers we have our commencement and our graduates and it's always an amazing opportunity for everyone to see how great our students are so that's happening on the 20th at cure arena in Trenton and really after that I know we have a lot going on tonight so just wishing everyone all of our students and families a wonderful um summer and as as uh Lisa said recharge everyone we all we all need to do that after a long year so I'll turn it back over to you and we get the show started all right thank you so much okay so our first recognition will be that of our Special Olympics and the Unified sports I'd now like to call Mr rapael Morales director of student services as well as Emily Wright the supervisor of student services to the podium at this time [Applause] like the crowd good evening uh members of the school board uh School leaders School staff families and students my name is rapael Morales I am the student services director for the school district and I'm here to introduce our uh uh speakers and our students for for tonight's recognition uh I'm very grateful uh that this evening has grown to be an annual celebration this is by far one of my personal favorites tonight we will honor our wonderful special Olympic athletes for the efforts and the accomplishments we will also honor our Unified sports program participants which which is a newer opportunity for our students with disabilities to play sports and have fun with neurotypical classmates teams compete uh with other middle sex County school districts with a with a unified program we have Unified sports at our High School uh we have unified tennis unified basketball unified track and at the Middle School uh we're starting with unified uh bowling uh tonight you will meet our student athletes our unified Partners uh these opportunities for inclusion are meaningful and benefit not just our our students but the the school community and and I believe society as a whole so hopefully you'll you you'll see the fun and and the enjoyment uh that goes on during during the uh practices the the opportuni students have before the the competitions you'll see some images of of the competition um and uh we'll celebrate their accomplishments and the uh the inclusionary opportunities that that are being had so thank you I will turn it over to uh miss Emily Wright our one of our special education supervisors good evening thank you Mr Morales um these opportunities would not be possible without the help of a lot of individuals so before I introduce our coaches I would like to take a minute to thank a whole lot of people um so first thank you to the Board of Education our central office administration as well as our Middle School and High School principles uh Mr CJ Hendrick our athletic director and his assistant Kim Ryan have been very instrumental in this evening and throughout the entire season uh thank you to our school nurses and transportation department who allow our activities to be accessible after school hours um and thank you to our parents who cheer our students on who drive them to and from practices and events we could not do this without you um so finally I would like to really thank our power profession and coaches who spend time after school and on weekends making this opportunity possible and to start off I would like to introduce our coaches for our Middle School sports we have with us tonight Mr Dennis shoro Miss Kelly fortun Miss Kristen sandano and Mr James kosava so we'll start we will start by honoring our middle school athletes and partners I would like to invite Miss Rogers up to the podium to help pass out certificates and at this time we'll have all of our middle school athletes and partners stand and come line up on the side here hello everybody my name is uh James Coosa uh I work at Crossroads South and autism life skills program I work with the bowling team and the coach for track and field uh I want to thank the board the district uh Administration and everyone in between that help made the season possible uh please uh can everyone give a big round of applause for all of our athletes for the great season this [Applause] year before we get started you're going to see some pictures from our season and some great photos of all our athletes thank you everybody the clicker oh I'm doing the clicker that's me all right how's it going everybody I'm Dennis shoro I'm one of the unified bowling coaches here and I love the fact that we have this opportunity to do this uh with all my amazing you know helpers and partners and coaches it's it's an amazing uh opportunity and uh love that we have this year and hopefully continue to do it for a very very long time all right we're going to go through our unified bowling where we go to B Bolero in North Brunswick and in the little bit we have our Special Olympics track and field wonderful times and these are some of the opportunities you have uh after school club where a lot of our neurotypical students get to hang out with our unified athletes Lunch Buddies where they get to have time learn a little bit about each other during lunch time and then one of our fizzed colleagues Sarah Ahmed she has unified gym after school actually during our their hap uh help and access time uh in their classes once or two once or twice a month and now we have our our athletes here aanes awall good job Budd suchir [Applause] alletti sha asson Phoenix [Music] Christian Joey Capa Samar Drew UV japa pora cagasan Kaka kusabi not here Vin Lavin John Longo trenic mamari Emma [Applause] morosi Uriel navor cie Nichols that's that's you Sai Nan nalva demon Panda thank [Applause] you VC parar Devon [Applause] Patel Arnav Rama abinav Shan mam conratulations thank you isan Shasta and we have some of our bowling Partners here right now we have Alexis Munday Khloe [Applause] balazar Abigail Lynch congratul Christian Bowski conat right A J Rosario mandas we go and that is our Middle School unified Vikings [Applause] team thank you at this time I would like to introduce our High School coaches and athletes here tonight we have with us coach Casey Kelly um we have coach Craig Schwarz and not here this evening is Mr Billy Smith at this time we would like to have all of our high school athletes and partners stand and come line up on the side yeah um just refresh my mem had I go to the next slide is it the Buton press the middle button tell me what to do just push me no I'll go up to you those you want oh no I give it whatever hello everyone I'm coach Kelly uh one of the unified basketball coaches here at tunic high school I'm truly honored to be a part of this program um both the volunteers and the student athletes really make our job just a true Joy um so without further Ado I'm going to announce the unified athletes but before that some of the events that we have at the high school is Unified tennis we have Special Olympics bowling uh unified basketball and unified track all right so first up we have Fon Alam who's not here tonight Hadi Islam who's also not here tonight Larry banville Larry abona Lori we do have some athletes here kavo chowski yeah Mason Goodman are you gonna have your seat good job you can Anisha John Jacob Johnson Anna hot Clair Abigail Mana Eva Mariano Josh Nemo he's here good job good job next amazing and I'm going to toss hand it over to Mr Sports who is going to say the rest of the names well done gotcha hi everyone my name is Craig Schwarz uh I just want to quickly say what an amazing experience was uh working with the unified athletes and the partners uh it was just an incredible experience for me coaching three Sports tennis basketball and track and I'm so glad we recognize thank you uh for giving us the time up here here all right let's uh continue here uh Ethan [Applause] alichi why don't you take that I'll just announce names there we go there we go Anthony pil Anthony there we go I'm a hero David pill I can give you your card congratulations J open it Maria kesi congratulations Rishi [Applause] ramkumar Keith Sims adite SRAM sorry that's all right tra [Applause] thy a vindo Kumar suar Yousef romesa [Applause] zob all right would like to take a minute to um just recognize the partners um these students come out they give up their time um to spend their time with us after school we have a lot of practices handful of games and competitions uh and they do this out of the kindness of their heart I just want to give a big thank you to all the partners your work uh and volunteerism is greatly appreciated from all of [Applause] us yeah Middle School too no just High School there we go all right so let's recognize our partners Katherine Canon Mohamed dusuki John dbat well done Danny Duffy osie Jane Ronin kazeo rahili good job Budd Miriam lch Mini [Applause] so uh Jessica Master Monica zann madadi yeah Zayn nice job uh husnain sadiki uh Jackie Schneider Serena Shasta than you much Connor tarlecki not here Samayra [Applause] uh Ashi Vala stuie vishan Athan last but definitely not least Jacob W way to go Bud year thank you all very much for taking a moment uh just one more hand for all the partners the athletes and the coaches thank you thank you everyone that was a lot of fun we good do I have permission to dismiss our friends yes yes please all the um athletes families if you would like to head out take pictures you're welcome to you're also welcome to stay thank you we'll take five minutes not a problem [Applause] okay we're going to go move on uh the second recognition tonight will be a review of our spring Athletics by our director of Athletics CJ hendris you can approach the podium sir everyone uh welcome South Brunswick and thank you so much for being here to support our high school spring Sports program and our Middle School spring sports program um first off thank you to the Board of Education District leadership uh building administration at both the middle school and high school levels for just your tremendous amount of support um you know our athletes do everything they can to represent South Brunswick in the highest regard and you're going to see tonight once again um what great what a great product our program is and uh I want to make a special thank you not just to the people sitting up here but everyone in South Brunswick um our entire District leadership team all the admin who work tirelessly to make sure that we did everything that we can to preserve programs like Athletics um I want to thank our elementary principles for letting me go down and speak to their fifth graders I want to thank Crossroads principles for letting me speak to the eighth graders to talk about how great our program is um you're going to see tonight uh what great examples our student athletes are um but thank you to everybody for for your continued support um the first thing that we're going to do is recognize our middle school program um we have a slideshow that was put together by Mr Adam farhey that highlights all three of our Seasons fall winter and spring while it's being queued up I'll uh I'll thank um all of our Middle School coaches throughout the school year um we share a lot of Staff between Middle School and High School level um we have a lot of uh staff that come from out District as well um we had a number of alumni who came back to who coached our middle school programs and uh and we're happy with the fact that we have such great leaders uh leading our children um at a very developmental stage of our of our Middle School career so um they are future Vikings we're excited for them to continue to move on and now as we prepare the video please enjoy [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you again to Mr Adam far for putting that great video together um to highlight our middle school programs um once again thank you to our building principles Bonnie keeps and combino for their continued support as as well as their administrative teams and all the people who uh help out our Middle School level to provide these experiences for our student athletes um i' now like to start the uh portion of our segment um to recognize some of our student athletes from South Brun High School um as you've seen over the last uh throughout the school year we recognize both fall and winter um sportsmanship Award winners and tonight is no different um we're going to be recognizing our spring Sports athlet sportsmanship award recipients for their respective teams um so I'm going to ask all of our high school athletes to come up and be presented the testimonials that I'm going to read are from their coaches who uh recognize them for this uh prestigious award um the GMC sportsmanship award is something we give out to a male and a female each year and now um thankful you know for um the support of our district to recognize all of our teams so first up U Miss Ali Kong girls across uh Ali exemplifies outstanding sportsmanship through her exceptional communication skills fostering team cohesion and positive relationships both on and off the field her ability to effectively convey ideas and motivate her peers makes her a valuable asset and deserving of this recognition congratulations Aly Miss Marian Murphy is going to kill me for this um Miss Lisa Rogers can you please come up and hand out these certificates with me the one thing she asked me to do was remind me thank you our next recipient is Mr AR Rob samat from boys volleyball Rob exemplifies true sportsmanship through his exceptional leadership dedication and hard work um making him a role model for all his teammates and peers his understanding of his role on the team and his positive attitude is a highlight of his outstanding character and commitment to Excellence [Applause] congratulations next up is Samir shrivastava from boys golf although Shamir had the best average on the team in each of his four years the thing I'm most proud is his social growth he went from being an introvert to an individual who actually welcomed our opponents to every course he grew as a leader and his teammates and opponents all enjoyed hitting the links links with him every day congratulations Sam next up is Miss Angela auu Ana from girls track and field Angela is a supportive caring teammate who always has a positive team first attitude she's dedicated hardworking and helps Inspire her teammates congratulations Angela here he is next up is Mr Nicholas Stanger from baseball Nick embodied the characteristics of a true team leader um he worked tremendously hard throughout the course of this season to be the best player he could be for our program and no matter what role he was asked to fill he did it with the best of his ability and always put the team first I for one as someone who used to coach baseball would have loved to coach a kid like Nick congratulations Nick [Applause] next up Ryan Rubin boys lacrosse Ryan was an exemplary teammate and leader on the field this season he played hard and for first his team and showed the respect for the game and his opponents coming a long way since his Junior campaign he really demonstrated what it was to step up to the plate and show respect to the game as the game showed respect back to him congratulations next up is Gian anger from softball Gian is the perfect example of a team player as a team captain she set high expectations for her teammates in the area of respect for the game coaches opponents and umpires her leadership promotes good sportsmanship on all levels congratulations J anishka Swant girls golf girls from opposing teams continually comment on what a great experience it is to be in a match with Anushka she is great for the sport and will continue to lead with character and class at the Collegiate level she is also GMC individual Champion for this year congratulations and finally before I name some of our athletes who weren't able to make it Alexis Lee Springer girls flag football Alexis demonstrates leadership respect and responsibility in every aspect she's a multisport student athlete and a fierce compe who makes everyone around her better She was recently selected as the South Bron High School representative for the GMC student athlete advisory committee for the 2024 and 25 school year and I cannot tell you how proud I am that we have her representing our school um as a student athlete she really does show exactly what it means to be a viking congratulations just want to recognize couple of our student athletes who couldn't make it U Mr omit manishkumar from Boys Tennis omit is a heart of our team he encourages the the entire team to be the best they can be and is the first congratulate opponents um in in loss in defeat in wins um but beyond his successes he's just an allaround Great Character person so congratulations omit and Mr Dion Koy from boy track Dion always brings a welcoming competitive spirits to both practice and meets what makes him unique is that he's not only open to making uh to open to making everyone have a positive experience but his great energy is always available for his teammates as well and not only when we need it it also includes his the his interactions with officials Spectators and other competitors congratulations Dion um before we uh pull up the video for the high school spring video um I want to take a moment to thank a couple As I call them unsung heroes um Kim and Kathy Ahern are two amazing people that I get to work with on a day-to-day they they truly you know make our athletic dep Department move in such a great Direction they're always accessible to our kids and they always put our kids first so thank you to them um Lauren Morris and Harley Olsen um a great team um I really try and embody the the the energy that I have in our department with the energy that they exude throughout their program whether it be through stuco Fleet Student Activities so a big shout out to them and I have just such a pleasure working with them um our athletic trainers nurses our grounds crew custodians nurses um that that work on our physicals which they do a great job uh athletic support staff and uh the person who created this next video Mr Thomas prey um we we talk about the theme forever Vikings um he's a great example of it he's an Alum of our school he runs his own production company and he takes time out of his busy schedule to help put together a product like you're about to see so that our kidss can share it enjoy it and showcase the great things that our programs do here in South bronswick so thank you to all those unsung heroes all right we can now queue up the high school spring highlight video what's up Vikings this is Mr Hendrick athletic director at South brunz High School and I'm here to share with you our spring Sports highlight video this year we Face a lot of adversity through throughout our school year South Brun Vikings have done everything they can to represent our school community in the best light not only in the classroom but outside on the field as well we've persevered through a lot and this video will show you how much joy and excitement our sports program brings to South Brunswick School Community thank you and enjoy the video [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] one you go girl girl to [Applause] our Vikings have stepped up to the challenge they've done everything that we've asked them to do in the classroom out on the field and in the community they've shown what it means to be a viking and to do things the Viking Way throughout all the tough times they've persever through and we're so excited that they've been able to have the amazing experiences and memories to carry on forever thank you for all your continued support and we hope that you continue to support our Athletic program as we move into next school year go Vikings [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] um again thank you to Thomas Presley for that we had a I mean we had a bunch of different glitches with the video today so apologize we had a couple things that got cut but um you know we're going to be make sure we update and get to the YouTube page so it can we get the final cut up there so I just thank you him for for being so flexible with me um lastly um before I wrap up uh I want to thank once again the support of not just South Brunswick I want to thank sbaa I want to thank District leaders ship I want to thank everybody who had a hand in providing us with the ability to maintain our Athletic program despite everything the district has going through this year um Sports is a big reason why kids come to school every day for a lot um the activities that we provide the Arts music all those things that are outside the classroom are really important things to kids and the fact that we're able to maintain those despite everything that we've been through I appreciate all those groups for for their continue support and making sure that we we kept those great things and those memories here at South bronze for our kids um finally congratulations to our unified athletes congratulations to our retirees best of luck in the greater years of your lives approaching and I hope that you can reflect back on your experience here at South Brunswick as as positive once um and thank you again to to everybody who supports our program go Vikings and uh have a great night thank you Mr Hendrick you've um added did wonderful things to the sports program and on behalf of the Board of Ed we thank you for that to every single athlete out there congratulations being an athlete and being a student is not easy no matter what you participate in in after school it's tough so we wish you all the best in your college career no matter where you're going we expect great things to to hear back on thank you again and I will be more than happy to dismiss you guys so you don't have to sit through Mr feder's budg  so we'll take 5 minutes again [Applause] congratulations okay oh I get to do it so much tonight so much fun okay um we're going to move on to the final recognition of the evening is the recognition of our 2023 2024 retirees and um Miss Suzanne Lorne has already beat me to the punch our assistant superintendent is at the podium it's all yours good evening thank you for joining us this evening and I certainly hope our retirees had an opportunity to maybe see a familiar face in one of the students that has been before you so far we do have another group of students that maybe you'll recognize them from some of the time that they may have spent with you through your years here in South Brunswick so before we begin I do want to note that our testimonial booklet that we will be referring to at times during this evening's presentation can be scanned appear in the presentation or in the booklet that you received you may um the brochure you may look at that at a later time but at this time I'd like to ask our Board of Education members to come have a seat in the front I'd like to welcome Mr Aldo arenula and his sbhs concert choir they're going to begin our program with some song this evening all right good evening everyone thank you so much uh first of all to the board for inviting us to perform for you guys once again um we were last here in the winter um we are also very honored not just to perform for the spring but also to uh celebrate and honor our retirees um and we have two uh song selections that we'd like to perform for you today um uh these two songs were featured in our Spring Concert which you can check out the whole performance on our btn's YouTube page um and for the whole entire thing um but uh we would like to dedicate especially our very first piece that we're going to sing for you called long road by Eric Essen Boltz um to our retirees and um uh Keith Wallington I'd like to mention especially because uh he is you know one of the crossroads North uh choir director and he's retiring this year and he has raised half of my students um and half of my students behind me and um I wanted to just give him a special shout out um because without him I wouldn't have these talented people behind me um so we'd like to dedicate long road to PE to the and to our [Music] our was so [Music] I [Music] oh I love you night and day as a [Music] star to Heaven sh [Applause] could [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all [Music] world [Music] [Applause] [Music] heart [Music] and Shining [Music] [Applause] heart [Music] toist [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Applause] and for our second selection um a piece entitled cloudburst by Eric Whitaker we're actually only going to sing for you an excerpt of this piece um because the first half is a beautiful Acappella um piece with with uh Spanish text which I'll get to in a second but then the last half has instruments and bells and it's supposed to replicate a cloud burst which is basically a giant loud crazy thunderstorm um so we're not going to do that part but we're going to do the part before all of that stuff happens if you want to watch the whole if you want to find out the rest though YouTube gtn um all right um but um the text is in uh Spanish um and the text is very uh humanitarian it's very very environmentalist it is very deep with a lot of symbolic meaning um but it also just sounds really cool um and they this this choir loves this piece I love this piece very very much and we're very excited to share it with you uh tonight once again thank you so much for having us perform for you and Welcome to Cloud first hallu oh [Music] [Music] [Music] soul the [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] see fore [Music] [Music] and [Music] right [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] love [Applause] [Music] [Music] part you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] once again thank you you all so much for perform uh for letting us perform for you all I hope you all enjoyed our performance and we can't wait to celebrate uh more music with you and before uh I let uh the students go I just also wanted to take a second um to recognize not only the Incredible musicans ship behind me these these people behind me are absolutely incredible they inspire me and teach me so much every single day um but I also wanted to give a special extra shout out also to uh the senior class behind me for dedicating to one two three even four full years of service dedication musicianship and just the effort and passion into making what you just heard tonight absolutely possible so please just give me a a moment to thank you all so much thank [Applause] you I'm grateful that our choir was able to be here this evening as Mr Aron Zula said this is that time of the year where our high school students are in the midsts of final exams so allow them to be able to leave and I'm super impressed that they had warmed up those voices more than an hour ago before they were able to perform and it just sounded tremendous so how grateful are we for that Talent so now we get to move on to the talent of the adults kind here in our Auditorium this evening and these are a special group of individuals who have dedicated time and service to the South Brunswick School District and this is your moment to be recognized and acknowledged I do know that at at the school levels you are often celebrated amongst your colleagues but this is the opportunity for the public recognition of the work that you've done here in front of our board um as a whole um as we talk this evening I want you to know that we uh take into account that we have retirees that announce did a in June and so so they may not make this evening's recognition because we have a lot of preparation so some of the people we will be honoring tonight actually retired in June July and August of last summer y um some of our retirees have already settled into retirement and are um relocated traveling and doing some of those things so not all were able to join us but I do know a few um were able to come back as they were local so let me tell you a little bit about our retirees this will give you an idea of what we're going to accomplish during this time together this evening so our retirees are 35 Staff members and they come from all walks within our system from custodians to secretaries to bus drivers to administrators to teachers um throughout our system collectively 883 years of experience and that that exceeds last year so um what a tremendous amount of knowledge about to walk out our door and I I know that um as true Educators you have imparted some of your skills to those that will follow behind you um our longest tenure employee I think this is fun to recognize someone who has been in the system and is retiring has been here for 37 years um I don't think I see her here but Valerie grunky who is a secretary at the high school currently um 37 years crazy and there are some close seconds there are some folks that are being recognized this evening with 30 years of experience and 20 years of experience um and that experience may come from your time here in South is just your time in South Brunswick some of you might be on a second um school or ation and education so our program cover this night tonight was designed by an elementary student a first grader at Greenbrook Elementary School Habiba elaba um her work was chosen during the district art show the art gallery earlier this spring and chosen for um display on our program cover and so we thank her for sharing this wonderful piece of art with us so principal Rogers I'm going to principal oh i' I I've given you a new title president president Rogers has come up um to help me give out our gifts um and for the staff members here I think that you will be able to follow these directions we're going to ask for the letters a through G if your last name is a through through G to come line up here to be recognized and I'm going to ask if there are any admin here that would like to stand with your employee please do so [Applause] I feel like it's a graduation they're all here ready to accept their um their recognition she's like some are more eager than others I'd like to thank um before we get going my assistant Miss odonnell who really helped behind the scenes she greeted you this evening with the programs helped with the slides and I I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge my daughter who used her Tech skills to kind of help put this so that it looked just right this evening so our first is Anna Al Anna Alfieri a supervisor at sbhs um in the testimonial that was written for Anna as a supervisor Anna is a leader Mentor cheerleader confid and a friend so Anna [Applause] congratulations I am going to acknowledge even those that are not in attendance in case they are watching from afar or see this replayed so the next is Mark babich a teacher at sbhs um and just to read a little excerpt Mark is an energetic master of Storytelling congratulations to Mark next is Lynn Bower who is a secretary at Crossroads South and really is commended for her attention to detail and her ability to remember every student in our school so congratulations to Lynn next is our counselor from Indian Fields Elementary Emily Emily Amy Burleson robas sorry about that Sor Amy is a model for compassion dedication and Advocacy she is the perfect school counselor in every way Amy brings experience professionalism and a sense of purpose to all that she does so [Applause] congratulations is Grace here I don't see grace so Grace Bondi is a par professional at the dean site and she leaves behind a legacy of unwavering dedication and exceptional service congratulations to Grace Francis Bree is a bus driver for our district Francis was always safe and reliable and cared about all the students on her bus we congratulate Grace on her retirement I FR Francis [Applause] so wait boys and girls who is [Applause] [Music] this so Brian bereston is a teacher at Constable school he had been a staple in the physical education department Brian's Journey as a physical education teacher has been defined by his unwavering professionalism and steadfast commitment to his students colleagues and the broader School Community congratulations [Applause] Brian you really haven't changed much from your photo really that was September So Lisa Cerone is a teacher at Crossroads South teaching was a natural as breathing for Lisa she always knew what students needed to be successful congratulations on your [Applause] retirement another Crossroads teacher Lisa Cohen teacher at Crossroads South oh you have some fans too so Lisa is always eager to participate in the es and flow of our Middle School schedule she brings her strong beliefs and knowledge to the table her influence will continue to be a part of our school for the years to come congratulations you Jennifer dorenzo is a teacher right here at Crossroads North from the moment a child steps into Jen's classroom they are greeted with warmth enthusiasm and a genuine passion for teaching Jen has an innate ability to create a nurturing and funloving environment where every child Fe feels valued and empowered and based on some of your fans here we can tell that you've left a lasting impression congratulations congratulations thank you so I'm also while I'm going through the the next set of slides I'm going to ask anyone with the last name H through M to come join us over here marann Galan was a par is power professional at Crossroads North Mary Ellen is a f is friendly and reliable so congratulations to Mary [Applause] Ellen Tim Gans has already retired he was a custodian at our High School site we have always appreciated Tim's laughter and his overall kindness towards others congratulations [Applause] Tim Valerie gruny SE secretary at the high school Valerie's professional presence is deeply appreciated congratulations to Valerie in looking at pictures you could tell who hasn't had an updated ID badge in a while just someone who's been here 37 she's really looks good for being here in education that long looks just like that um retiring from Cambridge School is Brenda Herberger she is a teacher she has been in several buildings in our district while Brenda is quiet and humble in spirit her dedication to her craft speaks volumes through her actions congratulations to [Applause] Brenda Diane H is a secretary at sbhs Diane has handled all of her responsibilities with Grace and precision and has been reliable and dedicated her work ethic and determination made an impact on all and for those of you that don't know she works in the attendance office and spends time with many of our high school students who have to stop in and get those late passes and all of all of that I'm sure you're going to miss it congratulations to [Applause] Diane thank you a thank you congratulations thank you no usually thank you yes so next is Kimberly nap power professional at Brooks Crossing Kim's hard work ethic infused with common sense and genuine caring for others made her a trusted resource in our school so congratulations to Kim [Applause] nap Elizabeth karski is a power professional Crossroads North you see Liz here Liz was a friend to everyone who walked into the library congratulations on your retirement Liz so Anthony labarbara buildings and grounds Tony has helped members of his team and has shared his secrets of the trade so that others can be successful congratulations to Anthony or Tony Okay sandy laugher Wier is a speech language therapist at Greenbrook school and has worked in several other Elementary buildings sy's colleagues speak highly of her and her of her helpful and compassionate nature so congratulations to Sandy [Applause] Pam McCarol was one of those July 1 2023 so Pam is not with us this evening but congratulations to Pamela Macaro secretary at Dayton Pam Macaro has been the face mother and protector of Dayton School congratulations Carla m is a counselor at sbhs Carla is hardworking caring and diligent we want to congratulate Carla on her [Applause] retirement that's great is that the original ID yes so Misty Malanga is a teacher at sbhs Misty worked hard enough hard each day to support her students in the various science classes that she has taught she also served as a a beloved coach for softball field hockey and swimming her student athletes knew she would not only guide them through the challenges they faced on the field but in the classroom as well you will be [Applause] missed Susan mcdermit par professional at indian fields Susan has always been flexible accommodating nurturing compassionate caring dedicated and hardworking and she has also already started her retirement so I'm going to ask those with the last names of O through Z to join [Applause] us so Beth McGinley is a teacher at sbhs Beth prioritized meaning ful connections over academic achievements and created a supportive environment where students felt seen and heard [Applause] congratulations I don't see Karen molar Karen molar par professional at Greenbrook also started her retirement Karen was always calm cool and collected even in the face of challenging situ situations congratulations to [Applause] Karen lazette Mata teacher at Greenbrook Elementary she also taught I believe at Brunswick Acres the classroom has always been lizette's second home and we wish her well in retirement congratulations Lizette Stanley Olsen buildings and grounds Stan has always been willing to step in and help wherever needed we congratulate Stan on his upcoming retirement this summer all right Kim Phillips I don't see par professional at our high school Kim was the sunshine in every day she would always bring dedication learning and fun to any student congratulations Kim I think she's started retirement all right Karen pante is a paraprofessional Dayton School Karen has nurtured and guided students through their educational Milestones congratulations on your retirement [Applause] Karen Deborah or Debbie Roby is a counselor or was a counselor up until December I believe at Crossroads North Debbie has cared for many students staff and families as and has touched an immeasurable number of lives she managed it all with a smile on her face and always made everyone feel welcomed in her presence congratulations thank you Clyde Rosell is a was a custodian Dayton School Clyde cared about doing the best job possible and being friendly to all those he interacted with so congratulations to [Applause] Clyde Deborah slaven par professional at Mammoth Junction School Deborah has consistently displayed exceptional dedication passion and commitment to the children she supports so congratulations to [Applause] Debbie okay our next Honore is here so come on down Michelle tur tur wait say it again tur turlen thank you sorry Michelle is a teacher at our high school Michelle's positive impact and love for teaching has touched the lives of many students each day she she adjusts her teaching to directly adjust for address the unique needs of her Learners so congratulations on your [Applause] retirement Keith watlington is a teacher here at Crossroads North Keith is a passionate educator who is committed to and demands Excellence congratulations to Keith on his [Applause] retirement so closing out and honoring retirees this evening I think you get Z gets a lot of last should have thought about reversing it but Ethan Zimmer is a teacher at sbhs just as the students Bennett fr from Dr Zimmer's teachings we all appreciated his sense of humor and engagement with the school community so congratulations on your [Applause] retirement and that's this wow great so this is the so that's kind of sweet that it is your current photo to kind of end today so one of the things I think think is important to share is that in honor of all of you and the other retirees um your school library media specialist has selected a book to dedicate and leave in your school library if it was an employee who worked in buildings and grounds or worked um as a bus driver we selected a school that made a logical choice for them to have a book in their honor so those will be placed in the libraries I want to thank our media Specialists who helped us to select those titles um and they will be put on rotation for students to check out and there'll be a name plate in there honoring your retirement in each of your bags there is a personalized gift and I don't I I I'd like to share that um as a public school we are not able to buy gifts for our employees I know that doesn't make much sense right you've dedicated your whole career here and um we are not allowed to use our money from our budget to buy those gifts so um we we we cannot send you off in that way so the leadership team here at um South Brunswick made donations to put together and make a gift for you possible it is a token of our appreciation for your years of service here so what each um person has in their gift bag is a framed testimonial it is the full testimonial some of those testimonials fill up the entire frame um it is written by colleagues um administrators they collaborated on giving you a very personalized message um of what you've meant to them and to your school communities in addition um students from um sense of acceptance which is our 18 to 21 transition Center students some of those athletes that were here this evening work there and in that that that Center which is located at Cambridge School they make merchandise that is for sale and so um I had the privilege to go shopping and the students helped me pick out gifts that are in each of your bags each of you gets a a special gift based on something that stood out as we read your testimonials and we put the gifts in there so you have one of these three things and it'll be a surprise um you either have a pack of personalized homemade cards that you may use you may have gotten a fidget keychain um for autism awareness you may also have gotten seed dumplings that you can use to kind of have that rebirth in your Planters or Gardens so those are some of the gifts and our students um crafted those for you and they're in that bag there is also um just a small gift card that you can use to have that favorite adult um drink from a local coffee shop um on that first day when you don't need to rush around and can drink and enjoy that so we hope that you enjoy enjoy that as well so we've we've heard from our high school choir we've also had some Elementary student artwork featured but we have some words of wisdom brought To Us by Dr Jack Medina working with our um middle school students and this is always that moment um to hear what those voices think retirement is and offer you well wishes so we're going to play that short clip now [Music] so retirement right so it's a time like after hard work where you can relax and not worry about anything um to me reti means that you basically you've worked for a while and then you're ready to retire and you're ready to relax to me retirement means after like basically a life of work or like a life of providing that you're like getting ready to maybe like relax take some some time for yourself and do what you like want after like and not going to like work or anything just like relax and start to use the money that you saved up all the time so far and just not worth uh being able to work without stressing about anything being able to work without stress or anything enironment is working hard your whole life and having time to relax it means when you're rich enough like like you don't have to work anymore uh get your pension me it means like after adulthood like you're all rested like you can rest and all point in your life where like the state is like all right you've worked enough go be free we'll pay you once like we'll pay you what you need to be paid to continue living and um like it's kind of like you've done enough like things really good that working you can live comfortably uh a time to relax after your life of hard work and earning money where you can finally relax and have a good time after you work hard they're like simple enough to to stop working and take care of themselves I think um after working all of your ears I think you should have a time for relaxation and uh just sing so um when you're when you're tired like oh you're done with all your work good relax [Music] these are for the people who are retiring um you will be missed by your students and we are all happy for what you've done and you've made a big impact on the school hope you have a good time in your retirement and make sure you enjoy the rest of your life I wish you all good luck and good luck whatever you do next [Music] [Applause] so in advance of tonight the retirees had an opportunity to answer two questions for me that I think are worth sharing some of the insights that came from this group so first tell us one thing you will miss about South Brunswick and of course the resounding answer from almost all of them was colleagues the great people um they they shouted out specific schools but we won't do that tonight um the students the staff the families um I will miss my colleagues I will miss my family at school um I will miss feeling like a rock star the way students treat me um it will I'll definitely miss the staff the daily interaction supportive Co co-workers and the people I've worked with and so um this is a people profession it often is what keeps us coming back every day whether it is that colleague whether it is that student whether it's that family you've established a really good relationship with so um that all makes sense in how you all responded similarly not knowing and then I asked them what they plan to do in retirement um and they all had some similar things again some people are quickly going off on a tri trip and and looking forward to traveling some people are just looking forward to relaxing some have already decided that they are going to spend some time in service to others volunteering um some are looking forward to um enjoying time with grandchildren some are looking to pick up a new hobby and some are looking to continue learning and it is all about that we are in a profession not only of people but of learning and I know that each of you is going to go off and continue with this next chapter with positivity and excitement for what lies ahead and we hope that tonight we honored just a small bit the time that you've spent and committed to the students families of South Brunswick so congratulations on your retirement [Applause] so on behalf of the Board of Education I really would like to extend our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for your service to the South Brunswick School District this is a very special occasion for you and as you bid farewell to the most noble profession know that each of you will remain forever in our hearts and many of the students past present and staff alike good luck to each and every one of you in your retirement enjoy it [Applause] okay so as um the last thing that you might want to do I don't know is to sit to hear from your superintendent for the last time but if you would like to step out and leave we completely understand you might want to enjoy uh your family and friends that are here with you so we'll take two minutes if you want to stay you're more than welcome to stay okay okay so the next order of B business is the final public hearing of the revised budget for 2425 superintendent feder business administrator palowski will will approach the podium after they present um they also will answer any questions from the board first on the budget then if there's any questions from the public we'll be more than happy to entertain them thank you if you want us to move out there or are we okay uh no you don't have to move you're welcome to move but fine um I I guess I would start with the board and just ask a question my question is relatively simple this before we had the retirees we had clubs we had some we had the sports we had our um students who get involved you saw from our music program so I guess my question to the board is which of those things do you not want anymore which ones because pretty much if this doesn't go well tonight that's the conversation tomorrow morning is which ones do we want to cut if it's not this year it's going to be next year so we're going to go through the budget and I want you to think about that because this is kind of where we've been this is what we've been dealing with for years so let's go ahead and do this so first of all this is bizarre that we're here why are we doing this so why is there our second budget hearing this year three reasons um one the state gave us back 45% of our state aid that they took from this year H so we had to manage that and then there's two pieces of legislation one that allows us to go above the 2% and one that allows us to hold this meeting because we already adopted a budget in May but we have to adopt it again um obviously because we're if we are looking to change anything we have to do that so why is there a recommendation so superintendent's job is to make recommendations to the board my recommendation to this board is to U ize the bill to its maximum which is an 8.93% increase why would we do that we need financial stability we do not have that currently David is telling us right now we have about $7 million left Less in our budget at the end of this year than we are used to having that's what we are just barely going to get by for the end of the month I'm not going to spend too much time on this but as of right now in the last seven years we are down almost 30 million that's the reality this is what this does so let me go back that up one second that's where we are as of this minute hopefully in about 25 to 30 minutes we'll be in a different place this is what happens our state aid number is not taking away 1.4 million sadly we are excited about only losing 775,000 what that does is it lowers how much our total loss is then then the big number is this 2% normally the 2% as you can see is usually about 2.5 2.6 million this year 8.93% represents 10.8 million that means if even after tonight if this if you all vote Yes or five of you vote in favor of this recommendation that means over the last seven years we're only down $20 million this is not the end game this is just allows us to operate to do the great things for kids but we've done a lot to avoid being in a bad place but tonight is the ultimate to keep us out of a bad place so what happens why would we why am I recommending this tonight so we can maintain improve and grow our programs so we can maintain our class size and this is the motto I started the year with with our administrators if your problem requires money to solve it you still have a problem that is how we operated no new money don't ask the answer is no we want to be able to consider what else is possible for our students for our families for this community we don't even have those conversations really it's just the same conversation over and over again how do we do close to as good as we can with less we have to maintain our fees unfortunately but we're also not going to have to add any new fees our facilities it's not that they've been fully neglected but we have not been doing the things that they need to have done so we would be able to maintain at a minimum but hopefully improve our facilities and again you've heard me talk about this um catastrophic Cuts uh this year wouldn't have been catastrophic it would have been bad but next year is catastrophic so while everyone's asking a lot of questions this is the answer you can ask anything you want this is the answer it's catastrophic Cuts period the end that's where you are anything you want to ask me my answer is catastrophic Cuts period no stability catastrophic Cuts those are just some of the things I gave you some of the ones that I know hit hard another reason to say yes tonight we are dropping $5 million in tax from the community that will see a universal tax decrease to every single family period no matter how much your house is worth if you're paying taxes you're going to see a decrease in the 2526 school year and ultimately if that wasn't enough of a reason yet because for the average assessed home in South Brunswick since 2018 let's go all the way the 2026 the total increase total increase for anyone with an average home is going to be under $100 total cumulative your new tax will be 86 $6 more than it was in 2018 in 2026 for that we get to maintain our school district what do the funds mean for the coming year we get to bring back our staff all the staff that help us keep our program cuts from happening and our class size in managing just some of the areas our elementary g&t program all those things I'm not going to read them but these are the things that we've been working towards right now bringing them back in anticipation of being able to bring them back officially come tomorrow and you know this is it I'll give you an example of one um we we cut the entire police department out of our budget in our original presentation the entire amount so that would have meant um no that security is gone so that's back in you know that's what we'll put back in and also um Jim Conroy is asked to add one more to manage that and so we heard from the chief that they might have other possible ways to help us this is just some of the Staffing impact I put this up here because you know this is what you can think about now you can think about it I can't guarantee we'll do Cricket but we can think about it people from Cricket came to me three or four years ago I'm like hey great idea love it who's paying for it now we can talk about it we can look to expand programs enhance our things that we wanted to do for kids look at our security right now Jim Jim Conroy is telling me we we're about $80,000 in camera short from where we should be at a basic level he didn't even come to me in the last year it wasn't even going to bother like why waste his breath saying hey Scott we need $80,000 in camper they be like that's nice enjoy you're not getting it a big deal that we need to look at at our elementary level is do we reconfigure our grade levels do we spend the time to study it and it's not always cheap to study it costs money to even do a study we can do that now and we have to be able to look and see what's best for our kids what's best for our community that's kind of thing we do there's been an elll audit looking at how we best support our students with second language and well that would have been a great audit but if we have no money we're not going to implement anything we're just going to know what we need to do better but not do it that's what happens in systems when there's no money you talk about things that you never can do and the facilities I can keep talking about that so what is the recommendation I'll be clear it's 8.93% it's not higher for one reason only the state's not letting me go higher let me make that clear if they said I can go to 30% and the tax was going to be a low impact I would give you a number that would keep the taxes low but would allow us to keep this District going right now it's an 8.93% that is inclusive of the original thing you already adopted which is a 2.78% so it's not 8.93 Plus 2.78 it's cumulatively 8.93 where that comes from is the 2.78 which is 3.3 million that's already been approved the sum of the aid loss that's the bill loss from 2021 to present not before 2021 otherwise it'd be a higher number that number represented 7.4 million add the 7.4 million plus the 3.3 million that wounds up being 8.93% or $10.8 million it's a lot of money the amazing part about that money is it has a low tax impact on this community so increased revenues by 8.93% that is not increased the taxes by 8.93% I don't know Kathy are you here I'm here so it's not raising your taxes by 8.93% that would be ex very extensive and problematic also I want to point out to everybody we have not been raising the taxes it has not been a cumulative process every year 100 200 300 that is not happening so when you ask why why would you recommend this because it's not the massive impact that it sounds like it could be and Kathy I'm use you again Kathy came to the meeting and saying Scott that's too much and you still might think that I'm not saying you don't but she thought it was 88.9% of her tax bill that would be a lot it's not and to show that let me show you this when you increase theate Revenue it does not equate to a direct increase in taxes it does not let me show you why and how we can prove that in 1819 we raised the revenues by 2% it was a $9 increase that's not 2% of anyone's taxes the next year we did 2% again we raised the revenues 2% that only had a $33 impact for the average home the next year we raised we increased the revenues by 2% and the average family lost $48 in tax payment it's not a correlation it's not a correlation the next year we raised the revenues by 2% and it was a $90 decrease in taxes there's no correlation is my point so when we look at this and look at the 5 million we're dropping the 8.93% on a $200,000 assessed home is $239 if your home is assessed at less than2 00,000 it'll be less if it's assessed it more it'll be a little bit more depending on your assessed value that's how this works it is not raising the revenue does not equate to equal re raising of the taxes it just doesn't the reason David's going to talk about because it gets it's convoluted for me but that's the reality so for that we're able to do and make this continue to make this District what it needs to be for kids in this community this family amilies talked about that already so another example just look and see what it is it doesn't matter the $5,000 under 2018 is irrelevant that's a sample the big thing is your assessed value if your assessed value is $200,000 your total new dollars after eight years going all the way to 2026 is $86 so if you ask me why does a superintendent of school say this is a no-brainer it doesn't get easier than this it just doesn't $86 over8 years $86 over eight years for the average home so even if you say well what about the home that's worth $400,000 yeah you're right that person has to pay let me do the quick math $172 over8 years I'm sorry that people that are going to pay that money I I I don't like raising taxes but schools are funded by one source of money One Source only one source it's called taxes that's the country we live in taxes I don't like paying them I can't imagine anyone in this room likes paying them but you know what I like a lot less than paying taxes having a property value go down to nothing it's a lot worse so you you become the district that doesn't have a music program doesn't have Athletics program doesn't have clubs doesn't have AP classes and kids stop getting into those colleges they currently get into it's easy to get there easy to get there because think of it simply if the only way to fund schools is taxes less taxes gets you one thing less stuff it's all it does there is nothing else there's no mystery magical potion that solves this question there just isn't so what is the value to the dis Community I just repeated the slide in this state maybe every state but I can speak to this state your property values align directly to the quality of your school district that is a fact ask any realtor on the planet and all these things that go with it Dave help us out with the math I so I just wanted to talk real quick about the formula because a lot of people think well what's it going to look like next year what's going to happen next year we pull in a $10 million tax levy um I can tell you the the graph that you're looking at the the slide here shows it shows the equalized valuation in blue and it shows the district income in in uh the red these are the two numbers in the formula fora that the state uses to determine your local fair share and and in essence right now our local fair share is is so far away uh we would never be able to attain it even with a $10 million increase in the tax levy so what we're looking at here is you can look at the years in 2013 our our equalized valuation of South Brunswick was under $8 billion and in 2024 it's just under 122 billion the Town growth that town growth exponential ised and just ex it blew up the local fair share to the point to where your town should be the state saying your town should be paying a lot more in taxes to fund the school district when you say to me next year what's what's this going to look like next year if our equalized valuation goes up another billion dollars we're going to be that much further away in our local fair share we're going to say hey you know what we're going to go for 2% because we're capped at 2% again do we know that for sure we don't because we don't even really know what the uh EV what the formula is going to look like next year so they're changing the formula we don't know if they are or not we don't know what our equalized valuation is going to look like and District income is an interesting one as well because in your District income you could have somebody hit the lottery for $200 million in South Brunswick that District income number is going to spike and that would be another another formula in the equation or excuse me a variable in the equation that could absolutely blow up your your um your your ratables so in the sense of this basically in the short there are towns uh in Middle sex County that have budgeted they receive $6 million a year for the past three or four years they're budgeting $6 million and then out of the blue they're getting cut $1.4 million why because the value of the Town goes up the district income spikes and it turns into um a decrease in their state aid and not an increase so that's just a little bit about the formula in essence when people ask me what's it going to look like for next year I can tell you we really just don't know yet because the variables that they use to um create this kind of the formula the variables in the equalized value in the district income rate they change every year so not only they just using it be simple if it was just a very simple formula X Plus Bal C but it's not there's there's so many variables that are mixed in with this this formula that they actually change the variables that have an greater impact or less of an impact on the local fair share or even on our our local tax impact so the predictability is is difficult and and it's you know throwing darts at a dartboard with a blindfold on you're really not sure what you're going to get just yet um I can tell you the district I want to talk a little bit about the district Financial Health um what we did this year was there were two pieces to the budget that needed needed some serious um assistance yes we wanted to take some funding and bring back staff and make sure we could uh prop up the the programs that make South brunck great but at the same time we were doing some things to pass a budget that were almost um it caused me to lose a lot of sleep at night and I'll tell you tell you a little bit why so we were relying on miscellaneous revenues and our our miscellaneous revenues are all the revenues that we generate throughout the year uh facilitron rentals um we also have our summer institutes in their Discovery the before and after care programs all those programs create revenue and they come in and we use that Revenue to say to the budget hey we're going we're B we're betting on this Revenue we're going to have this money to to prop up our budget throughout the school year what happens is um this year we budgeted 1.3 million in miscellaneous revenues well some of those revenues were based on uh increasing fees on families because we just we were going about generating revenue and trying to figure out ways to to keep our Budget moving forward because we were receiving or tonight we're going to vote on this budget and receiving this $1 million we took those we took those um those fees away and what happened was we had to decrease our miscellaneous revenues so now we're we're taking some of this funding and we're saying okay we're going to buy down the revenue side of our budget so that we know we're not bringing that much more money or that much more Revenue into the district a little bit about fund balance uh again this year uh very stressful end of year in the business office we we ran a budget this year with a fund balance of 8.9 million that means that at the end of the year we have to have $8.9 million just to cover what I would call like a bank loan um fund balance is an interesting Concept in the sense that we have the we have funds it's kind of like when I use the analogy my my daughter's in college she's going to University of Vermont I don't have the $50,000 in the beginning of the year and I don't have the money to put UPF front so we take a loan out from a bank and we pay the money off as my wife gets paid throughout the year that pays off the loan at the end of the year we're even Steven it's kind of the same thing with fund balance you take out this this loan for 8.9 million to fund our budget throughout the entire school year and at the end of the year you're thinking okay I'm going to have my 8.9 million to pay back our fund balance kind of like pay the bank back which is our our big account this year um at the end of this year right now we're talking two weeks left in June our our operating account has about a million dollar in it so we're about $7.9 million short and um that's going to have a dramatic impact on our budget for next year so what we did this year with part of this $10 million was automatically buy down our fund balance about $2 million exactly $2 million to about 6.9 million so that at the end of next year when we're propping up our budget and putting money back into our budget we're creating an account we're creating a budget that we know at the end of the year is going to be sustainable because right now our budget this budget if if if this year happened and this this bill did not pass we would be catastrophic for next year we would be in a situation like some of the districts who have been in S2 for a long time and we would be calling in state monitors we would be calling in people to actually try to have them solve our issues because we wouldn't be able to solve it so that's that's it's a very important piece to understand with this budget and where we are right now this was Defcon 4 like this was the most horrible situation we could find ourselves in where we pretty much were at the end of our rope so um that's kind of where we are with fund balce I hope that kind of makes sense to people the U the cafeteria account again we were relying on generating Revenue through other sources and pulling money from other funds into our operating budget uh again that account was depleted almost to a point to where uh we had some some comp trollers in the state come back and say hey not for nothing you guys are are using your cafeteria account for some of the things that you know might not be able to use it for and my response to them was I need we we need Revenue you you can't you can't tell us we can't do it uh it might not be exactly the way you like to see it but it's the way we have to get it done because we're funding classrooms we're funding teachers we're funding educational programs so that was another area where we're taking some of the funding from this 10 million and we're buying down those revenues or those expected revenues so that it's more stable in the budget and not something that we're relying on generating that might be a pipe dream um the other piece I wanted to talk about real quick was the the benefits a lot of times when people think about benefits in um a school district they automatically go to health benefits like what are the health benefits so health benefits are going to be more expensive health benefits always go up we managed our health benefits cost pretty effectively here in South Brunswick but there's other benefits that are included in the health benefit lines and that's unemployment our um pension Employee Retirement System Social Security and some stien stuff in there as well but I wanted to make sure that people understood especially the board you guys have to understand is that when we do have layoffs unemployment goes up when we increase people's salaries their pension costs go up when we increase people's salaries Social Security expenses go up and every year what we found is that at the end of the year we were betting on having that fund balance available at the end of the year and what we were finding especially this year and then CLE then last year as well was that the budget was getting so tight that we got ourselves into a situation where we were having a difficult time covering some of these um benefit expenses so what you're going to see in this budget that we're talking about tonight or that we're looking to pass tonight um you're going to see some uh increased revenues in those benefit lines so that at the end of the year we're not looking to rob Peter to pay Paul to make sure uh we can make our benefit payments but also at the end of the year make sure that we have enough money to cover our fund balance that's going to be about $6.9 million uh at the end of the year when we when Scott and I first got on board here in South Brunswick um our end of year end of year in June we were we we were around $1 million in our in our operating account this year it's one so you guys can understand it's it's it's time like this is this was the year and Scott and I were pretty clear about it every year we said in year five it's going to be a mess and we made it all the way up to year five thank God for this opportunity uh I hope we take advantage of it but just to give you some insight on on where the district Financial Health uh would benefit from and and will benefit from uh moving forward with this type of uh tax increase so yep that's my piece thank you people oh excuse me last slide so really the 2425 budget allocations this is what we have to this is what we're voting on tonight you'll see it in a motion in your consent agenda we have a general Uh current expense this our operating account of 158 million we have special programs fund uh $10 million in I dea it's inclusive of preschool uh if you look at previous year's budgets um that number was always around four4 million but the special programs of preschool this year is $6 million increase so that's a special program you'll see an M major increase there and then our debt service fund this year is 6.8 million next year you'll see that be um that's going to be about 1.2 million so that's going to be the uh the massive decrease that you'll see next year in the budget for um a total budget this year of 175 million so that's the consent agenda motion you'll see the motion you'll see in your consent agenda and um like I said if if not uh we're going to go back to the drawing board and it's going to be a really difficult situation for South Brunswick and not to be a doggy Downer but I'll end on that thanks [Applause] everybody I'd like to open it up now for any questions from the board members first for Mr feder or Mr pulowski thank you both gentlemen for that presentation any questions Miss Ferrera yeah um I I wondered uh Dave if you could tell me the the savings that we've incurred with all the retired positions that just took place this year yeah we have breakage every year and we work that breakage into our uh salary lines can you give me a rough estimate um you're you're always running around 600,000 okay did you figure that into the budget yes that's been figured into the budget okay and the 10 the 10 million um you mentioned the prechool program but aren't we being funded by the state for the presol that's a special Pro those are special programs Grant funded programs idea so why is why is preschool in that line item when we aren't we aren't really paying for we're being funded correct the state did um for some ungodly reason we not sure why but the state placed all of the preschool funding in a grant fund to be sure that the funds are being spent on preschool age programs and preschool age teachers administrators nurses secretaries so that that funding comes specifically into fund 20 which is a special Grant okay um all another question um some districts around the area use uh security companies rather than uh relying on our police uh is there any in indication that we would consider that for savings no no right now right now our I got D okay the answer is no you asked if we would consider it if the board would like us to consider that the board can vote to consider that at this time it is a no we're not considering it okay all right so uh what was the budget for 2324 about 170 million 170 okay um okay thank you great thank you Miss F any questions here miss caric go ahead Mr boski thank you for your detailed presentation I'm going to refer to the budget that was advertised so there's some three four line items that I just want some clarification on the you and I have spoken about it but I'd just like you to restate that um the first budget category was on the expense side which was a school sponsored co-curricular or extracurricular activities I saw a jump in that from 2324 to 2425 by 30% okay so let's talk about these one at a time so I can just touch face so that's a um co-curricular activities account that includes all of our stiens for co-curriculars for clubs it also includes uh vtn and our guys that come here every night and do uh for our board meetings our video casting so we wanted to fully fund that account and that's why you'll see a jump in that this year thank you the next one was the undistributed expenditures uh administrative Information Technology um I saw 12% jump there uh from 23 24 to 2425 uh inclusive of dep what is the amount in that in that one uh the the amount for 2324 was a million 160 and for 2425 it's a million uh 312 M the only difference in that line that that's about a $200,000 increase or 250 151 yeah that was for a purchase of um some Chromebooks for students to replenish our our Chromebook um inventory okay thank you uh the third one was the non-public security a and the reason I picked these because it may not be explicit in the line items when the descriptions are provided so to a non-public security Aid um that jump to 100% we did not account for that in 23 24 but we are putting money aside this year uh for about I think 15 146 so that's a grant um that's Grant funded for our private schools in Middle sex County or excuse me in South Brunswick so we have norly man school and St A's and because that's a fund 20 those those funds uh come through um the state and are provided for those programs and those school districts actually create their own budgets so those school districts would have decided that uh or those private schools would have decided that they wanted to use some funds for technology or excuse me for security so we're funding I I remember writing purchase orders this year for their um security that they hired um class three officers from the police department Dave is that money taxpayer money uh no it's not tax it's not in not that's not South Brunswick School District's budget that's just the way we have to budget by law okay so that is that's not our money although it was if they chose to raise the money there that's their money not ours okay and the last one was a line item that just stated total State projects uh which was uh 4 million uh in 2324 and 6 million is that is the preschool that's your preschool okay yep we went from 4 million last year to 6 million this year all right thanks thanks for the clar yes good thank you Mr Krishna no comments no questions no questions Mr Nathan no I just have a comment we'll we'll cover that in a minute to my left any questions M Dr Raj uh so Mr feda you referred to um reconfiguration study at the elementary level uh could you please explain what it is I did not that's the first time I'm hearing about it well I mentioned it once or twice before but the the concept is uh right now our district is configured with K5 schools prek through five the conversation would be is that the most efficient and the best for kids to continue that way or do you look at something different so the district at one point was the k6 elementary schools and they went to K4 with 56 school so the question you just you don't just do it you study it but to study it sometimes you have to bring in somebody to pay to help study it take offline you have to pay staff so it's a cost to look at something so that was just the point okay um and I had another question on um on fund balance what would be a comfortable fund balance 4 million four oh wow we are so far away yeah where where doing um ever since uh my first few years here we've always hovered around four 4 a. half million um but since we kicked into S2 we've been using more and more of it and still being able to make the payment uh you know being able to cover the fund balance at the end of the year it's just this year and last year we got last year we were right at the number this year or short oh okay um I also had a few questions on the advertised budget um the expenditure side of it uh so uh I only zeroed in on um expenses that were uh that were significantly different I'll help you as best I can yeah yeah yeah okay uh so um uh okay there is uh one line item on um undistributed expenditure on Health Services uh that does that include um provision for uh health insurance payouts right that the health insurance increase in the lines is what you would see in what I was talking about in the presentation was that those same lines include unemployment Social Security and pension increases okay so that's why you'll see a larger increase in those lines same thing okay they all roll up in the advertised budget what everybody has to understand is the advertised budget is a rollup of about 20 to 30 accounts that are specific in our budget that rolls up so they can fit it in the paper so when you guys see a a benefit line that goes up 10% or 15% there's 20 different accounts that could have had 3% or 5% increases that would roll up cumulative okay they accumulate um and uh something uh that caught my ey eyes uh are also uh support services for General Administration and School administration which apparently uh went down um I'd have to look at that account specifically yeah um support service is for General and um School administration well yeah you would see a decrease in school administration this year because we were we were eliminating some positions oh okay oh okay um and uh I uh there is also an increase uh in the line items for uh staff uh Training Services and uh Improvement to instructional servic instruction Services those would be curricular instructional expansion from uh Mr feder's uh work with what I just in front of me I'm sorry what is the what are the numbers what the dollar amounts for the instructional Services uh it is going up from uh sorry just a second uh it is uh 844000 to 99 91,000 100,000 so can I can I just oh oh okay I think I I just want to try and help and point out something we have 8,000 kids in this District 8,000 kids yeah no I think I marked it uh why did I yeah I marked it wrong oh it must have been the uh child study teams um child study teams yeah the that is a significant difference child study teams we went down but uh no child study teams uh it's three uh 3.1 million to 3.4 million yeah you're but you're child yeah but see it's a rollup again again rollup it's a big rollup so in that in those lines you're going to see uh Professional Services for uh Bata nurses you'll see special services for therapies so all of that encompasses a child study team roll up so you're you're you got a lot of different accounts in there that that are going to be increased okay uh and also the reason why um I mentioned the reduction in um you know General Administration and School administration is that typically the first reaction when when it comes to um you know budget is that oh cut the administration they are not necessary so I just want to point out that there has been an increase in instructional um expenditure and expenditure on um child study teams we and things like that and there's a reduction in administrative cost so uh I would like to point that out okay thank you and uh yeah thank Dr Rush Mr Mitchell any questions Mr nandez any questions I have no questions does anybody have any comments before we move on uh Mr Nathanson yes thank you a as a 23-year member of the South brunic Board of Education I fully understand the importance of addressing the fiscal health of our district over the past 5 years we've experienced significant budget cuts that have completed and gutted important accounts it is crucial that we allocate the necessary funds back into these accounts to ensure the financial stability of our district by supporting this budget we can begin the process of rebuilding our fiscal reserves and restoring the Financial Health of our district this will allow us to meet the needs of our students and provide them with the quality education they deserve additionally a financially stable district will enable us to attract and retain our highly qualified teachers and staff improve our facility and invest in essential resoures resources and programs I believe that by supporting this budget we can lay the foundation for a stronger and more stabil sorry stable future for our district it is our responsibility to prioritize the fiscal health of our district and ensure that our students have the resources and opportunities they need to succeed I would like to express my my gratitude to the parent advocacy and budget committees Mr feder our senior staff our ba Mr palowski and his staff and our board president Lisa Rogers for their invalu support and dedication their effort has been instrumental in addressing the financial challenges our district has faced an advocate a oh boy advocate ing for the necessary resources to restore our fiscal Health it is through the co Collective efforts of these individuals and our parent groups that we can work together towards a brighter future for South P their support and commitment are greatly appreciated and I am confident that together with my colleagues on the board of education we can overcome the fiscal challenges we might face and continue to provide the best possible education for our students thank you thank you Mr Nathanson any other comments Miss Ferrera on May around May 11th members of the board received a chart from the district showing an increase of 7% in the tax cap would make the district whole the budget being voted on here tonight increases the cap to 8.9 in light of the current economic downturn and the burden of the taxpayers I do not believe that an additional 1.9% was justified therefore I will be voting no thank you Mr F any other comments to my left Dr Raj um I uh I would like to express my um disappointment again with the whole Pro how the process U panned out the state was supposed to provide us a permanent solution address the root cause but uh they ended up uh pushing as a Hobson's choice where we don't really you know it's a Hopson hopson's choice we don't have a choice but to go ahead and make a decision for ourselves um and it's an unpopular decision we still have to do it um U it's uh disillusioning it's disappointing um and all this at a time when the state keeps on adding to uh the costs uh of the school district um but yeah but we have to make a decision and um you know we'll go ahead with that um and uh uh in one of the earlier meetings um uh you know there was a an informal discussion here as to what is the comfortable level that um you know comfortable tax rate that uh uh Levy cap that we are U um we are comfortable with so uh earlier I had mentioned that I was comfortable with 8 but uh today the discussion is uh around 8.9 uh the reason why I uh the other day I um I went with 8% um uh was that uh you know the newer homes and um uh homes that are um relatively uh um you know assessed at a higher value they will be uh they will be uh facing a disproportionate burden um of any tax increase so uh that was my justification for going uh uh for only 8% but now I see that um the difference between 8 and 88.9% um translates to around $30 and uh next year the debt service is going to drop uh so um there will it will translate to an actual drop in U uh in the uh you know in the delta in the change uh so uh I compelled to vote for 8.9% uh even though I had expressed my uh com effort at 8% at an earlier um at an earlier time Point um I also think that um um I'm also the other compelling reason why I I'm going ahead with the voting uh at for an 88.9% um is that uh all the wonderful programs that we have had um despite being in a cut mode uh so there has not been a net infusion of resources uh in the past several years if we look at it that way uh so if if we can secure uh some uh resources this year given the given the leg given the um opportunity that we have because of the legislation which is rest restricted to just this year um I I'm compelled to think that it's the right choice to go ahead and uh show up some resources some net new addition additional resources for the district uh so I will be voting uh for 88.9% and um I felt compelled to justify my uh action because I had earlier expressed my uh reservation um going Beyond 8% uh and I also take this opportunity to thank my colleagues here on the board we have had a robust discussion we have I see so many emails so many questions um to and fr I'm sorry I have to stop okay this you guys are a board of education this is a public meeting you're telling everyone how you vote you haven't heard from the public yet uh the public hasn't had a chance to say a word this is an opportunity to ask your questions and let the public come vote let's talk to you maybe the whole Public's going to come out of the woodwork and tell you yes no or indifferent I don't know what they're going to say but give them a chance to talk before you decide on your vote okay no we haven't when's a public hearing when did you hear from the public we've heard from our constituents Mr feder and they have an opportunity tonight add the agenda it states public comment specifically for the budget any other comments I I I let me finish my thought uh there were many questions asked and there were many answers the administration ended up answering all our questions so um uh it has been a very uh robust discussion so I'm very grateful to my colleagues here for the robust discussion and I'm also I also acknowledge that the Administration has taken time to answer all of our questions good thank you all right Mr Mitchell any comments time thank you M Hernandez any comments no thank you okay moving on we will have a public comments specifically for the budget I'm going to read the public comments section um you don't have to for this okay oh I don't okay I apologize I didn't know I didn't have to do that stat statement okay for public comment section yeah I think it's best I can wait and then I can make my comment I'm good with that okay thank you if there's anyone in the audience that would make any comments regarding or excuse me let me restate that if anybody has any questions regarding the budget I ask that you approach the podium now yes come on down you're G to have to come down because we're not going to be able to hear you in the microphone I apologize you also have to be on camera that's okay you have every right to it no no I'm going to read that after I'm going to sign in first right you don't have to that's okay all right so I'm Kathy hansy um I live on Taylor Road in South brunwick wow can I say a lot of information today all right so let me just say that I was here the last time and I was looking at the numbers and I appreciate Scott you answering the emails my husband and I uh sent and and also talking with you outside after the last meeting I think the problem is this in my in my opinion um I don't have time to look at the complete budget what it's actually made of the dollar values what goes into it because when it actually got dropped there's not enough time for anybody here as a resident to really dive in so we're looking at line numbers and I actually enjoyed what you asked but let me just I'm a very I'm going to just state it simple okay so when my husband and I was first looking at this we always like to compare one year to the next so we're looking at 2023 the numbers that we had at the last meeting was the uh 2023 uh what was shown on was uh the estimate and that said said that the budget was 166,000 I'm sorry 166 million and that's the numbers that we using to compared to the 2024 all right and the 2024 estimate was 170 well when we waited for to see the new numbers that you were saying now the 2023 numbers are actual numbers they're not you know the proposed estimate and now the actual numbers are 170 million which it kind of makes me say wow that's the same numbers that you said was going to be the proposed for 2024 now those numbers are the actual numbers okay so now to we just we went on the and to try to find the budget and the budget was 174 m841 558 but no it's not now it's 1 175 389 866 so I'm just trying to say that as a South BR residents trying to you know understand what's going on the numbers just keep changing and and and I'm just dealing with the numbers and I can't get into the details but the number keeps changing and that change just like tonight from the numbers I have is $548,000 now I was going to come up here and say all right there isn't there's not time for a person to a resident to actually dive into the entire budget I know what you're talking about with fund accounting it's dealing with reserves and stuff like that but a budget is budget all right so I'm still going back to 2023 estimated budget of $166 million and you said the budget was going to be $170 million you to me in my mind is that you missed the you missed the 2023 budget the 2023 budget that you gave was 166 but it actually cost 170 milon 671 so you missed it so now here in 2024 all right you're like okay well you're making up $4 million there and now in 2024 you're trying to now now the budget is$ 174 because I now now think about this I'm sure all of you out there are saying what the hell is this girl talking about excuse me whatever now if I'm trying to figure this out doing these numbers looking at your website how in the world is anybody out there South B of residance going to be able to figure this out but I'm just going to say this to you trying to look at this I am an accountant by the way so is my husband and I'm looking at this and I was going to come up here and say it's okay the increase between one year and the next is about 2.7% increased all right inflationary wise okay I'll take it but I want to say that that that chart that you have up there that keeps saying $86 no you know that's that's going to be the property increase and I still can't get to this number Mr federa but I'm going to I'm going to take it you're saying the 200k property tax assessment the tax increase is going to be $239 that $86 and you're spreading it over several years the tax the tax increase you're saying is $239 all right is that correct $239 239 for for a tax assessment of 200k that's what you're saying well I want to tell you I still can't get to that number but since you are saying it right now 239 I'm going to hold account to it because if if if it turns out that it's not 239 guess what I'm going to be back here and say hey you said it was 239 because my my numbers and trying to do this it's it's higher than that please address it is it's higher than that but so it's 150 I guess we're just going to have to see because these numbers even and I'm just going to say one more thing and I know I might be sounding confusing here but even it's the information that's being posted on the website it's just really straight you know what I would have liked to seen tonight I would have liked to have seen without all these charts I would have loved to have seen a just a chart saying okay if your tax assessment on your property is $200,000 that's a tax if your tax assessment is 21,000 to this it's this amount and this amount just tell the people exactly how much the taxes are going up not these long things where it's like over six years where you're spreading out the amount this is what you paid in 201 18 this is how much it's going to be now just be like straightforward us and say this is what the tax is going to be this is the reason why we're doing is based on the information that you said I think everybody would be happy with that but all these charts and mo moving around even myself with all these numbers I just presented to you it gets very confusion confusing just straightforward your taxes are going to go up $239 we need to do this I don't know that's it I think I think in my simple mind the budget was blown I don't know who who's doing the budget was blown in 2023 by $4 million and now you're making it up and now this this time in order to keep going forward you're adding another $5 million to this budget and that's all I wanted to say can you address the revenue 166 million it's right here and somebody's say numbers are wrong yeah okay thank you numbers are wrong anybody else want to make a comment it's okay hi Lisa Garwood South Brunswick parent retired teacher and constituent you've faced devastating budget cuts for years what a year you've had what a bunch of years you've had you've used incredible skills Insight creativity and mindbending math skills to be sure that those cuts didn't affect our students or our excellent educational standards you've been proactive to the extreme in advocating for South Brunswick at the state level you've been patient to the stream in explaining everything budget related again and again and again you've been professional and patient to the extreme in the face of not tonight but insults rude behavior and blatant lies and after discussion explanation and really important questions here we are please keep South Brunswick the excellent District we are you've run the numbers and our experts are doing so if you support our children and want them to continue to receive the enriched education they so deserve you will vote to increase the revenue by the full 8.93% thank you thank you any other comments from the public at this time yes oh work hell is she hello Jessica Rogers I'm a current resident of South Brunswick I would just like to say in regard to as a person being a recent graduate of South Brunswick and currently a recent graduate from a New Jersey University seeing what South bronic has provided for me and many of my fellow fellow alumni have has really been eye opening to me seeing the amount of difference that we've created in our own communities and globally the amount of Education that we've received and the quality of that education is extremely important to creating well-rounded citizens both here in the US and internationally personally on my own opinion being able to provide that education level with that increase of 8.9% is extremely important with students on the line of being able to receive varying different experiences in clubs interact activities the education the varying different uh courses and electives that you've provided is of utmost importance and I believe that being able to provide an extra $30 increase to to homes to provide extra students with that experience is extremely important and should be heavily considered thank [Applause] you thank you for your comments any other comments no other comments then and I will close this portion of the agenda we'll make uh you can make comments um I'll just instruct the board further comments can be made when we do the motion and second and open discussion for the consent agenda at that time okay moving on next order of business is board committee and liaison reports does any board committee chair have any update I know that it's been a quiet quiet month yeah I know nope any liaison updates Mr Nathanson yep Ju Just so you know we we had a uh live this time we went to Trenton for uh uh Corley uh New Jersey School Board Association uh legislative committee and one thing we had we had we had assemblymen cats there and assemblymen cats is a co-sponsor with our own assembly woman uh julus and they both have a bill that's been sitting there uh since March and the bill the purpose of the bill was to establish a committee to look at S2 it hasn't moved out of the legislative committee uh for Education since March and right now uh she told us that she he was told it's not moving because of the budget well the budget's been finished for weeks and it still hasn't moved yeah so I just want to give you that update uh because we're voting on the budget tonight and that is something that has to be done uh for us to even be stable next year if we didn't pass this budget and there's no way that they're telling us that they're going to get that done before uh next year we hope but we're going be back I think we're going to be back to emergency situation if we don't take this opportunity thank you okay any other leis on reports none oh Mr Mitchell want to report on the robotics bank that I attended last Friday want to congratulate those group of young people for the job today uh put on for the uh program they were they had everything lined up their all their Ducks were lined up and and this showed true professionalism um in knowhow and and you know pulling this all I was very impressed uh thanks especially to Roger uh Dr Roger uh Raj for um for who's the supervisor for making sure that this come off that it came off well um also last night was the preschool moving up ceremony so thanks to Dr dror to Mrs plumber um for the wonderful um program that was put together and her staff thank you very good thank you any other lays on reports Mr Michelle already covered the robotics banquet that we all attended so I'm not going to spend more time on that but it was a wonderful event so thank you very good thank you anyone else then I will close that portion of the agenda uh next is the public comments on agenda items only I will make the public uh comment statement now the Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest complete copies of policy 0167 which govern this portion of the meeting are available to the public at the auditorium entrance online or by contacting the board office to permit the fair and orderly expression of comments we ask that participants be recognized by the presiding officer and preface comments by announcing his or her name place of residence and group affiliation if appropriate and by completing the signage sheet please print legibly or we may be unable to document your name for the permanent record each statement may be excuse me each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes no participant may speak more than once on the same topic Mr palowski will indicate when you have 15 seconds remaining all statements shall be directed to the presiding officer no participant May address or question board members a dis and no discussion between a participant and respondent shall extend the thre minute time limit is there anyone excuse me I'm sorry I'm not finished it is our plan to listen to each member of the public once all questions and comments from all members of the public are made the Board of Ed May respond or respond via email in the most timely and efficient manner available all question question and comments made will be noted um again the first public comment is for consent agenda items only there will be an opportunity for the public to comment on any matter Mr prasi has anyone pre-registered we have no pre-registrations no pre-registrations are there any audience members who make who wish to make a public comment on the consented agenda only seeing no comments we will close that portion of the public comments uh we do not have any old business um but new business as addressed earlier the board retreat will be added to the July 25 agenda is there going to be any need for any discussion on this any discussion no very good so Mr palowski we will be adding on the July 25th agenda um The Retreat I ask that the board members come to uh address the goals that we completed from 23 to 24 and if there's any new goals that we would like to add we're 2425 that will be the time that we do that as well as possibly other areas but that's the key the key discussion of uh the July meeting plus Mr fed any additions he has of course leison positions the different I don't know yet I'll have to look we might we'll address the Le that that is probably where we could address it the leis on um as well yep we could we could definitely look at that okay next um order of business is the conent consent agenda review and walk through Mr palowski may I have a mo um excuse me Mr palowski cons J walk do walk yep so this uh agenda is packed full of vendor approvals um what we have is I buzzed or I brief briefed everybody via our update I won't go through all of our vendor approvals word by word or vendor by vendor so we have all of our approval of transfers financials bills list all of the business uh of the board we're approving a tax levy payment schedule and we're approving designation of official depositories we have some tax shelter programs the majority of the rest of this is Professional Services so if anybody has any questions on any of these Professional Services um please reach out to me let me um via email and I'll shoot you uh an update with regards to specific vendors but these are all of the vendors in our district that do all business uh via be it um health insurance property casualty advisors e-rate Consultants they're all in here um we have um we're reapproved our um financial management databases systems 3000 uh we're approving uh storage systems with file Bank all vendors uh we're noting what we also do in this agenda is we note all of our signatories 504 officers safety Specialists right to know officials through the entire District so we have a lot of titles uh in here as well you'll have um you're adopting your policy manual you're adopting your purchasing manuals doing all of the basic adoptions for the operation of the school district throughout the rest of the for the coming school year you have um in motion 1.55 you're approving our revised School District budget that we reviewed earlier today um in our meeting uh specific with this budget is the health benefit um increase cost to health benefit amount our 45% uh state aid cut return a um second question that includes 350,000 for funding of public use of facilities uh and it increases our onetime tax levy not to exceed 9% ours is at 8.93 um school calendar and then we have our harassment intimidation bullying reports student field trip reports and professional development that's your agenda great thank you Mr palowski um we're going to make a motion in a second and um after the second we will open up comments to the board members before vote so may I have a motion for consent agenda tonight Dr Raj second Mr Nathanson I will now open up the um opportunity for any comments to be made Mr Nathanson you've made yours thank you very much U Miss Ferrera you've made yours thank you very much uh Miss Dr Raj you've made yours thank you very much just a correction I I got carried away I I meant to explain my vote during this I got carried so I apologize problem Mr Mitchell any comments no no very good um to my right any comments before we open the vote do Mr I'm sorry M caric sorry I know it's it's late it it's late but I saw Mr R Mr Krishna oh boy there sorry my apologies no no worries at all so I just have a very quick comment uh three points okay um I wrote it down because I know that uh it's going to be late and I didn't want to forget stuff that I wanted to say say um it is unfortunate that today this Boe is faced with a difficult decision that directly impacts the people of our town many of our citizens are struggling with an economy that has been plagued by higher cost of living our elected officials in Trenton made an election promise of restoring funding to our district and making the funding formula transparent to all I'm extremely disappointed that not only did they not keep their promise but instead chose to place the burden of unpopular finan iial decisions on a group of nine nonpartisan elected volunteers this board is being taxed with an unfavorable financial decision which should have been the responsibility of the legislature during this process my Bo colleagues and the administration both have been hugely helpful by sharing the information that I need about a large number of queries that I had and that were raised and discussed I'd like to express my gratitude for this team work lastly today we are in a sink or swim situation consequences of this inaction comes with enormous challenges please note that my vote today is based on careful considerations deliberations discussions and some arguments and a deeper understanding of the huge implications that we will be faced with due to inactions and lastly my love for South Brunswick while this budget aims to create a degree of stability or like everyone to know we will be faced with the same set of variables again next year and by no means should today's action be understood as a pania for our continued financial situation in the years to come I request every citizen of this town to be more financially aware of the line items in the school budget I understand it can be confusing or even ambiguous if so please ask your questions and get clarifications I humbly request that all of us base our discussion on specifics and facts rather than generalized feelings and opinions thank you thank you thank you for your comments Mr Krishna Miss Khan any comments no Mr Krishna no it's fine Miss Miss Hernandez Miss Hernandez yeah so um my colleagues have spoken so eloquently and have prepared and I just kind of have been listening to everything that's been going on and like Miss caric said we have had so many discussions and so many presentations and we love each other and we were screaming at each other because we needed to get our point across some of the things I want to say is when we look at our budget in South Brunswick and we have 60% of our budget is for the school and the other things are for like roads and stuff like that I drive down New Road they're putting in new pipes Hallelujah they're Paving it Hallelujah but that's coming out of our taxes I don't see anybody protesting that I don't see see anybody flipping out about that I don't see anybody asking the municipal building can we have a say in how you're raising our taxes but when we sit here talking about our most important assets our children we're getting hammered we're getting nailed why are you doing that Miss Rogers we hounded her so bad and I'm like I need to see figures and the woman that came up here and spoke you're absolutely right just tell me what I'm paying what do I need to know I don't understand all this really in-depth stuff so what we're getting taxed on is the assessment of your house so miss Rogers gave us an example and they they've looked at it and everything a house that will sell in South Brunswick for over a million dollars is assessed at 293 29 not all houses but just an example an examp this is an example I'm just giving you guys examples it was assessed at 293,000 now Zulo said we'll pay a million for that but it got assessed at $293,000 that's where the increase is coming at your two so our $900,000 home bless you people that can afford that they're not you're not paying on that you're paying on your small assessment on that we have not raised taxes on our children in over six years not on other things in South Brunswick but on our kids so I thank the township that I'm not blowing at a tire with these po holes anymore but I'm also paying for that but but I'm not flipping out on them because of that I need to make that clear I also need to when if we go up to 7.0 okay Lisa ran the numbers on that the increase from 7.0 to 8.9 is 1.9% the average South Brunswick resident at a house assessed at $293,000 but can sell according to Zulo over a million the difference is 7 $78 61 annually Now by going up to 8.9 all of us here I got to imagine have a savings account cuz God forbid you pop that tire because South BR didn't fill that pothole I better be able to pay for that so I got to have that little bit of cushion I got to have that little bit of emergency money so so going from that 7.0 up to 8.9 gives our district that little bit of safety we need for our babies our most important assets now Mr feder jumped a gun on me he didn't even realize when he got up there and he said something about the sports and the music I'm sitting there going oh my God that's so awesome I'm so proud of these kids that will disappear that's not a threat that's reality and and for us to not let that happen because of $78 for the year I I just can't at the highest at the highest I can't fathom that lower for how much Lisa so $160,000 home assessment which may sell for5 $600,000 the difference between 7% and 8.9% is $47 annually or $4 a month annually so going from 7.0 to going to 8 and this was part of our arguments that we were having amongst each other um it it's it's so minimal it's almost insulting it's just so minimal um there were so many other things I had to say that I also want you guys to know that we have that pay to play but if our children if we have children in this District that can't that are in financial struggles that that their parents are laid off well we don't say sorry too bad so sad you don't play they all play we pay for that that comes out of our budget that's one of our line our whatever right in our account we we we we have kind of that money to do that for them so that is comes out of our little savings account our little cushion account if we don't have that cushion account we can't help our babies in this area so even though they spoke so eloquently David smile she's always know where I want to know where the cushion account is want to know that the 1.9 I'm stressing I'm I'm talking I am I am I'm talking about cuz I don't like I said D yes thank you thank you thank you thank you so the capital expenses account the extra curriculum account if you want to go through this page after page after line after line after line I am telling you that if we don't do this we won't have that we just won't to say what's going to happen in 2 three years we we don't know we don't know what the governor's going to say where's the state going to come up with what kind of money so I know that a lot of people want to say hey if you vote on this budget in 10 years I better still see this well you're you probably we we'll probably have to come back here in 10 years or whatever but I just I just have to tell you how important this is for our babies how like Miss carick said shame on Trenton for putting us in position to vote on this our houses haven't been assessed in who knows how long so so with that we're here to make this vote please don't look so much at the percentages look more at the the actual numbers and the programs not only we will lose but we will never get back amen here here here here all right any other comments before I make a final comment okay tell us how you really feel M Hernandez Itali That's Italian can say that all right so I'm just going to wrap it up real quick I sent out a chart we have a motion on the table I know we do and I have one more comment to make thank you thank you sir I have one comment to make Mr feder has posted at every single meeting what a $200,000 assessment will cost these taxpayers a $200,000 home total requested annual is $239 that was posted every meeting a requested new total amount for $160,000 home will be $193 the difference for a $160,000 home assessment from 7% to 9% is $3.97 monthly I ran the numbers I reviewed them I sent them out to everybody those numbers that $200,000 assessment was in every single meeting so I want to make that clear second stability is not an option in my eyes stability is not an option growth and Excellence is an option we haven't had growth and excellence in six years we've had cuts and we've been able to manage them I know what's happening in North Brunswick right now and if you don't know what's happen North runswick right now I would highly recommend everybody in this town take a look what's going on at the school district they just received $30 million and they can't make it we haven't received that kind of money finally S2 it's gone after this year we don't know what sfra is bringing but I could darn well tell you I will be the first one in Trenton as I am right now fighting for sfra to be changed because it's not working and everybody here should be fighting for it too so don't point fingers here and say we're not doing our job we're doing everything possible we live in this town ourselves I don't want to see taxes go up so I will continue to fight the stop Gap measure that Trenton has thrown at us will bring stability but it's not the long-term Funding Solution and they need to come up with a better solution and everybody here should be fighting fting for that and that's all I have to say may we take a vote please just just for people to REM remember if you want to abstain or vote no on any particular motion you can call out that specific motion our item number in your consent agenda thank you sir all right vote on the consent agenda for uh today's meeting June 13 2024 Miss Julie Ferrara I vote Yes with the exception of 1.55 and 1.56 I vote no on those Miss Laura Hernandez yes Miss Deepa carthi yes Miss Alicia Khan yes Mr Roger Krishna yes Mr Mike Mitchell yes Mr Barry Nathanson yes Dr Smith Raj yes Mrs Lisa Rogers yes motion carries thank you for Miss Mr [Applause] Fus okay uh the final uh agenda item is the public comment second opportunity for public comment on any topic uh this is the second opportunity you are reminded of the previous statement made regarding public comment rules of policy 0167 again at the podium state your name spell your name and announce your place of residence or your group affiliation please complete the sign in sheet do we have any members who at the public who have pre-registered Mr porowski none is there anybody in the audience that would like to make a comment at this time ma'am my name is Victoria I live in South Brunswick I live in gardinia court in the Summerfield development I want to thank you all for working on this budget I've come to every one of these budget meetings to support you I've seen we did not want our teachers to be laid off I'm in our schools almost every day and the morale has been really bad because we were facing such devastating Cuts we cannot have class sizes of 27 28 kids that is impossible to deal with really want to thank all of you for working so hard on this and to all the people that went down to Trenton to fight for us thank you again very much thank you is there anyone else that would like to make any public comment seeing none ladies and gentlemen that ends the 20232 20 24 school year first Happy Father's Day to all that will celebrate on Sunday our next scheduled Board of Ed meeting is set for Thursday July 25 and that will begin the 2024 2025 school year on behalf of the South runs of Board of Education have a wonderful summer thank you to all staff for a wonderful year and we will see you all here next month you have oh motion to motion Mr Miss Hernandez Miss Khan second all in favor I any Nays thank you South Brunswick and good night