CLIFTON â€" With the Board of Education election less than three weeks away, the eight candidates sat down with Clifton Journal and answered questions regarding their views on the most pressing issues facing Clifton schools in the immediate and long-term future. The first series of questions dealt with the financial challenges and budget constraints currently facing the district.
The candidates' responses are listed in the order they will appear on the ballot.
Gina Marie Scaduto, whose name still appears as "2A" on the official ballot, said again this week that she would not be running.Question 1: Considering $7 million or over 25 percent of the district's state aid was cut from next year's budget there is no more pressing issue facing the Clifton Board of Education than their financial future. As a candidate for the school board what specific recommendations would you make in order to create revenue and where specifically would you look to cut costs?
Phil Binaso â€" "There's no way in the world there's $7.1 million of fat in the budget," Binaso said. "When you consider 80 to 85 percent is salaries and the rest is discretionary spending, could you get a little money out of that? Yeah. Is it going to make up anywhere close to the $7 million? No. There's only one way because there has to be some sort of an accommodation made. The teachers can decide to get together and say 'we don't want our associates to be laid off' and take a pay freeze, and if that happens I think it would negate a lot of individual teachers or assistants or aids from really getting hurt in this economic recession.
"I don't think the ball is in the school board's court because I think it's up to the teachers to figure out what do they want to do," he said. "It's as simple as that. If they say 'no, we want our raises,' is that realistic? The current unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, but underemployment - those people who have used up all their benefits - puts the country's total at about 16.7 percent. So, why in the world would anybody - whether its police or firemen - want to take a hard-line stance and see somebody lose their jobs.
"As far as creating revenue, there's a whole theory which deals with going to a four-day week," Binaso said. "It would cut down on some of the utility bills because you wouldn't be having normal heat volumes in the schools on the fifth day, as well as Saturday and Sunday. That is an opportunity. There's an opportunity in doing a better job of purchasing textbooks, supplies, etc. There is another theory going around in other districts which relates to charging for afterschool or extracurricular activities like paying rentals for hockey ice-time or for football or anything else. I understand the parents are going to rebel because they can't afford it, but, on the other hand everybody has to give a little because you can't give what you don't have."
Kim Renta â€" "Most areas have been affected, will be affected by budget cuts in one way or another with the exception of classroom teachers, which I think is the most important thing to keep in position," Renta said. "To my knowledge there are no classroom teachers among the cuts and I believe that's a really important thing because they truly affect the students on a day-to-day basis. There are ways we can make reductions that will have as little impact on the classroom as possible and that's what I hoped to do wherever we could.
"In terms of revenue streams that's something that we really do need to focus on in the coming years because I think next year our situation will be similar as I can't imagine this economic climate turning around too quickly," she said. "One of the great ideas which I think has come up is the possibility of advertising in our venues. At the stadium, for example, we might be able to get corporate sponsorship and have a Nike sign or maybe at the auditorium we'd have a sponsor related to performing arts or music. That's something we're going to try and look into and see if we can pull in some revenue that way. Also, as we continue to do little improvements to the auditorium and it ultimately gets completed we are going to be able to rent it out as a revenue stream. Once there's air conditioning in there we're going to see a lot of the dance schools and other performing arts interested in using it because it is a beautiful auditorium. It's just a little outdated at this point.
"Another potential revenue stream revolves around our out-of-district special education placements," Renta said. "If we had available space opening up anywhere in the district - which is always an issue for us - we could become a feeder district for other districts because we have the personnel and expertise in these special education areas. They would send the children that they can't educate properly because they don't have the facilities or the personnel and they would actually pay tuition to the Clifton Board of Ed. That could mean a tremendous amount of money for the district.
"As of [Tuesday] night the school board budget will not have a pay to play stipulation where parents of children playing a particular sport would have to pay a fee in order to participate," Renta said. "I really feel that sports in a high school as large as ours are just so important because it keeps kids active and involved which is something we want them to do. And a lot of our children do come from underprivileged backgrounds so we don't want to exclude children because the parents can't afford whatever the fee may be."
Gary Passenti â€" "I would look at the administrative positions at the upper and middle levels and look to pare them down through attrition or combining them," Passenti said. "These administrators don't ever look to cut themselves out of it and instead look at the lower level teachers and the one thing I don't want to do is take the teacher out of the classroom. If you do then that classroom becomes 40 students now instead of say, 30 students. The problem is that I don't have the line-items so I don't know what's state mandated, but some things need to be combined. We just have to come up with creative ideas. I don't want to cut anything for the kids but some compromises will have to come eventually.
"My main concern is to avoid cutting the money for the kids and students," he added. "As a candidate my vested interest is my two kids and, if elected, any decision I make on this board is going to affect them personally as well as my family and my taxes. That's why I think making parents pay for their kids to play sports is just another way to pass the buck to the taxpayers. I don't think they should have to pay any more money to play sports. I think sports are great for kids because it keeps them off the street and motivated in the classroom. Some kids might think they have nothing to go to school for anymore because they can't afford to play and I definitely don't want to take that away from them. But, on the other hand, instead of having five coaches, we might have three coaches. Concessions like that will have to be made."
Mary Kowal â€" "You're going to have a $7 million gap to fill and my position has been to consolidate positions and separate the essential jobs from the nonessential jobs," Kowal said. "Some positions may be eliminated or combined, such as different disciplines, but over the last four or five years so many of the supervisory levels have been added and now they're just going to have to be eliminated because I cannot see eliminating any classroom staff. The integrity of the classroom must be maintained and I also don't feel that the nurses should be eliminated. I cannot see how, in good conscience, you could sacrifice the health and safety of students while keeping supervisor positions. The students do not interact with them and they simply are not as important to the student's education as a classroom teacher.
"Other districts are eliminating teaching positions, afterschool programs, certain curricula, but I think if you can get rid of a lot of the non-essential jobs and supervisory jobs you're definitely going to be able to maintain the classroom and the nurses," Kowal added. "And I think you're going to be able to maintain most of the services that we offer our students. Maybe restructuring administrative levels to fit into the budgetary needs for the upcoming years is a possibility. I'd like to see a line-by-line item breakdown because I have no idea what the budget is."
Joe Fazio â€" "My approach would be to take that budget and break it down into about eight to 10 major categories - like professional services, outside services, school maintenance - and then start to drill down further from there," Fazio said. "The big problem is that the majority of the budget is contractual obligation with salaries and benefits and then from there take a look at any other obligations contractually, legally, whether it's leases or contracts and then go down further from there. I wish I could say here's exactly where I think the savings could be, but without having a budget in my hands to really take a look at the numbers and start asking the questions it's tough to say.
"But, in my own opinion, everything is open for discussion," he added. "People say 'what about layoffs' but it's kind of like a last resort because you hate letting people go. But, then again, if you get to the point where you have to make it up somewhere, then we have to start taking a headcount and look at who's reporting to whom. On the other hand, when I read about having parents paying for athletics it's tough because I think the taxpayers are stretched enough. And if we have to go out and start saying 'you got to pay for your kid for sports,' sorry, but going after the parents to pay for more to me is not an option."
Wayne Demikoff â€" "I would look at a complete restructuring of administration to save positions for other people who they are going to terminate," Demikoff said. "I had a problem with finding out that 37 positions were being eliminated yet there were only two administrators out of that number. I would have asked for a complete discussion on administrative positions to determine which ones are absolutely necessary and which ones have been added over the years that can be consolidated. Once you add something to a district it's very difficult to take it away, but these are tough times and we have to go back and take a look at some of these things to see if they made sense to have it or not. These are the questions which need answering.
"Next, when you're trying to trim the budget you should look at who is retiring so if they are not mandatory those would be the easiest positions not to fill, that way people don't lose their jobs," he said. "Then you must look at the 'nice to have' things and replace them with the 'must have' things and trim your budgets that way. That's not what I see happening here. The people cannot afford to continue to pay for this. The Board should have had an idea that things were going to be tough so that if they had to cut $1 million or $5 million here's the priority sequence that I would cut. That's how you develop this and develop credibility with the taxpayers that this is a good budget.
"In regards to new revenues, one thing that was stated years ago when School 17 was built was that the School 12 annex on Ackerman Avenue would be eliminated, the kids there would be redistributed to another school and the cost of renting the building would be eliminated," Demikoff added. "I would look at things like that that they never followed through on. Also, I would like to bring in some of the expensive special education placements that are being done outside [the district]. If we can bring those in and maybe even get some revenue from other towns who might have the same deficiencies in special ed maybe we could get some money that way because special ed is very expensive. We want to give our kids what they need but can we do it cheaper inside rather than outside the district?"
Barbara Novak â€" "A lot of people have a lot of ideas to do away with this or do away with that but it's often times too small and doesn't solve anything," Novak said. "My big thing is the auditorium. I feel that eventually that will be a great money-maker, but the unfortunate part is that they're going to have to spend money to make money there.
"I think there has to be a way to generate more money and not by taxes," Novak continued. "However, not being able to look at the budget line by line puts those of us candidates who aren't on the board at a disadvantage. I do know from talking to other people in other cities that sometimes it's prudent to delay certain things like putting off specific facility repairs for one or two years when it's not drastic. I really don't want to see the loss of any programs or staff so we must also check costs thoroughly when purchasing all the different supplies needed in district. We have to be realistic."
"I prepared the budget for my end when I was a teacher and administration would tell us you'd need to cut so many areas to make the budget," she said. "Each year the teachers and supervisors work on budget preparation in the fall for the following year so I have experience dealing with these types of issues. Obviously it's on a bigger scale on the Board but I think I'd be a quick learner."
John Houston â€" "Because I'm not part of the budget process right now the only thing I can say is that I'd want all the teachers in place," Houston said. "That's where I stand because if you start to cut teachers that's where classes start to get doubled up and that puts a lot of strain on the other teachers or the supervisors and administrators. The bottom line is there would be more children for less teachers and then you can't give the individual attention to the children that they may need. I'd definitely want to give priority to the nurses too because I feel that there should be a nurse in every school. Children are at school every day and if something happens I think that nurses are something that's essential for all the schools so I would not cut anything in that regard either.
"I can't speak to cuts because I don't have the background," he said. "I know a lot of people like to talk about [cuts] but I'm not there with the Board to know whether certain levels or certain people in certain positions should be let go. However, I do feel the Governor implemented the school cut-backs in a radical and reckless way. I think he could have implemented his cuts in a way incrementally instead of so dramatically. In a way, it's a little reckless because when you get down to it the Governor is the head of the schools because they are state-mandated. Could there have been other cuts made in the state to alleviate the burden placed on the schools? I understand he's trying to balance everything but it was too much for the City of Clifton and its 11,000 students to deal with on our own so I think the state needs to come up with some techniques to better raise revenues in the schools and around the state because he put too much on the taxpayers.
"At this time I would recommend the individual school districts â€" like Clifton â€" lobby the state to help them realize that it was too radical of an approach," he added. "Education is rapidly changing and more services are necessary to make our schools the full educational centers that they need to be. Clifton is a place, like many other towns, which cannot do this on their own due to the nature of education today. This is a state mandate and ultimately all schools are under the jurisdiction of state guidelines. I'm not saying that's a bad thing because it provides uniformity and provides a way for all of our schools to be well-run but the method here was just too dramatic."
Question 2: There has been a great deal of discussion amongst the Board as well as members of the public regarding the possible implications this budget will have on Clifton residents' taxes. Given the challenge of appeasing the taxpayers, while maintaining a thorough and efficient education, what percent increase in the tax levy would you advocate as a reasonable compromise?
Binaso â€" "Do I think we should do better than 2.5 percent? You've got to go through the budget and ask yourself if some of these positions can be consolidated," Binaso said. "Maybe we can save some teachers. I do know if we don't try hard enough to reduce the tax burden I feel the governor will come back and say we haven't done enough. It's just ripping the fiber of our community. I'm not about to tell the union what to do but as educators they're smart enough to see the writing on the wall.
"A lot of people are really concerned about this situation, and I mean seniors, couples and even young people," Binaso continued. "It is just a terrible situation that we're all going through and I wouldn't be surprised next year that school districts who don't take some sort of action in compromising, cutting or sharing cost, the government comes back to them and says 'you didn't do your fair share.' What people want is a change."
Renta â€" "I'm definitely not comfortable with a zero percent increase because it would really decimate the school system, but I do think there is a happy medium that we could get to," Renta said. "I'm hoping that we can come to a number that everyone is comfortable with, because some people want zero and some want a higher percentage. Ultimately what I would love to see is a 9-0 vote from the Board of Education because we've never had that as long as I've been on the board. With two different factions, if everyone is behind the budget I think that it would have the possibility of actually passing.
The budget that will be presented Wednesday is actually significantly lower - in terms of tax-point increase - than I think people expect it to be.
We were allowed a 4 percent tax levy increase, but we're below that."
Passenti â€" "The zero percent is almost impossible but, at the same time, we can't add any more new jobs or programs at this time," Passenti said. "It's out of my control because they're passing the budget [Wednesday] but if I can keep it lower than the state average then that's feasible."
Kowal â€" "I'd recommend a 2 percent increase, but obviously the lower [the tax levy] the better," Kowal said. "I don't know if they can go with a zero percent increase but I think they should try to stay close. A 2 percent increase may work for taxpayers while still maintaining the educational services. Obviously if you went down to zero when you cut out jobs you'd have to take salaries into consideration. And, although they're talking about the teachers who are still in negotiations, you'd have to remember that you have those athletic coaches which are on stipends already. It's a very complicated procedure and a difficult decision. I'd love to see a zero based budget but I don't think that's a possibility right now."
Fazio â€" "To me, 2.5 percent is reasonable," Fazio said. "I don't like when they are supposed to cap it at 2.5 [percent] and then go get a waiver to make it 4 percent. The 2.5 is preferred and reasonable but I wouldn't want to go any higher than that. Certainly lower is better in my opinion."
Demikoff â€" "I would advocate a tax levy which is less than 2.5 percent and closer to a zero percent increase," Demikoff said. "However, I'd have to know what else would be cut to accommodate the taxpayers before I, as an independent candidate, could comfortably throw a number out there."
Novak â€" "I'm thinking that 2.5 percent would be feasible," Novak said. "It's my understanding from what I've been told that if it were zero [percent] they'd have to lay off a lot of staff and you don't want the students to suffer. This is a large school system but I know there's been talk about cutting support system. For me, it's important to maintain an excellent education service because people need to realize that if their school system goes down their property value goes down.
The Clifton school system has always been excellent which is why it's so important to understand that if that goes downhill everything goes with it."
Houston â€" "I don't know the numbers and I would have to see the big line-items otherwise I would be speaking out of turn," Houston said. "I'd need to know what the difference in percentage would mean in terms of what additional positions would be eliminated as a result, so I can't speak to that."
E-mail: gicas@northjersey.com
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