Where is the oversight for the school budget????

Can anyone tell me if the school enrollment is going down as I have been told. If so why are the taxes going up and teachers and classes are being added? As any senior on a fixed income will tell you, this increase will hurt all of us. Glen Rock managed to hold their taxes with no increases for 2 years. Why cant we?

That's an excellent question! I hope someone in authority will provide an answer.

Ralph... the answer is simple. The number of students doesn't really matter, it's all about the NJEA's fairy tale about how less students per classroom = smarter & better equipped students. Problem is, less students per classroom means MORE classrooms, which means MORE teachers, which = MORE taxes to pay for those additional classrooms and teachers and teaching assistants. And Ralph, if you really want to freak out, get a copy of that $64.8 MILLION Dollar budget and subtract from it every single expense from books, chalk, erasers, etc., EXCEPT; Administration Costs, Salaries, Benefits, Pension Plans and the best for last, Health Insurance. Then take the resultant number and divide it by the number of teachers on staff and you'll understand why the "cost per student" is the greatest sleight of hand ever pulled on the taxpayer.

Spending once again. Yet, we feel without control of how to stop it. Complain and then what? What can we do to stop it?

That's what I would like to know. How to stop it, and significantly reduce it. My understanding is that education will never have enough money. They can eat up the whole town and everyone in it, and not have enough. This has to be stopped and cut down to size. Yet all the other industrialized countries who use a voucher system to allow the family to pick the best school for their children have significantly better educational results at much lower cost. It is the same with health care in this country.

I have to say that it sounds like a lot of the money is going towards maintenance items. You can't skimp on this because you can pay a little now (to repair the roof for example) or a whole lot later (to replace a hole in the roof or ruined electronics due to a leaky roof). I do have kids in the school system and I have to say how impressed I have been with the Mahwah schools. A junior in the high school with a 92% average is in the 5th decile. The high school is very competitive. When my husband and I were looking for a new home 17 yrs ago, we were concentrating on Wyckoff and Franklin Lakes because of their high school's reputation. Houses and real estate taxes were too high for us and we took a chance on Mahwah. I'm so glad we did.

You property values do go up when your town has good schools.

Stacy, go back and re-read the article... specifically; "The projects, which will cost about $2,785,000, will be paid for from a capital reserve fund."
In other words, the better part of $3 Million Dollars is coming out of the RESERVES and not out of the $64,800,000 AND even if it were to come out of the $64,800,000 budget, I hardly think an amount that is less than 5% of the total "is a lot going towards maintenance"...

Administrators salaries are ridiculous!

What about those of us that don't have children? Every year our taxes increase with no recourse. I agree with Mr Levine, no matter how much money is allocated, it never seems to be enough

Teaching Mandarin is a smart idea. The Chinese will have a far greater influence in the global economy going forward. I wish the district had this a few years ago so my daughter could have take it instead of wasting her time on French.

It wouldn't surprise me if all the people complaining about the school budget no longer have kids in Mahwah schools.

Further to my response to Gottardo, here's a fellow that takes his high and mighty position of self righteousness, admonishing others about jumping to conclusions based on hearsay and failing to offer any cures... and then he throws in a non sequitur that is cloaked in mathematical trickery and sleight of hand. Got Cha is a perfect candidate to run for the BOE.

Not much we can do Maria. That 1.8% increase has nothing to do with actual needs... it's a manufactured number and is purposely designed to be less than the magical 2% cap, meaning, as long as it's under the 2% cap, we can't contest it or vote against it. AND don't you just love that new age term they use to soak us; PARAPROFESSIONALS! We used to have just teachers. That wasn't enough so they added teacher aides, then teacher assistants for all those extra classrooms. Now the next new need is Paraprofessionals! Soon we'll need Paraprofessional Assistants and Paraprofessional Aides for the Paraprofessionals, followed soon thereafter by SemiParaprofessionals... who will then require the SemiParaprofessional Assistant to the Paraprofessional, and on and on and on...

Eileen, Teachers are paying almost 40% of their total health care packages... you know like 4 of every 10 dollars. it's a considerable contribution! NO TRICKERY, JUST THE MOST BASIC ARITHMETIC sweetness.

As for your 'further response' to my short post: "all requests for additional monies need to be scrutinized, yes, but lets not invest in rabblerousing or hearsay and instead take our positions based on actual facts..." your paraphrase of my (these)words is misleading Ei; it only admonishes you & your blowhardiness, noone else.

Eileen,
Sit in on a full day of school in the district and see what the paraprofessionals do!!! Too bad they aren't appreciated more!! Check out their salaries; those salaries aren't the "budget busters". Know your facts before you "yap".

Remember that one-on-one is the best student to teacher ratio to absolutely maximize the results of education. Unfortunately, we would not be able to afford this ideal situation and result. So how do we ever catch up to the other industrialized countries that significantly exceed the results of our expensive educational system? I've had my son turned down for an expensive introductory class for West Point Military Academy orientation. When I asked if he could be put in the second class, I was told that that class is only for Chinese nationals because they are so smart. I just could not believe what I was hearing, after paying these high school taxes in Mahwah. .

Regenbogen...Lets not trip over the dollars to pick up the pennies. By that I mean I agree with your comment that; "those salaries aren't the "budget busters". It's the bait and switch like what fooled poster Stacy Fishkin into thinking much of this new budget money goes into maintenance when in fact, none of it does. Get a copy of the budget, add up: Administration Costs, Salaries, Benefits, Pension Plans and Health Insurance and you will freak out. The problem we face now, as I originally posted, was created years ago by the myth of smaller classes = better students. AND, the main reason we now have "PARAprofessionals" is obvious: a new title = a new pay grade. If the starting salary for a PARAprofessional is less than or = to that of a teacher assistant, or that 70% of the school budget is NOT for all intents and purposes "payroll", then you're right, I've been "yapping" and will post no further.

Eileen

Please explain teacher assistant.

Teacher assistant is also referred to as an "instructional aide". I believe there are approximately 55 employed by the BOE.

And...instructional aides are also paraprofessionals.

There are instructional and non instructional paprofessionals. That's it; no teaching assistant or instructional aides. Either position is vital to each and every school in Mahwah. Also, the instructional paraprofessional can perform non-instructional duties.

You gentlemen are not getting it or simply put, you're being snowed under. At one time I read that there were teachers in the classroom teaching, and front office personnel running the adminstrative duties. With the way things are going... and in the not too distant future, there's going to be a teacher monitor monitoring classroom attendence, a teacher teaching, a teacher's tester for testing, a teacher's grader for grading what the teacher taught, and a teacher advocate to caucus with the parents at Parent Teacher's Night.

Andy, Andy, Andy... if our schools aren't being overrun with non-teacher certified administrative personnel, then why does the BOE budget go up MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of DOLLARS ($6M since 2010/11) year after year after year. You tell me Andy, who's living in a fictional universe OR are you saying the majority of this money is going to the teachers? As pointed out to Stacy, none of it, ZERO is going to maintenance so if not there, where Andy? Chalk?

Andy, with all due respect and I mean it, let's put all but one arguments aside. How does the BOE justify an increase of $6M in less than 3 years? How is it that businesses and families and individuals have to do more with less since literally 2009, but EVERY single year the BOE needs more and more, and to add insult to injury they throw in issues like having to take care of maintenance, implying that it's a budgetary issue, when it's actually money coming out of reserves! This BOE and this administration seem to do less with more. Instead of charting half the picture with "Per Pupil Expenditures" I dare someone to chart "Per Teacher Expenditures"
My second major question is: How much does the BOE have in reserves? Now that's a number many of us would love to know.

Andy, Andy, Andy, do you have to be so sensible, objective, and on point?... what about blowhardiness; isn't that impotant somehow?