Schools

Bridgewater-Raritan District Aims High Despite Cuts

District is looking for ways to maintain its standards of excellence.

With budget cuts eliminating programs and staff positions across the Bridgewater-Raritan School district, Superintendent Michael Schilder said the main goal for the coming year is to keep academic quality high.

"We will do everything in our power to make sure that student achievement doesn't suffer," he said. "The first priority is to make all the adjustments necessary."

In Bridgewater, the $129,426,881 budget that had been proposed by the board of education was defeated by residents in the April school board vote. 

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The initial budget included a reduction of 63 teachers, a loss of five administrators, a reduction of 24 support staffers, a decision to outsource custodial services, the elimination of school-wide enrichment in grades kindergarten through six, the elimination of Spanish instruction in first and second grades and many other cuts to services.

The budget also accounted for a 55 percent loss in state aid compared to the previous year, or a total of $10.8 million. Because of this, the district was required to use surplus for the current year, and reduce the budget by a total of $9 million, district officials said.

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After the budget failed, the Bridgewater Township Council, in collaboration with the district, cut an additional about $1 million, lowering it to a total of $128,639,881, and prompting even further staff reductions.

In terms of money to be raised through the local tax levy, the budget was lowered from $119,016,825 to $117,979,825.

Aside from ensuring for the quality of student achievement, Schilder said, his other priorities for the year are making sure the district sees a smooth transition to an outsourced custodial program, and emphasizing to the district that the schools are entering a new era of fiscal conservatism.

"It will be in how we formulate the budget, and how we spend money," he said. "That has to permeate our thinking, and go out to every administrator and teacher. We do think our budget woes will continue, but we have to do more with less."           

The final priority as the summer is half over, Schilder said, is to find opportunities for improvement despite the budget crisis.

"It is so easy to say 'woe is me,'" he said. "But it is harder to look objectively at the situation and find opportunities. I think that should be done, and can."

For Schilder, this is a time for making changes that will allow the schools to operate within their new means, while not diminishing the opportunities for students to excel, he said.

"We can still improve even though there are massive losses," he said. "We don't have anything definitive yet, but we are working on them."

One of the greatest losses throughout the district for the coming year has been the elimination of school enrichment for all kindergarten through grade four schools. In addition, Schilder said, the district eliminated extracurricular activities at Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School, but not the sports.

Bridgewater-Raritan High School, Schilder said, did not lose any of its extra activities and organizations.

But this means the district will have to look at other options for its students.

"We have to find alternatives to enrich the students in different ways," Schilder said. "We look at if there are other opportunities to deliver things differently. Hopefully the model we come up with will be strong, if not stronger, than before."

Some possibilities, Schilder said, include looking into pay-to-play activities (a policy was recently adopted by the board of education), or leaning on parent-teacher organizations to run some extracurriculars or raise money to fund them.

Schilder said that while trying to find ways of saving money, the district still expects to attract high-quality staff members.

"We have a good solid staff," he said. "We are still able to attract a high-quality staff, and that works in our benefit. That core we'll rely on."

And relying on that while offering the best, Schilder said, requires accepting the situation the district is in and moving forward.

"We want to look forward," he said. "We will have to do more with less."


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