P'burg proposal calls for dropping 60 jobs District's budget shortfall means every department will be affected, school board president warns. Saturday, March 15, 2008 • By ANDREA EILENBERGER • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | Sixty Phillipsburg School District jobs, mostly teaching positions, would be eliminated under a proposed budget that tries to bridge a painful financial gap. School officials and administrators continue exploring their options, hoping to find a way to minimize spending cuts while balancing a budget that initially had a $10 million shortfall. While the $59.6 million budget could change before the March 25 public hearing, one thing is certain. "Every department in the district is going to be affected by this budget," board President Paul Rummerfield said. Financial hurdles the district must clear include a more than $3 million hike in fixed costs such as employees' contracted salaries and benefits, pension contributions, utilities, insurance premiums, out-of-district tuition and facilities maintenance, a budget document states. The district was already $2.2 million short because it used that amount from surplus to sustain programs in the 2007-08 school year. The district is receiving a 2 percent increase in state aid; the hike is the lowest amount under the state's new formula. A budget document sent to the state in February and obtained by The Express-Times through the Open Public Records Act shows that the equivalent of 42.5 teaching positions would be eliminated. Two other full-time positions under the category of principals/assistant principals also are targeted for elimination. The remaining potential reductions affect support, professional, classroom aides and operations and maintenance positions. Textbooks, supplies, field trips, professional development, athletic and co-curricular programs are other areas slated for reductions. Overall the potential staffing changes would save the district at least $4.2 million, Business Administrator Bill Poch said. He said some vacancies created by retiring employees won't be filled. Salaries and benefits typically comprise about 75 percent of the district's budget. Reducing the staff will mean some internal shuffling and shifting of some responsibilities. "It may be that certain job functions are going to be consolidated, condensed and people are going to have to do more with less," Rummerfield said. He said that would likely be true mostly for administrators. "This budget and finance committee has actually been looking at ways to, even with the cuts, to enhance the quality of education," he said. Acting Superintendent George Chando expressed similar sentiments. He also mentioned ways the district could save money by looking internally when it comes to professional development areas such as seminars or workshops. Rummerfield said the district's Abbott status, which it shared with 30 other urban New Jersey districts, had afforded it some benefits that the district must now learn to live without. The designation stems from court cases that essentially forced the state to provide supplemental funding to needy districts, bringing them up to par with others. "Based on the advice of counsel, the Board believes that the elimination and/or reductions of positions, services and programs in the enclosed budget -- and the lack of any right to appeal the budget eliminations and reductions -- violate existing New Jersey Supreme Court constitutional mandates established in the Abbott decisions," Chando wrote in a letter submitted to the state with the proposed budget. The district sought to exceed the state's mandated general fund tax levy cap by 4 percent. Poch said he was told that request was approved with one minimal change. Reporter Andrea Eilenberger can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at aeilenberger@express-times.com.