Letter: Marple Newtown School Board Members Respond to PTO Concerns

We appreciate the interest that parents take in our schools and welcome parent and community involvement.  However, it is critical that our dialogue be based on accurate information.  

During the public budget committee meeting on June 10, the district’s business administrator presented a $72,900,000 spending plan for 2014-2015 that contemplated a 0.88% tax increase in order to close a projected $500,000 shortfall.  The Board then discussed the one-time earmarking of a relatively small amount of fund balance to avoid a tax increase, particularly in light of the likelihood that this shortfall will be recovered before any fund balance is actually used.  At that meeting, a member of the public spoke in favor of utilizing fund balance as such.  No one else from the public offered comment.  

This Board has made student achievement a priority, and we continue to do so in the proposed budget.  There are no cuts to programs – no cuts to libraries, music or arts, athletics or any other programmatic areas – proposed in order to balance this budget.  

To the contrary, the proposed budget adds back a .5 math teacher at the high school, as well as a full-time Wilson-trained reading teacher at the elementary level, an autistic support teacher and a special education assistant at the middle school.  It also includes a new pupil services assistant, aimed at increasing revenue through recoupment of federal medical ACCESS funds.  

Sensitive to the issue of class size, over the past year the Board has already added two teachers to reduce elementary class sizes, and those additions remain in the proposed budget for next year.  The new math specialist similarly will alleviate algebra class sizes at the high school.  This past year the Board also added back intramural sports at the middle school.  Contrary to the suggestion in the open letter, the district already has theme editors at the high school, which are not reduced or eliminated in the proposed 2014-2015 budget.  

In the areas of curriculum and technology, the proposed budget provides for significant expenditures, including $570,000 in new textbook adoptions that include software, a pilot project with 150 tablets for certain high school classrooms, a recently purchased 3-D printer at the high school, and an increased number of laptops at the elementary level (reducing the student-laptop ratio in those classes from 3-1 to 2-1).  Over the past year, the Board also authorized certain tech infrastructure upgrades, 14 new smartboards, a laser engraver, CNC machine upgrades at the high school, Labvolt software upgrades for the middle school Tech Ed program, and a complete replacement of the district-wide wireless network.  The district has already begun to act on certain recommendations made by the recently-convened technology committee, which committee will continue to evaluate technological needs to ensure progress in this area.  

This Board has also put considerable focus on the district’s capital needs, developing a multi-phase capital projects plan and progressing with phase one currently – including HVAC controls upgrades, AC compressor replacements, repairs to Loomis’ exterior walls, PA systems upgrades, addition of emergency generators, several other security upgrades, roof and floor replacement at the Gauntlett center, renovation of deteriorating tennis courts at the high school and paving of the driveway / parking lot at Paxon Hollow.  The Board invited and accounted for public input in the development of this long-term plan, which is publicly available on the district’s website.  

Through careful management over the past few years, the district has amassed approximately $5,000,000 in a capital reserve fund (in addition to the amount held in unreserved fund balance, which itself is approaching the maximum capacity allowed by law) to begin funding these projects.  At the same time, we are fortunate to see increasing revenue from new sources such as development in both townships.  Taxing residents further now – not to pay for tangible projects but simply to add more to the district’s “savings account” – is neither prudent nor fair to taxpayers.  

The Board has been elected by the community to represent all of its residents in a way that balances the often competing need to provide a high quality education with the need to be fair to taxpayers who have been hit hard by a difficult economy in recent years.  We have seen dramatic improvements in facilities and achievement, particularly at the high school.  The additions in the proposed budget for next year, including the math and reading specialists, aim not just to maintain but improve student achievement further, based on recommendations from the district’s administrators.  But it is dangerous to assume that a quality educational program can never be attained without annual tax increases as a matter of course.  

As many know, just this past month, our high school and Worrall elementary school received the Governor’s Award for Excellence, and other district schools have also received accolades (such as Loomis’ Exemplary Reading Program Award).  The proposed 2014-2015 budget contemplates a $2.5 million increase in spending over last year’s final budget – but it does so without a corresponding need to increase taxes.  Simply put, this Board has demonstrated that conservative fiscal management does not equate to lesser academic standards.  

Kathryn Chandless

Leonard B. Altieri, III

Robert Sack

A.J. Baker

Barbara Harvey

Matthew A. DeNucci, IV

Sherry-Lee McAuliffe