An Open Letter to the Community From School Superintendent Jim O'Neill

Open Letter to the Community:

In the midst of this terrible economy, while Gov. Christie engages in a struggle with the state teachers association, the school district had to construct a budget that we believe will both meet the needs of our growing student population and respect the heavy tax burden that falls to Chatham residents. You will receive a newsletter with details prior to the school budget vote April 20, but I felt it important to share some concerns and information. It would be unfortunate if the open hostility that has characterized the Governor's relationship with the NJEA unfairly overshadowed the local realities of public education in Chatham and, as in the past, I want to provide you with an opportunity to call or write with your comments, suggestions or questions at joneill@chatham-nj.org.         

 You may already know some simple truths; the School District of the Chathams is consistently among the top performing districts in New Jersey. Our students do well by every standardized measure, and our graduates report how well prepared they are for college. Additionally, our students benefit from a wide variety of extracurricular activities that are supported by both the district and parents who give unstintingly of their time and energy. Our performing arts program is exemplary, and our high school interscholastic program involves many hundreds of students who represent the school district, their families and the community extremely well. 

As the board and the administration embarked on the task of constructing the budget for the 2010-11 school year, we faced many challenges but we had a plan to manage them with a minimal tax impact. When the state cut our aid by $2.6 million, we found the task impossible unless we decimated the program. We revisited well thought out decisions and made further cuts and reductions amounting to $751,000. The loss of this aid coupled with our enrollment growth and the reduction of staff last year made it impossible to create a budget that did not include a tax increase greater than we had hoped.  

Chatham residents have been very supportive of our schools and the resources necessary to run them. You should know that in spite of our consistently high performance, we spend about $1400 less than the state average per pupil; our administrative cost is $400 below the allowed amount per child; our enrollment growth is the highest in the county; our student performance in academics, the arts and athletics is exemplary.

Last year in the face of the economic downturn the school district cut $800,000 in staff from our budget, but by September 2009 we had 180 more students enrolled than the previous year. We have added staff carefully and cautiously. While many districts in New Jersey and the nation have started to experience a decline in student enrollment, we continue to grow. We have oversubscribed classes at every grade level. Currently at Chatham High School alone, we have 54 classes which have between 25 and 28 students. We anticipate our growth will not be as great next year, but nevertheless, this district, which had about 2,700 students in 1998, will have 4,000 students in September 2010. The harsh and accusatory tone of public discourse would lead most residents to think there are far more administrators than needed in all school districts. That is not the case in Chatham. In fact, beginning July 1, 2010, we will have the same number of administrators and supervisors that we had in 1994 when there were almost 1,900 fewer students.

No one doubts that Governor Christie inherited a staggering fiscal problem that could not be ignored; however, there is great disappointment in the solution he chose to implement. All school districts were treated the same whether they were: high performing/low performing; growing enrollment/declining enrollment; spending well under the state average per pupil or spending thousands of dollars over the state average. Additionally, districts that send tens of millions of dollars in income tax to Trenton every year had their aid reduced by 80 to 100 percent and the burden of supporting their own schools rose from 85 to 95 percent up to 95 and 100 percent. For Chatham this means that we were scheduled to get just less than $3 million in state aid for the approximately $60 million that Chatham residents sent to Trenton through income taxes, we will now get about 1 percent or less than $600,000.  It could easily be argued that districts were penalized for being prudent in the past.

I encourage you to look at some comparative data (test scores/property taxes/cost per pupil)  that is in the power point presentation on the district Web site and I encourage you to consider the benefit that this community has received from having a school district that is recognized state wide as excellent.  The property tax on an average home assessed at $700,000 is estimated to rise by $192 in the borough and by $129 in the township. 

Thank you for your time.  

JIM O'NEILL, Superintendent

School District of the Chathams

973-457-2520

joneill@chatham-nj.org