Millstone schools likely to start charging for use

MILLSTONE — Resident Ramon Recalde has predicted that residents will turn out in droves to the June 8 Board of Education meeting for the vote on a $10-per-hour facility-use fee for all organizations using the schools for their activities.

Recalde, one of the few residents who regularly attends board meetings, alleged at the May 26 meeting that people in Millstone care more about sports than academics.

"Prove me wrong," he said. "People have reached the point of mediocrity in Millstone and are happy with what they have."

Referring to voters turning down the school district's proposed budgets four years in a row, Recalde said, "The thirst for knowledge should never end. We don't have that in Millstone."

Due to the failure of the proposed budget at the polls in the April election, the school district had to cut $1.1 million in programs and services for the 2009-10 school year. Voters defeated the proposed $32.8 million spending plan in a vote of 691-413.

Recalde alleged that residents would rather see cuts in math, teachers and other academic items than in sports. Board President Tom Foley, who has coached sports for many years, agreed with Recalde and said people in the community seem to be more passionate about sports than academics.

While the board floated the idea of a facility use fee last year it did not enact one. The board said it has no choice but to do so this year.

When the idea was broached last year, civic groups such as the Boy and Girl Scouts were exempted from having to pay the fee. This year, the board has decided that all groups would have to pay. If passed, the fees will commence July 1, according to Business Administrator Bernard Biesaida.

Biesaida reported that the school facilities were used for a total of 9,504 hours by outside organizations last year.

Board member Amy Jacobson warned that many groups could not afford the fees and would go elsewhere.

Vice President Margaret Gordon said, "We got hit hard. $1.1 million is the largest cut the township has ever given. We can't start making exceptions because they will leave."

Foley said the community has not supported the schools for many years, and the district has reached a breaking point.

"I'm not quite sure the board should be concerned about where [these groups] all go," he said, adding that if the schools' doors close, energy use goes down.

When asked about the before- and afterschool care programs run by the YMCA, Superintendent Mary Anne Donahue said the YMCA would either pass the additional costs along to the students or no longer continue the programs.

Recalde said the Township Committee made a hard but correct decision in passing a resolution to have the school district cut $1.1 million from the proposed budget.

"It's tough medicine," he said. "If voters are unwilling to do their homework and be informed you have to make the decision."

Township Committeeman Fiore Masci, liaison to the Board of Education, said the committee's decision to make such a massive cut was the best medicine it could have administered for all.

"The way schools are funded is not fair," he said. "It is not a level playing field. Some districts pay very little. Others, like ours, are a burden on our local taxpayers."

Recalde said the board should not feel guilty.

"We're all struggling," he said. "At the end of the day, it's the residents who benefit from the school system, and they can't see it."

He added that the board has done enough covering up and patching holes, and has to let township residents see how bad the financial situation is.

"People think everything is fine and that the schools have too much money," he said.