All's quiet as voters are asked opinions

School district to residents: Tell us about your budget concerns, By Jennifer Knocha Vernon — The Vernon Township School District is making an effort to make the budget process more accessible to the public, but the public isn’t necessarily taking advantage of the opportunity. On Jan. 31, Superintendent Dr. John Alfieri announced on the district’s Web site that an e-mail address, thebudget@vtsd.com, had been established to allow residents to have some input into the process of developing the district’s approximately $70 million budget. “A budget should be an apt reflection of the goals and objectives of a school district with the realization that we are in unprecedented financial times — we have to balance that reality with the reality that we service over 4,000 students each day. We offer you, the members of this community, an opportunity to be a part of the process,” he said. No one’s writing Unfortunately, according to Business Administrator Steven Kepnes, “I don’t think we’ve gotten even one response.” Alfieri thinks that the effort is being noticed, however. “There have not been many tangible responses, but there have been a lot of expressions of gratitude for making the process more open and accessible,” he said at last week’s board meeting. The other large topic of concern for the budget was the cut in state aid. The district received notification from the state that due to New Jersey’s fiscal crisis, Vernon Township could stand to lose as much as 15 percent of its state aid next year. According to Alfieri, this could mean a cut of up to $5 million for next year’s budget. In an attempt to fight off these cuts, the district is asking that residents contact their elected representatives to try to protect the state aid. “Voice your disapproval!” said Board member Edward DeYoung. He went on to say that if these severe cuts take place, it could lead to skyrocketing class sizes, loss of staff and cuts in programs, a prospect that Alfieri underscored in his letter to the public, put out on Feb. 22. “However, when a school district is looking at this magnitude of financial impact, the end result could be significant. The very last thing that this superintendent wants to do is cut people or programs; with a reduction of this amount of funding, it would be impossible that the aforementioned not take place.”