Warren, Hunterdon county school districts among those enacting partial pay freezes

Wednesday, April 07, 2010
By STEPHEN J. NOVAK AND SARAH M. WOJCIK
The Express-Times

Nineteen out of 54 school districts in Warren and Hunterdon counties have in some way answered Gov. Chris Christie's call for employee pay freezes, officials said Tuesday.

More are invited to join: The governor extended the deadline on his offer to provide more state aid to those districts where teachers take a pay freeze.

Districts will be eligible for the extra money until June 30, when the state budget must be passed.

The governor's office Tuesday announced 115 out of about 600 districts in New Jersey agreed to wage freezes or reductions for administrators, teachers or support staff.

Hunterdon Central Regional High School was the only district in Warren and Hunterdon counties where the administration, teachers and support staff all agreed to a pay freeze.

Superintendent Lisa Brady said the district had been looking into the strategy since last month to help cope with a 45 percent reduction in state aid.

Christie applauded districts that found a way to strike a balance between compensation and sacrifice. But in a statement, he slammed teachers unions, of which only 16 in the 115 districts agreed to wage freezes or reductions.

"Unfortunately, these figures illustrate the obvious: that the teachers unions overwhelmingly believe everyone else should share in the sacrifice, but they alone should be held harmless in the middle of this fiscal crisis," Christie stated.

Steve Baker, spokesman of the New Jersey Education Association, said a freeze "becomes a significant blow" for an entry-level teacher compared to an administrator.

Coping with aid cut

Hunterdon Central Regional High School faced a roughly $3.3 million loss in state aid, meaning the potential loss of about 28 staff, said Brady, the superintendent. By freezing salaries across the board, the district can recoup $967,000 and save about 16 positions formerly on the chopping block.

"Our motivating factor ... was to save as many positions of our colleagues as we could," Brady said.

In the Holland Township School District, only the superintendent, principal, business administrator and supervisor of special services are taking the freeze, according to Superintendent Emil Suarez. That saves about $17,000 -- not enough to salvage even one of the 10 positions slashed in the school budget, he said.

"But it just helps us keep other programs in the budget," Suarez said. "It's just $17,000 of other cuts we didn't have to make."

Delaware Valley Regional High School Superintendent Elizabeth Nastus hopes that with the majority of administration agreeing to a pay freeze, anywhere from $25,000 to $30,000 can be recouped.

'Almost a no-brainer'

In Hackettstown, Superintendent Bob Gratz said at the district's budget hearing that all administrators there had volunteered to take a wage freeze for 2010-11.

Discussions began before Christie's monetary offer to schools where teachers took such action, Gratz said.

"It was almost a no-brainer that this would be an appropriate time to make this move," he said.

Teachers in the Hackettstown district are discussing the option, officials said. Gratz said if the educators were to take a salary freeze, the district may be able to save six to seven teaching positions now proposed to be cut. The $28.5 million budget goes to voters April 20.

North Warren Regional High School's budget $16.2 million budget is being reduced more than $1 million from the previous year, but without any staff cuts. However, Superintendent Brian Fogelson and two other administrators volunteered to freeze their salaries.

"I did it because it's the right thing to do," said Fogelson, who is foregoing what would have been a 3 percent raise on his $152,700 salary. "Every penny is counting. It all helps."

North Warren teachers are discussing the option, he said.

Mansfield Township's school district faces significant cuts in its proposed budget. At least one teacher would be eliminated, eight others could be reduced to part time and after-school programs and summer recreation program stand to be completely eliminated.

Administrators and secretaries there have already agreed to freezes, and the district could save up to $37,000, said Superintendent Ed Kemp.

"I figure that leadership has to start at the top," Kemp said. The township teachers union has been "very cooperative" in past budget seasons, and has signaled that it is willing to consider all options to reduce the budget impact, he said.