Friday, June 24, 2011

UNofficially Winslow Receives E-mail

From: Ellery Karl
Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: For Posting on UNofficially Winslow
To: UNofficially Winslow

Dear UNofficially Winslow,

I would have sent this message sooner but I was going to wait for the next Winslow Township School Board meeting and make the comments there. The more I thought about it, though, the more outraged I became. Let me explain.

On June 15, 2011, the Winslow Township Board of Education had a meeting that began with honoring of the retiring teachers at 5:00 and continued with the Public meeting at 7:00. Just before the Board members adjourned to Executive session, one board member (Mr. Mark Benjamin) made a comment during the “new business” portion of the agenda which upset me immensely.

Mr. Benjamin stated that he was filing ethics charges against board members for pursuing the hiring of a company and that he did not want his name associated with a board that did this as it would negatively affect his political career.

The part that really disturbed me was that he was thinking of his “political” career. I am now embarrassed that I voted for Mr. Benjamin in the elections to become a board member. I was under the impression that it was for the students and the community of Winslow Township. I did not realize that Mr. Benjamin was using this position as a stepping stone to other political aspirations.

Ellery Karl Winslow Taxpayer since 1982

Click here to view previous e-mails sent to UNofficially Winslow concerning Winslow Township School District and B.O.E.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

UNofficially Winslow Receives E-mail


BELOW IS AN E-MAIL AND DATA RECEIVED BY UNOFFICIALLY WINSLOW. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DATA MAY BE DIRECTED TO THE AUTHOR.


----- Original Message -----
From: Gail Peirson
To: UNofficially Winslow
Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: school board budget

TO: UNofficially Winslow

I have been perusing the school budget and have been quite disturbed about the cost of salaries and benefits for school administrators. Their own budget says their ratio is 40% benefits above salary. That is huge. And the national average by the labor statistics is 20 - 30%. Also these folks can "buy back" unused vacation and sick days to an extent. This seems to mean they get paid for working and then get paid again for not taking the days allotted to them. Vacation should always be taken, its good for you. I really object to the stats below.

In general it seems our ratio of "instruction costs" is significantly lower than the administrative and services costs, compared to other districts. Why is this?

Finally the arrangement of the budget available to us is very poor, it takes hours to figure out what it really says. I'd sure like to see something clearer.

We have to address some of these issues. Please come out to the school board meetings to hear what they say and to get questions answered like:

* what is being taught about the Constitution and our govt'
* what is in the history books about our founding fathers
* what is being taught directly or indirectly about the political scene and the political parties?
* what is being taught about the homosexual agenda
* what is being taught about the religions?

These issues are very scary in some school districts around the country, I think we should know the curriculum. Some schools are being taught little about our history and the Constitution. Some are being taught nothing about the role of the Christian faith in our history. Some are being "brainwashed" about political issues. Many schools are teaching homosexuality as "an alternative lifestyle". It seems the Muslim faith and Buddhism are receiving attention, whereas the Christian faith is being banned.

Help us in finding out what matters to you.

Gail Peirson
Sicklerville




WINSLOW SCHOOL BUDGET ISSUES

STATS - pupils on roll total = 5,654 + 500 others district responsible for

Number of teachers 509.

Salary range (5th. highest in the nation) – average being $49,700.

Teacher to student ratio 1:12

NJ $ amount spend per student $13,600.

Amount spent salary & curriculum $9,400. per student
Administrators = 21
Teacher aides = 155 Coordinators 8
Spec Ed day school = 49 students 19 teachers
Total revenues from all sources 2009 = $100,602,423.
2010 = $100,240,485.
2011 est = $97,959,328. this of course = total expenditures

2011 est revenue sources.

Taxes – local = $43,168,135. est + $1,715,278.
State $ 50,612,488. + 363,324.
Federal $ 6,500,000.
Preschool aid $1,644,274 # students ? (State$)
Cost of instruction K – 12 $49,181,000. ( $32,951,000. for teacher/aide salaries)

Teacher salaries national average for 2009 $49,700. to $61830

NJ Average $61,830.
New York average $66,760.
Delaware average $52,957.
Winslow average $64,736.


Cost of Benefits $20,592,000 “employee benefits as a % of salaries = 40.2 %”

Teacher and administrative benefits in New Jersey.
Total State salaries $8,661,066,891.
Total State benefits $4,279,503,333. (OVER 49%)


U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Average benefit rate 20-30%

Includes:
Retirement 3.4%
Vacation & PTO 7%
Health Care 8%


Winslow:
Classroom salaries and benefits $7485. per student.
Special education cost $586,000.
Special note: Special day school 49 students and 19 teachers.
School sponsored activities and athletics $ 959,075.
Transfer of funds to charter schools $3,418,498.

Non-educational costs:
All support costs (not direct instruction costs) $28,031,000.

General administration $1,255,195.
School Administration $ 3,213,174.
Administration salaries and benefits $1008. per student.
Total administrative costs $1349. per student.
Central services and administration info technology. $2,065,330.

Social work ,health, speech, OT, PT, related services $4,650,311.
includes $1,274,044. for Guidance.
Child Study Teams $2,342,523.

Improvement of instructional services $ 531,705.
Instructional staff training services $165,650.


Building services:

Operation and maintenance of plant services $ 5,272,101.
Capital expenditures $48,593.
Total operations and plant maintenance $1,018. per student + $462. salaries.
Support services, support salaries and benefits $1,739. per student
Buses service $6,458,304.
Repayment of debt 2011 $3,263,196.

Examples of certain administrative salaries:
District superintendent - Poteet
FTE – 240 days a year,
25 vacation days ,15 sick days, 3 personal days
Annual salary $170,775. ( This = $711./day---Note: Gov. Christie makes $175,000.)
Allowance $4,021.
Health and other benefits for teachers benefit amounts (40 – 49% above salary)
Other remuneration and buyback of sick days, vacation days, personal days, annually $16,240.
Retirement buy back 100% of vacation days.

NOTE: If there are 21 administrative staff people and they can each buy back 10 vacation days a year at their daily rate and we average that rate at $500., the annual amount we owe these 21 people is $105,000. And that is just for their vacation day buy back, which they should have to take because it is what is good for them (and thereby the students) and which they were already paid for on those days they worked instead of taking vacation.

Carcamo - Asst. Supt. $156,375. ( 663/day) + $ 2,869. and buy backs $6,014. 236 work days ,25 vacation days, and 12 sick days.


Garcia -Business Administrator $156,375. + $1,140. + buy backs + $6,014. 236 work days, 20 vacation, 12 sick .


Moore - Coordinator/Dir/Mgr/Supvr. $120,000. + benefits $236 20 vacation, 12 sick.