Long Hill Board of Education Announces New Special Committee

The Long Hill Township Board of Education has formed the Cost Containment Committee, a special  committee composed of 3 Board members (Brendan P. Rae (Chairman), Robert Blocker, and Victor Verlezza), to work with the school administration to find ways to reduce costs and drive short and long term efficiencies in the way it conducts business.   This committee was formed in an effort to address the struggles that the Long Hill Township School District, like most other districts in NJ, are facing given the underfunding of education by the state.  Severe reductions to state aid coupled with a probable mandatory budget cap of 2% will force districts state-wide to grapple long-term with critical issues related to maintaining instructional programs and smaller class sizes in an increasingly more restrictive fiscal environment.

Over the last several years, Long Hill has already had to cut many of the “nice-to-have” elements from its budget, such as:  choral and band programs, athletic programs, school plays and music performances, after-school activity programs, field trips, courtesy busing--just to name a few.  Given the state’s funding direction, along with its lists of mandates, it is clear that the “business as usual approach” will not be sufficient to fund the education system in Long Hill Township at its present level in the coming school years.  Keeping in mind our primary charge to preserve/exceed our current educational standards, the Board of Education realizes that the district must work to find greater efficiencies within the district and seek out more opportunities for shared services.   In concert with this, the Cost Containment Committee will be looking for new “out-of-the-box “ solutions to bridge the funding gap and keep Long Hill’s school system educationally strong.

The committee has set up a special tab (“Cost Containment Committee”) on the left-hand side of the district’s website:  longhill.org.   The committee is asking that all interested members of the community with suggestions and ideas directly related to possible cost savings submit their comments via this vehicle.  All proposals for cost savings, no matter how large or small, will be considered.  The committee will share those suggestions with the Board and follow up on those deemed viable with the administration and other appropriate Board Committees.