Final Bloomfield School Budget Presentation Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Bloomfield School Board will discuss the 2013-2014 schools budget for the last time before submitting it to Essex County.

The budget has been passionately discussed and debated since late February, when the School Board voted down an “Armageddon” budget that would have entailed the loss of 100 school staff members in an 8-1 vote. 

The budget passed by a divided school board at their special meeting on Tuesday, March 5, didn't cut as many staff as the rejected initial budget. Still, it entailed the loss of 86 teaching jobs for the district, as well as between four and five secretaries and two to four members of the administrative staff.

Members of the teachers union the Bloomfield Education Associates and their supporters were alarmed by the number of teaching jobs slated for the chopping block. They showed up in force at a March 12 special meeting to count down 86 one by one in an illustration of what the district stood to lose. 

Following the countdown, Superintendent Jason Bing addressed concerns and questions about the budget crunch in a Power Point presentation that relied extensively on comments from Bloomfield Patch in front of an auditorium packed with teachers and parents on Tuesday night.

Upon hearing details of plans for schools that called for larger elementary school classes, parents staged a mock 30 student classroom at Franklin to illustrate the potential overcrowded conditions. Parents also shared their concerns about the budget in a number of letters to the editor published on Patch. 

After another emergency meeting, the number of Bloomfield School employees facing layoffs was reduced. 

As parents learned at a meeting on March 19, the lower staff reduction came at the expense of extracurricular activities and sports programs. In addition, nursing and the child study team jobs would be outsourced, to the dismay of several parents and teachers. 

The meeting will again be held at the Bloomfield High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The agenda, which includes information on the school budget, is online here.