By ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Tinton Falls Schol Superintendent Leonard Kelpsh will never call himself a cheap school administrator.
He will, however, gladly offer up an explanation of why his fiscally frugal ways have been criticized in the past, but ended up paying off in the present with a way to keep and enhance academic programs.
The bottom line is that taxpayers ended up with about an 8-cent decrease on their schools tax bills this year while still expanding in areas where we have wanted to expand as well as offering new programs, Kelpsh said. We did what we have always set out to do.
Since his tenure began in the district a few years ago, Kelpsh was unrelenting about maintaining a healthy school budget surplus of more than 6 percent each year, even if it meant doling out buckets full of pink slips as parents and staff members balked.
The world languages program was also tossed aside in previous years for elementary students because Kelpsh felt that the minimum the district could afford at the time was not enough to make an academic difference.
The superintendent insisted he was doing the wise thing by keeping savings at a height and holding the line on spending for a rainy day.
That rainy day came and things are different now.
When the state told schools last budget season to lower their surplus to 2.5 percent, Kelpsh was well prepared to give back to the taxpayers and start students off with new programs to boot.
He still worries that the drain of the surplus will end up hurting districts in the end. But the up side of the situation for this district is that, for at least a year, because of the healthy surplus in the Tinton Falls pot, taxpayers got money back about 8 cents per $100 of assessed property value and students were treated to new programs and extensions of pilot programs at no extra cost.
The $24,607,504 budget with a tax levy of $15,618,289, put the 8 cents per $100 of assessed property value back in taxpayers pockets this year by lowering the total schools tax rate from $1.498 per $100 to $1.418.
In the end, I still dont think it was wise for the state to cut its mandate on budget surplus down to 2.5 percent of the budget, Kelpsh said. But, since we held the line at about 6 percent for years, we were prepared for the change with some bonuses. Were off to a great start this year with new and expanded pilot programs in place.
One of those innovations is the expansion of the districts kindergarten Montessori program to the first grade as well.
There are now two Montessori classes: the original one we had in place in kindergarten, and now the one in first grade, Kelpsh said. Each is comprised of about 20 students. In the instance of the first grade class, we just took a regular first grade class and made it a Montessori class. Its going extremely well. The parents are very pleased with the results and the kids love it.
Another beneficial no-cost expansion was that of looping.
The concept is a simple one which doesnt cost the district a dime.
With this, the childs kindergarten teacher stays with that student in first grade as well, or two years, Kelpsh said. Its terrific for kids at a young age. They need that stability and end up benefiting from it.
In addition to the fact that the world languages program has been expanded to include all students from kindergarten through fifth grade as well as middle school, there is another pilot program under way at the grade K-3 Mahala F. Atchison School on Sycamore Avenue.
With this program every student is taught keyboarding as part of the elementary music program. Each has a keyboard which is connected to a computer program as the teacher teaches.
The distinct benefit of this is that we feel there is a direct correlation between music and spatial relations in logic, Kelpsh said. It also instills better motor skills and enhances math skills in the end while teaching kids music appreciation and how to play an instrument.
This program costs $5,000 for the keyboards and computer software and all was funded by a state grant, Kelpsh said.
And to start off the year right, Kelpsh said he was also especially proud of a new concept of bringing students in to meet with their teachers before the year started to get acquainted and set goals.
The two days before classes started, parents and students had the option of coming in for a 15 minute conference during which the parents could brief teachers on students strengths, weaknesses and personality traits, he added. Then an annual goal was set for each student. We called it establishing an ILP (Individual Learning Profile). The attendance was about 70 percent and, I think the benefit has proven very successful.
It all amounts to a good start as the result of budgeting tactics that paid off, Kelpsh said.
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