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Schools

Managing Maintenance in the School District

In the Board of Education's monthly column, member Mike Sockol describes how maintenance and repairs are handled.

I’m sure you have heard the old cliché about the cobbler whose children run around barefoot, because he’s too busy making shoes for everyone else. But one day, the community was amazed to see the cobbler’s children wearing shiny new shoes, even though their father seemed as busy as ever.

“Where did you find the time to make your children’s shoes?” they asked. 

The cobbler smiled.  “I didn’t.  I dipped into my ‘rainy day’ fund, and we went to Sears.” 

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School districts face a similar dilemma. Even before the state restricted school boards from raising property taxes by more than two percent per year, money has always been hard to find for maintenance and repair. If we relied simply upon our annual tax levy and tried to be disciplined about funding for deferred maintenance, the financial pressures to meet immediate educational expenses would win out almost every time despite our best efforts.

Eventually, maintenance needs cannot be ignored, and usually, a district issues a bond referendum to raise the money.  

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Holmdel’s school district has taken a different approach in recent years. With state and federal funding on the decline, we don’t rely upon from this revenue stream as a major source for our daily operational needs. Local levies currently fund 93 percent of our budget, which means we have greater flexibility to use unexpected state or federal aid towards maintenance and repairs when it does come our way. 

Through careful planning and a meticulous attention to detail, our administrative team has managed to shrink the overall expense of running our school district.  For instance, our highly successful energy conservation program has reduced costs by roughly 50 percent in two years.  Our plans to relocate our central offices into the Village School will be funded by the money we currently pay as rent and maintenance to the Township, and these dollars will now be redirected to other needs when the project is completed. 

Teachers have embraced our need for frugality, and our recent employee contracts reflect a willingness to negotiate within the restrictions of a world dictated by a two percent cap.

We also often identify opportunities for shared services with the Township. For instance, by collectively participating in a recent construction bid, we shaved hundreds of thousands of dollars off the cost of our plans to repair the parking lot at the High School and Satz complex.

And let us not forget the generous support we receive from parent and community groups, such as the Holmdel Foundation for Educational Excellence or our local sports booster clubs. They have tirelessly raised money over the years to fund various infrastructure needs, from bathrooms at Roggy Field to our new World Language lab, which opened for business last year.

Every little bit helps, and by reducing operating costs, identifying new sources of revenue, and allocating state and federal funding into one-time projects, we can establish a maintenance reserve as our own “rainy day” account.  In fact, we have managed to invest roughly $2.5 million into our facilities over the last five years without borrowing money through a bond issue. All of our schools have directly benefited from these projects, and besides those already mentioned, they range from new doors and classroom renovations to roof repairs and improvements to our climate control systems and tennis courts.

In sum, prudent management, creative initiatives, and community involvement allow us to set aside money to pursue planned repairs and address the unexpected (such as last year’s exterior brick face repairs at the Village school). This effective and thoughtful approach is absolutely necessary, because in the end, maintenance and repair is something we can’t just “shoo-away.”

On behalf of my Board colleagues,

Mike Sockol

Chairman, Budget and Finance Committee

 

 

There are two easy ways to stay informed of district/schools happenings. Please visit the district website at www.holmdelschools.org for event updates, school announcements, district progress reports, board meeting information, and much more. You can also subscribe to our E-Alert at http://www.holmdel.k12.nj.us/home/joinlist.shtm to receive email alerts on your choice of topics, such as school security alerts, committee notes, parent support group minutes, the district calendar, career opportunities, and school lunch menus.

 

 

 

 

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