Questions on the 2024-25 BHPSNJ Budget & Quick Note on “Special Interests” & “Echo Chambers” (lol)
Email Sent to Finance Chair Dipti Khanna and Mr. Nixon:
$56k increase on security (from 204k to 261k)- what security events have caused us to increase our spending in this area to a quarter of a million? Again this is a lot of money for a District that is in a very safe community.
$116k [corrected] in athletics; we already spend more per pupil than other Districts in this area – this seems rather extraordinary given other needs.
Is this connected to the Athletic Director position? Is this a new position? If it is a new position what is the justification for this position?
For Building & Grounds: 14k increase in umbrella insurance- did something happen? why did this go up so much?
161k increase in transportation – is this related to the salary increase that was approved or something different?
Learning Language at a 99k reduction- why? the line connected to CMS appears blank.
Facilities- is this just not filled in?
The budget passed without change to these items despite NJ21st’s (fomerly BHCW’s) apparently “enormous influence” over four of the BOE Members who approved it.
By the way – in the next couple of weeks I’ll be putting out an article on who the real special interests in town are, their exclusive club meetings and Facebook groups, their voting records (like how many times have Representatives funded by them voted in opposition to one another) and the amount of money each has put into getting candidates elected and then compare that to the four BOE members everyone is accusing of being run by “special interests” or existing in an “echo chamber”.
Spoiler alert- the four BOE Members accused of being in an Echo Chamber (that our publication supposedly controls) have already voted against each other more times in five months than Council Members or prior Boards have in probably the last three years. This includes one very vocal former BOE Member who promised not to vote for a former BOE member for Board President but then turned around and did exactly that.
I am super excited that the discussion on “special interests” have come up on social media outlets and BOE Meetings – it really is a conversation we should have as a community.
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