Response from District on Budget Survey Concerns

BHPSNJ Budget

Dipti Khanna, BOE Finance Chair and BHPSNJ Superintendent Dr. Feltre responded to our concerns regarding the BHPSNJ Budget Survey.

Initial Email:

Hi Dipti,
I have concerns about the budget survey going out during winter break; prior to the new superintendent taking office and prior to this year’s Audit being publicly presented.  This is such a strange decision.  Can you provide insight as to how this happened?
Ms. Khanna’s Response:

Hi John – Happy New Year. We discussed this briefly in the December meeting and the last Finance committee meeting. The administration was planning on sending out a survey to get inputs as they were continuing to work through the budget process. I think you raise a fair point about the timing of the new superintendent onboarding. As it relates to the timing of the audit, I think the deadline for the audit is January 15, 2025. In order for any public input to go into the actual budget planning process, I think the survey needs to be sent out in the early January timeframe so that there is sufficient time to incorporate any inputs/priorities from the community.

I am also copying Dr.Feltre for any additional commentary.
Hope that helps.
As always, these are my thoughts as an individual and do not represent the Berkeley Heights Board of Education.
Best Regards,
Dipti Khanna
Dr. Feltre’s Response:
Good Afternoon Mr. Migueis and Mrs. Khanna,
Thank you Mrs. Khanna for the insight that you provided to Mr. Migueis regarding the December budget survey release. I can only surmise that the timing of budget discussions and the Finance committee meetings fed into the timing of the release of the survey. As it turns out, I sent out an email to the parental community about the survey earlier this afternoon. I requested that the parents share the information with people they know. We also have placed the budget survey link in the banners (top left corner) of each school’s web page to try to gather as much community input as possible. Since my email this afternoon, we have had 108 respondents. The total respondents thus far is 438.
I hope this additional information helps as well. Thank you!
Dr. Kim Feltre

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John Migueis

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