SCOTCH PLAINS/FANWOOD — The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education met for its regular session December 19 to review various committee reports and approve the district’s 2023-2024 financial audit.
Kathryn Mantell, CPA, of Nisivoccia & Co., presented a financial audit of the 2023-2024 school year, laying out multiple highlights for the district. Although funds from the previous bond referendum officially expired in July of 2023, the district was able to maintain a steady balance throughout its operating budgets.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood started the school year with $14.5 million in capital reserve and ended with $14.1 million. The district was able to recoup $5 million in approved spending through revenue sources like gains on interest. Maintenance reserve funds ended at a slight decrease, from $978,000 to $850,000 after a total of $170,000 in approved spending.
Mrs. Mantell praised the board for operating the district within the confines of the state’s mandated 2-percent tax-levy cap, sharing, “that really is something that is admirable, but it’s also very challenging.”
Following the financial audit presentation, Board Secretary Christopher Jones announced the acquisition of a $400,000 grant from the Schools Development Authority to replace windows and update the brick façade at Evergreen Elementary School.
Board member Nancy Bauer attended the Garden State Coalition of Schools (GSCS) meeting, where educators and administrators discussed the possibility of losing funding if the federal Department of Education is eliminated. New Jersey receives $1 billion in federal funding annually, and Mrs. Bauer said members of the GSCS are also concerned about state employees whose salaries are funded by the state Department of Education.
President-elect Donald Trump stated that, “One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states,” in an October 2023 video posted to social media.
His administration further reiterates the plan in a document entitled “2024 GOP Platform: Make America GreatAgain!” in Chapter Seven, Point 9, titled “Return Education to the States.” The document currently is available for reading at donaldjtrump.com/platform.
Board member Amy Winkler represented the district at the Union County School Boards Association meeting, where participants discussed the loss of local print media in New Jersey. The Star-Ledger recently announced that it would stop printing its publication and will convert to a digital- only content model next year. Mrs. Winkler said members of the Association are concerned that the Public Meetings Act, which requires school boards to announce upcoming meetings in local media, will need to be amended and that districts will need to find new ways of keeping the public informed.
Mrs. Winkler also provided updates from the Curriculum Committee, which approved the renaming of higher-level courses to match up with expectations of colleges and universities. Some courses which require two or three years of study will now have “honors” or “college prep” titles in order to help students qualify for higher placement in college courses.
Mrs. Winkler shared that the district’s high school has also begun a dual-enrollment program with the University of Delaware. The program will redesign two existing courses — Product Design will become Sustainable Product Design Dual Credit, and Entrepreneurship will become Entrepreneurship Dual Credit.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School student representatives Mac Bastable and Grace MacDougall announced that students are reacting early to a new ID card policy by bringing their own customized lanyards to school. Starting in February, students will be required to wear their school ID cards around their necks on lanyards at all times. Superintendent Joan Mast, Ed.D., shared that students are already required to scan in and out of buildings, as well as bathrooms, and says that requiring visible IDs at all times is an extension of those security policies.
The meeting additionally included public comment from Gary Morris of Fanwood, who raised a procedural question about the upcoming bond-referendum vote in April 2025. Scotch Plains-Fanwood residents will vote on two items the acquisition of the La Grande School building, and the future funding of staff salaries for the school. Mr. Morris, who ran for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education in 2022, asked the board to consider organizing the ballot in a sequential vote, where those who vote “No” to the purchase of La Grande School will automatically vote “No” for its future funding as well. Mr. Morris shared that he felt a sequential vote would help eliminate confusion for voters while filling out their ballots.
The board will hold its next public meeting on Tuesday, January 7, at 8 p.m., at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, where members will vote on the finalized 2025-2026 school-year calendar.
