Candidates at Cherry Hill’s school board forum say paying for the budget is the greatest headache

The Cherry Hill school budget, and the uncertainty of state funding, are among the greatest challenges facing the district, candidates for the Board of Education agreed at a forum on Tuesday evening.

Academic performance, special education needs, and communicating to stakeholders also were cited as concerns by candidates running for three open board seats in the November election.

Seven out of eight candidates spent two hours making statements and answering questions in the cordial forum moderated by the League of Women Voters and hosted by the Cherry Hill Zone PTA at Cherry Hill High School West. One candidate could not make the event because of a work emergency, but his statement was read by the forum moderator. The in-person audience was small. The event also was livestreamed.

Money to pay for education in the future weighed heavily on each of the candidates.

“Every year, we’re trying to figure out how to maintain excellence with less and less and less,” incumbent candidate Renee Cherfane said.

The other incumbent running for reelection, Melissa Manzano, said the budget and state funding formula is “something that is really stressful to the community of Cherry Hill, to our teachers, to our community members and even trickles down to the students sometimes.”

None of the candidates offered solutions, with some pointing to the August announcement by Gov. Mikie Sherrill that directs the state Department of Education to pull together stakeholders in search of answers and “overhaul New Jersey’s school funding system.”

Cherry Hill leaders long have maintained the district does not get its fair share of aid. Adding to the problem is the uncertainty of the level of state aid year to year.

Candidate Steven Redfearn agreed the number one issue is funding, but he does not anticipate quick fixes from the Sherrill initiative.

That puts the focus on the district budget.

“I’m not going to wish and hope that funding can be solved within the next year with the task force, but my best guess would be we’re probably looking at … potentially going through a budget again this year and waiting for those solutions to the funding formula next year," he said.

“Funding and the budget, I think, are of course the number one challenge that we’re facing, and that’s going to require a lot of creativity, coalition building, perseverance, because it’s not an issue that is going to be easily or quickly solved,” candidate Darby Malvey said.

But money is not the only challenge facing the district, the candidates said.

“Our second most-pressing issue of late seems to be the status of our special ed programs and how we’re running them and delivering services because we have too many parents coming to the mic telling us we don’t have something,” said candidate Anne Einhorn, referring to the public comment sessions at school board meetings.

Candidate Harold “Hal” Melleby Jr. said he was concerned about the decline in enrollment at Cherry Hill High School West. “I’m also very concerned about the academic program and standardized test scores, which have declined,” he added.

Like Melleby, candidate Ineda “Corrien” Elmore-Stratton said that among her top three issues was “academic achievement and the achievement gap that continues to grow and needs to consistently be addressed.”

Joseph Lynch could not attend the forum because of an emergency at his workplace. The League of Women Voters moderator read a statement from him.

Residents “deserve understandable budgets, earlier disclosure of financial challenges, careful oversight of contracts and transparent reporting on bond projects and associated costs,” Lynch wrote. “Special education requires particular accountability,” he added.

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