Cherry Hill Sun

Tag: cherry hill township school district

  • Board of ed hears latest on budget process

    Cherry Hill Board of Education
    Board of education members listen to details of the budget for the 2026-’27 school year.

    The township board of education discussed the ongoing process of preparing a 2026-’27 academic year budget at a Dec. 3 meeting.

    Jason Schimpf is the assistant superintendent, business administrator and board secretary responsible for leading the budget preparation process. He presented several slides at the meeting of that process.

    “I’ve continued to make my rounds to each of the schools to meet with their school principals and administrative teams,” he noted. “I really enjoyed those discussions, and I thought, now, consistent with our budget preparation calendar, I would continue to provide some updates at our work sessions as we move through the process here.”

    As schools within the district have until Jan. 16 to justify their budget requests, Schimpf focused primarily on revenue for the meeting. He began with a rundown of the district’s tax levy analysis, which along with the budget fund balance is one of the only pieces of revenue over which the board has control.

    Since there is a 2% cap on the tax levy, that would equate to an additional $4 million in revenue for 2026-’27. The average homeowner in the township would see this impact reflected in a $115 property tax increase. 

    The coming academic year will be the first time since the $300-million bond referendum in 2022 that residents will see a decrease in the principal and interest payments of the bonds. That would continue for the next three fiscal years, translating to a $61 decrease on the debt service side of the budget for the average homeowner.

    “It’ll be a welcome relief having the ability to hopefully or potentially increase the general side of the tax levy to support our operations,” Schimpf pointed out, “while at the same time offsetting that increase with the decrease on the debt service side of things.”

    The district also has about $3.3 million in banked cap – or unused taxing authority – that can be utilized for larger tax increases without a public vote. Unused funds will expire during the next academic year if left unallocated. The tax impact of the banked cap is estimated to be around $97, which would translate to a net increase of $151 in taxes on the average assessed home.

    Schimpf also touched on state aid, though with a new governor taking office in January, that funding is unknown. Some of Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget legislation changes are not permanent, and governor-elect Mikie Sherrill’s plans for those have not been made public.

    One of Murphy’s policies was limiting decreases in state aid to 3% and increases to 6%. 

    “There’s still the potential there, without those caps, that the district could be looking at another substantial state aid cut,” said Schimpf.

    No definitive answer to whether those caps will remain in place will be available to the district until Feb. 26, after Sherrill approves a budget. 

    Schimpf also discussed the district’s fund balance and the different categories in that amount. The unassigned balance functions as the district’s savings account, estimated to be at about $4 million by the end of this school year. Schimpf estimated that in that same time, the fund balance would have about $5 million in designated revenue and $3.8 million in capital reserve, with no restricted funding in the balance.

    The public hearing and final adoption of a budget for 2026-’27 will take place on April 28.

  • A job easier on the shoes

    Courtesy of Nina Baratti
    Nina Baratti, a 2011 graduate of Haddon Heights High School, got her first taste of working in media at Philadelphia’s KYW Radio.

    Whether on television or radio, Nina Baratti has made a career of informing the public. Now, the 32-year-old informs the township of all that’s happening in its school district.

    “As the public information officer, I work as the spokesperson with the media,” Baratti said, “and I do a lot of work updating the school district’s social media pages, updating photos, taking videos at events, editing them and getting them online.

    “We have so many positive things that are happening in the district that it’s a very special thing for me to be able to tell these stories.”

    Baratti’s documentation of what’s going on in the township’s school system has made an impression on its staff – particularly the top administrator.

    “The thing about Nina,” noted Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton, “is that she has this energy, presence and personality that truly is amazing. She radiates this enthusiasm for people, for life, and a way of communicating that I was really just blown away by.”

    Baratti, a 2011 graduate of Haddon Heights High School, got her first taste of working in media when she participated in KYW News Radio’s Newstudies program, for which area students research, write and record their own news segments for broadcast on the station.

    After high school, Baratti majored in broadcasting at Montclair State University and interned at Fox 29-Philadelphia. Upon graduation in 2015, she soon got her first job as a multimedia journalist/reporter at the now-defunct SNJ Today television, a Millville-based broadcast focused on South Jersey. She covered everything from air shows, food bank donations and blood drives to alley cats prowling the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

    “I did my own camera work, set up the shots, gave my stand-up report,” Baratti explained. “I was a one-man band. As my first job as a journalist, it (SNJ Today) was very special for me because I had a very supportive manager. I think very creatively, and she would say, ‘I trust you; go out there and see what you come back with.’”

    Baratti left that job – and New Jersey – in 2018. She headed to Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she became one of the main anchors for WHSV-TV’s 5 p.m. news and anchored and produced its 6 p.m. broadcast.

    “I enjoyed being a producer,” she noted, “because you’re putting together a big puzzle all day. One of my favorite parts of my job there was training the new reporters who had just gotten out of college. It wasn’t technically part of my job description, but I enjoyed the mentoring aspect of it.”

    Baratti left WHSV four years ago and came back home to New Jersey, where she became a breaking news reporter at Philadelphia’s KYW, the very station where she got her first broadcast journalism experience as a high schooler.

    “I was a nighttime reporter – my shift was from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.,” she recalled. “So a lot of my stories were crime related, sports related and covering town hall and school board meetings … I was kind of sent all over the place, wherever the news was.

    “One of my favorite parts of the job was covering the sports playoffs,” Baratti added. “I got to do fan reaction, ‘red October’ Phillies games. That was fun.”

    She discovered the job posting for the township’s public information officer while still at KYW. Though she wasn’t actively looking for a new gig, the job piqued her interest.

    “I remember reading the job description and thinking, ‘This sounds like an interesting job,’ Baratti recounted. “I think I can do it.’”

    She began her new job in November.

    “It felt like the right move for me,” she related, “and it’s been a wonderful experience.”

    Asked if she misses her days as a television and radio journalist, Baratti was upbeat.

    “All the perks of being a journalist I still get to do,” she pointed out. “I still get to be a storyteller, and I get to be really creative here. And I can tell you,” she added with a laugh, “I haven’t ruined one pair of shoes since I’ve been here.”

  • Township board of ed welcomes new members

    Cherry Hill Township School District
    Bridget Palmer, Dean Drizin (top right) and Kurt Braddock won their seats in the November election.

    The township board of education kicked off the new year by swearing in its three newest members: Bridget Palmer, Dean Drizin and Kurt Braddock, who were victorious in the November general election. All took the oath of office during the Jan. 2 board meeting. 

    Palmer – a Cherry Hill resident for more than a decade – is the director of government affairs for Bancroft, the Haddonfield provider of services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Her twins currently attend Carusi Middle School. 

    Drizin is a physician executive, veteran and father of two township students. He leads the corporate development office of a national home health-care organization and is a flight surgeon in the U.S. Navy Reserve. 

    Braddock, who plays hockey throughout South Jersey and trains locally in kickboxing, has 20 years of experience as a teacher and researcher. He is an assistant professor in the school of communications at American University in Washington, D.C. 

    When it came time to nominate a new president at the board meeting, Joel Mayer wasted no time in putting forth Gina Winters’ name. But first he acknowledged outgoing president Miriam Stern, who held the leadership position for two years. 

    “The last couple of years have been among the most impactful that I can recall, not just on my time on the board, but before I was a board member, going back from the successful bond initiative,” said Mayer. “Now, we’re seeing a lot of that construction come to fruition. The successful transition to our new and highly qualified and effective superintendent, and so many other things that we have done here under the leadership of Mrs. Stern, who has been a stalwart supporter and protector of students and staff, those that need the most protection.” 

    “That said,” Mayer concluded, “it’s time for new leadership. It’s time for some new ideas and new passion.”

    Winters’ election as board president was unanimous. Then, in a vote of 7-2, Adam Greenbaum was named vice president over Kimberly Gallagher, who was appointed district representative of the Camden County School Boards Association’s Executive Committee and the New Jersey School Boards Association. Renee Cherfane was named to the Camden County Educational Services Commission. 

    Also during the meeting, the board announced revisions to its committee structure, a project that was launched by Gallagher under the previous board. A major change involves moving all committee meetings to Tuesday nights, instead of having them spaced out over Monday and Tuesday. The policy and legislation committee, chaired by Mayer, will meet first at 5 p.m.; followed by curriculum and instruction, chaired by Winters, at 6 p.m.; and business and facilities, chaired by Greenbaum, at 7 p.m.

    The purpose of the change, Winters explained, is to make it easier for more people to attend meetings.

    “Committees will also have three members this year, with a fourth position open, so that members can rotate among committees and they can see what’s happening in the other committees,” she added. 

    In the public comment portion of the board session, one resident expressed concern with the meeting restructure, noting that the 5 p.m. start time doesn’t take into consideration those who work, nor does it “bode well for transparency.”