Without County Superintendent's Approval of Budget, BOE Postpones Thursday Meeting

Although the school board was scheduled to adopt a final budget and present it to the public on Thursday, the meeting has been postponed because County Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Serafino has not approved the budget.

In a letter to the board last month, unless the board rescinded the, although it was unclear whether she mean the total budget or only the portion that was above Gov. Chris Christie's $175,000 state cap for school administrators in districts the size of Parsippany.

Seitz earns $216,000 this year and  his salary would be $238,000 by 2015. Christie's spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said the entire budget would be rejected after the letter was released.

Serafino's deadline for approval is Tuesday, but to adopt the budget, the school board needs to give four days public notice before the meeting. Without approval, there wasn't time to do that, school board member Debbie Orme said.

She said the meeting would be rescheduled for March 29. The public is scheduled to vote on the budget on April 27.

Board member Robert Crawford questioned why Board President Anthony Mancuso had cancelled the entire meeting when the board could have discussed what to do next if the budget is rejected.

"He has shut down that conversation every single time,'' said Crawford, who has raised four unsuccessful motions to rescind the contract, only to be blocked by Mancuso.

"I would hope the full board would be consulted about the implications of this are. Our job is to discuss these decisions, our job is to advise the board president,'' he said. "Whenever the board president acts unilaterally, it costs the district money and causes embarrasment.''

Mancuso could not be immediately reached for comment.