Meet the Candidates: David Wald

Board of Education candidate David Wald sees himself as a “watchdog” for the district, with the budget as his biggest concern during this year’s campaign.

“My biggest concern right now is making sure the budget passes,” Wald said.  “I appreciate the agreement that was hammered out and the concessions that were given.  I think it was a great thing to do.”

A resident since 2002, Wald has two children attending Hillsborough Schools and is making his second run at a seat on the board.  He is a sales manager at MarketSource while also working as a Realtor at Century21 Worden & Green.  He is active in the Triangle Elementary School and Hillsborough Middle School Home and School Associations, and serves as a coach for the Hillsborough Baseball League.

He has previously served on the Zoning Board of Adjustment and on the township’s Credit Card Advisory Committee.

His most pressing task include addressing the affects of last year’s budget season, when voters rejected the budget.  The action forced the Township Committee to cut $1.5 million from the budget and necessitated cuts from administration, staff, capital projects and other areas.

Among the items cut—and items Wald would like to see reinstated—is the elementary school Spanish program.  District Superintendent Jorden Schiff said the program will need to be reinstated in elementary schools since it is a state requirement.

“We need to get back into compliance,” Wald said.  “I know I am personally affected because I have an eighth grader who had it and I have a fourth graders who doesn’t.”

Wald would also look to hiring additional staff to reduce class sizes. however, he noted that he would want to find ways to finance the additions that would not raise taxes.

“The class sizes are not helping anyone,” he said.  “It’s not helping teachers.  It’s not helping students.  .   .I’m not necessarily for raising taxes but more looking for creative ways in the budget to get money.”

“The most difficult thing is the budget and dealing with classroom sizes,” he added.  “It would be making changes that do not cost the taxpayer additional money.”

One of those situations could include looking at shared services with the town or other school districts, and adding the full-day kindergarten administrators suggested as a means of revenue.

But one suggestion he would not support is privatizing the district’s support staff, as suggested in the tentative school budget.

“I wasn’t in favor of the privatization,” Wald said.  “I don’t think it was a good thing.  It takes any supervisory responsibility out of our scope.
“I’m glad it was averted and an agreement was hammered out so it was avoided,” he added.

If elected, Wald would be interested in serving on the board’s Finance and Personnel Committees.

“In my current position, I do a lot with personnel, with hiring and finding ways to get the biggest bang for the buck,” he said. “Working as a sales manager, it gives me the experience to look at the numbers and how things run.”

But his top concerns include balancing education and taxes.

“I’m here to make sure my kids and everybody else’s receive the best education and the citizens have taxes that are not increasing every year,” Wald said.