Chief school administrator says achievement test scores will improve.
By: Michael Arges
Chief School Administrator David Witmer promised that achievement test scores would improve as the East Windsor Regional school board Wednesday approved a proposed 2001-2002 budget that’s $3.3 million higher than the current year.
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District explains division of tax rates It is not the school district’s fault that property taxes in Hightstown are rising faster than in East Windsor, emphasized district business manager David Shafter at Wednesday’s hearing on the proposed 2001-2002 school budget. Neither is it the fault of East Windsor. The division of tax rates between the two municipalities is entirely in the hands of state officials, Mr. Shafter said. The state divides the school tax burden between Hightstown and East Windsor according to the state’s assessment of the real value of property in each municipality, Mr. Shafter said. "It’s the relative ratio of the ratables between the borough (Hightstown) and the township (East Windsor) if they had been assessed at the same time," he added in an interview earlier Wednesday. The state assigns the proportion of school taxes paid by each municipality according to equalized valuation. Equalized valuation is the state’s estimate of the value of a municipality’s ratables if property assessments were brought up to date. This is largely based on recent sale prices of property in the municipality, so that a town that brings its assessments up to date will not be penalized by a higher proportion of the tax burden. Hightstown’s school taxes are going up faster because "the assessed values are lagging behind what the state believes to be the true value of the property," Mr. Shafter said. In Hightstown the equalized value went up by $12 million, but the ratables went down by about $56,000. In East Windsor, on the other hand, the ratables were more in line with the actual value of property. The ratables went up by about $53 million; the equalized value went up by about $58 million. |
If approved by voters April 17, the $53.6 million budget will represent a 6.5 percent increase in spending over the current school year. In East Windsor, the school tax rate would increase from about $2.34 per $100 of assessed value to $2.41. Property owners would pay $65.80 more per $100,000 assessment in school taxes. In Hights-town, the school tax rate would increase from about $2.42 per $100 of assessed value to $2.55. Property owners would pay $138.40 more per $100,000 assessment.
School board members also decided to present a separate question to voters. Voters will have the opportunity to vote on additional expenditures of $367,857 for equipment, nonteaching personnel and special curriculum grants.
If the special question and basic budget are approved, the school tax rate in East Windsor would increase 3.33 percent, from $2.34 per $100 of assessed value in the current year to $2.42, according to district calculations. The school tax rate in Hightstown would increase 6.2 percent, from about $2.42 per $100 of assessed value to about $2.57.
Approving both the basic budget and special question, compared to just the basic budget, would mean a $13.20 increase per $100,000 of assessed value in East Windsor and a $14.20 increase in Hightstown, said David Shafter, board secretary and district business administrator.
"So that separate question is costing a little more than a dollar a month," he said.
Items on the separate question include $96,000 for two 16-passenger vans to be used as special education school buses and $76,800 for eight instructional labs of six computers each for Hightstown High School. The separate question also includes $44,923 for a maintenance worker, $44,923 for a painter, $40,000 for security gates at Hightstown High, $35,211 for a custodian and $30,000 for ACTION grants for teachers’ pioneering innovations in instruction.
The basic budget includes a net increase of nine additional teachers hired, mainly to provide for projected rising enrollments, while at the same time lowering class sizes in order to address the district’s disappointing scores on state achievement tests, district administrators said.
The district will be able to make appropriate arrangements if the projected staff increases fail to materialize, said Assistant Superintendent Pat Brown.
"If the students are there, we will have the staff. If not, we will adjust the number of staff accordingly," she said.
The largest additions in teaching staff would be on the elementary and middle school levels, where enrollment increases are projected to be highest. On the elementary level, where enrollments are projected to increase by 3.5 percent, from 2,164 to 2,239, there would be a net increase of 5.5 teaching positions, plus two paraprofessionals.
At Kreps, the district’s middle school, there would be a net increase of 2.5 teaching positions. District administrators project that enrollment will increase 6.8 percent, from 1,067 to 1,140.
Three new positions at Hightstown High would provide for particular program needs. A guidance supervisor or assistant principal would help meet a need for additional help with career and college advising, Ms. Brown noted. An additional math position would alleviate overcrowded math classes.
A new Spanish teacher position at the high school would meet enrollment increases expected from the district’s new requirement that all students take two years of world language. Experience in other districts suggests that much of the new enrollment in world languages will be in Spanish, Ms. Brown explained.
The budget reflects a net $624,000 increase for additional teaching positions, Mr. Shafter said in an interview Thursday.The increased expenditures on teachers and instructional materials suggests that the district’s priorities are where they should be, said Bruce Ettman, a school board member during Wednesday’s budget hearing.
"We’re going to be reducing class size at every grade level in the district," noted Dr. Witmer.
With the additional teachers will come a higher level of accountability, Dr. Witmer said.
"We’re going to expect to see results with respect to test scores," he added, referring to the statewide academic proficiency tests, the Elementary School Proficiency Test given to fourth-graders across the state, the Grade Eight Proficiency Test and the High School Proficiency Test.
"Test scores are our No. 1 priority," Dr. Witmer said, noting that student learning and performance is the district’s primary concern and the state proficiency tests are the measure everyone uses to gauge that.
"We’re better than our test scores," he added.
Specific scores on the state assessment tests were not mentioned by Dr. Witmer, but one area of particular weakness for the district has been the fourth-grade scores on language arts literacy though the district did show some improvement at the most recent testing in 2000. The percentage of East Windsor Regional fourth-graders scoring "advanced proficient" went up from 0 in 1999 to 2.7 in 2000, compared to 1 percent in the state as a whole. Those scoring "proficient" went up from 42.5 percent to 56.1 percent, compared to 41 percent statewide.
Dr. Witmer was perhaps responding to residents’ concerns about rising taxes and mediocre test scores, such as those voiced by Robert Lerman of Carriage Court in East Windsor. Suggesting that school taxes have been growing faster than the rate of inflation, he asked, "Is the district getting the bang for its buck?"
Former school board member Gene Sarafin suggested the district should be spending more to provide incentives for teachers to do whatever it takes to raise test scores. Suggesting a connection between Cranbury’s high test scores and rising property values, he maintained that increased educational spending would be a wise investment for district residents.
"I wish we could spend more," said Mr. Sarafin, who lives on South Main Street in Hightstown.
Noting that she lives on a fixed income, board member Carole Nelson insisted that she is nevertheless willing to pay what is needed to provide district students with the education they need.
"I’m still paying back for the education my three children received in district schools," she said. "All three of them had a wonderful education and all three are doing very well in life."