Two new Board of Education members set to tackle challenges in Washington Township.
By: Mark Moffa
WASHINGTON Two new school board members began serving three-year terms Tuesday, two weeks after the district’s budget suffered a resounding defeat.
Voters April 16 overwhelmingly rejected a $22.7 million school budget that would have raised school taxes 26 cents per $100 of assessed property value, or 14 percent.
But Carol Boyne and Mark Setaro are unchanged in their enthusiasm for serving on the board. Ms. Boyne and board President Michele Sierkerka ran unopposed for two of three vacant seats. Mr. Setaro won the third seat as a write-in candidate. Former members Michael Matyas and George Stahlbrand did not run for re-election.
It has been eight years since a school budget has been rejected in Washington, and Ms. Boyne and Mr. Setaro realize the daunting task ahead.
"Everyone is walking through the process of working with the Township Committee," Mr. Setaro said. The committee now must review the budget and may certify the original budget or may look to reduce the budget.
"It obviously sends a message for next year," Mr. Setaro said. "We really have to hunker down on the budget and get a clearer message out as to what it means."
Ms. Boyne said public communication needs to be improved.
"I think I’m good at talking with people," she said. "I’m hoping I can bring that as an asset."
Ms. Boyne was active in campaigning for the passage of the school construction referendum in December.
"I have to believe I had a lot to do with the voter turnout for the referendum," she said.
Voters on Dec. 11 gave the school board permission to build a $50 million high school. The 215,940-square-foot high school will be adjacent to the Pond Road Middle School, behind Ostrich Nursery, fronting on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road.
Currently, Washington’s high school students attend Lawrence High School under a sending-receiving relationship that will expire in 2005.
Neither newcomer has previously held a publicly elected position.
Ms. Boyne, 43, has been a member of the PTA executive board since 1996, and a PTA member since 1994. She has lived in Washington for 10 years, and is the director of information management for Jansen Pharmaceuticals in Titusville. She and her husband, David, have two children in the system.
Mr. Setaro is a lawyer, practicing in Mount Laurel. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and journalism from Rutgers in 1978. His law degree was from Seton Hall Law School.
He and his wife, Angela, have lived in the township for more than eight years and have three children in the school system.
Mr. Setaro has ideas for how education could be reformed in New Jersey. He said large-scale regionalization, such as the countywide school systems that exist in other states, will be the only way to significantly effect change in the state’s skyrocketing school tax rates.
"I’d like to be an advocate to bring about some change in the school funding system," he said.
Two questions appeared on the ballot April 16. First, residents defeated the main budget, which would have raised taxes 18 cents for each $100 of assessed property value. Then, voters rejected an additional $325,200 that would have raised the tax rate another 2 cents.
If both questions were approved, the total tax increase would have been 26 cents a 6-cent increase already was approved by voters last year in a referendum to construct a high school and increase the size of Pond Road Middle School.
The first question was defeated 774-439. The second question lost 895-428.
If passed, the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $177,000 would have paid $460.20 more in school taxes this year, an increase from $3,327.60 to $3,787.80.