new teachers
Freehold Twp.
budget includes
new teachers
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The $44.6 million operating budget adopted by the Board of Education last week for the 2003-04 school year calls for an increase of 7.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in the K-8 school tax rate. The proposed spending plan is 9.8 percent higher than the present school year’s budget.
On April 15, voters will be asked to approve a tax levy of $38,598,326. If that figure is approved, the owner of a home assessed at $120,000 will pay about $1,712 in K-8 school taxes in 2003-04, up $94 from the present year. The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay about $2,854, up $156; and the owner of a home assessed at $300,000 will pay $4,281, up $234.
The total budget for the 2002-03 school year was $40.5 million, as compared to $37.5 million during the 2001-02 school year. The 2002-03 budget carried a 7-cent increase in the K-8 school tax rate.
According to Sean Boyce, the school district’s business administrator, the 2003-04 budget provides for an estimated 200 additional students. He said the coming year’s spending plan maintains and enhances current programs and activities while providing for enhancements through comprehensive curriculum review, staff development and early childhood initiatives.
New staff members will be needed to accommodate growing enrollment, he said. They include 10.5 regular education and special education classroom teachers, seven special education teacher assistants, a part-time clerk for the child study team, one computer technician, four bus drivers and two bus aides.
The amount of general fund surplus used in the 2003-04 budget is $800,000, which leaves the district with a projected surplus at June 30, 2003 of $1.4 million, or 3.2 percent of 2003-04 appropriations. The state has established a floor for surplus of 3 percent and a ceiling of 6 percent.
The district pays the full cost of health benefits for all full-time employees. The double digit increases in insurance costs and energy represent nearly 20 percent of the entire budget, Boyce said.
Although residents do not vote on the debt service portion of the budget, they will see an additional 5.8 cents tacked on to their tax rate to pay for the construction of a new elementary school at Wemrock Road and Route 537 and additions to other township schools.