Montgomery seeks to keep school budget under cap

Officials do not intend a second ballot question.

By: David Campbell
   MONTGOMERY — District officials hope to present a draft school budget to the Board of Education that does not exceed the state cap or require a second ballot question.
   On Tuesday night, Superintendent Dr. Stuart Schnur presented 2004-2005 budget goals to the board, and noted that a strong curriculum should drive all of the district’s financial planning.
   Goals include accommodating ever-growing enrollments at district schools, continuing the ongoing review and renewal of curriculum and special-education programs, preparing for and absorbing costs related to the opening of the new high school, and increasing classroom-based technology, the superintendent said.
   During his presentation to the board, Dr. Schnur said the administration will try to bring to the board a draft budget that does not exceed the state cap "by one penny," and said the staff hopes to avoid a second question on the April ballot.
   But the school superintendent said there will be challenges ahead, noting, "We’re a district that wants to maintain program, certainly increase program. It’s really going to be a painful, difficult process."
   By way of example, Dr. Schnur said that a total of 39 new staff positions were asked for in the first round of budget requests from department heads, which, if granted, would represent about $2 million in new expenditures alone.
   The administration hopes to present a draft budget to the board sometime in January. The state has not yet issued its cap numbers, the superintendent said.
   Dr. Schnur raised some spending considerations related to the opening of the new high school that will have to be addressed in the upcoming budget.
   The new school, which is currently under construction off Route 601 at the site of the former state boys’ training school, is scheduled to be open for the 2005-2006 school year.
   In New Jersey when a district launches a new school, the state provides a cap waiver for one-time costs related to the opening.
   But Montgomery is expected to assume management of the new high school about four months prior to the new fiscal year when the school is expected to open.
   As a result, increased costs for heating, air-conditioning and maintaining the new building during this interim period will have to be absorbed in the upcoming operating budget, Dr. Schnur said.
   Around this time last year, the administration and board grappled with a preliminary budget that was nearly $2 million over the state cap just to maintain then-current academic programming.
   The final budget approved by voters last April was $52.7 million, a spending plan that was at the state cap.
   But while the budget itself was approved by a comfortable margin, a $1.8-million second question for the construction of an athletic facility at the new high school was resoundingly rejected by voters.