Monroe school tab
has 15-cent tax hike
BY TARA PETERSEN
Staff Writer
MONROE — A 2004-05 budget introduced by the Board of Education includes a 14.7-cent increase in the school tax rate.
The board voted 7-1 Monday to introduce the budget, with member Marvin Braverman voting against the motion.
The total budget, at $62.9 million, represents an increase of $8.2 million, or about 15 percent, over the current school year.
Township residents with a home assessed at $150,000 would pay an additional $220 in school taxes under the proposed budget, according to officials.
The tax hike reflects the recently passed $83 million bond referendum, which contributed about 4 cents to the increase, according to officials. Voters approved the referendum Dec. 9 to build a new high school. Officials said Tuesday that the bonds were sold Feb. 19, and therefore must be included in the 2004-05 budget.
The largest increase was in health-care insurance coverage for staff, which amounted to $1.3 million more than last year, or an approximately 22 percent increase.
"A sizable increase in the cost of health-care benefits and other insurance must be included in this proposed spending plan," Superintendent of Schools Ralph Ferrie said in a memo to board members. "The district has aggressively worked with the insurance carrier to minimize the increase in costs related to health care benefits."
The district, according to Ferrie, also included the equivalent of 25.86 new staff positions in the tentative budget.
"These staff members are necessary at the elementary, middle and high school levels to address the increased enrollment that the district has experienced this past school year and to address the predicted increased enrollment for the 2004-05 school year," Ferrie said.
The district estimates an increased enrollment of 350 students.
Aside from several teachers, the list of additional staff includes a new school psychologist, a social worker, an elementary school vice principal and two bus drivers.
A 5.5 percent increase in teacher salaries amounts to $769,236, and new teaching staff salaries total $654,419.
Salaries for principals and vice principals rose 25 percent, totaling $235,524, according to the summary.
Ferrie said an emphasis was placed on "curriculum review and revision," and that the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content standards would be addressed partly by adding more staff members.
Ferrie also mentioned that upgrading athletic fields was included in the budget in order to "effectively address our increasing student population."
Braverman said he did not support the inclusion of the athletic field renovations, and that he would rather see a human resources department established for the district.
"Everybody does a little bit [of what such a department would do], and it takes away from everybody’s job," Braverman said.
He said many districts the size of Monroe have a human resources department.
Braverman also said he would like to see a media specialist at the middle school.
"These can be obtained by deleting the $100,000 football field, which will probably cost more," Braverman said. "After a lot of deliberation and a lot of thought, I’m going to vote no on the tentative budget."
Ferrie noted during the meeting that the football field to which Braverman referred was actually an upgrading of the existing facilities and not a new field.
During the meeting, a few of the board members mentioned attending a New Jersey School Boards Association legislative conference earlier this month with regard to much-sought changes in the way schools are paid for in New Jersey.
Board member Kathy Kolupanowich said she was disappointed in the conference.
"You go and you hear the same things, but nothing ever happens," she said.
Member Harold Pollack said the legislators will never make changes in school funding without a public outcry.
"The legislators are not going to do it unless the public comes out in full force," Pollack said.
The public hearing for the school budget will be held March 29 in the high school performing arts center. The budget will go to voters in the April 20 school election.