School district
proposes $122M budget
Board of Ed. hearing, adoption vote scheduled March 30
BY KARL VILACOBA
Staff Writer
After several years of adopting "maintenance budgets," Superintendent Thomas Seiden-berger said it’s time for a larger investment in Brick’s educational quality.
The superintendent proposed an ambitious school budget aimed to move a "quantum leap forward" in the district’s special education teacher-pupil ratio, reduce overall class sizes and upgrade the district’s support services. But the price tag to accomplish this is one some Board of Education members said is too much for Brick to bear at once.
The board was presented a $122,284,060 budget March 11, an 8.3 percent increase from last year’s $112,907,546 actual package.
If adopted in its current form, district Business Administrator Nicholas Puleio estimated the budget would cost residents about $1.46 per $100 assessed valuation, or an 18-cent increase on the tax rate from last year. But after reviewing the figures, township administration officials placed the increase at closer to 18.7 cents per assessed $100.
Puleio said the owner of a home valued at $100,000 would see their tax bill increase by about $180; the township administration’s estimate is $187.
"That’s less than $1 a day to advance our academic progress here in Brick," Puleio said.
Seidenberger said the tentative budget is "a living, breathing document" that is subject to change before the board’s public hearing and adoption vote March 30. The budget adopted by the board March
30 will be placed on the ballot for voters April 20.
School officials said the combination of state aid freezes over the two previous years and unfunded federal mandates contributed to the budget’s high cost. Puleio added that insurance costs have risen 15 percent and the cost of funding special education alone has risen $1 million.
Board members Frank Pannucci and Brian Deluca said they would not support the budget in its current form. Reading from a terse written statement, Deluca said he was "in shock" when he first saw the proposed tax increase. Pannucci urged the administration to "go back to the drawing board" and come up with a new budget before March 30.
"I’m not denying we need these things," Pannucci said. "I’ve been watching these things for a long time, but 18 cents? Sorry. It’s not going to pass in Brick."
Board President Dr. William Boyan supported the proposed budget, which he said would run about $56 per quarter for the average taxpayer.
The response from audience members who commented on the budget was generally favorable.
"I’m going to vote for this budget. I’m going to tell the people I know to vote for this budget," resident Robert Lanzieri said. "I think it’s about time we stand up for these kids and don’t just leave them out there."
The tentative budget calls for 41.5 new faculty positions, including 33.5 teaching and five student support positions.
Seidenberger said recent statistics show increased enrollment at the middle and high school levels, but decreases in kindergarten. The proposed budget would concentrate the most teachers at its two high school and two middle schools, including 8.5 in Brick Memorial High School, six in Brick Township High School, five in Lake Riviera Middle School and three in Veterans Memorial Middle School. The budget also proposes six new course offerings at the secondary level, nine revisions to existing courses and $578,649.
Overall, Seidenberger said the district continues to run as one of the most cost-efficient in the state. The superintendent noted that the district’s $573 administrative cost per pupil was about half the state average, and its $7,331 comparative cost per pupil is second from the last out of state school districts with 3,500 or more students. According to the 2002-03 New Jersey School Report Card, the district’s $8,709 total cost per pupil (which includes the costs of transportation, equipment and other expenses) was also well below the $11,313 state average.
Last year, the board adopted a 9.58-cent overall tax rate increase, which included 7.249 cents to support the general fund and 2.331 cents in increased debt service. The package was defeated at the polls for the second consecutive year and cut $1.2 million by the Township Council, or 2.63 cents on the tax rate.