School budget tops $100 million

Proposed spending plan would add $189 to the average tax bill.

By: Donna Lukiw
   While Hillsborough school board members said they were pleased with the 2007-2008 proposed school budget, some called for increased pay for substitute teachers and funding to improve communications.
   The proposed school budget for the 2007-2008 school year totals $100,629,205, with $73,351,638 raised through local taxes, a $1,750,396 increase — 2.45 percent — above last year.
   If approved by voters April 17, the proposed budget would increase the tax rate from $1.905 per $100 assessed value to $1.959. The owner of a property assessed at the township average of $350,000 would see a $189 increase in the school portion of their property tax bill, from $6,667.50 to $6,856.5, an increase of 2.83 percent.
   "I want to thank the administration for putting together such a comprehensive and balanced budget," board member David Lin said at the district’s special budget meeting March 1.
   Although the board members said they were satisfied with this year’s proposed budget board member, Wolf Schneider wanted to see more. Mr. Schneider suggested that it was time to raise the substitute teacher pay from $80 per day, but Dr. Lake said she has talked to other superintendents in the county and $80 is average for comparable districts. She also said the district has enough substitutes to cover the schools.
   "We haven’t had trouble getting substitutes," Dr. Lake said.
   But Mr. Schneider said he felt $80 a day isn’t enough money for the work that substitutes do since "some substitutes actually teach."
   And since the district will also be hiring a part-time public information officer at a salary of $30,000 a year to handle the district’s public relations, Mr. Schneider suggested that a teacher in the district take on the job, but Dr. Lake said that would be too much to handle for a full-time teacher.
   After Mr. Schneider suggested a part-time teacher be considered for the public information officer position, Dr. Lake said she will talk it over and see if administrators could work it out with teachers’ schedules.
   Meanwhile, board member Neil Hudes was hoping the budget would include a way to improve communication between parents and the district during emergencies. He said there is technology to automatically alert parents of delayed openings or school closing via cell phone, e-mail or voice mail.
   "It’s programmable," Mr. Hudes said. "It certainly reduces opportunities for errors."
   Board member Marc Rosenburg said, "some people love them and some people hate them," but whatever the case there should be protocol set where the message device would only be used for "emergencies (and) not to announce plays or craft fairs."
   While the suggestions will be taken into consideration, this year, the district was able to keep all existing academic programs, athletics, co-curricular programs and staff and make very minimal cuts in the budget.
   The only cuts in the budget include five elementary teaching positions, one resource center teacher and five instructional assistants totaling $529,644 in salary costs.
   But Superintendent of Schools Karen Lake said the five elementary teaching positions are not really cuts since some of the teachers are being transferred to other schools or grade levels while the other teachers are long-term substitutes.
   "There is not RIF (reduction in force)," Dr. Lake said.
   Administrators have also added a spelling program for grades three and four, an Everyday Math program, and world language and science curriculum revisions for grades kindergarten through 12 totaling $354,771.
   Technological upgrades account for $633,539 and the additions of four new teaching positions are also included in the budget.
   The district plans on hiring a part-time kindergarten teacher at Woods Road School, a middle school teacher, a high school writing center teacher and a part-time English as a second language teacher for the middle school.
   "Enrollment is increasing," Dr. Lake said. "Enrollment is highest in the middle school."
   Board members said with the increase in state aid and other savings the business office was able to minimize the increase for taxpayers.
   Board member Judy Haas said energy savings, a reduction in lawyer fees and state aid has helped the district this year.
   "We have been able to save money," Ms. Haas said.
   Dr. Lake congratulated the business office including Assistant Superintendent for Business Tom Venanzi, Assistant School Business Administrator Annette Wells and Assistant Superintendent Lisa Antunes for putting together a comprehensive budget this year.
   The public will have an opportunity to discuss the budget with board members during the March 12 Board of Education meeting.
   Board members will be voting on the budget on March 26 and residents will vote on the budget April 17.