Cranbury School plan to get public hearing

   Residents will have a chance to vote $15.5 million tax levy at April 17 school elections, to be held at Town Hall.

By: Lacey Korevec
   The school board approved a $16.7 million spending plan Tuesday that is 5 percent larger than last year’s $15.9 million plan.
   Residents will have a chance to vote $15.5 million tax levy at April 17 school elections, to be held at Town Hall.
   If approved, the school tax rate would be 81.33 cents per $100 of assessed value. Under that rate, the owner of a house assessed at the new township average of $673,000 would pay $5,474 in school taxes in 2007.
   Comparing the rate with last year’s number is difficult, however, because of a township property revaluation that increased the value of all property in the township and drove down the tax rate. The revaluation bumped up the average residential assessment from $219,439 to $673,176.
   Cranbury School Business Administrator Carolyn Eversole said the district will receive $727,735 in state aid this year, $21,196 more than it received last year.
   The budget also calls for $105,500 to be spent on capital expenses, which includes the replacement of a section of the building’s roof that was built in 1957, a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, along with four new classroom sinks.
   Ms. Eversole said the district is not anticipating adding any positions but contractual agreements have caused an increase in the cost of employee salaries and wages, which has increased 4.7 percent from last year’s $5.8 million to $6 million.
   The cost to cover tuition to send Cranbury students to Princeton High School has risen 9.5 percent to $4.1 million, up from $3.7 million last year. The district plans to pay for 253 regular education students to attend the high school, at a rate of $15,817 per student and for 12 special education students to attend the school at an average tuition rate of $54,600 per student.
   School board President Joan Rue said there is some money set aside in the budget for the addition of fall field hockey and winter wrestling, but the board will wait to see whether voters approve the budget before deciding to add the sports.
   Ms. Eversole would not say what areas of the budget included the extra funds, but said it is difficult to estimate the amount it will cost to add the sports because of unanswered questions regarding field space.
   Despite increasing statutory costs, Chief School Administrator Carol Malouf said the district was able to avoid cutting funds from academic programs for the students this year.
   "We don’t have a lot of wiggle room in the budget because there are so many things that we just cannot control," she said.
   School board member Austin Schraudenbach said Cranbury is lucky that the state-mandated 4 percent cap on the tax levy has not had a major effect on the district’s new budget. But he said it will become harder for New Jersey districts in future years as statutory costs continue to rise.
   "There are a lot of districts hitting the wall this year," he said. "There’ll be even more hitting the wall next year."
   North Main Street resident Angie Cook said she thinks the budget is a sound one.
   "I think it’s a very responsible budget and the school board has done a great job working on it," she said.