School budget hearing scheduled for March 31

Manalapan-Englishtown board proposes $77M plan

BY MARK ROSMAN Staff Writer

ENGLISHTOWN — A public hearing will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 31 on the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District’s proposed budget for the 2009-10 school year.

The public hearing will be held at the district’s offices at 54 Main St., Englishtown. Residents may offer their views on or ask questions about the proposed budget at that time.

At a meeting on March 17, the district’s Board of Education adopted a tentative budget of $77 million for the upcoming school year.

The $77 million budget includes a $71.4 million general fund, a $1.5 million special revenue fund and a $4 debt service fund, according to Business Administrator Veronica Wolf.

In the April 21 election, residents of Manalapan and Englishtown will be asked to approve a $48,489,671 general fund local tax levy to support the operation of the district during the 2009-10 school year.

Residents will not vote on the debt service tax levy that amounts to $3.4 million. The debt service is the repayment of pre-existing loans.

The district’s budget for 2008-09 is $75.7 million and the general fund local tax levy amounted to $46.5 million.

The school district will receive a total state aid package of $22.3 million to support the proposed $77 million spending plan, according to Wolf. The state aid for 2009-10 is the same amount that was received for 2008-09.

In Manalapan, the K-8 school tax rate is projected to increase 2.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, from 75.3 cents to 78.1 cents per $100, Wolf said.

That means the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $429,600 will pay $3,355 in local school taxes in 2009-10. In 2008-09 that property owner is paying about $3,234 in local school taxes.

In Englishtown, the K-8 school tax rate is projected to decrease from 76.3 cents to 76.1 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, Wolf said.

That means the owner of a home assessed at $300,000 will pay $2,283 in local school taxes in 2009-10. In 2008-09 that property owner is paying about $2,289 in local school taxes.

Local school taxes are one part of a property owner’s overall tax bill. The other taxes include municipal taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, Monmouth County taxes and other assessments.

The proposed budget includes the changes that will be made as the district switches to a different type of school setup.

Beginning in September, the Clark Mills, Milford Brook, Taylor Mills, Wemrock Brook and Lafayette Mills schools will house pupils in grades one through five. The Pine Brook School will house all of the district’s sixth-graders. The John I. Dawes Early Learning Center will house all of the kindergarten pupils and the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School will house all of the seventh- and eighth-graders.

The teaching staff will be reduced by nine staff members who are retiring, Wolf said.

The new configuration made the busing system more efficient, but will result in 10 bus drivers being laid off, she said. The district will retain 100 percent busing, which means that every student — regardless of how close he or she lives to school — will receive bus service.

Administrators had previously announced that the district offices would be moved from their location in Englishtown to the Pine Brook School on Pease Road, Manalapan.

However, Wolf said that as plans were being drawn up to convert space at Pine Brook into administrative offices the cost of doing so became unfeasible. As a result, the district’s administrative offices will remain in Englishtown in the former Main Street School.

Contact Mark Rosman at [email protected]