Meetings will help prepare for 2011-12
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Anticipating another challenging operating budget to prepare for the 2011-12 school year, Lawrence Township school district officials are seeking input from parents as to what they would like to see in the spending plan.
That’s why school district officials are holding a series of meetings beginning Monday night to allow them to weigh in on the budget preparation issue, said Superintendent of Schools Philip Meara. All of the meetings begin at 7 p.m.
The first of three meetings is set for Monday at the Ben Franklin Elementary School multi-purpose room. The meeting is geared toward parents of elementary school students.
The second meeting is set for Nov. 1 at the Lawrence Intermediate School library, and it is geared toward parents of LIS parents. The third meeting will be held Nov. 2 at the Lawrence Middle School library for parents of Lawrence Middle School and Lawrence High School students.
”It is important for us to go out and give them a chance to give input before we prepare the budget,” Mr. Meara said. “It will give us input on what their priorities are.”
”This is a new process for us,” he said. “Usually, we go out (to the public) after the budget has been prepared, but when the budget cap is so low and we will have difficulty in preparing the budget, we want to get input ahead of time.”
One of the challenges facing the school district is the mandated 2-percent budget cap, Mr. Meara said. The 2011-12 operating budget may not increase by more than 2 percent over the current 2010-11 budget of $65.01 million, he said.
Mr. Meara said neither the amount of the spending plan nor the school district tax rate is known at this time. The only thing school district officials do know is that they will have to grapple with the 2-percent budget cap.
State law allows for exceptions to the 2-percent cap for items such as health insurance and pension increases, but the district does not anticipate seeking a waiver “at this point,” the superintendent said.
”We are going to stay within the 2-percent cap,” Mr. Meara said. “That means if there are any increases in costs over 2 percent, we will have to find corresponding cuts somewhere else.”
After the three meetings have been completed, school district officials will review the input and comments as they prepare the budget, he said. The school board will present the budget and adopt it in February or March.
A public hearing will be held on the proposed budget in March, and then voters will be asked to vote on the tax levy to support the spending plan budget at the annual school board elections in April, Mr. Meara said.

