The Monroe Township Board of Education will use some newly arrived state aid on amix of programs and tax relief.
School officials learned earlier this month that the district would be receiving an additional $887,122 for the 2011-12 school year. The school district budgeted to receive $1.1 million in state aid for the 2011-12 school year, but will now see just over $2 million. The amount is far greater than the $238,696 that Monroe schools received in state aid for 2010-11.
The Board of Education last week chose to reinstate a previously cut program, implement a new science program throughout the district and provide some tax relief with the extra money. School Business Administrator Michael Gorski said that the state clearly defined the options on how the money could be used. The first option would have been to use it for tax relief in the 2011-12 budget. The window of time to make that decision, however, was very limited, Gorski said, adding that the board’s financial committee did not have an opportunity to discuss the decision before the state’s July 19 deadline. If the additional aid had been used for tax relief in the 2011-12 school budget, it would have resulted in a reduction of $20 on the school tax bill for a home assessed at the township average of $169,622, he said.
The second option would have been to spend the money in the 2011-12 school year. That would have required a revised budget that would have to be approved by the state, Gorski said. The third option was to apply the aid to the 2012-13 budget as tax relief, appropriate it where needed, or use a combination of the two.
School district administrators recommended that the aid be used to implement a science program that has been omitted from the budget for the past two years. The program costs $397,000. It also recommended the reinstatement of “zero-period busing,” which was removed from the 2011-12 budget, at a cost of $250,000. The remainder of the money will be used as tax relief for the 2012-13 school year.
Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Hamilton said it would be beneficial to help both the taxpayers and students, “so that our children benefit from these additional funds at some capacity.” “When you think about $20 going back to somebody’s tax bill, I think the money is well spent to bring back programs that were eliminated because of the funding,” board member Amy Antelis said.
Board Vice President Ken Chiarella said that although the board is mindful of the taxpayers, the board would not be doing much by giving back just $20 to the average homeowner.
“I think you can also make the argument that by giving it to the students, we are giving it back, because we are helping to reinstate much-needed programs,” he said .
Zero-period busing benefits students who attend music instruction, chorus or band before the school day begins, officials said.
Board member Lew Kaufman recommended that the board work toward more of a 50/50 split and use the money for the science program and to eliminate the district’s pay-to-participate initiative, which will charge students a fee to join some after-school activities. He explained that the science program is a benefit to the entire school system, and eliminating the pay-to-participate system — at a cost of $180,000 — would not create an additional burden for the taxpayers.
“So we would be able to offset that cost. In addition, we’re able to bring back some tax money to the taxpayers.”
“I think everybody comes out with something,” he added.
The board voted 5-1 to take the administration’s recommendation, with board members Antelis, Kaufman, Marvin Braverman, Patrice Faraone and John Leary voting in favor, and Louis Masters opposed. Board President Kathy Kolupanowich and members Mark Klein and Ira Tessler were not in attendance.
The science program and zero period busing will be instated for the upcoming school year.