LAWRENCE: Board OKs $67.1m for schools

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   The Lawrence Township Board of Education approved its proposed operating budget of $67.1 million for 2012-13 Monday, clearing the way for the spending plan to be reviewed by the Mercer County Executive Superintendent of Schools.
   Once Mercer County officials review the budget, which includes a 3-cent hike in the property tax rate, it will be sent back to the school district. A public hearing will be held on the budget at a special school board meeting March 29.
   The $67.1 million budget represents a $2.3 million increase — or 4 percent — in spending over the current budget of $64.8 million. The increase includes $1 million in capital reserve and capital outlay, which is money that the district sets aside as a revenue source to cover debt payments and to pay for projects such as replacing the heating and air conditioning system at Lawrence High School.
   For the most part, appropriations or spending remained flat or with very little increase, said Crystal Lovell, the superintendent of schools. The cost for the regular education program is increasing by 3 percent and administrative costs are increasing by 1 percent, but tuition for special education students who must attend specialized schools is going up by 18 percent.
   The proposed spending plan carries a 3-cent increase in the school district tax rate — from $2.33 per $100 of assessed value to $2.36. This means the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $160,827 would see a $48 increase over the 2011-12 tax bill of $3,758.
   School district officials emphasized that the 3-cent tax rate increase is due to a decline in the township’s ratables base. Successful property tax appeals reduced the ratables base — the value of all taxable real estate — by $38 million.
   ”If it had not been for the drop in ratables, we would have had a tax rate decline,” said Thomas Eldridge, the school district’s business administrator. A decline in the ratables base last year also was responsible for a 3-cent increase in the tax rate for the current budget.
   Dr. Lovell pointed out that the increase in the tax levy to support the budget is $500,000 less than the allowable 2-percent increase in property taxes. The 2-percent cap would have allowed the district to increase the tax levy to $58.5 million, but the budget calls for a $58 million tax levy. This represents a 1.1-percent increase in the levy.
   Dr. Lovell also said the school district has learned that it will receive $3.3 million in state aid, which is a $1 million increase over the current amount. However, this is still less than the $5 million in state aid that the district received in 2009-10, she said.
   ”We are still operating with less state aid than we had three years ago,” Dr. Lovell said.
   Other sources of revenue, in addition to state aid and the property tax levy, are the fund balance (surplus) and miscellaneous revenue. The district plans to use $5.6 million in surplus funds as revenue for the 2012-13 budget.
   Dr. Lovell said the proposed budget was prepared with input from parents and community members, administrators, teachers and staff, and the school board. The budget tries to strike a balance between factors affecting taxpayers — such as unemployment and increased real estate taxes — and the board’s goals, “needs versus wants,” and the tools needed to help students succeed, she said.
   The proposed budget does not call for staff layoffs, but it may be necessary to move around the teaching staff to accommodate student needs, Dr. Lovell said. If there is a need for fewer second-grade classes and a need for more third-grade classes, a second-grade teacher may be “redeployed” to teach third-graders.
   There may be some “non-renewals” in staff due to performance, but those vacancies will be filled with newly hired teachers, she said, emphasizing there will be no staff layoffs.
   ”In these economic times, we still want to offer the excellent programs that we have. You may see some shifts and reassignments. We are very, very mindful of the dollars that we spend,” she said.