METUCHEN — Voters elected three new Board of Education members and overwhelmingly approved the 2012-13 budget during Tuesday’s school election.
Tara Matise, Aileen McGuire and Lea Lanton were given three-year terms on the school board, receiving 758, 711 and 677 votes, respectively. A fourth candidate, Fran Brennan, was unsuccessful in her bid for re-election, with 653 votes. Brennan spent nine years on the board and was serving as its vice president.
Board President Eileen Frowenfeld and member Terry Kohl did not seek re-election this year.
Lanton, a parent and active member of the PTO who has regularly attended school board meetings, holds a dual degree in economics and business administration from the University of Delaware and has professional experience as a marketing and advertising account executive. Her son attends Campbell Elementary School and her daughter will attend Moss Elementary School this fall.
“I would like to thank everybody who voted in the election and to also thank all of the candidates for their time and effort and desire to serve our community,” Lanton said. “I was especially pleased to learn that the budget passed by such a big margin.”
McGuire, a 17-year borough resident, has 15 years’ experience as a high school and middle school Latin teacher in Cranford. She lives with her husband, Frank, and their three children — Frankie, a sophomore at Metuchen High School; and Maggie and Jimmy, a seventh-grader and fifth-grader, respectively, at Edgar.
Matise, a 12-year resident, is a tenured associate professor of genetics at Rutgers University. She lives with her husband, Michael, and their daughters Olivia, an eighth-grader at Edgar Middle School, and Cleo, a third-grader at Campbell. She has served in a variety of classroom volunteer roles.
“I’m really honored to be one of Metuchen’s choices to serve on our Board of Education,” Matise said. “I’m so impressed by the level of parental involvement in our schools, and I’m very excited to play a role during this very important time in our district.”
Voters approved the school budget in a vote of 853-355. The budget includes a $32.5 million tax levy that is up 1.8 percent over the current school year. This will translate to a tax hike of $104 on a home assessed at the borough average of $186,600, as the school tax rate will increase from $3.31 to $3.36 per $100 of assessed valuation. That homeowner is currently paying $6,174 per year in school taxes.