MILLTOWN — The 2015-16 school budget, which carries a tax hike of nearly $240 on the average home, is driven by technology, facilities and instruction enhancements.
Superintendent of Schools Stephanie Brown and school Business Administrator Norma Tursi laid out the $15.87 million budget at a public meeting.
The spending plan calls for an increase in school taxes of $240 per year, or $20 per month, on a home assessed at the borough average of $163,000.
The budget calls for a general fund tax levy of $14,016,713.
Brown said the district is raising the levy 4.93 percent, which is beyond the state-imposed 2 percent cap, by taking advantage of $313,824 in “banked cap” funds from the 2012-13 school year, along with a health benefits waiver of $78,195.
The budget includes a tax rate hike of 15 cents, bringing the rate from $3.12 to $3.27 per $100 of assessed value for the 2015-16 school year.
Brown added that with state aid remaining flat at $1,129,475, the spending plan allows the district to move forward, align initiatives and plan for the future.
Brown said the district shares a director of special services, Dan Silvia, with the Spotswood School District. She said one of the stipulations in the contract with Silvia was for the district to become self-sufficient in regard to special services. Milltown had paid Spotswood $40,000 per year for the service.
“Under Dr. Silvia’s guidance, we feel that next year we will be able to move forward on our own,” she said.
The budget appropriations include general education, which increased by $208,700, or 4.98 percent; in-district special education increased by $279,141, or 22.7 percent; out-of-district special education decreased by $132,799, or 12.6 percent; transportation decreased by $22,556, or 3.6 percent; co-curricular/athletics increased by $39,090, or 26.8 percent; health services increased by $2,722, or 2.1 percent; administration increased by $102,201, or 13 percent; benefits increased by $86,197, or 5.4 percent; facilities maintenance increased by $32,458, or 3.4 percent; and capital outlay increased by $40,981, or 20.5 percent.
Brown and Tursi said the three budget drivers include technology, facilities and instruction.
The budget includes the purchase of additional Chromebooks for Parkview Elementary and Joyce Kilmer Middle schools.
“Chromebooks are related to the PARCC testing, and a lot of our mobile device laptops are at their end of life and not functioning,” said Brown, adding that regardless of the PARCC testing, the purchase of hardware for technology will bring the district into the 21st century.
“It will allow more teachers to sign out and use the Chromebooks in their classrooms.”
Also budgeted is the replacement of classroom projection carts with interactive “smart” TV monitors and the transition from traditional desktop computers to virtual desktop monitors for staff.
“This will save the district on equipment and energy, as well,” Brown said.
Included in the budget is the reinstatement of a Level 1 tech support position.
“We lost this position a few years ago because of the loss of state aid,” Brown said. “The position is a huge asset for support and troubleshooting devices.”
A Google professional development session will allow teachers to become more proficient in the Google platform, and the district will implement an online payment system for school lunches, which will not be mandatory.
The second budget driver is the maintenance of facilities.
Brown said a maintenance truck that is 20 years old will be replaced. She said the truck is used to make deliveries to the two schools, as well as snow-plowing the parking lots.
Some 302 students from Milltown are projected to attend Spotswood High School in 2015-16. With a cost-per-pupil of $13,900, Milltown is budgeting $4.18 million for tuition — a decrease of $331,342, or 7.9 percent, from this school year. The decrease is due to a $91,478 adjustment from the 2013- 14 school year.
The district is budgeting $53,470 for charter school tuition, a decrease of $12,960, or 24.2 percent, from this school year. Five students are projected to attend the Hatikvah International Academy Charter School in East Brunswick.
Grant-funded or Regular Operating District projects are underway at Joyce Kilmer for brick repointing; parking lot resealing; and an extension of a fence around the playground area at Parkview.
Like this year, reorganization in instruction will be made due to enrollment shifts. This school year saw the fourth-grade classes relocate to Joyce Kilmer School to alleviate space issues at Parkview.
The fourth-grade classes will be increased to four sections next school year; third grade will be reduced to three sections; second grade will be increased to four sections; and prekindergarten will be increased to three half-day sections.
“We always try to have an acceptable number of students [in each] classroom,” said Brown, adding that the reorganization will fulfill that goal.
Next school year, the district will restore a full-time director of student support services; restore a full-time learning disabilities teacher consultant; add a basic skills teacher for grades four and five; and add a fourth-grade teacher.
“When the fourth grade moved over to Joyce Kilmer, the teachers were concerned about the level of support for the students who were the neediest,” Brown said. “We did not have enough funding this [school] year.”
For college and career readiness, the district will implement a web-based common core practice and assessment program.
Also, parent contributions for field trips will be limited to $30.
The budget is posted online at www.milltownps.org.