By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The Montgomery Township Public School District’s proposed $82.1 million budget for 2017-18 was approved by the school board last week, clearing the way for its review by the Somerset County Superintendent of Schools., Under the proposed budget, the owner of a house assessed at the Montgomery Township average of $499,061 would pay $162 more in school district property taxes. The current tax bill is $10,155., In Rocky Hill Borough, the owner of a house assessed at the borough average of $441,225 would pay $236 more in school district property taxes. The current tax bill is $5,821., Property taxes are the main source of revenue to support the $82.1 million budget. The 2017-18 budget calls for raising $73.3 million in property taxes, split between the two towns on the basis of a state formula., Other sources of revenue include $4 million in state aid, $3.5 million in surplus funds and $144,800 in tuition. There is very little revenue from other sources, said Business Administrator Annette Wells., Personnel costs are the main cost drivers in the proposed budget, said Superintendent of Schools Nancy Gartenberg. There is an increased need for specialists and paraprofessionals, she said., There is a need for more English language educators because of the “explosive” growth in the number of children who are English language learners, Gartenberg said. There are 110 children who are new to the Montgomery Township public school district whose first language is not English., Gartenberg said there has been a decline in the number of special education students who are sent to specialized schools outside of the district., Because the number of special education students who are sent outside of the district has dropped from 48 to 39, there is a savings in out-of-district tuition costs, she said., School district officials are trying to keep more special education students in the district, rather than sending them to specialized schools with costly tuition outside of the district, Gartenberg said., The cost to send special education students to other schools was $3.2 million this year, but the proposed budget for 2017-18 earmarks $2.6 million for out-of-district costs, she said., Breaking down the budget, expenditures for regular education instruction consumes 29.5 percent of the proposed budget. Special education is 9.7 percent of the budget., Unallocated benefits, such a workman’s compensation insurance and pensions, account for nearly 20 percent of spending., A glance at the overall budget, however, shows that the budgetary cost per student was $15,115 for 2015-16. This is lower than the state average of $15,144, said Wells, who is the school district’s Business Administrator., By comparison, the Princeton Public Schools’ budgetary cost per student was $19,333 for 2015-16., A public hearing on the proposed 2017-18 school district budget has been set for April 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Montgomery Upper Middle School media center.
