Millstone school budget up $1.4M from current year
MILLSTONE — The Board of Education will hold a hearing Monday on its proposed $21,850,715 2002-03 budget.
The board is also seeking additional funding for staff, programs and technology and for a sports program through two separate ballot questions.
The base budget, introduced March 11 for the K-8 district, is up $1.4 million or 6.9 percent from this year, according to school Business Administrator/Board Secretary Brian Boyle.
Fixed costs including salaries, benefits, tuition and energy are going up by around 9 percent, he said. Tuition to send new students to Allentown High School accounts for an additional $406,751.
Total tuition for an estimated 449 high school students next year will cost $5.1 million or $11,440 per student.
The budget proposal includes $20,186,719 for general fund operating expenses, $314,455 for special revenue in the form of state and federal grants, and $1,349,541 for debt service.
"Given the [cost] constraints we’re under, we’re hoping to improve math scores and increase staff development next year," said Boyle.
Because of the township property reassessment, the proposed tax rate appears to be down dramatically, from $1.88 per $100 of assessed valuation this year to $1.41 next year, but actually translates to about a 15-cent increase, Boyle said.
The reassessment increased the township property valuation by approximately a third, from about $775 million to $1.2 billion.
On the revenue side, the proposal includes $4.2 million in state aid, plus $89,338 in other state aid for distance learning, a $15,666,160 general fund tax levy and a $1,154,492 debt service tax levy.
The district has $540,000 in surplus remaining, none of which was appropriated for next year’s budget.
Voters will also be asked to approve two other ballot questions April 16. One would provide an additional $237,938 for additional staff, extracurricular programs and technology. It would add an extra 2 cents to the tax rate, bringing it to $1.43.
The extra staff includes a middle school guidance counselor, a half-time nurse for the elementary school, and a gifted-and-talented teacher for both schools.
The third question asks voters to approve spending an additional $25,420 for a lacrosse program for both boys and girls at the middle school. It would add less than a quarter of a penny to the tax rate.
The money is for equipment, two coaches and two assistant coaches.
"For the most part this budget is a reflection that while the state held us harmless and did not decrease our state aid, the normal cost-of-living increases make that state aid less," Superintendent of Schools William J. Setaro said Monday.
The budget incorporates some of the recommendations of the district’s Strategic Planning Committee, Setaro noted, such as additional guidance support and additional extracurricular programs. Some of the new programs include a math team, Odyssey of the Mind, an online magazine program through which students would produce their own magazine, and a peer mediation program.
The district also needs to upgrade its computer infrastructure and is making a shift to a Microsoft Windows system.
As for the proposed lacrosse program, Setaro said that was requested by a group of community members. The township has started a lacrosse recreation program and several people wanted the schools to look into starting one.
The district is putting more money toward staff development, "one of our goals and also one of President Bush’s," Setaro said.
"If we want to improve test scores and education, you have to improve it where the rubber meets the road, in the classroom," he said. "We’ve made great progress this year in fourth-grade language arts scores through the efforts of the staff," and the proposed budget "reflects the continuation of that progress," he said.
"We did the best we could in containing costs," Setaro said. He said only one other district in the county spends less per child and that Millstone ranks fourth from the bottom in total comparative cost per pupil spending in similar districts. The district currently spends $6,635 per pupil compared to the state average of $8,321, he said.
— Marilyn Duff