BY MARK ROSMAN
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — When residents head to the polls on April 19 in the annual school election, they will be asked to approve a 2005-06 school budget that maintains all of the programs in the township’s K-8 school district.
The Board of Education adopted a $58.1 million budget following a public hearing on March 22. The budget has a general fund of $53.8 million, a special revenue fund of $1 million and a debt service fund of $3.3 million.
Residents will be asked to vote on a local tax levy of $46.4 million to support the general fund. Residents will not vote on a tax levy of $3.2 million to support the debt service fund.
If residents approve the budget as proposed, the K-8 school tax rate will rise 8.95 cents from $1.544 to $1.634 per $100 of assessed valuation. According to information provided by Business Administrator Sean Boyce, that means the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $200,000 would pay $3,269 in K-8 school taxes during 2005-06, up $179 from the 2004-05 amount of $3,090.
The budget hearing featured presentations from Boyce — who reviewed the facts and figures of the spending plan — and Superintendent of Schools Catherine Snyder — who discussed the programs and services offered to 4,800 pupils.
Boyce said the district’s 2005-06 budget has been reviewed and approved by the state Department of Education and complies with all relevant statutes and guidelines. He discussed the impact of a new state school funding law, commonly known as S-1701, which caps the total budget and administrative costs, limits voters’ ability to approve additional school spending and restricts the board’s ability to provide for unforeseen costs by reducing the amount of surplus funds (i.e. savings) the board may keep on hand.
Figures provided by Boyce indicate that the largest chunk of the budget, $24.7 million, goes for instruction. Other categories show the following amounts for 2005-06: student support, $5.3 million; facilities/capital (i.e., energy and some insurance), $4.7 million; transportation, $4.3 million; administration, $4 million; and benefits (i.e. health costs, Social Security payments, pension costs), $10.8 million.
New budget items include two additional special education teachers; 1.5 additional special education aides; two additional bus staff (driver and aide); one new digital arts teacher (there is presently one digital arts teacher); four part-time custodians; and after-school supervision at the two middle schools.
Boyce noted that the district expects an 8 percent increase in the cost of energy in the coming year.
The business administrator said state aid of $5.15 million in 2005-06 will pay less than 10 percent of Freehold Township’s budget. He noted that the average state aid for New Jersey school districts is 25 percent of the budget.
Boyce and board members said the district was penalized by a funding formula that was flawed when it was introduced and never corrected. They indicated that education officials eventual acknowledged the flaw in the formula but could not do anything to improve the situation.
Members of the audience who commented on the budget during the public hearing latched on to that information and urged the board to seriously consider mounting a legal challenge so the district might collect all of the state aid administrators believe it is due.
Resident Joseph Mercurio summed up the district’s state aid situation by saying, “We’re getting screwed.” He proposed instituting litigation to seek redress.
Board President Grace McMillan responded, saying, “We have tried to work through the system without engaging in costly litigation. That would have a cost and you may or may not be successful.”
“That hasn’t worked,” Mercurio responded.
Snyder said that taking the risk of suing the state in the present financial climate “might be a risk.”
“This will not be the last discussion we will have on this,” the superintendent said.
Members of the public who addressed the board also implored the district’s administrators to do something to rein in the increasing cost of health benefits. They said teachers must be compelled to pay a portion of their health-care costs and noted that some citizens, many of whom pay for health care at their own jobs, resent teachers not paying for health care.
Resident John Cooper, speaking about teachers’ lack of payment toward their health-care costs, said, “I was disappointed that the board dropped the ball [on this] during [contract] negotiations. It’s just getting ridiculous. There has to be cost sharing.”
Snyder’s presentation on the budget stressed the administration’s belief that the community’s financial support of the
district, combined with hiring practices that seek out the best teaching candidates and training that ensures the best possible delivery of curriculum is reflected in standardized test scores that place Freehold Township students at or above the achievements of pupils in districts that have the same socioeconomic indicators.
“We feel the results of all of our efforts are shown in student achievement,” Snyder said. “We believe we provide a value-added education.”
None of the residents took issue with the district’s curriculum, hiring practices, student achievement or with administrators’ attempts to comply with state budget laws.
Two residents raised the issue of class sizes at the Laura Donovan School, specifically last year when one class had 32 pupils.
Snyder said class size is something that is monitored on an ongoing basis as administrators attempt to remain consistent with board guidelines that call for no more than 22 pupils in a kindergarten, first- or second-grade class, and no more than 25 pupils in a third-, fourth- or fifth-grade class. The superintendent acknowledged that some classes exceeded those guidelines during the last school year.