BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
EDISON – The Board of Education adopted a $186.6 million budget on March 25 for the 2007-08 school year that will be up for public approval on April 17.
According to Daniel Michaud, the district’s business administrator, the budget, if passed, would cost the average taxpayer 8 cents more than last year on every $100 of their home’s assessed value. The average home assessment in Edison is $173,900, which would come to $2.25 per $100, or $139 more than that taxpayer paid last year.
The budget is $5 million and 2.9 percent larger than last year’s budget, which Michaud said was a much lower increase than the district has had in the past. He said that there were several factors for the increase.
“The biggest chunk is contractual obligations,” Michaud said, “Salary and benefits.”
The district is also required to place special-needs children in out-of-district classrooms, a cost they have been trying in recent years to abate by renovating classrooms and renting out extra space in districts like Metuchen.
Despite this, Michaud said the budget for out-of-district placement is still going up; this year it will be $12 million, a $3 million increase.
Michaud said the district is opting to vacate some classrooms to make additional rooms in the current space they have. The $79 million bond referendum to renovate schools in the district is also up for public approval on the same day as the budget and it addresses some of these concerns. Michaud said that if nothing is done, the cost of sending children out of district will continue to rise.
“If we don’t bring anybody back,” Michaud said, “and with the same number of kids next year, I’m going to need $14 million instead of $12 million.”
Michaud said that part of the reason why the budget increase was lower than previous years, however, was a cut in capital outlay.
Last year’s budget had a capital outlay amount of $8 million, which was used to do some exterior and interior repairs to some of the district’s schools. This budget carries only a $2 million capital outlay amount, but is accompanied by the $79 million bond referendum for a large program of improvements to many of the district’s schools.
The district received the standard 3 percent in state aid, an amount that is roughly $400,000 more than it received the previous year. Still, Michaud feels that Edison is poorly ranked when it comes to receiving state aid. He said it is considered by the state to be too wealthy and though it is receiving $15 million in state aid, there is still an increase to the taxpayer.
Michaud said that the funding formula that is in place penalizes the wealthier districts, causing Edison taxpayers to bear a larger brunt of the schools’ costs. Michaud said that because the township has a lot of ratables, the state feels they are able to pay a larger share of the cost.
“It makes the district look more wealthy than it is,” Michaud said.
Putting the bond referendum on the ballot on Election Day will allow the district to collect $79 million for renovations to more than a dozen district schools. The district will receive $17 million in debt service aid from the state over the 20-year life of the bond.
Schools Superintendent Carol Toth has said that the district is expecting a surge of 1,500 students by 2010, pushing the already maxed-out schools even further. The bond referendum that voters are being asked to consider would build extensions and make improvements to those schools in the hope that it will improve current conditions and prepare the district for the influx of students they are expecting. The renovations would also provide for special-needs classrooms, which may mitigate the cost of sending those students out of district.
When asked what would happen if the bond referendum is not passed on April 17, Michaud said that there would not be much relief for students.
“If it doesn’t go through, then we’re not going to get much done next year,” Michaud said.
Michaud said that the bond referendum would not affect the budget voters are being asked to consider and approve. He said that the bonds would not be sold until December or January and the first payment would not be due until late 2008.