Schools

2012-13 School Budget Faces Final Vote on Monday

$93.26-million budget to go before Board of Education for final approval, during first year that proposed budget will not be placed on a public ballot.

The proposed 2012-13 school budget, , will go for a final vote on Monday night before the

The board will consider whether to approve a $93,266,156 budget that includes a taxpayers' contribution of $75,856,316 at a meeting scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria.

The county already has approved the spending plan, and the school board actually is voting on the tax levy, said School Business Administrator Nick Markarian.

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The proposed budget includes a two percent increase in the general fund budget — which the local school board must stay under in order to avoid a public ballot on the local school tax amount — that would add $182 onto an average township home assessed at $577,394.

Since debt service is going down slightly the overall budget increase from the current school year would be 1.85 percent, according to figures in a budget presentation on March 12. The local school tax rate on township property assessments would increase from about $1.24 to $1.28, said Markarian.

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The Bernards schoolsoon after learning that state aid would be increased to $3 million for next year, an increase from about $2.4 million in 2011-12.

School officials said that night, and in the later budget presentation, that all programs would be maintained in next year's school budget.

Those continuing programs, after state aid was slashed to less than $850,000 in 2010-11, will be maintaining the 9-period day at keeping "teams" for students at the middle school and the continuation of in the district's four elementary schools. The proposed budget would also keep status quo for athletic and extra-curricular activities.

The budget that is up for a vote on Monday night also would add five new teachers at Ridge High School, where a swell in enrollment from a larger middle school class is moving up.

On March 12, board members discussed — but did not decide — whether to use just over a combined $450,000 of $3 million earmarked for capital improvements at school facilities to revive an elementary school Spanish program and an elementary enrichment program for gifted and talented students. Both of those programs had been cut from previous school budgets.

Ridge PTO co-president Sarah Bonnefoi urged parents to attend the public hearing on the proposed budget. "If you would like to ask any questions or make comments on the budget, you may do so during this meeting," she said in an email to parents.

Those unable to attend the March 26 meeting can also obtain information at a meeting expected to be attended by Superintendent Valerie Goger and members of the Board of Education that is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. on April 19 at the in The Hills.

The budget presentation is online at the Bernards Board of Education website. Scroll down to March 12, 2012 to download a copy of the presentation.


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