Bernards School Budget Introduced With 2% Hike

The Bernards on Monday introduced a proposed $93 million budget for the 2012-13  school year that, if approved by the county and a final vote of the school board on March 26, would call for $75,856,316 to be raised by local school taxes.

The budget draft would raise tax spending by two percent, schools Business Administrator Nick Markarian said in a presentation outlining the introduced budget.

Since the school board voted earlier this month to move school elections to November, no separate ballot is needed for the school budget if the proposed budget remains within the 2-percent cap, school officials said.

If given approval by the Board of Education, the proposed budget would raise taxes during 2012 by about $182 on an average township home assessed at about $577,000, according to Monday's budget presentation.

The tentative budget would maintain all programs in township schools and add six new staff members, five at the high school, to reflect growing enrollment at certain levels, including high school freshmen, according to information on the proposal.

Patch will continue to add details to this story.