BH School Budget Slices Taxes 1.7 Percent

Superintendent of Schools Judith Rattner and Business Administrator/Board Secretary Donna Felezzola delivered good news to the Town Council Monday night when they presented the proposed $43M school budget that would cut taxes by 1.7 percent.

Felezzola said the tax burden on the $43 million plan for the 2012-2013 school year is about $255,000 lower than it was two years ago and is about $600,000 less than it was last year.

“When you look at the years in total, I think the board has been very conservative in how they managed the tax levy. [Two years ago], we had a 2.8 percent increase, last year we had a 0.99 percent increase and this year we have a 1.7 percent decrease,” Felezzola explained. “So again, this is something we are proud of.”

Rattner said the Berkeley Heights Board of Education adopted a tentative budget at the board’s March 1 meeting and then sent it to the Executive County Superintendent’s Office for their review to ensure the board is coinciding with state law.

“We received notification from them so now we have a final budget going to the board on March 22,” Rattner said. “This year is a unique year in that we adopted a resolution — as long as we remain within the [state-mandated 2 percent] tax cap, there will be no public vote on the budget. So if the board adopts the budget on March 22, that’s the budget we will implement for the coming school year.”

If the budget is approved tonight during the Board of Education’s formal hearing, which will begin at 8 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Room, taxes on the average home in Berkeley Heights — assessed at $305,000 — will go down by $12. The tax increase on the average home in the 2011/2012 school budget was $375.

The proposed budget will include $1,123,170 in state aid, up from the $426,204 received last year, and $4,308,935 in tuition from students who live in Mountainside, Felezzola explained. In addition, the budget includes $1,655,196 in the fund balance, which is a surplus from the 2011/2012 school budget. Felezzola explained that the law allows the district to carry over 2 percent of the previous year's budget into the next year's budget.

Highlights of the budget include a new elementary reading program, curriculum alignment and preparation for upcoming new state and national Common Core Standards, increased teacher development, a new teacher evaluation program, reinstatement of Middle School sports and new in-district special education programs, Rattner explained.

Further, the district will reorganizing the administrative and supervisory structure, and will provide 172 replacement desktop and laptop computers, six new interactive projectors, and 32 new iPads. The district is also increasing its bandwidth in order to improve video, Internet and presentation capabilities in each classroom.

Personnel additions include more Resource Room Teachers, an additional First Grade Teacher based on projected higher enrollment, a Learning Disabled Teaching Consultant/Anti-bullying Specialist, and a Special Education Supervisor. 

Planned Capital Projects include:

• Upgrade a Science Lab and a Family and Consumer Science Lab at
• Replace ceilings, floors and countertops in all schools
• Replace lockers in locker rooms
• Various Paving Projects
• Purchase of maintenance equipment, a new school bus and computer servers that will allow the district to remain operational in the event of freak events like October's sudden snowstorm.

 

Year to Year Budget Comparison 2009/2010 $42,724,745 2010/2011 $41,648,456 2011/2012 $41,974,232 2012/2013 $43,018,893

 

Tax Levy Analysis

2009/2010

$34,787,219 2010/2011 $35,775,842 2011/2012 $36,132,822 2012/2013 $35,520,653