State School Aid Increases Almost 200 Percent, Could Bring Tax Relief

School district officials said Thursday a relative windfall in state aid could mean school taxes will not increase in the next budget.

State public education funds increased by nearly 200 percent to $845,806 for next year's budget, part of a what Trenton called "the largest appropriation of state education dollars in New Jersey history," officials said during a meeting Thursday at the . Haddonfield did not receive any state aid two years ago.

Board President Steve Weinstein cautioned the occasion of having state aid to spend was an unusual occurrence and the district should proceeded with caution.

“I want to stress that the budget is not the budget yet,” he said. “While we appear to be cash rich, this is not money we can count on every year.”

Business Administrator and Board Secretary Andy Hall presented the proposed 2012-2013 school budget with revisions that were added after state aid was announced at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. The district will get $527,007 over the $318,799 it received in the last budget.

Superintendent Rich Perry presented plans to increase special education staffing for inclusive classrooms by $141,000 and a list of capital improvement projects that included fixing a long-time leaky fire escape at the high school, painting and improvements to auditoriums, and possible sidewalk and parking lot remediation projects for $44,997. Technology initiatives for the district completed proposed new expenditures projected at $55,000.

With no increases in activities fees or negative impact on staff or programs, the proposed budget leaves the board with about $252,000 in extra cash. Board members are unanimous that the proposed levy to tax payers at this time should be either no increase at all, or tax relief.

Board member Heather Paoli emphasized a desire to consider tax relief, but a concern to use the extra funds to make some one-time improvements while the board has the money. She asked Hall how much money a vote for tax relief would actually mean to the average Haddonfield household.

“It would mean about $45 in tax relief to the average household in Haddonfield,” she reported.

The finance committee hopes to return next Thursday with either a 0%-increase budget presentation or some form of proposed tax relief. Much needed high school library upgrades, the previously cut reading-recovery program, and rising elemenatry school class sizes were topics of public interest.

Parents from Elementary came out to advocate for an additional kindergarten teacher based on current enrollment projections as well as class sizes of the current Haddon first grades at 25 per classroom.

“I want to remind everyone that this board is very attuned to enrollment growth, space issues," Perry said. "We are really taking a good look at this and communicating with principals and school communities. We do understand your concerns.”

 “I would still strongly oppose recurring costs," Weinstein said. "Every year we deal with class sizes. We see too much fluctuation in March and we know it firms up in July and August. I have a lot of problem with recurring costs.”

The board will adopt a budget in a public meeting next Thursday night for application to the county by March 3. The public hearing for the budget is scheduled for March 22.

Click here to see the entire proposed budget.

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