The WW-P school board has introduced its $155.9 million 2009-’10 budget, which comes with a 1.6 percent, or $2.4 million, increase over last year.
Introduced at the board’s March 17 meeting, in order to meet the state deadline for submission for the ballot, the budget comes with a local tax levy of $131.7 million, although school officials will not release how the tax levy is split between the two townships — which will now pay based on the number of students each sends to school — until the public hearing on Tuesday, March 31. Larry Shanok, assistant superintendent for finance, says that school officials are first waiting to double-check numbers with township officials.
This is the first year that school taxes will be determined based upon the amount of students sent by each township to the district, and no longer by property values.
During the board’s meeting on March 17, Shanok reviewed the projected expenses for the upcoming year. In instruction, the district is estimating a budget of $50.2 million, a 2.4 percent increase over this year’s $49 million. In co-curricular activities and athletics, the district is estimating a 2 percent decrease, from $2.5 million this year to $2.4 million next year.
In special services, the district is estimating a budget of $22.6 million, a 2.5 percent increase over last year’s $22.1 million, while in the area of student support, the district is estimating an increase of 1.1 percent, from $6.2 million this year to $6.3 million next year.
While board figures originally estimated that it will need $3.2 million for improvement of instruction — a 1.6 percent increase over the $3.1 million accounted for in this year’s budget — new numbers in Shanok’s presentation on March 17 showed a higher increase of 4.3 percent to $3.3 million. However, Shanok explained that this was because district officials discovered they had been incorrectly including costs associated with program reviews into the administration fields in the past, and that it was a matter of relocating the part of the budget to which that money goes.
The budget for administration is expected to increase by 1 percent, from $10.9 million this year to $11 million next year.
Staff benefits, capital outlay, and adult education will operate at flat rates, and transportation will see a 2 percent increase to $9.2 million.
School principals from each of the grade levels were present to discuss ideas they have implemented to try to save costs.
In the elementary level and at Grover Middle School, the enrollment has shifted in a way in which the elementary schools and Grover will see fewer students next year, while Community Middle and both high schools will see an increase. This is despite the fact that the district, as a whole, will see a higher enrollment next year.
Scott Feder, supervisor of elementary education in the district, told the board that the elementary school teachers met and worked on ways to “leverage the declining enrollment so that money can be distributed elsewhere in the district.”
He said they discussed sharing faculty resources among primary and intermediate schools, while still maintaining the continuity and quality of education offered. While there will be “less teachers and less things happening at the elementary level,” it will not be detrimental to the education process.
Dennis Lepold, principal at Grover, said similar measures would be implemented at the middle school level, in which there will be fewer teachers at Grover, and no added staff at Community, even though there is a higher enrollment projected there.
High School North Principal Mike Zapicchi said both high schools will be seeing an increase in enrollment, but there are three measures school officials are doing. The first is to evaluate and streamline co-curricular programs. The second is to reduce other costs not directly associated with class size and course offerings. For example. Zapicchi said officials would be looking to decrease substitute teachers and increase the attendance rates of the full-time teaching staff.
He also said the schools would be looking to reduce their printing and postage costs, which could be made possible now with the use of Infinite Campus — the district’s new student database that allows parents to access their children’s demographic information, attendance, and progress reports and report cards. He also said that the launch of SharpSchool — an e-mail service created specifically for students and teachers — to disseminate information without using paper.
West Windsor resident Gerald Spielman again called on the school board to reduce the budget. He referred to various companies, big and small, that were closing their doors, and to the number of foreclosures in the housing market. “We cannot consider an increase in our budget,” he said. He also said that the board should work harder to cut the budget now because if it fails to receive enough public votes, school officials will have to cut more out of it anyway.
How that is divided up depends on figures from both townships that are not yet available. Still, the projected amount of money needed to be collected through taxation this year is expected to be $135,”066,”838, compared with this year’s $134,”070,”787. While the budget is increasing 1.6 percent overall, this is a tax increase of only 0.7 percent, Shanok said.
Also part of the budget statement for the public vote is $1,”850,”000 to be withdrawn from the district’s approved capital reserve account to support a solar project at two schools. The project does not add anything to the tax burden, said Shanok, who said all of the funding would come out of the capital reserve, and that the project is separate, but needs to be part of the budget statement.
The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31.
Other business. In other business during the board’s March 17 meeting, the board awarded a bid to AC Construction Corp., of Woodbridge, for $446,”000 to construct the new pool enclosure, or bubble, at High School South.
There were seven other bidders on the project, which is the only remaining project of the referendum to be completed. The other bids ranged from $473,”000 to $660,”000. Officials said the bubble should be completed by Monday, June 22.
