|
|
Post by andrewd on Mar 19, 2008 14:54:48 GMT -5
Tomorrow night, Thursday March 20th at the Park Ave School Cafetorium starting at 7pm is the Public Hearing on the School Budget for next year.
I will not spoil any surprises, but I encourage everyone to show up.
|
|
|
|
Post by admin on Mar 19, 2008 16:26:02 GMT -5
added to the News fader
|
|
|
|
Post by admin on Mar 21, 2008 5:49:47 GMT -5
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080321/NEWS01/803210401/1285/LOCAL09FREEHOLD — At a sparsely attended meeting, the borough school board Thursday adopted a $19.6 million budget for the 2008-09 school year that will raise the tax rate by 2.4 cents. "With a great deal of pleasure, yes," board vice president Ron Reich said when the budget came up for a vote. In sharp contrast to the packed school board meeting on March 3, when parents and teachers came out to protest the elimination of the district's library media specialist position, 12 people attended Thursday's meeting. The majority was district staff or teachers. The librarian, Joan Murphy, has a certification in elementary education. If her job had been cut, she would have stayed on in a teaching position, Business Administrator Veronica Wolf has said. District officials opted to keep the librarian in the budget, however, after community members voiced their concerns. Bunny Hammer, a former library media specialist and current Freehold Regional school board member, praised district officials for that decision Thursday. "I'm very glad the librarian is coming back," Hammer, of Freehold, told the board. In addition to keeping the librarian, next year's budget calls for the addition of several new staff positions. The majority will be instructional staff, including the restoration of a part-time art teacher at Freehold Intermediate School and a full-time music teacher. Next year's budget — which includes about $1.5 million in additional state aid — calls for a combined general fund and debt service tax levy of $$8,435,298. The general fund levy makes up $7,804,996 of that total. Voters will decide April 15 whether the general fund levy should be approved. The budget's impact on taxpayers would be an additional 2.4 cents per $100 of assessed property value in their 2008 tax bills. That comes out to an extra $62.16 in taxes for the owner of a property assessed at $259,000, Schools Superintendent Elizabeth O'Connell has said. Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
|
|
adefonzo
Junior Member
If I can see further than some, it's because I have stood on the shoulders of giants
Posts: 308
|
Post by adefonzo on Mar 21, 2008 8:38:02 GMT -5
Sparsely attended is an understatement. There were 4 people in the audience other than teachers and administrators from the district, and one of them was Kim Predham, who's article is posted above. So, I guess no one is upset that we're raising your taxes, right?? I mean, even those who were there last night didn't step up to say a word about the budget...other than Bunny Hammer who just told us that she was relieved to see that we were able to put the librarian position back into the budget. I assume we will have nothing to worry about come April 15th when it's time to vote on the budget, because no one showed up last night to complain about any part of it. Excellent...I am glad to see everyone is content with the job that the administrators and the BOE did on the budget. I honestly wonder if we should have not told anyone that we were keeping the librarian position...would people have shown up then?? Apathy has become a "four-letter word" in my mind, and it disgusts me every time I see it. Maybe I should live by the old saying, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and just bury my head in the sand from now on, and not get involved in anything. |
|
|
|
Post by novillero on Mar 21, 2008 8:44:18 GMT -5
Andrew, can you explain something about this process? Please correct me if I am wrong...
(1) Last night was the board voting to approve a budget that they already previously agreed upon, right?
(2) And in April, the voters get a chance to vote up or down, right?
|
|
|
|
Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Mar 21, 2008 9:21:45 GMT -5
Sparsely attended is an understatement. There were 4 people in the audience other than teachers and administrators from the district, and one of them was Kim Predham, who's article is posted above. So, I guess no one is upset that we're raising your taxes, right?? I mean, even those who were there last night didn't step up to say a word about the budget...other than Bunny Hammer who just told us that she was relieved to see that we were able to put the librarian position back into the budget. I assume we will have nothing to worry about come April 15th when it's time to vote on the budget, because no one showed up last night to complain about any part of it. Excellent...I am glad to see everyone is content with the job that the administrators and the BOE did on the budget. I honestly wonder if we should have not told anyone that we were keeping the librarian position...would people have shown up then?? Apathy has become a "four-letter word" in my mind, and it disgusts me every time I see it. Maybe I should live by the old saying, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and just bury my head in the sand from now on, and not get involved in anything. Attendance for a meeting held on Holy Thursday and Purim. Great timing. Again, explain to me why we need a secritary for the Custodial/Janitorial Staff and the launguage of music is still under tought? Great to hear the Hammer came in handy last night. |
|
|
|
Post by fiberisgoodforyou on Mar 21, 2008 9:27:45 GMT -5
Sparsely attended is an understatement. There were 4 people in the audience other than teachers and administrators from the district, and one of them was Kim Predham, who's article is posted above. So, I guess no one is upset that we're raising your taxes, right?? I mean, even those who were there last night didn't step up to say a word about the budget...other than Bunny Hammer who just told us that she was relieved to see that we were able to put the librarian position back into the budget. I assume we will have nothing to worry about come April 15th when it's time to vote on the budget, because no one showed up last night to complain about any part of it. Excellent...I am glad to see everyone is content with the job that the administrators and the BOE did on the budget. I honestly wonder if we should have not told anyone that we were keeping the librarian position...would people have shown up then?? Apathy has become a "four-letter word" in my mind, and it disgusts me every time I see it. Maybe I should live by the old saying, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and just bury my head in the sand from now on, and not get involved in anything. Andrew, if 5 people complained, what differance would that make, the budget is what it is, I would hope that the Board Members had a clear understanding of the budget before last nights board vote. maybe the voters will pass this budget will pass , maybe not? |
|
adefonzo
Junior Member
If I can see further than some, it's because I have stood on the shoulders of giants
Posts: 308
|
Post by adefonzo on Mar 21, 2008 12:44:41 GMT -5
Andrew, can you explain something about this process? Please correct me if I am wrong... (1) Last night was the board voting to approve a budget that they already previously agreed upon, right? (2) And in April, the voters get a chance to vote up or down, right? On March 3rd, the BOE approved the "tentative" budget because the district had to submit a budget to the County Superintendent by a specific date for her approval (I do not remember the exact date, but it was within a day or two of that meeting). Last night, the BOE approved the "official" budget which will be put before the voters on April 15th for them to vote either yes or no. If, on April 15th, the voters vote down the budget, the district has the ability to apply first to the Municipality to have them review and approve the budget as is, or request that changes be made. Or, the Municipality can pass on making a decision (as they did a couple of years ago) at which time the district brings the budget to the County Superintendent for the same purpose. This is where you get people upset because the budget can get voted down, but either the Municipality, the County, or even the State can essentially override the vote and institute the budget. It is different now, though, in the sense that the State Commissioner, and I believe the County Superintendent have, essentially, a line item veto where they can eliminate lines of the budget before forcing it through, leaving the district to deal with whatever cuts they have made. Hope that clears it up. As for Fiber's post about the date of the meeting...there was very little the BOE and the administrators could do about that. There are steps they have to go through, deadlines they have to meet, people they have to sit with and go over the budget before a public hearing, and then there are deadlines as to when the official budget has to be submitted. With the schools being closed today and next week for Spring Break, our options were limited at best. |
|
|
|
Post by novillero on Mar 24, 2008 14:20:43 GMT -5
If, on April 15th, the voters vote down the budget, the district has the ability to apply first to the Municipality to have them review and approve the budget as is, or request that changes be made. Or, the Municipality can pass on making a decision (as they did a couple of years ago) at which time the district brings the budget to the County Superintendent for the same purpose. This is where you get people upset because the budget can get voted down, but either the Municipality, the County, or even the State can essentially override the vote and institute the budget. It is different now, though, in the sense that the State Commissioner, and I believe the County Superintendent have, essentially, a line item veto where they can eliminate lines of the budget before forcing it through, leaving the district to deal with whatever cuts they have made. Hope that clears it up. sorry, to keep this going... but does council have any parameters on this vote, hoops to jump through, does certain criteria have to be met... or is their task a simple vote "yea" or "nay"? Hope my question was clear. Then same question for the County Superintendent. And does the County Superintendent vote up and down, or can they send it back with recommendations? Sorry, just this always confused the heck out of me. If you know of a good link with some of this info, I'd appreciate that too. |
|
adefonzo
Junior Member
If I can see further than some, it's because I have stood on the shoulders of giants
Posts: 308
|
Post by adefonzo on Mar 24, 2008 15:53:19 GMT -5
A crystal clear answer I do not have for you at this moment...but I will get in touch with our Business Administrator and ask her to clarify.
What I believe is this...if the budget fails, the district appeals to the Town Council. I believe they can either accept as is, ask for us to make cuts before they approve, or simply pass on making the decision and handing it up to the County.
The County Superintendent then has the same options, pass it as is, ask us to make changes, or pass it up to the Commissioner of Education (the likelihood of this happening is slim, usually the County Superintendent will make a decision). The difference is that now that we have a "Super" County Superintendent (due to the passing of A4), I believe she has the ability to directly make line-item vetoes to our budget before deciding to pass it.
In my own personal opinion (not in any way that of the BOE or the District), I would hope that our new Super County Superintendent would not simply go through and make cuts without consulting our Administrators first...just in general terms, it would certainly create a lot of ill will between her and the districts she has to oversee. Just my personal opinion though.
Again...this is not the absolute answer, it's what I believe to be true. If I find that I was wrong I will let you know as soon as possible.
|
|
