By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
MARLBORO – The Marlboro K-8 School District Board of Education has adopted a budget for the 2016-17 school year which includes work that is intended to allow the district to offer full-day kindergarten beginning in the 2017-18 school year.
Before voting to adopt a budget at their April 26 meeting, board members voted on a motion to add $1.8 million to the spending plan. Those funds will allow the board to renovate classrooms in several elementary schools in order to accommodate full-day kindergarten classes beginning in September 2017.
At present, Marlboro provides a half-day kindergarten program and all kindergarten classes meet at the David C. Abbott Early Learning Center on Tennent Road. Parents have the option, at an additional cost, to have their child remain in school to complete a full day of kindergarten instruction.
The $1.8 million that was added to the budget will come from a fund known as the banked tax levy. It is money that district administrators could have raised from taxpayers in previous budget cycles, but chose not to. Those additional funds were “banked” and will now be used in the 2016-17 budget.
The resolution to add the banked tax levy funds passed with a 5-4 vote.
President Debbie Mattos, Vice President Stephen Shifrinson and board members Michael Lilonsky, Joanne Liu-Rudel and Robyn Wolfe voted to add the $1.8 million to the budget.
Board members Victoria Dean, Dara Enny, Craig Marshall and Ellen Xu voted no on the motion.
“I feel this money is our opportunity for Marlboro to have full-day kindergarten without going to a referendum,” Mattos said.
“I am voting no because I think the process we are using is wrong,” Marshall said. “I think the community is intelligent enough to know what they want and we should not be forcing this on them.”
“We have to put our kids on top of this one and their future on top of this one,” Lilonsky said.
“It is difficult for me to make a decision at this point.” Xu said. “I appreciate that the amount decreased from $20 million to $1.8 million, but it is still an increase.”
Xu was referring to a $20 million plan to expand the early learning center so it would have been able to accommodate all of Marlboro’s kindergarten pupils for a full-day program. Residents defeated that expenditure in a referendum, which has led the board to develop a plan to place full-day kindergarten classes in the district’s other elementary schools.
“Kindergarten is a vital entity going forward,” Shifrinson said. “We are investing in the future of the infrastructure.”
The addition of the $1.8 million increased the total budget for the 2016-17 school year to $90.91 million. Marlboro’s residential and commercial property owners will pay a tax levy of $75.12 million to support the budget. The district will receive $11.65 million in state aid and administrators will use $1 million in surplus funds (savings) as revenue in the budget.
The 2015-16 budget totaled $87.65 million and was supported by a tax levy of $71.95 million.
On a motion to adopt the 2016-17 budget, Mattos, Shifrinson, Lilonsky, Liu-Rudel and Wolfe voted yes. Dean, Enny, Marshall and Xu voted no.
Dean said she would have voted to adopt the budget if the banked tax levy funds had not been included.
In 2015-16, the average home assessment in Marlboro was $492,549, the K-8 tax rate was $1.014 per $100 of assessed valuation and the owner of that home paid about $4,994 in school taxes.
In 2016-17, the average home assessment in Marlboro is $494,873, the K-8 tax rate will be $1.048 per $100 of assessed valuation and the owner of that home will pay about $5,185 in K-8 school taxes – an increase of $191, according to Business Administrator Cindy Barr-Rauge.
School taxes are one item on a property owner’s tax bill, which also includes Monmouth County taxes, Marlboro municipal taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, a fire district tax and other assessments. The amount of taxes a property owner pays is determined in part by the assessed value of his home.
Barr-Rague said administrators are anticipating an enrollment of 4,959 pupils in 2016-17. The current enrollment in the district is 5,129 pupils, according to officials.
