The Princeton Public Schools plans to spend $98 million in the upcoming school year and raise school taxes, based on the 2018-19 budget the Board of Education adopted on April 24.
In remarks during the board meeting, Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said the budget does not add staff, even though enrollment is up and exceeds 3,760 students.
He said the district was able to invest “where it matters” with added money for professional development of staff. Cochrane called investing in staff members “the best way to invest in our students.”
Administrators will spend $62.5 million on employee salaries and health benefits; two costs that make up 64 percent of the budget. The district has 753 staff members, according to a statistic in the budget presentation.
To support the budget, $81.4 million will be raised through a local tax levy to be paid by Princeton’s residential and commercial property owners. Administrators said school taxes will increase by $159 on the average home assessment of $837,074, to a total of $9,375.
School taxes are one item on a property owner’s tax bill, which also includes municipal taxes and county taxes. A property owner’s total tax is determined in part by the assessed value of his property.
Cochrane said administrators added the money and busing in order to move back the starting time at Princeton High School, beginning in September, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. in a step officials took to give high school students more time to rest. The district will spend $2.2 million on transportation, the same as in 2017-18.
Business Administrator Stephanie Kennedy walked the board through what she called a “very tight” spending plan and described how it was developed.
The budgets for the six schools will remain unchanged from 2017-18 to 2018-19, with the exception of an additional $24,000 for the high school.
“That’s not what they requested, that’s what they’re getting, unfortunately,” Kennedy said of the flat funding at the schools.
Administrators said $13.7 million in the budget is nondiscretionary spending that is outside the control of the board. The nondiscretionary spending includes an additional $475,661 to fund the Princeton Charter School, which will enter the second phase of its enrollment expansion. The district will provide $6.3 million to the charter school in 2018-19.
Health benefits are up by $98,666 to $10.9 million, budget data showed.
In terms of revenues other than taxes, the district is looking to receive $4.9 million in tuition from Cranbury through the send-receive relationship the two communities have and through which high school students who live in Cranbury attend Princeton High School. The tuition from Cranbury is the second largest item of revenue in the budget, after the local tax levy.
