MONROE – The Monroe Township School District Board of Education has adopted a $134.45 million budget to fund the operation of the school district from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020.
The budget, which was adopted April 30, will be supported by the collection of a $115.69 million tax levy from the township’s residential and commercial property owners.
The school district’s 2018-19 budget totaled $131.38 million and was supported by the collection of $111.32 million in a local tax levy.
For 2019-20, the school district tax rate is increasing by 1.99 cents to $1.4624 per $100 of assessed valuation.
District administrators said for the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $317,654, school taxes will increase by $63.23 from 2018-19. The total amount of school taxes to be paid by the owner of a home assessed at $317,654 in 2019-20 will be $4,645.
When the 2019-20 budget was introduced by the board in March, the increase on a home assessed at $317,654 was projected to be $68.87.
The amount of school taxes an individual pays is determined by the assessed value of his home and/or property and the tax rate that is set by the school district.
Business Administrator Michael Gorski said the $5.64 decrease in the projected tax increase may not be much from when the budget was introduced, but he said it emphasizes board members are doing everything possible to find a balance of providing a solid financial base, ensuring the school district will be able to meet the responsibility of preparing students for an increasingly competitive environment and taking the needs of the taxpayers into account.
After the budget was introduced in March, Gorski said, board member Andy Paluri, who chairs the Education Advocacy Committee, challenged the administration to consider putting back reserve funds, initially appropriated for revenue, into the proposed budget.
Gorski said many of the reductions in the approved budget made it through the financial “defense rounds” to be added to the preliminary budget.
“We heard from the community clearly about taxes,” he said, adding the reductions in the budget were a prudent thing to do in the face of the defeat of a proposed construction referendum in March.
“The community, because of the lack of state aid we received, predominantly pays a large share of taxes. [Board President Kathy Kolupanowich] challenged us, in addition to putting back reserves, to consider giving taxpayers a tax rate increase of under 2 cents for this year,” Gorski explained.
The district will receive $6.26 million in state aid for 2019-20, which administrators said is an increase of $623,857 from the 2018-19 total of $5.64 million.
Administrators reported that $815,000 was put back into reserved funds, which included the one-to-one technology initiative renewal reserve, unemployment fund reserve, proprietary redesign of use of building program, miscellaneous income and local tax levy for the proposed final budget.
Gorski said the administration allocated $75,000 in the redesign of the district’s use of building program.
“Currently the board lends out facilities to the community. … We do not make a profit at all,” he said. “Other districts, including East Brunswick, have a very profitable use of buildings program, but the board and previous boards [in Monroe] have felt schools belong to the community. [The taxpayers] pay a handsome amount of taxes for the upkeep of the schools and should have the enjoyment of them.”
Gorski said district administrators have slightly realigned the building policy with a focus on out-of-district residents’ use of the schools.
“We are confident we can raise another $75,000 redesigning the building program,” he said.
In addition to reserves, a number of appropriation reductions were made in the final budget. They include the elimination of non-mandatory courtesy transportation – the 4:15 p.m. late run at Monroe Township High School and Monroe Township Middle School except for the talented and gifted program; some courtesy busing of pupils who live near Oak Tree Elementary School and some courtesy busing of pupils who live near Woodland Elementary School; and transportation for a two-day high school freshman orientation.
Gorski said administrators looked at every safety aspect of the eliminated courtesy busing routes and noted that walking routes have paths for students to walk safely to school, and crossing guards.
Also reduced from the preliminary budget were high school new club total costs; staff costs for the existing two-day freshman high school orientation; a proposed grade one teacher with benefits for Oak Tree Elementary School; the proposed addition of two teachers with benefits at the middle school; a proposed business teacher with benefits at the high school; a proposed new elementary shared art teacher; and a proposed new media specialist change to media coordinator.
The budget also reflects a legal expense reduction in deductible and the use of a proposed vestibule project safety grant application.
The Monroe Township School District is made up of six elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. Gorski said enrollment drives budgets.
A User Friendly Budget posted by administrators indicates the district’s enrollment on Oct. 13, 2017 was 6,807 pupils. The district’s enrollment on Oct. 15, 2018 was 6,824 pupils. The district’s estimated enrollment for Oct. 15, 2019, is 7,019 pupils.
Board member Ken Chiarella voted “no” on the motion to adopt the budget. He said he was in favor of the preliminary budget, however, he said he would not support taking punitive action against parents for the defeated referendum with the changes that were made to the final budget.
