Tax rate for K-8 schools proposed to rise by 7.6%

Spending plan includes money to support
new charter school
By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH—An $8,670,061 budget for the 2003-04 school year has been introduced by the Board of Education.

The proposed budget, which still must be approved by the Monmouth County superintendent of schools and borough voters, is up $607,956 over the spending plan for the current school year to $8,062,105.

It will require a tax levy of $7,805,874 to support it.

That figure represents an increase of $625,910 over the tax levy of $7,179,964 for this school year.

To meet that additional expense, borough property owners will be required to see a 7.91 cent increase in the tax rate, or about 7.6 percent over what they paid last year.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 25 in the library of the Frank Antonides School.

Dayton Faunce, the business administrator of the Board of Education, described the budget as "responsible" and said the board was mindful of the tax rate in drawing it up.

"But we need to support the continued instruction for the students…(and) you have to keep up with technology," he said.

"It’s a sound budget, but tight," he said. "There’s no fat in this budget."

The nearly 8-cent increase in the tax rate for the local school budget comes on top of a projected increase of 7 to 8 cents in the rate for the municipal budget, which has not yet been introduced.

In addition, the Shore Regional High School Board of Education has introduced a budget that could result in a 3.5-cent tax rate increase for the borough’s share of its cost. Faunce said the school district is still on target with a September referendum for a $7.4 million addition and renovations to the borough’s two-school education complex.

The 2003-04 tab provides for turning over $104,000 to the new Jersey Shore Charter School. That school is just starting up and plans to open its doors in the fall.

In addition to per-pupil funding, which will be paid for any students from the district who go to the charter school, Faunce noted the district has to pay for transporting them to the school, which the founders said will be in Eatontown.

If the school is located in Eatontown, Faunce said, the district may join with Oceanport to transport students from both towns to the school and go out to bid on a smaller bus to carry them rather than pay for a regular school bus, which likely would be inefficient for the number of students attending.

The school district budget includes $5,000 for a joint appeal by the borough, Oceanport and Eatontown of the state commissioner of education’s approval of the charter school.

Faunce said the West Long Branch school district previously shelled out $20,000 over the past three years to fight the issuing of a charter to the new school, which it was doing on its own.

The district just recently entered a joint appeal with the other two school districts.

"West Long Branch has done everything it could in its powers to appeal it," Faunce said.

Faunce said the proposed budget includes $57,000 for technology expenditures.

He said that the amount will cover the purchase of 25 wireless laptop computers that can be put on a cart and transported from classroom to classroom, as well as improvements to the network.

"It saves a lot of money," he said about opting for laptop computers instead of desktop versions.

Faunce said money has also been provided for the conversion of the library in the Frank Antonides School into a classroom.

The Frank Antonides library holdings will be moved to the Betty McElmon School next door.

Hopefully, he said, if the referendum is passed, the new library/media center that is planned for the proposed addition can be built to house both libraries’ holdings.

The building plan calls for converting the Betty McElmon library into two classrooms if the addition is approved.

Extra money was also put into the budget for curriculum development and installation of a phone system that would put telephones in all the classrooms for emergency purposes, Faunce said.

He said the telephones have been wanted since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Faunce said the school district has been hit with a 16 percent increase in health insurance costs for employees, as well as increases in other insurance polices, which have gone up since 9/11.

He said special education costs have also risen.

Twenty-two special education students go out of district to school at a total tuition cost of $928,000, up from $899,000 this year.

"On top of that, we have to transport them to those schools and have aides on the buses to help them," he said, noting that that amounts to another $285,000, up from $220,000 this year.

Faunce said the children need the schooling and transportation, but it is costly.

"It would be nice if the state redid the funding and helped out a little more," he said.