The Manchester Township Board of Education has finalized its proposed school budget for School Fiscal Year 2008/2009 (7/2008-6/2009). We believe that we provide our students with a quality education at a reasonable cost to the community. This is evidenced by the achievements of our students and the fact that our budgeted cost per student remains well below statewide averages. We are proud to note that virtually all of our schools have met all 41 benchmarks established under the No Child Left Behind Federal education guidelines (the high school missed one). It has also been publicly announced that the High School Graduation and SAT test scores for our most recent graduating class were among the highest in Ocean County.
We have worked very hard as a Board to limit our spending wherever possible. We employ a zero based budgeting philosophy when we develop our budget, meaning that we don’t just take last year’s budget and bump it up by some arbitrary inflation factor. We focus on the basic needs of our students and build our budget from there. Our proposed budget meets both the State 4% Spending Cap and 2% surplus requirements. The cost to local taxpayers has been carefully considered during the budget deliberation process. Administrators, Teachers and our Support Service Staff have all provided significant input into the budget process. Cost saving measures including the refinancing of debt, cooperative group purchasing, the sharing of services with other local school districts and our municipality were achieved wherever possible, and we will continue to look for savings initiatives that may be of benefit to the district and our taxpayers.
It is noteworthy, as we consider this budget, that the Board continues to address a growing number of significant financial and educational issues beyond its control that directly affect our spending. Unfortunately, the recently announced 2% State Aid increase ($130,000) does not make up for virtually six years of flat State funding, continued inflationary pressures, increases in our student enrollment, and additional unfunded State and Federal education mandates. The percentage of our budget now supported by the State of New Jersey is only 14.3%.
Due in part to our large senior citizen population, it is apparent that Manchester continues to be viewed by the State of New Jersey as a wealthy community even under the new State Aid funding formula. In addition, Senior Stabilization Aid funding that we previously received has been completely eliminated from the new funding formula. This situation is clearly at odds with our school district’s classification by the State as a district factor group “B” for the socio-economic make-up of our students and their parents. Group “B” is one group removed from the heavily State supported Abbott districts, yet we receive nowhere near the level of state funding they receive. Also, as we know, the majority of our citizens are retirees who are living on fixed incomes. It is frustrating to note that in spite of all the political rhetoric and the significant efforts of the Board, individual citizens, and our local elected officials that the promised revisions to the new school funding formula that were expected to provide funding equity and fairness to communities like ours have failed to materialize yet again this year. This is why we continue to receive a significantly smaller percentage (14%) of State Aid support than the typical New Jersey school district (39%).
The total proposed school budget for 2008/2009 is $47,117,250. The budget represents an increase of $1,767,880 or 3.89% over the revised 2007/2008 budget. Much of this increase reflects dramatic increases in basic fixed operational costs such as fuel & utilities, property & liability insurance, textbooks & educational supplies, special education services for special needs children, health insurance and additional unfunded State and Federal mandates. We are projecting to educate 3,200 students (an increase of 71) next year. The General Fund Local Tax Levy (the portion of the budget supported by local taxpayers) is $34,439,117 or an increase of $1,666,464 over last year. The Debt Service portion of the local tax levy will be $2,137,674. Debt Service represents the amount of money needed to pay for school construction projects and capital improvements previously approved by the public. The budget will be supported next year by State Aid of $6,733,454 (14.3% of the budget) and Federal Aid of $927,665 (1.9% of the budget).
The local property tax rate for calendar year 2008 is calculated to be $1.659/$100 of assessed valuation. This tax rate represents an increase of 3.6 cents ($0.036/$100) over last year. Our school tax rate will continue to remain lower than the rate paid by virtually all other school districts in both Monmouth and Ocean Counties. The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $105,000 would pay $38 more per year or an additional $3.16/month in local property taxes to support our schools.
Finally, it is important to recognize that this budget addresses the unique needs of Manchester Township's growing and ethnically diverse student population. We are planning to implement a full-day kindergarten program next school year. Numerous educational studies and our own experience has shown us that by concentrating our efforts on students in the early grade levels we will have more successful and less costly educational outcomes for our students in the long term. This is why the Board and the Administration feels strongly about pursuing this new initiative at this time. All current programs and services would be maintained under the proposed budget. The budget also includes the following key elements:
- There will be selective replacement of worn out textbooks, school materials and educational equipment.
- Ongoing physical plant repairs will be undertaken at all our schools in order to keep them in the safest possible condition for students and staff.
- We will continue to address State and Federal educational mandates.
As you can see, the Board continues to address the essential educational needs of our students in a fiscally responsible manner even under extremely difficult economic circumstances.
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