School tax rate to rise 11.1 cents in new budget

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Residents here will pay an average of $148 more this year based on the $141 million budget the Board of Education adopted recently.

The school tax rate will rise 11.1 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation. The budget also calls for the elimination of 22 staff positions, closes one school and relocates students from two other schools to other district facilities.

"This budget was the most scrutinized budget to ever go before the county superintendent," Board President Cynthia Mc- Carthy said. "It's not all bad though. It has initiatives also like enhanced high school class offerings, the replacement of textbooks and technology improvements. There's a lot of good in there too."

The March 27 public hearing on the budget lasted more than three hours. Board members voted 4 to 1 to approve it. Board member Daniel Woska voted no.

Homeowners with a home based on the $134,112 average assessed value will see their taxes rise by $148.63. The amount to be raised by taxation is $91,571,640 of the total $141,104,370 budget.

Interim Superintendent Melindo A. Persi said the district will close the Laurelton School on Route 88 and send its roughly 50 middle and high school special needs students to the Educational Enrichment Center (EEC) on Hendrickson Avenue. The Laurelton School will then be put up for sale.

The students who currently attend the EEC, most of whom are preschool and elementary school disabled pupils, will be relocated to the Primary Learning Center (PLC) on Chambers Bridge Road, he said.

The kindergarten students who were slated to attend the PLC in the fall will now attend classes in their home schools in September.

Persi also said that the board is looking into establishing a tuition preschool program that would operate out of the PLC and be run by the newly formed Brick Township Education Foundation. (See related story.)

"The Board of Education is most interested in making the PLC building a revenue source," Persi said.

The proceeds from the sale of the Laurelton School would be used to replenish the district's surplus account, which Persi said was "dangerously low" at $1.4 million.

T

he state mandates that school districts

keep at least 2 percent of their total budgets in surplus. In Brick, that translates into $2.5 million.

The staff cuts include five teaching po- sitions, six classroom aides, three nurses, three principals/assistant principals, three members from the school administrative staff, two operations and maintenance workers, one social worker and one employee in the technology department.

"It's a sad thing," Persi said of the cuts, "But we're still maintaining our current programs and services."

Two new positions would be created in the budget - an assistant curriculum and instruction superintendent and a security supervisor

Although the position of assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction was eliminated a few years ago because of budget cuts, it is needed now, Persi said.

"This is our business: curriculum," he said.

Voters will be asked to support two special ballot questions, in addition to approving the tax levy.

The first question seeks to raise an additional $150,000 annually for a security supervisor and a secretary.

If the positions are approved, that will result in a permanent increase in the district's tax levy. The cost of the question is $4.02 annually for a home assessed at $134,112, Persi said.

The security supervisor will act as a liaison to the police department and work with the two school resource officers and three special police currently assigned to the district. The supervisor will also be responsible for the security of the district's facilities and coordinating fire drills and bus evacuations, Persi said.

The second question asks voters for an additional $478,500 to purchase technology upgrades. If approved, the district's elementary schools would get 35 LCD projectors and seven laptop carts. Secondary schools would receive 20 LCD projectors and four laptop carts, he said.

The technology question is a one-time only increase and, if it passes, will not become a permanent increase in the tax levy. The cost of the question is $13.41 for this year only for a home assessed at $134,112, Persi said.

Both questions must be approved by at least 60 percent of the votes cast in order to pass.

Board President Cynthia McCarthy, Allen Atheras, Edward McBride and Daniel Rosa voted in favor of the budget. Daniel Woska voted against it. Board members Frank Pannucci and Virginia Reinhold did not attend the meeting.

Brick voters will go to the polls on April 15 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. to decide on the fate of the budget and the two special ballot questions. The deadline for submitting absentee ballots is April 8 by mail and April 14 in person.

For more information on the budget, go to the Brick schools Web site at: www.brickschools.org.