The Chatham Resident's Guide to Today's School Vote

Chatham residents will go to the polls today to vote on a school budget and to pick two new Board of Education candidates for the township. Here's what you need to know before you go:

The Basics

The polls open today at 2 p.m. and close at 9 p.m. Township residents will vote at Chatham High School, while borough residents will vote at Chatham Middle School.

A proposed $54.2 million budget is up for approval, and two township Board of Education seats are up for re-election.

Board of Education

Incumbents Roger Rogalin and Heather Turnbull have decided to not run for additional three-year terms, and four candidates are running for their two seats. Board member Steve Barna is running unopposed for re-election to his borough seat.

The four candidates are Ken Aul, Greg Borsinger, Matt Gilfillan and John Nonnenmacher. They participated in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on April 7, and each answered three questions for Patch in a video and spoke about their backgrounds. The two candidates who garner the most votes will be seated on the board at its next meeting.

See the videos here:

• Ken Aul
• Greg Borsinger
• Matt Gilfillan
• John Nonnenmacher

School Budget

Voters will cast "yes" or "no" votes on the $54.2 million budget adopted by the Board of Education.

The board was forced to put together a budget after it received an 86 percent cut, which amounted to about $2.6 million in state aid for next school year. It initially adopted a $58.5 million budget at its March 22 meeting, but was forced to pare it down to $54.2 million after Executive County Superintendent Kathleen Serafino vetoed several line items from the original budget.

The new budget cuts two full-time and six part-time instructional aides at the first through third grade levels, and new library circulation software will be eliminated.

Despite the cuts, Chatham will be among the few districts in the state adding teaching positions to their budgets, and will be adding a new program—Mandarin Chinese—in the high school. These new positions, along with increasing salaries of current teachers and staff, result in a 2.5 percent increase in salary and benefits cost. This increase is small compared to most years.

The district has also instituted a one-time $150 fee for students that participate in extracurricular activities. It had initially planned to cut down its kindergarten program by 20 minutes, but after parents protested, the district has found other revenue streams that will allow it to keep the kindergarten program intact. Those funds will come from employee contributions to health care costs and from student user fees.

The local tax levy will increase by 7.4 percent this year. Even though that increase is above the state-imposed 4 percent cap, the district was allowed to raise taxes by more than that in part because of its state aid reduction.

Taxes will go up $193 this year in the borough and $129 this year in the township on a home assessed at $700,000.