School Budget Season Arrives: Potential Cuts Loom

It’s that time of the year again for New Jersey school districts… budget season.

In a flurry of workshop meetings and public hearings, school districts across the county begin the process of nailing down their 2015-16 budgets over the next few months. With many school districts facing rising expenditures and the prospect of stagnant state aid for the coming year, fears of potential cuts to staff and services are hitting districts across the county.

Hoboken was one of the few districts to see increased state aid for next year, to the tune of $749,133, but school administrators have stated that the increased aid will barely make up for previous cuts last year.

At the Hoboken Board of Education’s March 10 meeting, Trustee Leon Gold, chair of the board’s finance committee, said that the district has a “serious budget problem.” According to a report, the school board is in the process of making cuts, but that the tax levy on Hoboken property owners will almost certainly rise.

The school board will meet for a short budget information session on Tuesday, March 17, at 7 p.m., at the Hoboken Board of Education, Demarest Auditorium, 158 Fourth St.

The planned agenda for the meeting includes pending approval to use a banked cap from previous years for the 2015-16 district budget, to “supplement the District budget for the purposes of maintaining the educational foundation programs and for the continuation of the required transition to the Common Core Curriculum Standards.”

The Board of Education will meet on May 5 at 7 p.m. for the district’s official budget hearing.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN OTHER LOCAL DISTRICTS?

MONTCLAIR

During a standing-room-only meeting of the Montclair Board of Education on Monday, board members reported that some school staff members’ jobs may be saved from expected downsizing, but Montclair residents’ taxes are still likely to go up and the district’s tentative budget is still in the red. [See related Patch article]

The district previously announced a $10.9 million budget shortfall for the 2015-16 school year.

See a line-by-line breakdown of the proposed 2015-16 school budget here.

CALDWELL-WEST CALDWELL

During their March 9 public meeting, the Caldwell-West Caldwell Board of Education adopted a tentative budget of $44.66 million with a $41.64 million local tax levy.

According to school meeting records, the board has included an adjustment for a banked cap in the proposed budget for 2015-16, stating that the district “has fully exhausted all eligible statutory spending authority and must increase the base budget in the amount of $582,765 in order to fund health benefit, salary and tuition expenses.”

The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on Monday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m., in the Harrison School Conference Room, 104 Gray St., West Caldwell.

LIVINGSTON

According to a draft budget package on the Livingston Public Schools website, this year’s budget is within the allowable cap established by state law. The draft budget states that 92 percent of the $113.64 million budget will be paid with district taxes.

Despite receiving no additional state aid for the coming school year, the Livingston Public School District was one of the few in the area to avoid cuts to staff and services in their upcoming budget.

The potential budget would add 12 full-time and part-time staff to the district, including five full-time staff at Livingston High School, four special education staff members, two new full-time custodians and a full-time counselor.

The budget also allows for allocations to purchase new textbooks, make technological investments and create an new behavioral disabilities program.

The Livingston Board of Education has scheduled multiple public meetings leading up to the final budget vote and hearing on Monday, April 27:

· Monday, March 23: Approval of tentative budget

· Monday, April 13: Budget discussion

MILLBURN

On Monday, the Millburn Board of Education submitted their tentative 2015-16 budget to the Essex County Executive Superintendent of Schools, well ahead of the state-mandated April 8 deadline.

According to a report, the $89.3 million budget would include $81.8 million from a local tax levy, and the property tax increase resulting from the budget would amount to $233 on a township property assessed at $1 million.

The board is also applying for permission to use $607,090 from their banked cap from a previous budget.

According to a report, $400,000 will be spent for capital projects and $174,072 will be used for the replacement of the technology edge switches in the computer systems at Millburn High School.

Send news tips or releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com