School Budget Input Sought at Tuesday Board Meeting

Editor's note: This article first ran on Monday, Nov. 25.

The Washington Township School District announced it will host its annual public budget planning forum, and wants residents to give ideas and thoughts on the process.

The forum is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Valley Middle School, which coincides with the Board of Education’s regularly scheduled meeting.

In a statement, the district said the forum “will afford citizens and faculty opportunities and to share their thoughts, ideas, or concerns relative to the development of the 2014-15 school budget.”

All attendees will receive information about the district’s budget planning process as well.

This is the first budget cycle since a demographer’s report showed a continued projected enrollment decline through the 2018 school year in Washington Township Schools.

Projections showed a low-point of 1,910 students five years from now; a decrease of 24.05-percent, the demographer said in September. Washington Township’s highest enrollment year was 2007, according to Business Administrator Liz George. In that year, enrollment peaked at 2,948 students across five school buildings.

The projected enrollment number for 2017-18 stands at 1,910, a decrease of 1,038 students across the same amount of school buildings from 2007 to 2018.

The meeting is open to all residents with school children or not.

What’s your input for the district’s budget strategy? What recommendations would you make?