School Board Approves Tentative 2012-13 Budget

Manchester members voted for approval of the $47,742,818 tentative 2012-13 school budget during a special meeting Thursday evening.

With about a month until the final budget is approved, administrators cautioned that the spending plan may change before its final adoption in late-March. 

"There are several times that the budget could change from what we're presenting now to what gets adopted at the very end," said Superintendent of Schools David Trethaway. "This is the first step in the process."

The budget, which has a general fund increase of over $1 million compared to the 2011-12 budget, now will be submitted to the Ocean County Executive Superintendent for approval. Manchester's board members will vote to adopt the budget during a public hearing scheduled for March 28.

Trethaway said that the administration is "optimistic" that the budget will remain within the 2 percent state-mandated cap. Anything over that amount would be put to a public vote in November under the new law passed by the state which .

"We should not be putting anything up for a vote," Trethaway said. As for staff and programs, Trethaway said that those should remain stable. "We don't see any need for a reduction in staff or programs," he said.

"I think we've done what we could to stay within the footprint of the 2 percent cap," said board president Donald Webster. 

The district is awaiting final numbers from the state division of pensions, said business administrator Craig Lorentzen. An estimate is included in the budget for now. 

"We know that's going to be one change right away," Lorentzen said. Because of the possibility of changes to the budget, tax rate numbers are still too early to be determined, Lorentzen said. 

The district could have taken waivers to exceed the 2 percent for pension and health care cost increases, according to Webster. But administrators decided against those waivers, which would have allowed the budget to rise about $627,000 above the cap, Lorentzen said. 

Webster thanked administrators for working on the budget, which he said is a lengthy process. 

"This isn't a process that starts 30 days before the tentative budget is out there," he said. "It starts in the fall."

The district recently . Though Manchester schools will receive 2.3 percent more in state aid, new mandated payments mean that the district will only net about $10,000 of that money.

The board also approved a 5-year renewal of the contract with the state to operate Regional Day School in Jackson. The tentative 2012-13 Regional Day School budget was approved for $5,778,830.

The approved tentative budget:

The district will accept the following state aid funds: