Summit Schools To Raise Budget 3.38 Percent

SUMMIT, NJ - Taxpayers may be paying more to support the school district in the coming year if the preliminary budget for the Summit School District passes. But there will be a universal, full-day kindergarten program in the offing.

According to the presentation posted to the district website, the expected increase will be roughly 3.38 percent over last year's budget.

The presentation said that the budget will meet the demand of the changing world and will include:

• Universal Full Day Kindergarten
• Experiential Learning Environments
• Collaborative Learning Spaces
• Increase in Digital Environment
• Academic Rigor
• Student Well-being
• Balanced Experience
• Future Ready

The amount proposed for 2019-20 is $66,171,587, which is an increase of $2,165,998.03 over last year's $64,005,589. According to the breakdown, 66.3 cents of every dollar goes to classroom instruction, 14 cents for undistributed expenses, nine cents for operational plant Svcs, eight cents for admin expense, 2.2 cents for co-curricular instruction and .5 cents

The budget next moves to the Board of School Estimate (BOSE) for a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. on March 7 in the Summit High School media center.

The Board of School Estimate is comprised of two members of Common Council and two members of the Board of Education with the mayor serving as tie-breaker. The budget will then be voted on after a public hearing at 6 p.m. on March 25 at Summit City Hall.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter by clicking here. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading our Apple iOS app here, or by visiting the Google Play store for the Android app here.