Wayne Board Of Ed. Approves Budget, Tuition-Funded Full-Day Kindergarten

WAYNE, N.J. — The Board of Education Thursday approved its $152.4 million budget, which includes a tuition-based full-day kindergarten program.

The budget passed with a 6-1. The owner of the average township home, which is valued at $228,200, will have his or her school taxes raised by $127.

The passage of the budget comes a week after the board voted to implement a full-day kindergarten option for parents for $250. The move helps supplement the district's current half-day kindergarten program.

The board also approved having residents vote on a tax-funded, $2.1 million full-day kindergarten program in November.

A large, and growing, group of residents has been encouraging officials to implement a district-funded full-day kindergarten program, but board officials and Superintendent Mark Toback have said doing so within the state's 2 percent tax levy cap wasn't feasible due to other budget line items also increasing year over year.

Residents already voted a full-day kindergarten program down last November, with proponents of the program saying not having one hurts students and handicaps them educationally. Opponents have said they did not want their taxes to increase.

Approving the measure in November would allow the extra spending to occur outside of the 2 percent cap.

The tuition-based kindergarten instruction would take place at Lafayette, Randall Carter, Pines Lake, Theunis Dey, and James Fallon schools. Students enrolled at other schools would be bused to those locations.

Class sizes are limited to 20 students per class; if more children are registered then students would be selected with a lottery.

Registration for the tuition-based program opens at 9 a.m. Saturday and ends 5 p.m. Thursday on the district's website.

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