Monday, March 4, 2013
South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education passed a $104,473,642 preliminary budget
The South Orange - Maplewood Board of Education passed a $104,473,642 preliminary budget for 2013-14 on Monday night. After impassioned discussion, members Beth Daugherty, Sandra Karriem, Lynne E. Crawford, David R. Giles, and Andrea Wren-Hardin voted for the budget; Jeff Bennett, Wayne Eastman, and Madhu Pai voted against. Bill Gaudelli was absent. The total tax impact, known as the "all in" total is 2.93%, which translates into a tax increase of at least $199 for an "average" Maplewood household and $212 for an "average" South Orange household. (Cheryl Schneider, District Business Administrator, explained that the "average" household home used for calculations is one assessed at $422,000 in Maplewood and at $460,000 in South Orange.) …
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Most communities are still working with less than they were budgeted for in 2009-2010.
The proposed New Jersey budget for the new fiscal year holds a modest, but welcome, increase in state aid to school districts. But it’s still not enough to make up for the large cuts made shortly after Gov. Chris Christie took office. The NJ Spotlight's latest interactive map shows the change in state allocations to schools -- equalization aid, adequacy aid, transportation aid, special education aid, security aid, adjustment aid, and choice aid. Communities in green are slated to get more aid in the school year that begins July 1 than was originally proposed in 2009-2010 by Gov. Jon Corzine. All other communities will still be getting less. When Christie took office, he quickly declared a state of fiscal emergency and withheld from …
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Adjustments and banked cap give the district the ability to go to a 3.48% tax levy increase.
The South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education gave approval to a preliminary 2012-2013 school budget of $114.9 million on Monday night, March 5. The Board of School Estimate will vote on the proposed $101,959,453 tax levy to support the budget at a public meeting on March 28. That tax levy represents a 2% increase over last year's budget. District Business Administrator Cheryl Schneider pointed out that the district is allowed to go as high as 3.48% this year due to adjustments and banked cap, but did not do so because of awareness of the tax strain on residents as well as clear indications from the Board of School Estimate that an increase of greater than 2% would not be supported. Schneider noted that an increase in state aid this year…
voice of sanity
5:23 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Anyone feeling that 16K per child is not enough is free to independently donate additional monies to the School Board. Leave the rest of us out of it. We are not your pocket book. more ›