E.B. school tab carries lowest increase in years Board looks to hire 12 new teachers, keep tax rate hike to 6.9 cents BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer EAST BRUNSWICK - The Board of Education is proposing a single-digit increase in the school tax rate, the first in several years. "This is the lowest tax increase in at least 10 years," said School Administrator Bernardo Giuliana. The tax rate rose by nearly 37 cents for the current school year, and has seen increases beyond 20 cents in each of the prior years since 2001. Board of Education President Todd Simmens said the tax rate would rise by 6.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation if the proposed budget for the 2008-09 school year is approved. For the owner of property assessed at $150,000, this amounts to an increase of $103. The figure does not include debt service. The board has yet to adopt its budget, but Simmens said he did not expect the increase to grow by the time of its adoption. Simmens credited the board's finance committee with helping to bring in a budget with a relatively low tax increase. "They did a phenomenal job this year and came in with a very, very low budget," Simmens said of the committee. He acknowledged that a large increase in state aid for the new school budget also helped. The proposed school budget stands at approximately $134,410,000, and represents an increase of 2.85 percent from the current year's spending plan, according Giuliana. The tax levy for the general fund, which is the amount that residents will vote on in the April 15 school election, is just over $107 million, an increase of nearly $1.4 million from this year. Giuliana said the district is receiving a 4.67 percent increase in state aid this year, bringing the total amount of aid to about $20.5 million. This is the first time in several years that the district has seen a significant increase in state aid. Simmens said he is pleased to see state aid increased by nearly $1.5 million this year, but noted that the district is still greatly underfunded and has not received the full amount of aid it is due. The board adopted a tentative budget on March 6 and is holding budget meetings each week until the final adoption takes place at 8 p.m. March 27 at the board offices. The public hearing will be held at 8 p.m. March 25 at Churchill Junior High School, Norton Road. Factors contributing to rising costs in the budget were the opening of the newly expanded Hammarskjold Middle School in September, increased salaries and benefits and rising costs for fuel, electric and other utilities, according to information provided by the school district. The budget includes the addition of 12 new staff positions, 11 of which are for the expanded Hammarskjold school. Simmens said the new teachers will allow the district to staff the new rooms and control class sizes in the face of rising student enrollment at the school. "It will be a phenomenal education resource when it is finished," Simmens said of the middle school. The 12th new staff position is for the Central Elementary School, which was recently renovated and expanded. Facility improvements in the budget include: roof replacement at Chittick Elementary School; public address/ clock/fire alarm system at Warnsdorfer Elementary School; new theater lighting and rigging system at East Brunswick High School; first of three phases of police-recommended security upgrades of door hardware; curbing, sidewalk and paving repairs to address safety issues at the Bowne- Munro, Chittick, Irwin, Memorial and Warnsdorfer schools, and the administration building; and the first of three phases of carpeting and tile flooring replacement in designated areas. Reductions made to the 2008-09 school budget include $1.65 million in staffing requests including teachers, guidance counselors, maintenance staff members and other workers. A new science program for kindergarten through second grade was deferred, and officials scrapped the capital projects including: new roofing at Warnsdorfer and Bowne-Munro, boiler and piping replacement at Irwin, and security, concrete and paving upgrades. Simmens said last week that the board could still make additions and deletions to the budget before the final adoption, but he did not foresee any changes that would raise the tax increase. In general, Simmens said he was very pleased with the budget. "It's the leanest in years," he said. Information on the school budget is available at the East Brunswick Public Library, Senior Center, each of the district's 11 schools, the school business administrator's office, the district Web site at www.ebnet.org, and by sending questions to commrel@ebnet.org.