Three run unchallenged for Milltown BOE
School budget for 2008-09 keeps tax rate stable
BY BRIAN DONAHUE Staff Writer

MILLTOWN - Three candidates are running uncontested for three available seats on the Board of Education.

Voters will elect board members to the three-year terms in the April 15 school election and also decide the fate of a proposed $13.1 million budget for the 2008- 09 school year. The budget would keep Milltown's school tax rate stable.

Seeking the three available seats are incumbent Laura McCann and newcomers Patricia Payne and Vincent Marano. If elected, Payne and Marano would take the places of Jim Ferguson and Maryanne Stout, who did not seek reelection.

McCann, who has a son Will, in sixth grade, and a daughter Sophie, who attends a private high school, has lived in Milltown for 18 years and has served on the board for the past three. She said new board members have "a tremendous amount of information" to learn when they first join, and she wants to serve another term in order to make good use of the knowledge and experience she has gained.

"I enjoy it," she added. "It's been a relatively calm three years, and that's made it easy to enjoy. I've been very fortunate to have a really positive working relationship with the other board members and the administrators, and that also makes me want to continue to serve."

McCann said she wants to continue the board's efforts to improve student achievement, and to make sure the right decisions are made with regard to the school district, given the uncertainties of future decisions made at the state level.

McCann made note of the $7.2 million referendum approved in December for school improvements ranging from roof repairs to a new media center, and said she wants to see that work through to completion at the borough's two public schools.

"It will be interesting to be on the board while that is being done, and to see that through," she said.

Payne said she too is interested in overseeing the school improvements as a board member.

"There will be some major construction and major developments in the schools, and I want to be as supportive as I can," she said.

A resident of Milltown for 10 years, Payne has two sons in the school district - Danny Newton, in fourth grade, and Tommy Newton, in second grade. She is employed as a professor of criminal justice and constitutional law at Middlesex County College, Edison.

Payne has volunteered with the Milltown Education Foundation for the past two years and served as its co-president for the past year. She said serving on the board seemed like the next step.

"I just wanted to serve the community and do the best I can for the students, teachers and staff," she said.

Citing her 20 years of experience as a college educator, and her current position as faculty union president at the college, Payne said she feels she can help the board in areas of education as well as negotiations.

Marano moved to Milltown in 1983 and lives with his wife Bernice. His son, now 30, went to Our Lady of Lourdes School and Spotswood High School. A former millwright mechanic welder, Marano worked for 17 years in maintenance for Milltown Public Schools, retiring last August.

He said he is running because he wants to serve the children as well as the taxpayers. He said he is pleased with the way the district is run, but he does have some ideas he would like to bring up to the board.

"I'm really here for the kids," he said. "There are some issues I'd like to bring up, but it's basically about just watching the dollar. I care about Milltown a lot, and I know many of the parents, the students ... It's a small community."

Marano said he attended a seminar recently in North Brunswick that focused on becoming acquainted with school board service.

"I think I can do more for the kids without adding to the taxes," he said.

As for the proposed school budget, Superintendent of Schools Linda Madison said the package preserves all of the district's programs and increases the curriculum budget by allocating funds for new textbooks while keeping the general fund tax rate stable. The budget also includes the hiring of a computer technician who will serve the district full-time, additional hours for school counselors, a new math teacher at Joyce Kilmer School, and the addition of a Basic Skills Improvement Program aide, which will be partially funded by a federal No Child Left Behind grant.

The district is receiving $1,411,000 in state aid for the budget, up $131,000 from last year.

Polls will be open from 2 to 9 p.m. April 15 at Joyce Kilmer School and the Milltown Senior Center.