Superintendent: Public Needs to Have More Info

Once the proposed 2012-13 school budget is finalized, more information about the spending plan will be posted on the district’s website, Superintendent of Schools Jorden Schiff said at Monday’s meeting.

Though a 15-page overview has already been posted, Schiff said more details will be released once district officials finish the work. That information will be posted before the board holds a hearing on the budget on March 26.

”The public needs to have more information,” Schiff said in response to a question by board member Greg Gillette.

Among that additional information, the superintendent said, will be details of proposed improvements to all of the township schools and plans to reduce class sizes at the high and middle schools.

The superintendent also said the district may prepare a statement on the details of the budget.

Schiff also pointed out that there was a button on the district website where residents can leave feedback on the budget.

The tentative $113,679,123 budget includes no staff reductions or program reductions, Schiff said at a previous board meeting.

The proposed budget represents a $2,999,423 increase—about 2 percent—over 2011-12’s $110,679,700 budget.

Under the tentative budget, the property school tax rate in Hillsborough would increase by less than 1 cent, from $1.444 per $100 of assessed value to $1.453 per $100 of assessed value. A home assessed at $368,700 would see a tax bill increase of $32.

In Millstone the tax rate would increase to $1.487 from $1.424 with school taxes on a home assessed at $324,474 rising by $204.

One project that won’t be in the budget is any expansion to the student parking lots at .

Daria Grastara, the student representative to the board, said a growing concern among high school students is the lack of parking spaces caused by the school having more student-teachers.

That is prompting juniors to use the remote “park-and-ride,” which presents safety concerns for students participating in athletics or after-school tutoring who have to cross busy Raider Boulevard after dark, she said.

But Schiff said there were no expansion plans and added projections show a possible decline in enrollment at the high school. He told Grastara to bring the concerns to Hillsborough High School Principal Karen Bingert.