Residents will vote on $64.2M school budget

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - The Freehold Township K-8 Board of Educa-tion has adopted a $64.2 million budget for the 2007-08 school year.

The new budget is up 4.6 percent from 2006-07.

A public hearing on the 2007-08 budget was held on March 27.

According to information provided by Business Administrator Sean Boyce, the $64.2 million budget is made up of three components: the general fund ($59.9 million), the special revenue fund (federal No Child Left Behind funding, $983,000) and the debt service fund ($3.3 million).

In the April 17 school election, residents will vote on a local tax levy of $52.2 million to support the general fund. The debt service tax levy of $3.2 million will not be voted on by residents. Debt service is the payment on bonds from past construction referendums.

All together, Freehold Township residents will be asked to pay $55.5 million in local property taxes to support the 2007-08 school budget.

The K-8 school tax rate to support the budget is projected to rise 6.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, from $1.723 to $1.791 per $100.

The projected increase in the tax rate means that the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $200,000 will pay $3,582 in K-8 school taxes in the 2007-08 school year, up from $3,446 in 2006-07. The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 will pay $7,164 in K-8 school taxes in the 2007-08 school year, up from $6,892 in 2006-07. The owner of a home assessed at $600,000 will pay $10,746 in K-8 school taxes in the 2007-08 school year, up from $10,338 in 2006-07.

According to information provided by Superintendent of Schools William Setaro, the budget adds three staff members in World Language; new World Language texts in the middle schools; World Language instruction in K-3; LCD projectors to be installed in some classrooms at every school in the district (excluding the West Freehold School, which was built with the LCD projectors in each classroom); a self-contained special education program which will allow some Freehold Township special education pupils who are sent out-of-district for instruction to be educated in the district; a special education supervisor; and it maintains the current busing system and all existing instructional times.

One of the biggest items driving the overall 4.6 percent increase in the new budget is an 11 percent increase in employee benefits for 2007-08, according to Boyce.

The Freehold Township K-8 School District has a current enrollment of 4,648 pupils.