Budget offers kids more space, teachers, supplies
Boro faces 6-cent tax hike; U.F. looks at 4-cent increase
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

The Upper Freehold Regional School District's proposed $16.6 million budget would raise taxes but would also address overcrowding and student development issues.

The Board of Education unanimously voted to adopt the preliminary budget at its March 7 meeting. The board will conduct a public hearing on the budget on March 28 in the elementary/middle school auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

Voters will decide the fate of the proposed budget during the April 17 Board of Education election. The school district will also have a second question on the ballot asking voters to approve an additional $13.2 million for the middle school project.

The proposed budget relies on a total tax levy of $8.4 million, which is an increase of $953,000 over last year.

The tax levy would amount to 5.8 cents per $100 of assessed value for Allentown residents and 4.1 cents per $100 of assessed value for Upper Freehold residents.

According to Business Administrator Viola Yosifon, an Allentown resident with a home assessed at the borough's average of $154,500 would see an $89 increase in their tax bill as a result of the school budget. She said Upper Freehold residents with homes assessed at the township's average of $519,080 would see a $211 increase in their tax bills due to the school budget.

Superintendent of Schools Robert Smith said the board should find out from its bond attorney this week what the tax impact of the referendum question would be.

Smith said he is enthusiastic about the proposed budget.

"We had difficulty getting to the more important things that needed to be done in the district last year," Smith said. "We were doing catch-up stuff with our special-needs programs."

Smith said the school district has now taken care of its special-needs programs for at least another year, which freed up approximately $120,000 to use for other services this year.

The school district will also receive more state aid this year, according to Smith. For the past five years, the school district had been receiving approximately $4.2 million in state aid each year.

"Until this year, we had the same state aid as we had five years ago, but we have added a lot of students and we were not able to meet the needs of those students," he said. "This year, we will have a little additional funding from the state."

The budget includes a capital outlay of approximately $233,000, which would include the cost of temporary classrooms to ease overcrowding conditions in the elementary/middle school and new equipment for the high school's industrial arts program, according to Smith.

This year's budget would also add one sixth-grade teacher and one seventh-grade teacher due to increased enrollment in those grades, according to Smith. The school district will drop one of its fifth-grade sections due to a decrease in student population in that grade, according to Smith.

This year's budget would also provide the elementary/middle school with a part-time physical education teacher and a part-time Spanish teacher. The elementary/middle school would also gain a literacy staff position, according to Smith.

"With what's happening in sixth and seventh grade, we decided we will add a literacy staff position," Smith said. "We haven't decided what certification we want that person to have, but that person would come in and teach the lowest levels and those having the most difficulty reading."

Smith said when a school district faces literacy problems, it should tackle those problems early on in the children's development.

The new budget would also provide for an additional elementary/middle school counselor and three-quarters of a secretarial staff position to assist the school's child study team, Smith said. The other one-quarter of the full-time position would entail working as a secretary in the main office of the high school, he said.

"The staff task force determined that our secretarial staff is stretched thin," he said.

The new budget would also provide for the purchase of new math textbooks and supplemental supplies for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students as well as supplemental coaching staff for boys and girls soccer at the middle school level.

The middle school will also start up its first-ever cross country program this year, Smith said.

Allentown High School would get three new teaching positions: one science, one math and one English supervisor.

The supervisors would teach two 90-minute blocks per school day and would supervise other teachers and schedule appointments with students in their department the remainder of the day. The positions will require certification in those specific subjects and supervisor certification, according to Smith.

Board of Education President Joseph Stampe said he believes the curriculum supervisor positions will help students have higher achievements in math, science and English.

The state report card showed that the school district is below average in its District Factor Group, which ranks school districts by their socioeconomic status.

"All of the schools ahead of us have curriculum supervisors, which was one of the issues raised last year and asked in a second question that did not get passed," Stampe said.

The new budget would also allow the high school to make two of its part-time secretarial positions full time.

New instruments would be purchased for high school band members, graphic calculators would be purchased for math students, and athletic supplies would be purchased for student athletes. The school's wrestling mats would also be reconditioned to extend their life expectancy, Smith said.

The school district would also put in a new section of bleachers at the high school football field.

"They will be the best seats in the house, right around the 50-yard line," Smith said.

The board also agreed to having an interlocal agreement with Millstone Township School District to share a public relations person.

The public information officer would receive a $22,626 salary and would work 3.8 hours a day for 240 days. Yosifon said the position adds .2 of a penny to the tax levy.

Kathy Winecoff, the Millstone representative on the regional board, explained what the public relations person does for her school district.

Winecoff said the person attends all board meetings and school events, and takes pictures and reports on any awards given out to students and staff. The person also puts together the district's newsletter and backpack communications, she said.

"You could work with her and tell her what you would like her to do," Winecoff said.