UFRSD's $31.7M budget ready for public hearing BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer ALLENTOWN - Unexpected revenue sources will help the school district offer more to students than it originally planned for in its proposed 2008-09 budget. The Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education, which unanimously voted to introduce the $31.7million spending plan at its Feb. 27 meeting, said the proposed budget would raise the Allentown tax rate by 13 cents and theUpper Freehold tax rate by .006 cents per $100 of assessed value. An Allentown resident with a home assessed at the borough's average of $153,300 would pay a tax increase of $200 per year if the budget passes. The average Upper Freehold homeowner with a home assessed at the township's average of $526,400 can expect an annual increase of $31.58. The proposed budget relies on a total tax levy of $16.9 million, a budgeted fund balance of $325,073, miscellaneous funding in the amount of $97,500, tuition in the amount of about $8.8 million and state aid in the amount of $5.5 million. Superintendent of Schools Richard Fitzpatrick said, "This budget supports academic achievement, appreciation of the arts and physical and character development. This budget speaks volumes of how much we value our kids." Since the board first started reviewing the spending plan in early February, the school district added two more revenue sources. The proposed budget now includes Choice Aid in the amount of $187,131 and credits from separation agreements totaling $159,623, according to Fitzpatrick. "Without this last piece of Choice Aid, we couldn't think of doing something like the field house," Fitzpatrick said. The elementary/middle school is overcrowded and awaiting the completion of a new middle school in 2010. Due to lack of room, the school is doubling its gym classes and sending some middle school students to the high school for physical education when scheduling permits. The proposed budget would allow the school district to lease the Robbinsville Field House in Robbinsville for middle school physical education at a cost of $49,320. The second funding credit will come as a result of various separation agreements. Fitzpatrick said nine teachers will leave the district next year and will be replaced with employees who are paid less according to the teachers' salary guide. Fitzpatrick said the proposed budget achieves compliance with A-1 and the mandated 4 percent tax cap. He said the plan includes funding for all of the programs and services offered in the 2007- 08 budget and honors a $200,000 increase in the district's Public Employees Retirement System responsibility. He also said the budget includes math, English and science supervisors, maintains existing class sizes, and maintains all sports and extracurricular activities. The proposed budget allocates a total of $10.4 million toward regular instruction and $2.8 million toward special education. Tuition costs total $776,433, basic skills instruction costs total $266,558, extracurricular instruction costs total $219,723, bilingual instruction costs total $83,949, athletics costs total $593,612, and transportation costs total $1.8 million. The proposed budget would fund $14,000 for mapping software and provide $27,000 for the lease purchase of a school bus and van, which the district must replace by law because they are more than 12 years old. The budget would also provide more classroom space in the form of three trailers at a total cost of $362,000. The budget would fund the creation of a comprehensive preschool program at $160,000, which would include the costs of hiring two teachers and renting space at the Millstone Township Primary School for the program. The rental would cost $45,000. The budget would also allow the school district to hire an eighth-grade and a special education teacher for the middle school at a cost of $63,000 each. The budget would allow the elementary/ middle school to hire a part-time Spanish teacher at a cost of $10,000. The proposed spending plan would also allocate $40,000 for replacement and new texts, $14,000 for guided reading texts for grades K-4, and $4,200 for assessment kits for grades K-4. The superintendent encouraged Allentown and Upper Freehold residents to support the budget. "The children are our future and the decisions these kids make will affect us as we get older," he said. "The greatest gift we can give them is a powerful education. If we do a good job teaching them, they will take care of us and our country." Asecond reading and public hearing on the proposed budget and resulting tax increases will take place at 7 p.m. on March 19 in the elementary school media center. If approved, the budget would then go before voters in both towns onApril 15 in the Board of Education election.