Cherry Hill residents will be paying more on their local school tax bill after the Board of Education adopted the school district’s 2014–15 budget at last week’s meeting.
The board unanimously passed a budget with a 2 percent tax hike. The average Cherry Hill homeowner with an assessed home of $223,500 will see their school taxes go up $87. The adopted budget was unchanged from when it was introduced in March.
The district was able to avoid program cuts and layoffs this year despite receiving just $12.9 million in state aid. Board member Colleen Horiates said it was remarkable the district was able to build the budget with a 2 percent tax cap and a lack of state funding.
Assistant superintendent James Devereaux said the district’s state funding remains less than it was five years ago, despite a slight increase this year.
“This is still behind the high watermark in 08–09,” he said.
Board member Steve Robbins said Superintendent Maureen Reusche and members of the board are expected to meet with state legislators in the coming weeks to discuss the district’s problem with state aid. Robbins said Cherry Hill is still receiving only 80 percent of what it received five years ago, while most other school districts are much closer to catching up to 2008–09 state aid numbers.
Looking ahead to the 2014–15 school year, the district is adding eight full-time positions. Seven vacant full-time positions were eliminated.
“The eight FTEs that have been added to the budget include two technology personnel, with the others coming in special education,” Reusche said.
The additional technology personnel are being added with the PARCC test starting for all students next year. Reusche said the district needed to add the technology personnel to help support the computers used for the test.
Reusche also spoke briefly about the additional special education staff, saying the district hopes to continue improving its special education programs.
In other news:
• Richard Stern, a parent and booster for the Cherry Hill High School East football team, asked the board to add funding for improvements to the high school’s football field. The varsity team has played games on campus since 2008. The 2014–15 budget includes $175,000 for the district to fix the visiting team football bleachers at Cherry Hill High School West.
Stern said upgrades to Cherry Hill East’s field also cost $175,000 and are just as necessary, as the school will not be able to host next year’s Thanksgiving rivalry game if improvements aren’t made.
Board member Elliott Roth said the visiting bleachers at Cherry Hill West must be repaired for next year.
“This is a safety issue,” he said. “They cannot be used.”
The board also said the budget could not be changed without amending and re-submitting it to the Camden County Superintendent’s office, delaying the process further.
• Reusche said attendance at the first Saturday session for high school seniors was a success on April 26. More than 200 students at each high school were in attendance. The students participated in workshops revolving around responsible financial planning and college preparation.
Two Saturday sessions were necessitated for high school seniors due to an excess number of snow days this year. Another Saturday session will be held on May 17.
• The next Cherry Hill Board of Education meeting is a work session on May 13 at 7 p.m. The next action meeting will be at 7 p.m. on May 27.
