Finalizing a budget can be a lengthy process, but discussion for the 2017–2018 school year is well underway.
It is the time of the year where the Moorestown Board of Education works to plan out the 2017–2018 school year budget. During this planning stage, a preliminary presentation, put together by the Board Business Administrator Joanne D’Angelo, was shown at the January BOE meeting, and was designed to provide preliminary budget information to the board, staff and public.
Superintendent Scott McCartney explained establishing a yearly budget actually begins in November when administrators at the building and district levels look at current expenditures and requests for capital, curricular and personnel needs for the following school year. In the interim, he explained the district works to assess the finances necessary to maintain its existing staff and to meet contractual obligations.
“Simply maintaining a status quo [last year] yielded a budget increase that exceeded the allowable cap by approximately $1.2 million. The great news is that by including revenue generation efforts by the board and administration this year, we can reduce the amount over cap in half, or approximately $600,000,” McCartney said. “We shared that this number was prior to looking at the building and district requests to meet future needs.”
McCartney said these future needs include staffing to meet district, state and federal mandates in class size in both special and general education programs; new buses to replace fleet vehicles that must be taken off the road due to mandated guidelines; new capital projects to address safety, operational and efficiency needs; and curricular improvements to include new and existing courses, materials and supplies. According to McCartney, all of those requests are being vetted, and he and his administration are prioritizing and making decisions on how to achieve some of their objectives in a situation where the district is already above the cap.
“The administration has [also] been bringing elements of the budget to the board’s Finance and Operations, Facilities and Curriculum Committee and will continue to present more information to the full board as the data becomes available,” McCartney said. “All of this is leading to the dates for approval to submit to the county Office of Education for review and approval before presenting a budget hearing on the final budget to the public and for the board vote.”
He noted this information is also subject to substantial revision upon the governor’s budget address and the unknown potential impact to schools.
“The public school budget process always takes several months, with the administration looking, beginning back in the fall, at the building level and district’s current expenditures. It tries to determine how these expenses will likely rise, lower or remain the same during the next calendar year,” said Kathy Goldenberg, president of the Board of Education.
Goldenberg reiterated that next, the administration examines requests and needs for additional personnel, curricular or extracurricular programs, or supplemental building and grounds capital improvements.
“As the board, we remain focused on our mission to provide Moorestown students with the best affordable education possible, so our children are able to take their place in society as world citizens,” Goldenberg said.
With this responsibility in mind, Goldenberg said the BOE and administrators are often forced to work against a backdrop of limited state funding, rising costs of education and labor, certain uncontrolled cost drivers such as health-care insurance, transportation, energy fees and other factors. Coupled with the concerns of already burdened taxpayers, she explained moving forward, the board will continue to do what it has always done — work as a whole to make the best decisions possible for its students.
Board member Dimitri Schneiberg voiced his concerns at last week’s board meeting about raising taxes by the percent allowed annually by the state as part of next year’s budget.
“As we embark on the budget process, I want to make sure that we consider the implications of a budget that does not raise taxes for our citizens, and do not automatically assume that we will budgeting including the 2 percent cap allowed by the state,” Schneiberg said. “If we raise taxes for our citizens, it must be as a consequence of thoughtful deliberation and after thorough evaluation of all other options available to preserve the high quality of education in our district.”
Yet, to continuously ensure this level of education, revenue generation remains an important and critical factor. This is especially true, seeing as many of the school district’s programs require various amounts of funding.
“First and foremost, I am thrilled to see progress on the revenue generation efforts, including tuition students, facility usage/rentals, before- and after-school program and sponsorship opportunities,” board Vice President Brandon J. Pugh said. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we now have a strong foundation.”
Pugh believes continued progress and success in revenue generation will be critical for both the 2017–2018 budget and future budgets, as the district could face many fixed costs, rising health-care costs and uncertain state funding.
“Something I have been advocating since my service began is the need, not to start with a presumption of raising taxes, but instead, it is advantageous to see different budget scenarios presented with the steps needed to achieve each,” Pugh said. “Some scenarios would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve while maintaining our high quality education, but having the information is never a bad idea.”
The board is now in the process of putting all of the data into its systems to see where the preliminary total falls compared to the cap, according to McCartney. Additionally, it will continue to report to various board committees and to the full board at regular meetings to keep members up-to-date on budget news. The board is also looking at a potential date for a workshop specific to the budget before it goes on an agenda for approval to submit to the county.
