Buena
Regional combines budget questions into one 3/31/06
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — Municipal and education officials have reduced the
number of Buena Regional School District budget questions on the upcoming ballot
from two to one.
They said they hoped the change will cause voters less confusion when deciding
April 18 whether to approve what district officials are calling an already
strained budget, according to school board President David Anderson.
Voters living in the district have already knocked down the past four school
budgets, sending them back to municipal committees for further cutting.
Last year, the budget was reduced about $430,000 after the voters didn't approve
it, Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said.
Before the questions were combined, one asked voters if they would approve
bringing the budget up to cap, factoring in items such as teacher salaries. The
second question addressed expenses not mandated by the state, such as sports,
extracurricular activities and classroom aides.
But the township and borough voted to roll all those items into one budget
question.
“That way it will be less confusing for the voters,” Anderson said.
Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said that if the voters had knocked down the
second question, a final decision on whether to keep those programs would have
been left up to the municipalities.
As the budget stands right now, the township's taxes could go up 42 cents per
$100 of assessed value and the borough's could see a 35-cent increase.
“We're asking the voters to hold out another year,” said Buena Vista Township
Mayor Chuck Chiarello, referring to a court ruling that said Buena Regional
should receive additional special-needs funds.
Yet there hasn't been any indication if more money will go to the district since
the state Department of Education received a 90-day extension for further review
of the case.
DeGiacomo said the district has already suffered several losses as expenses go
up while state aid remains flat.
Eleven teachers who left their jobs for several reasons haven't been replaced,
she said, along with two guidance counselors.
The result, she said, is a dramatic increase in class size.
“There's one history class at the high school that's got 45 students in it,”
said Anderson. “That's too many.”
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Residents sound off on
school budget 3/29/06
A tax increase of 42 cents in Buena Vista Township would be necessary
to fund the budget.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Buena
Regional budget changes protect activities 3/27/06
Township homeowners face a tax rate increase of 42 cents even with the Buena
Regional School District's decision last week to eliminate the second question
on its 2006-07 budget ballot.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Tax hike outrage mixes
with support 3/18/06
Homeowners living within the bounds of the Buena Regional School District
were divided about whether they would support he $29.9 million budget proposed
for the 2006--07 school year.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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Buena
Regional budget questions puts many items at risk 3/18/06
With the Buena Regional School District's budget rising once again, officials
are giving voters a choice.
Do they want after-school sports and clubs, librarians and class aides, or don't
they?
The school board moved Tuesday to put every expense not mandated by the state on
the April ballot as a second, separate public question worth just under $1
million. If voters turn down the question, sports, clubs, libraries and
classroom aides are gone.
School officials have proposed a $28,215,974 budget that's about $400,000 less
than last year's total figure. However, the tax rate would still go up about 29
cents in Buena Vista Township and 24 cents in Buena, due to an estimated $1
million in anticipated lost revenues. That's not factoring in the second public
question.
“We are in desperate financial times,” Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said.
Local voters have turned down four straight school budgets. Each has gone to the
two towns' governing bodies, which have pared more than $2 million from the
budgets over that time.
A judge recently ruled Buena Regional should be treated as a special-needs
district, but no additional state funding has come yet, thanks to a 90-day
extension obtained last month by the state Department of Education. And like
school districts all around the state, this one will be receiving flat state
funding once again.
That has brought school officials to the point where they're giving voters the
choice to vote for or against everything that's not mandated as part of a
thorough and efficient education.
To a skeptic, it might sound awfully similar to what happened in Hammonton three
years ago. The school board and community split when a budget was put forth that
cut out many after-school sports and clubs. Many residents called that a
disingenuous scare tactic.
DeGiacomo said this is no manipulation.
“For the last four years, our budgets have gone down. We are scared,” DeGiacomo
said, emphasizing the word “are.”
The district's lost revenues would derive largely, according to school
officials, from a proposed charter school that would draw students from Weymouth
Township and Estell Manor, two districts that send students to Buena Regional.
The charter school, called Benchmark, hasn't obtained a charter yet. If it
doesn't, the revenues would remain because certain students would remain. Those
revenues wouldn't affect the coming fiscal year on paper, but they would be
available for the following year.
The school district has only a 1.5 percent cash surplus, and any revenue losses
cut things more tightly.
“It didn't hurt our bond rating, but it hurts our cash flow,” school Business
Administrator Tom Kearney said. “It gives us trouble meeting payroll sometimes
during the year.”
The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 28 in the high
school library.
To e-mail Daniel Walsh at The Press:
DWalsh@pressofac.com
BALLOT QUESTION
The separate public question, totaling about $997,000, includes the following:
n Classroom aides: $230,000
n Middle school sports: $28,000
n Middle and high school clubs: $42,000
n Freshman sports and weights program: $41,000
n Librarians (3): $236,000
n New student orientation and summer guidance: $49,000
n Courtesy busing: $40,000
n Late bus: $32,000
n Repairs to driveway and two leaky roofs: $26,000
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Residents may see 42-cent
tax hike 3/17/06
Residents' school taxes would make the biggest one-time jump in years under a
budget proposed by the Buena Regional School District.
For complete details go to:
www.thedailyjournal.com
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