School Vote 2011

School Board Approves Tentative Budget Free of Special Question

With adjustments for enrollment and health care, district presents 3.1% increase.

A tentative school budget with no special question attached was approved by the Board of Education Monday night. Board members previously thought that state aid for the district might be cut completely, or at least go down from the $408,719 awarded last year. Instead, the district received an additional $517,006 for a total of $925,725 in state aid, plus an enrollment adjustment of $568,238, and a health benefits adjustment of $296,129. All together, officials said the district will be able to present a 3.1 percent overall increase (including the tax levy, enrollment adjustment and health benefits adjustment) and will have a balanced budget to submit to Morris County Executive Superintendent Kathleen Serafino on Friday. There will be no …

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EduNation: A Patch Report on Our Schools

State Aid for Chatham to Increase by $517K

School District of the Chathams will receive $925,725 in state aid for 2011-12.

The School District of the Chathams will receive $925,725 in state aid for the upcoming academic year. This number represents an increase of $517,006 from last year when the state reduced aid to Chatham schools by over $2.58 million, or 86 percent of the amount received in 2009-2010. With this aid, which school board members feared would be further cut or eliminated entirely, the projected budget shortfall for the next year, previously estimated at $1,030,604, stands at $104,879. With enrollment, however, this number may change again before the next meeting of the Board of Education on Monday. School Superintendent Jim O'Neill said of the news, "We [are] delighted we will get back one fifth of the state aid we lost this year. It will save …

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School Budget Shortfall Increases to $1 Million

Deficit more than doubles from original estimate of $500K earlier this month.

New figures available from the School District of the Chathams reveal the budget deficit is more than $1 million, or double the original estimation presented at the Board of Education meeting on Feb. 7 of $500,000. "We didn't have all of the personnel discussions worked into that [number from Feb. 7]," Alan Routh, the chairman of the budget advisory committee, said Tuesday. The precise amount of the shortfall is $1,030,604, assuming state aid does not decrease from what it was last year. If that $408,719 is taken away completely, the budget shortfall increases to$1,439,323. Gov. Chris Christie is scheduled to make his budget proposal in a speech on Feb. 22. The district will learn withn 48 hours of the speech what it state aid will be. …

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Preliminary District Budget Has $500K Shortfall

Finance committee has until March 4 to decide whether to issue a second question on the ballot; elections will be April 27.

According to the preliminary budget information presented at the open finance committee meeting Monday night, the School District of the Chathams faces a budgetary shortfall of $494,980 outside of the 2 percent cap for the 2011-12 academic year. Committee Chairman Alan Routh said the committee would make some “difficult decisions” in the coming weeks to determine where potential cuts could be made to make up for the gap. Some of the areas Routh said they would look at were: Several other holes still exist in the budget, especially since the district will not know how much state aid it will receive this year. This time last year, the district learned it would lose about $128,000 in its state aid. In March 2010, that number increased to $2.…

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Greg LaConte

2:42 pm on Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Vote-By-Mail ballot applications are available at the municipal buildings. The Township municipal building keeps a supply by the front door, in case you can't make it during business hours. Or you can call the Clerk's office and have one mailed to you. Once you fill out the application, it gets mailed to the Morris County Clerk's office (the form is pre-addressed).   more ›

Budget Process Begins for Chatham Schools

The first meetings of the Finance Committee and Budget Advisory Committee come in February.

 The Finance Committee of the Board of Education will hold an open meeting on Feb. 7 to discuss the budget for the upcoming academic year, Superintendent Jim O’Neill said Monday. The meeting, which will be open to the public, will give committee members an opportunity to discuss openly all available information and give the board members and the public a chance to ask questions. O’Neill said that board members with “the information that the finance committee believes will be helpful” to them before the meeting. The first budget advisory meeting will take place on Feb. 15. O’Neill said that various constituencies from within the community have already been invited. The goals of these meetings, O’Neill said, are to help people understand the…

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EduNation: A Patch Report on Our Schools

The Cost of Chatham Schools

Residents pay 91% of per-pupil expense through property taxes.

According to the 2009 New Jersey Department of Education School Report Card, Chatham residents fund a much larger percentage of school costs than their neighbors, but, with a per-pupil cost more than $1,000 below the state average, they also get a lot of bang for their buck. According to the Chatham Township website, 63 cents out of every dollar that township residents pay in their property taxes goes to the schools. In the borough, 62 cents out of each property tax dollar went to schools, according to a 2008 statement from Council Member Bruce Harris. These funds comprise 91 percent of the school district budget. Per-Pupil Costs Per-pupil costs in the district were $1,266 below the state average during the 2008-09 academic year, as the …

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