FRHSD budget totals
$142M for 2004-05
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

The Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education has introduced a $142.6 million budget for the 2004-05 school year, an increase of 6.4 percent from the 2003-04 budget of $134.1 million.

The budget will be forwarded to the Monmouth County Superintendent of Schools for review. The county superintendent is the local representative of the state Department of Education.

The budget will be the subject of a March 30 public hearing and residents of the district’s eight sending communities will cast their ballots on the budget in the April 20 school election.

In a presentation to the board on March 1, Business Administrator Joan Nesenkar Saylor said there are 10 new teaching positions, three school nurses, four guidance counselors, a child study team, two assistant principals, four teacher administrative assistant positions and two maintenance custodial positions in the budget.

There are 23 courses of study that are in the budget to be revised, Saylor said. Additionally, there is the purchase of software supplies and materials necessary for them.

The 2004-05 budget includes band uniforms for Freehold Borough and Manalapan high schools, stage curtains for Manalapan, new lacrosse and gymnastics teams at Colts Neck High School and the expansion of lacrosse to the freshman level at Freehold Township High School.

"In the category of building maintenance and capital projects, we’re looking at renovations of 15 to 20 classrooms in each high school, which would be new ceilings, painting and the upgrading of lighting," said Saylor. "We’re also looking at major roofing projects at Freehold Township, Manalapan and Marlboro totaling approximately $1 million, of which $600,000 is in our budget and the additional $400,000 would come to us in a grant from the state. That is in addition to our state aid."

Saylor said the FRHSD received a 3 percent increase in its 2004-05 state aid package. State aid had been frozen at the same level for the past few years.

"Every dollar that we can get we will take and add to helping relieve tax rates," said the business administrator.

As of March 2, the estimated increase in the FRHSD tax rate for the eight sending communities is:

• Colts Neck — 3.4-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, that will be a $68 increase; to the owner of a home as­sessed at $300,000, that will be an in­crease of $102.

• Englishtown — 11.5-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $150,000, that will be an increase of $172.

• Farmingdale — 10.5-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $150,000, that will be an increase of $157.

• Freehold Borough — 2.4-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $150,000, that will be an increase of $36.

• Freehold Township — 2.1-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, that will be an increase of $42. To the owner of a home assessed at $300,000, that will be an increase of $63.

• Howell — 3.3-cent increase per $100 of as­sessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, that will be an in­crease of $66. To the owner of a home as­sessed at $300,000, that will be an in­crease of $99.

• Manalapan — 0.7-cent increase per $100 of assessed valuation. To the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, that will be an increase of $14. To the owner of a home assessed at $300,000, that will be an increase of $21.

• Marlboro — 2.5-cent increase per $100 of as­sessed valuation or $25. To the owner of a home assessed at $200,000, that will be an increase of $50. To the owner of a home assessed at $300,000, that will be an increase of $75.

These figures may be decreased if ad­ditional aid is forthcoming from the state, administrators said, noting that the tax rate for each town is determined by a state formula which takes into account the number of students from a municipality who attend the FRHSD and the total assessed value of all property within a municipality.

Students from Howell attend the six schools in the Freehold Regional High School District.