Jackson board introduces $132.8M budget for '07-08
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

JACKSON - The Board of Education has introduced a tentative budget of $132.8 million for the 2007-08 school year. A special meeting was held March 9 to introduce the spending plan, which has been sent to the Ocean County superintendent of schools for review.

The county superintendent is the local representative of the state Department of Education.

"We were faced with quite a challenge, but our ultimate goal was to try to maintain the vast majority of our programs and maintain class size," said board President Linda Lackay. "We were extremely limited in what we could do, but we remain committed to doing what is best for our students even though we are in a very difficult situation."

Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said just like other districts throughout the state, Jackson has been significantly impacted by a new state law that limits the amount that may be raised in the local tax levy.

"In the face of rising utility and fuel costs, increases to out-of-district tuition and the other increases outside of our control, it certainly creates a hardship," Gialanella said.

Administrators are projecting that the budget for the coming school year will raise the school tax rate by 8.75 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, from $2.23 to $2.31 per $100.

Residents will vote on the budget in the April 17 school election.

If the tax rate rises by 8.75 cents, the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 will pay $3,465 in school taxes in 2007-08, up from $3,345 in 2006-07. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 will pay $6,930 in school taxes in 2007-08, up from $6,690 in 2006-07.

"This budget is a working document, a work in progress," Lackay said. "We are doing the best we can to provide what we need for our students and to be responsible to the taxpayers of Jackson."

At the March 9 meeting, board members Marvin Krakower, Gus Acevedo, Michael Hamlin, Barbara Fiero and Lackay voted to introduce the budget.

"I'd like to thank our professionals as well as our committee who worked very hard on this to bring the budget to the citizens," Krakower said. "The increase is reasonable and yet we are not going to hurt our children."

At the end of the day, families and schools must pay their bills, and that is the cost to education that is constant, Acevedo said.

"We have two, of many, responsibilities that we have to take into consideration," Acevedo said. "We have the responsibility to save the taxpayers some money and make sure we invest our money well. We [also] have to make sure our schools are run well and we do not set back the progress that had been made."

The 2007-08 budget totals $132.8 million, up from $129.7 million in 2006-07; with a total general fund of $120.3 million, up from $117.4 million in 2006-07; a general fund tax levy of $65.2 million, up from $60 million in 2006-07; a debt service tax levy of $6.1 million, the same amount as 2006-07. The total to be raised in local property taxes is $71.3 million, up from $66.1 million in 2006-07. Resi-dents will only vote on the general fund tax levy. Total state aid will be $50.3 million, up from $48.8 million in 2006-07.

Additional information pertaining to the school budget can be found at the Internet Web site www.jacksonsd.org.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. March 27 at Jackson Memorial High School.

The deadline for residents to register to vote in the April 17 election is March 27. Absentee ballots must be received by the county by April 10.