Great Meadows Regional School District Board of Education meeting of April 25, 2017
Around 40 people attended this week’s public hearing for the 2017-2018 school district budget. Business Administrator Tim Havlusch gave a presentation explaining the process the board went through, and shared highlights of the budget and comparative graphs with similar districts.
New initiatives that are being implemented include curriculum revisions to Math, Science, and Health. Upgrades to technology are included along with the addition of a part time technology specialist.
Enrollment has been going down for the district. In an effort to reduce costs and and utilize unused space the district will be educating 14 special education students in house, as opposed to sending them elsewhere. This will also allow for enrollment of special education students from other districts and increasing revenue. Currently, these students are sent to the Allamuchy Schools for a cost of $206,000. Bringing this segment back to the district is projected to save $40,000 annually.
Total expenditures for the 2017-2018 budget are increasing $211,623 as opposed to a $440,163 increase for the 2016-2017 budget. With the current enrollment breakdown, this budget will be a yearly increase of $232.22 for the taxpayers of Independence Township and a decrease $210.28 for Liberty Township for the average home. Expected revenue from Independence is $9,191,414 and $4,718,684 from Liberty for a total budget of $13,910,278.
After the presentation, the Board opened the meeting up to the public for questions. There was some spirited debate about the increase, accounting and auditing practices, as well as the district’s relationship with Hackettstown High School.
Following the budget presentation, Superintendent David Mango gave a presentation on options for the future of the district. Some ideas that were presented included the closing of one of the schools due to the declining enrollment, accepting kindergarten through 8th grade students from Hackettstown, and building a new school while accepting students from other districts.
These presentations will be up on the districts website (http://www.gmrsd.com) along with a survey about the future of the district.
-Scott McDonald, ‘RNJ News
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