Lawrence Board of Education Crafts Budget to be Ready for Whatever Aid - If Any - the State Offers

The Lawrence Township Board of Education is ready for anything. At their meeting Monday, Feb. 14, board members said that the budget for the 2011-2012 school year has been built to weather whatever cuts the state plans to throw at them.

“We went and we did go over the budget with flat state aid,” said board member Thomas Patrick, who is chair of the board’s Finance & Facilities Committee.

Patrick said the school board is prepared for anything from receiving the same amount of state aid as last year to receiving a reduction in aid to receiving no aid at all. “We’ve got three contingency plans because I don’t think the state can give us negative state aid,” he said.

If the district receives the same amount of state aid for the 2011-2012 school year as it did for this year, than the proposed budget will include a 5 cent increase to the school tax rate.   

After providing an overview of the proposed budget, school district Business Administrator Thomas Eldridge offered the following summation:

“This whole budget was built on the anticipation of flat state aid. The ratables we have adjusted for as they’ve come in. We are currently at a 5 cent tax increase – less than one cent of that has anything to do with our budget because it’s attributable to [the decline in] ratables. As I explained, we have to increase our rate, even though we’re asking for less dollars. We will know what state aid is by the 24th of February, which is why we have a special meeting on the 24th. We have been working behind the scenes tirelessly to make sure we are prepared – as prepared as we can be – for whatever the state rolls out. We might not like it, but we’ll be prepared.”

While the township district hopes to receive about $1.57 million in state aid for the next school year, that is no guarantee, given the drastic cuts that have occurred in state aid in recent years – including the unprecedented drop from $4,935,581 in the 2009-2010 school year to $1,576,386 for this year.

“As you know, things changed radically from 2008-2009 right through to today. [This school year] we had a loss in state aid of 68 percent – that equated to $3.3 million, closer to $3.4 million,” Eldridge said.

It is possible Lawrence Township will receive no school aid at all from the state. The district will find out next week, when the state must announce its budget numbers.

As Eldridge mentioned, the school board has scheduled a special meeting to be held next Thursday, Feb. 24, at 6 p.m. in the library of Lawrence High School to discuss whatever aid the state decides to offer and how that will affect Lawrence Township Public Schools for the 2011-2012 school year.

In his discussion of the proposed budget, Eldridge noted, “One of the things that we’re having a very difficult time adjusting to is the loss in ratables, or the total taxable value of Lawrence Township. We’ve seen an enormous decrease in the total value of property in Lawrence.”

That decrease in ratables, he explained, translates to less tax revenue for the schools.

“So what we have over the course of three years is we’ve got a loss in ratables that we have not seen – ever. The loss in ratables, at the same tax rate, has cost us a decrease in [tax] collections of $2.8 million. The ratables themselves are down $125 million and I believe the ending figure will be somewhere around $130 million before it’s actually certified.”

Challenges facing the district include increasing costs, declining revenues, a declining tax base and flat enrollment. “This is the predicament the board has developed the budget in,” Eldridge said.

Schools Superintendent Philip Meara tried to paint a more optimistic picture of the future of the district.

“We have a lot to be very proud about in Lawrence,” he said. He pointed out that the district still has small class sizes, shorter-distance courtesy busing, full administrative and nursing staff at the elementary schools, full-day kindergarten and abundant extra-curricular activities at a time when many school districts are doing away with things like courtesy busing and after-school activities altogether.

“What we have to do is give the community a very strategic plan,” he said.

Meara said the board plans to be honest with the community about the district’s budget, however it plays out.

At the same time, there was good news for schools district.

Erin Servillo, a special education supervisor in the district, announced that a year-long state assessment of the special education programs in the district resulted in a compliance rating for the schools. She said this is a huge improvement over past years, when the state issued the district pages and pages of required changes and improvements.

“It’s really a testament to the study teams and how they’re working together,” Servillo said.

Parents, even while anxious about the impending budget troubles, were quick to praise the board.

“Thank you so much for all you guys do,” parent Andrea Pennington said. She said that parents like her will always ask the board for improvements because “we’re always going to want better,” but that the special education program truly was something great.

“The learning is immense,” she said.

Pennington was especially happy that special education children like her son get regular interaction with other students. “I think it benefits the other kids, but I know it benefits my son.”

Minutes from the Feb. 14 school board meeting can be downloaded from the school district’s website. Audio recordings of the meeting can also be listened to via the website. To view a PDF of the presentation on the proposed budget that was given at the Feb. 14 meeting, click here.