By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Voorhees Sun
Voters will have to make several decisions on Tuesday, April 21, when they’re asked to go to the polls for the annual board of education elections. The Voorhees K-8 school district will see a contested election for three open board seats. The Eastern Regional school district has an uncontested board election this year.
Incumbents Edward Barniskis. Geraldine Borbe and Denise Kirkland are running for re-election against challenger Amy Lynch.
Voters will also be asked to decide the fate of the 2009–2010 K-8 school district budget. The $50.7 million budget features a school tax rate of 0.7 cents per every $100 of assessed property value. For the average assessed home of $340,555, this equals about $24 more in local school taxes this year.
District officials said the proposed tax levy is down $332,048, or 0.88 percent less than last year.
Two seats are up on the Eastern Regional High School District Board of Education, said Fred Wright, business administrator/board secretary. Incumbents Robert Campbell and Richard Teichman, both of Voorhees, will run unopposed for their three-year seats.
The board passed a budget that calls for the average Voorhees homeowner to see an increase in their school tax bill by about $58 for 2009–10. The school tax rate is rising by about 1.7 cents over the 2008–09 school year.
According to district administrators, the budget will retain all current academic, athletic, extracurricular activities, security and staff costs. It will also provide funding to maintain the district facilities throughout the 2009–2010 school year.
Eastern Regional, like many other state school districts, will not receive additional state funding next year, district administrators said.
Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the Eastern Regional school district.
For more information on the 2009–10 budget, visit the Eastern Regional High School Web site at Eastern.k12.nj.us.
Polls for the Voorhees K-8 school district will be open from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. For more budget information and polling locations, visit the district’s Web site at Voorhees.k12.nj.us.
Next week, visit www.voorheessun.com for results of the school election and budget votes.
Then, see our April 29 print edition for in-depth stories.
