By TONY MARQUIS | The Marlton Telegram
More cuts could be coming to the Lenape Regional High School District budget after it was turned down by voters last week,
Evesham residents defeated Lenape Regional High School District’s budget by a vote of 3,620 to 3,142. The budget would have increased regional school taxes $171 for the average Evesham homeowner. District-wide, the budget was turned down by a vote of 12,645 to 10,824, according to officials.
The budget now goes to the local governing bodies of the eight communities that send students to the district. If they can’t agree on cuts, the budget goes to the Department of Education.
Before the budget was defeated, Superintendent Emily Capella told the Board of Education and residents at a public hearing that she was “scared to death” of taking the budget back to the state Department of Education commissioner.
The district’s last two budgets were approved by voters.
“We were optimistic about gaining voter approval of this year’s budget based in part on the success of the prior two budget votes,” Capella said. “Approval of the proposed budget would have ensured that we would not need to make further cuts.
See this week’s print edition of The Telegram for the full story.