Voorhees Schools Superintendent Raymond Brosel has been on the move lately, delivering budget addresses to interested parents and community members at the district’s five schools.
Brosel highlighted monetary figures and points of interest to a group of parents recently at E.T. Hamilton School, stating major teacher cuts are a thing of the past.
Last year, he said, 12 teaching positions were cut from the budget, adding up to 24 overall staff cuts. This year, the district is not proposing any staff cuts, he said.
The budget process is different for the district this year, as residents will not vote on the budget if it remains under the state-mandated 2 percent cap.
The district also has to set aside funding for the proposed Regis Academy Charter School in Cherry Hill, which will be open to students from Voorhees, Somerdale and Lawnside, as well.
But what hasn’t changed, district officials said, is the decreasing number of tax ratables in the township.
Since last year’s budget, Brosel said, the township has lost $26,238,245 or .68 percent of its tax base.
This, too, affects the school district budget, which includes a 2.76 percent budget increase with the charter school contribution.
The total budget is $51,214,890, with the amount to be raised by taxes set at $41,410,628.
Assistant Superintendent and Business Administrator Frank DeBerardinis said the district is preparing to allot $396,000 of its budget to the charter school. This is the most conservative of the figures issued by the state Department of Education, he said, which has given the district multiple figures for charter school contributions.
The district was originally slated to contribute $729,000, when the student projection for the academy from Voorhees Township was in the 50 to 60-student range.
The $396,000 will be set aside for 30 students to attend.
If fewer students attend than what’s allotted, the district says it will use the refund for the following year’s budget.
Brosel said even with the charter school contribution, he is confident the district will remain in good shape.
“We can’t get extra money to go to the charter school — they need to fund them outside of the local budget. (In urban areas), what applied there and worked there does not work here,” Brosel said.
With the charter school contribution, the impact for the average assessed home at $332,648 in Voorhees is impacted with a .01 cent increase, which comes out to an extra $3.03 a month or $36.41 a year.
A public hearing on the 2012–2013 Budget will be held on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the administration building.
For more information, visit www.voorhees.k12.nj.us.
