Evesham Township School District is in the process of finalizing its preliminary 2015–2016 budget, and members of the public will have the chance to view the budget at one of two upcoming public meetings.
The first meeting will take place on Monday, Feb. 9 in the Marlton Middle School’s all purpose room, and the second will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at DeMasi Middle School cafeteria, where regularly scheduled BOE meetings are held.
Both meetings are scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
“As we’ve done over the last several years, we are looking to hold the community meetings to provide the community an opportunity to provide some input and gain some information on the ’15-’16 budget,” Superintendent John Scavelli Jr. said.
Scavelli said the two presentations will be identical, and if members of the public cannot attend one meeting, they are encouraged to attend the other.
Scavelli said the budget was once again driven by GOALS 2017, the district’s long-term strategic planning initiative adopted in 2012, in addition to other items that have been reviewed at committee meetings or approved at previous board meetings.
“Our general budget goals are sustainability, maintaining reasonable elementary school class size and maintaining or enhancing our educational programs,” Scavelli said. “GOALS 2017 implementation, if you remember, is focused on student achievement, professional development and the integration of technology in the classroom.”
However, Scavelli also noted that the information that will be presented to the public on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10 will be preliminary, and details could still change before the budget’s final adoption by the school board in May.
For the 2014–2015 budget, several details did change in the spanning months, including a drop from a 2 percent general fund tax levy increase, the maximum allowed by state law, to a 1.25 percent increase.
Scavelli said if the state releases the amount of state aid it will provide to school districts before the BOE’s next meeting on Feb. 26, there is a possibility that by that night, the board could have everything compiled for the adoption of the tentative budget.
If the state does not release state aid information in time for the Feb. 26 meeting, Scavelli said the board would then instead be forced to hold a special meeting to approve the budget.
According to Scavelli, that special meeting would take place before the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on March 26, as the tentative budget would be due to Burlington County for approval before the regular March meeting could be held.
“Typically, it’s due around the first week of March. This year we have a couple of extra weeks,” Scavelli said.
Scavelli said after the county approves the budget, the board’s finance and curriculum committee will meet in March and April to review budget-related information, and then the final public hearing for the budget would be held sometime between the two-week period of April 24 and May 7, at which time the board would then approve and adopt the 2015–2016 school year budget.
“Several meetings are coming up, and we will continue working toward finalizing our plan for next year,” Scavelli said.
