The Evesham Township School District Board of Education passed its 2016–2017 school year budget at its May 4 meeting.
Evesham residents with the average assessed home valued at $269,900 will see a K-8 school tax increase of $75.75.
The tax levy rate increased 2.81 cents per every $100 of assessed property value, bringing the total K-8 school tax rate to $1.1299.
The 2016–2017 budget will raise the school tax levy 3.36 percent, which school business administrator John Recchinti said was above the 2 percent tax levy increase cap through the use of health-care waivers and banked cap. Banked cap is the state rule by which school districts can save or “bank” any unused tax levy that was under the 2 percent increase cap that a district could have raised in a given year.
Districts have three years to use those funds before the oldest drops off and is replaced by the newest year.
According to Superintendent John Scavelli Jr., the 2016–2017 budget will maintain class sizes and maintain or enhance the district’s programs, including related arts and specialized programs.
“Many districts have dropped those programs or downsized, and that’s very important that we continue those,” Scavelli said.
Evans School closure
At the board’s May 4 meeting, board president Joseph DeJulius read a statement regarding the lawsuit filed by Evesham Township and the township’s planning board regarding the closure of Evans Elementary School in 2017 due to declining enrollments across the district.
Fundamentally, the lawsuit looks to reserve the district’s school consolidation plan, as the township says the district did not submit the proper long-range facilities plan to the township’s planning board.
DeJulius said the board usually does not comment on matters of litigation in public, but did say the lawsuit will now cost municipal and school resources that would be better used for students and residents.
DeJulius said the district had followed the law in its decision to close Evans, and there was no disputing that district enrollments declined by 1,000 students since 2003.
“The goal was never about closing a school, but strengthening the school district both now and into the future,” DeJulius said. “Now, however, another costly process will have to play out because of this unfortunate lawsuit.”
Mayor Randy Brown also spoke during public comment at the meeting and once again stated his belief that the district’s demographic studies are wrong.
In the Beeler Elementary School sending district alone, Brown said there were already more than 630 approved units for the coming years, and Brown questioned where the district would place the students from those homes if Evans were to close and Beeler had to absorb former Evans students as well.
“At the last meeting, I said you weren’t ready to vote … you’re ready to vote tonight — you’re ready to vote and overturn the terrible decision you made on March 17,” Brown said.
When asked if the board had the legal authority to simply overturn its decision to close Evans, board solicitor William Donio said he could not comment due to the ongoing litigation between the township and BOE.
However, in January 2014, The Sun reported on a similar situation at an Evesham BOE meeting where the board ultimately voted 5–3 to halt any further discussion of closing of Evans School.
At that meeting, Donio was asked to discuss the parliamentary ramifications of the board adopting such a resolution, at which time he said it was his opinion that the majority vote the board took that night was binding until that board’s term ended on Dec. 31 of that year.
“You can’t keep bringing things up that go down for a vote in front of a deliberative body,” Donio said at the January 2014 meeting. “So something that gets an up or down vote gets one vote, and you either pass and that’s going be the rule for you, or if it fails, then you couldn’t bring it up later.”
