Preliminary School Budget Proposes 1.8% Tax Increase
Mahwah's budget considers adding a few staff members and taking on some facilities improvements this year
The Mahwah Board of Education proposed a preliminary $64.8M budget for the 2013-14 school year Wednesday night. The budget calls for a 1.8% increase in school taxes.
The majority of the budget, about $57.6M, will come from the local tax base, district Business Administrator Ed Deptula said during a preliminary budget presentation Wednesday night.
“The good news is that state aid stayed the same,” he said, so Mahwah will once again be getting over $2.3M from the state. The rest of the funding for the 2013 budget comes from grants, capital reserve money and other sources of income to the school, like renting out facilities, he said.
Some of the considerations in this year’s budget include hiring a full-time social studies supervisor. Currently, one supervisor oversees both the social studies and world languages departments.
Splitting the position would be “the right thing to do to maintain our level of excellence,” Assistant Superintendent Janet Donohue said at the Board meeting Wednesday night.
The budget also proposes adding a part-time language teacher who would teach a new language the district would like to start offering at the high school – Mandarin Chinese.
The other major components of the budget, Deptula said, are facilities upgrades to the district’s schools. The upgrades include adding air conditioning to the Joyce Kilmer multipurpose room and the high school gym, replacing the roof on the original building at Ramapo Ridge, and upgrading the electric switching system at Mahwah High School.
Though most of that work would likely take place this summer, Deptula said the complicated electrical switching project likely won’t happen until the summer of 2014.
Over the next three weeks, Deptula said he will give more specific details about the budget during presentations each Wednesday night. Budget specifics can be changed before it is passed at the end of the month, he said.
Board members thanked Deptula for keeping the budget – which will not be voted on by Mahwah residents – under the 2% tax levy cap.
“That was the biggest criticism of any board [that switched to the November school board elections and eliminated the budget vote last year], that it would guarantee a 2% tax increase every year,” Board President Tricia Shada said. “[This budget shows] we’re not going to go to the maximum if we don’t have to.”
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In This article
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Board of Education Administration Office
60 Ridge Rd, Mahwah, NJ -
Mahwah High School
50 Ridge Rd, Mahwah, NJ -
Joyce Kilmer School
80 Ridge Rd, Mahwah, NJ -
Ramapo Ridge Middle School
150 Ridge Rd, Mahwah, NJ -
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Ralph
9:50 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
So I guess we should applaud everyone for another tax increase. Great job everyone. While this is ONLY 1.8% what does that mean in increases for the average assessed home in Mahwah? Do we really need Mandarin Chinese taught in our schools by adding another teacher. How about taking that money if you really want to spend it and hire another English or Math teacher, subjects our students need more of.
Andy Schmidt
11:52 am on Thursday, March 7, 2013
I'm impressed that they are able to stay within the 2% limit, apparently without making further cuts or eliminate programs. Considering that cost for staffing, benefits, energy, transportation, insurance etc. are likely increasing, that was not a small feat. (In fact, I wish they would just max it out at the 2% - because if they need it next year, there is no way to get that "banked" amount back... -- but I accept that others might disagree).
As far as needing Mandarin Chinese? Of course we do!? It's been a huge ommission thus far!
While European languages like French or German may be historically relevant - kids need to become proficient in the languages of today's important and emerging economies: Spanish (to be able to communicate with much of the Americas - including the U.S.), and of course Chinese - which will also open their mind to Asian cultures and customs. We need to prepare them for the world THEY will be operating in (NOT the world of post WW I and II, that we grew up in)
Actually, ideally, I'd have them drop French in favor of straight Latin. With a background in Latin, you'd still have a good lauching pad for the various derived languages, and it improves comprehension of much of the terminology used in various fields (such as medical, legal - and various sciences), where American students tend to be completely lost.
Ira
5:48 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
For as long as teachers get their raises every year we will see tax increase every year.
hsr
5:34 pm on Friday, March 8, 2013
If our kids learn Chinese maybe they'll be able to get a job when they graduate college. Of course they would have to travel. As for 2% increase in taxes -- my grocery bill has gone up a lot more than that since a year ago. Let's get real. School is very important in this day and age. Unfortunately, everything is going up,even for teachers. Maybe regionalization would be a saver.
Andy Schmidt
6:04 pm on Friday, March 8, 2013
hsr. It doesn't necessarily imply travel. U.S. companies that increasingly depend on Chinese markets, will be looking for Chinese language skills and cultural awareness.
GM is selling more cars in China than in the U.S. - so what language would be the most valuable to conduct business with your biggest trading partner?
(http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/06/autos/la-fi-hy-gm-buick-china-sales-20121206)
Even ultra luxury brands like Ferrari are seeing double-digit growth - China is now their 2nd largest market, only surpassed by the U.S. (at least until now):
http://www.anamera.com/en/editorial/article/news/ferrari-ceo-amedeo-felisa-at-the-beijing-auto-show-in-china-ferrari-grows-faster-than-the-market/index.html
If we want our kids to have a competitive edge, then we have to equip them with the skills that companies and organizations will be seeking. Chinese language instructions should have started in middle school years ago!
hsr
5:12 am on Sunday, March 10, 2013
They do learn Spanish in Middle school now. Oh well what do I know?
Hank
1:37 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/09/top-3-useful-foreign-languages-for-business-excludes-spanish/
apparently Spanish is not a business language......
btw Mahwah math program is excellent......but students actually have to work at it
Andy Schmidt
2:47 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
hsr, correct - but who said otherwise?
Maria Morales
1:07 pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
A Mandarin teacher at high school level is a waste of time. Everyone knows that language classes should be introduced at earlier grade levels and some of the schools in Mahwah (Joyce Kilmer for example) are not even 100% proficient in English. Seriously, how many people remember their Spanish or even some of their English for that matter from High School? It is a time to CUT SPENDING and even a small amount of 1.8 adds up when you add all the other stuff that is going up like food, gas, tolls, health insurance, utilities, property taxes...should I go on. We are eroding the middle class in this country because the greed of certain individuals. Would you like China or Russia to be the next superpower considering their totalitarian government? That is exactly what is happening and please do not tell me that spending on education is what we need. We are the biggest spending country in the world on education and we are not even on the top of any of the essential subjects to pursue a higher education. Our education system is broken by greed and all the spinning all these groups do to convince the mostly overworked, less informed middle class to spend more on basically their lifestyle choice and not on our kids education.