The Tabernacle Board of Education passed the school budget for the 2016–17 school year after last week’s public hearing.
The tentative budget introduced in May was sent to the Office of the Executive County Superintendent of Schools where it was then reviewed and approved to be presented to the public.
After hearing the public’s comments on the budget during the April board meeting, the board members approved the final draft and officially implemented it for the upcoming year.
The budget includes a 4.1-cent increase on the tax levy, resulting in a K-8 school tax increase of $106.98 on a home assessed at the township average of $263,745.
Every penny the district raises the tax rate results in $66,000 of revenue for the budget.
However, Interim Superintendent John Sherry emphasized that taxpayers will technically only be seeing a $38.98 increase on their entire K-12 school taxes because the average homeowner will be seeing a $68 decrease in taxes being paid to the high school.
Tabernacle will be the only Lenape Regional High School District constituent township experiencing a decrease in their regional school tax bill.
“Each year somebody is a winner and somebody is a loser,” Sherry said. “The good news is that this year Tabernacle is the winner.”
The budget is up $295,000 this year, 80 percent of this will be going toward salaries and fringe benefits.
The district has planned for the same number of employees next year it has this year, as there are no reductions in force planned.
There are major funds in the budget intended to continue with standard things such as the curriculum, programs and services the district has been operating. For instance, it needs to buy everything from supplies for the classrooms to eighth-grade diplomas given to students at graduation.
To go along with usual needs of the schools, the board placed a specific focus on special education improvements, furthering ISTEM development and looking into a potential transportation audit.
The efficiency of bus routes, or lack thereof, throughout the Tabernacle school district has been a common concern voiced by many parents at recent board meetings. There is a bus scheduled to be replaced this year and another during the 2016–17 year.
“I want to make sure that before we say yes to purchasing those buses, that we are efficiently running the equipment that we have,” Sherry said.
The board plans to bring someone in from the outside who has worked in transportation to get an honest opinion from a separate set of eyes.
Another discussion point that was brought up by the public during the meeting was the potential purchase of a generator for the district.
Sherry has had discussions with the operations committee about a generator and plans to put together a presentation for the May board meeting further detailing this matter and educating folks about the state of emergency backup at both schools.
