Residents with an average-assessed home valued at $237,700 will see a $42.79 increase for K-8 school taxes.
The Mt. Laurel Board of Education adopted the final 2017–2018 school year budget at its meeting last night.
Appropriations for the final budget remain at $74.1 million, unchanged from the tentative budget the BOE submitted to the county in March.
Tax-rate figures were also unchanged, with Mt. Laurel residents with a home assessed at the average value of $237,700 still set to see an increase of $42.79 for their K-8 school tax bill next year.
State aid remains almost unchanged from the 2016–2017 school year, with the district set to receive only a $1 increase from the previous figure of $4,433,463.
Superintendent George Rafferty outlined new programs and supplies that were included in this year’s budget.
According to Rafferty, just some of the curriculum, instruction and technology items in the budget include science and math curriculum materials, assessment programs for students and teachers, literacy intervention kits, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) materials and supplies, classroom projectors and additional Google Chromebook laptops and carts.
“This school budget helps us support the initiatives in curriculum, others areas and technology that we need to do to move our schools forward,” Rafferty said.
District business administrator Robert Wachter Jr. also spoke at the meeting regarding some of the capital improvements included in the budget that will affect buildings across the district.
Some of the notable capital improvements include replacing exterior doors and security access measures at Fleetwood Elementary, conducting the second phase of classroom casework/closets and clock replacement at Parkway Elementary, installing additional security cameras and HVAC rooftop units at Hartford School, replacing carpet with tile at Hartford and Springville elementary schools, and the fourth phase of the exterior lighting project at Springville.
“One thing this board has always made a commitment to is to maintain our capital improvement budget line item,” Wachter said. “That’s very important because once you let that line item decrease a little bit, it’s very difficult with our 2 percent (tax levy) cap to get that back up.”
Wachter also noted the budget will replace three of the district’s schools buses with two new 54-passenger buses and one new 25-passenger bus.
Buses in the district are also set to receive new live GPS and camera systems.
Current GPS and camera systems on district buses only the allow the district to use the information gathered after a bus has returned from its route, but with the new system, the district will have live, ongoing feeds at all times.
“We will be able to see a bus as it is traveling. We’ll be able to see where it is, and we’ll be able to see … into the bus,” Wachter said.
The presentation on the 2017–2018 school year budget is available for the public on the district’s website at www.mtlaurelschools.org.
