Bedminster School Budget Could Increase 10%

Bedminster’s 2013-2014 school budget may be increasing 10 percent, thanks to more students projected to attend Bernards High School and more special needs students who will be attending out-of-district schools.

The property tax impact of the budget will not be known until the district receives its state aid figures Feb. 28 and a preliminary budget is adopted before being sent to the Somerset County Superintendent of Schools.

The budget is due to the county on March 7, and the school board is planning to hold a meeting for its consideration on March 6.

Much more work is needed, board president Louis Casella said at Thursday's meeting, because the budget may be increasing by $1.4 million, despite the fact that the state’s 2 percent budget cap would allow the budget to increase by only $280,000.

If the budget goes above that cap, it will have to be submitted to the voters in November—only budgets that stay under the cap, under the terms of state law, do not have to face a public ballot.

“This is a pretty bad year,” Casella said. “This is the biggest challenge I’ve faced on the board.”

The 2012-2013 budget increased by only 1.27 percent, board member Jeff Reaves said.

“We’re in a completely different universe,” he said.

The board and the administration are still trying to find ways to reduce the budget, Casella said, adding that the cuts could affect all areas in the district, including administration, staff and programs.

“Everything has to be on the table,” he said.

“We’re getting unfortunate news every week,” Casella added. “It’s going to be a tough process.” 

One of the primary factors in the budget increase is the projection that the district will be sending 32 more students to Bernards High School in the 2013-2014 school year. Bedminster is a kindergarten through eighth grade district and sends its high school students on a tuition basis to the high school in the Somerset Hills School District.

The budget increase would have been greater, but the state-calculated tuition decreased slightly for the new school year to just more than $16,000 per student, the board president said.

Also adding to the budget hike is the increase in special needs students who need to be sent to programs outside the school district, the board president said. That accounts for a significant part of the increase, he said.

Casella said that quite a few students with special needs moved into the school district during this school year.

The state only partially reimburses the district for those students—the district is still responsible for about $50,000 to $60,000 of a student’s tuition, plus transportation costs, Casella said.

Because the school district was able in the last few years to keep the budget under cap, the district has banked about $500,000, which plugs some of the budget gap.

But the district may have to “rob Peter to pay Paul,” Casella said, by dipping into its reserve funds. That money had been earmarked for maintenance and capital reserves because the school is 20 years old and may need significant upgrades, he said.

The district is expected to introduce a budget in a special meeting March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the school on Somerville Road.