State Aid for Montville Schools Up 34%

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional state aid is letting the Montville Township School District cut student fees and fund additional programs without raising the tax levy beyond the 0.81 percent increase school officials said.

Among the planned changes from the previously released budget:

• The student activity fee for sports and clubs, which was instituted during a "budget crisis" and generated about $151,000 in revenue this year, will be eliminated.
• Student parking fees will be lowered to $10 instead of $50. (They're $75 this year.)
• And additional funding could be available for Rosetta Stone world language programs for the elementary schools next year if Superintendent Dr. Paul Fried recommends the purchase.

After those changes, which the Board of Education said they want drafted into a formal resolution for them to vote on at Tuesday's meeting, scheduled for 8 p.m. in the high school cafeteria, there's still expected to be more money available in the budget.

The Montville Township school district learned at 4 p.m. Thursday it will have a net increase of about $415,000 in state aid from the previous year, an increase of about 34 percent. The Board of Education had a meeting scheduled for later Thursday evening and discussed what to do with the funds. They said they want the budget to include the reduced parking fees and the elimination of the student activity fees.

Fried, business administrator James Tevis and school board members welcomed the news.

Montville, Madison and Hanover Park Regional High School districts saw the highest percentage increases in Morris County at about 34 percent. Other districts in the county had percent increases that ranged from 1 to 30 percent, while some districts in other counties saw their state aid reduced.

Cutting the student activity and parking fees .

With the additional funding, the district can absorb the changes without raising taxes beyond the 0.81 percent increase to the tax levy presented in the superintendent's recommended budget. That increase is expected to a represent an approximately $83 increase in the school portion of the tax bill for the average Montville homeowner.

Montville resident Maxim Sapozhnikov said that while the tax levy is lower than the 2 percent cap, the district's overall increase in expenses in the planned budget is closer to 4 percent.

"We don't have to go even over zero," he said.

PTC Co-President Kim Passaretti, who advocated for eliminating the fees, thanked the school board for addressing the issues. Some residents, including Passaretti, said the fee for sports and clubs amounts to a back door tax on an important part of the school experience, and that some families struggle to pay the fee.

The school board is expected to consider adopting a preliminary budget at its meeting Tuesday, scheduled for 8 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Once the preliminary budget receives county approval, the budget would be up for a public hearing and then a final vote by board members.

If the budget stays under a 2 percent tax levy cap as expected, it will not go before voters when they .