School Budget Discussion Scheduled for Thursday

A special Montville Township Board of Education meeting to discuss next year's school budget, including the possible elimination of the student activity fee, which would likely lead to higher taxes, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in the Montville Township High School Media Center.

School business adminstrator James Tevis said he expects to receive state aid figures Thursday morning and will be able to include them in the discussion.

The average township homeowner would have paid about $83 more on the school portion of their tax bill under a preliminary Montville Township school budget recommended by the superintendent on Feb. 7 that included $151,100 in revenue from the student activity fee.

Eliminating the the student activity fee, as some school board members have said they would like to do, would have made the average dollar increase about $9 higher under that spending plan.

Some residents have 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.

After the discussion on Thursday, 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 cap as expected, it will not go before voters when they cast their ballots for school board members in November.