Ridgewood April 10. 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 3 Voters to cast ballots on school budget, trustees by John Koster Ridgewood voters will cast their ballots on the $84,608,635 local school budget on April 16. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. The budget, if adopted, would add about $204 to the taxes on the average Ridgewood house assessed at $687,364. The annual tax increase is calculated at $29.63 for every $100,000 of assessed valuation. The trustees had to eliminate $900,000 from the budget to balance revenues and appropriations, and the district is reportedly experiencing significant growth in special education costs for out-of-district tuition, home programming, and aides. The portion of the budget for instruction and instruction support totals $61,340,316, or 67 percent of the general fund. This covers the salaries of 389 teachers, 28 child study team members, 16 guidance counselors, 10 nurses or nurse’s aides, nine librarians, and four staffers involved in curriculum assessment. This portion also included $2,197,663 in instructional purchases and $1,147,758 in cocurricular and athletic program costs. The budget includes $15,388,536 for special education, including 195 in-class support aides; 45 resource center teachers; 28 speech, occupational, and physical therapists; 15 self-contained program teachers; and five supplemental teachers. Special support programs, including English as a Second Language, basic skills instruction, out-of-district tuition, and tuition for academy students totals $8,238,762, including the salaries for 17 basic skills teachers and five ESL teachers, $6,781,831 for out-of-district tuition, and $441,160 tuition for Academy students. The cost of school administration is $6,511,314 for principals, the superintendent, and assistant superintendents, the business administrators and their assistants. This sum also includes expenses for elections, phones, postage, and Internet. Employee benefits are listed at $10,580,339, and include medical and dental benefits, pensions, and tuition reimbursement. Transportation costs the district $2,825,249, and facilities expenses cost $8,599,701. Capital projects will include a total of $555,310, which will be funded by a withdrawal from the capital reserve. This includes $450,000 to support the renovation work necessary to transition the Ridgewood High School’s library to a “learning commons,” and $105,310 in payments to the School Development Authority to process grants. Another $500,000 is budgeted for classroom renovations, asbestos floor tile removal, painting, lighting upgrades, and site work. Additions to curriculum and instruction this year include new social studies texts for kindergarten through grade five, National Writing Project materials for middle school students, and new e-textbooks in art history, Algebra I and Algebra II, biology, and Advanced Placement Chemistry. New courses at Ridgewood High will include Advanced 21st Century Music Production, and honors courses in classical foundations of America, revenge and justice and social mores in Greek tragedy, and the Trojan War. Incumbent school trustees Jim Morgan and Michele Lenhard will be running for reelection to their three-year seats in the uncontested election. Lenhard, who has served two terms as president of the Ridgewood Board of Education, moved to Ridgewood with her husband in 1985 and put two children through the Ridgewood school system. She had served on the Friends of the Ridgewood Library, the Ridgewood Education Foundation, and the federated and local Home & School Associations. She was first elected to the board of education in 2007, and was reelected in 2010. Morgan, a 40-year resident who has served as the chief financial officer of a major corporation, began his career as a critic of school spending and has advocated a zero-based budget. He first won his board seat contesting a one-year seat with long-term incumbent Robert Hutton last year. OLMC MOMs Group will host its Annual May Brunch on May 1 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, One Passaic Street in Ridgewood. Members and non-members are invited. The event will begin at a Mass at 9:15 a.m. Brunch MOMs group plans May 1 brunch will follow. The cost to attend is $15. Child care will be available for a small extra fee. RSVP to Angie Stoehr at astoehr@optonline.net.