Allendale’s school budget spells $127 increase for average homeowner

The Allendale Board of Education passed its budget at the March 25 meeting with a $14.09 million tax levy, a $276,355 increase over last year's budget. That will result in approximately $127 more for the average assessed home, valued at $618,093.

The state aid will remain the same as last year at a little more than $300,000. The proposed tax levy is $14,094,129, which is a 2 percent increase from last year's approximately $13.8 million.

The appropriations for the 2013-2014 school year are (in approximate figures): instruction (43 percent) at $7.14 million; employee benefits (16 percent) at $2.72 million; plant operations (12 percent) at $2.01 million; instructional support services (11 percent) at $1.8 million; capital overlay (8 percent) at $1.27 million; central administration and technology (6 percent) at $976,341; school administration (3 percent) at $489,889; and student activities (1 percent) at $95,088.

The budget goals for the next school year are similar to last year in that the board is looking to maintain fiscal responsibility, get input from the board committees, maximize efficiency in the district's operations and maintain the district's culture of a "tradition of educational excellence."

Officials said that there will be no cuts in curriculum, academic programs, co-curricular activities or staffing in the proposed budget. An IT technician will be added and the recommended class sizes are expected to be maintained.

The district's focus will be in its Student Management System, a software application to manage data; PARCC (Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Career), the new state assessments for students in English and math; EE4NJ (Excellent Educators for New Jersey), the new teacher evaluation assessment; and Renaissance Learning, a program to transition to the Common Core Standards. The curricular focus will be in language arts, middle school math program, Common Core Standards, professional development and the media center/technology/classrooms all centered around the framework of PARCC.

For language arts, the district's focus is in renaissance learning, professional development, supporting materials, like nonfiction resources and writer's notebooks, as well as on-demand writing assignments, among others.

Language arts have come under scrutiny in the last few years, as state assessment tests show areas in need of improvement, and have tasked districts to improve test scores. Part of the new curriculum includes students bringing in their own experiences to connect to a story more open-ended focus instead of question-answer format.

Global skills and technology will include laptops, desktops, upgrading the website and BYOD (bring your own device) environment at the middle school level.

Technology is coming up at its end of life, school officials said, which will require replacing of equipment, and as technology has become a more integral part of students' lives, so too has it become a part of the educational culture. Officials adopted policies outlining use of technology in September, such as electronic readers and computer devices, to have limited accessibility to the Internet during school hours, for educational purposes.

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Allendale's school budget spells $127 increase for average homeowner