Clinton Township Newsletter

CLINTON TOWNSHIP SCHOOL NEWS w ww.ctsd.k12.nj.us A L e t t e r f r o m Dr. Drucilla Clark, Superintendent of Schools This is the time of year when the Superintendent of Schools and Business Office are working to put together the 2013-2014 Clinton Township School Budget. As Superintendent, I thought it would be helpful to the community to know how we are approaching the process this year. It will be a zero-based budget. This means that we start, not with what we have and work up, but with what we need. CTSD has four schools: Spruce Run (PreK-1), Patrick McGaheran (2-3), Round Valley (4-6) and Clinton Township Middle School (7-8). CTSD is a PreK-8 only district. CTSD has a total of 1,615 students as of the 10-15-12 count. The students in our community attend a regional high school district that has a separate budget and Superintendent: North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional District and Dr. Charles Shaddow is their Superintendent. Legally, the local tax increase cannot exceed 2% per year without a cap over-ride referendum voted on by the taxpayers. There is no vote on the annual school based budget within the 2% levy cap. What does a 2% budget cap mean? This is often misunderstood. It is not 2% of the total budget, but 2% of the tax levy. So, what is a school budget? It is balancing the needs and priorities of the district, while maintaining fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers. Our fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30. The budget is developed the December-February of the preceding school year. CTSD is currently operating under the 2012-2013 budget and building the 2013-2014 school year budget. How are Clinton Township property taxes distributed? According to the 2012 Township of Clinton Tax Collector: 10% goes to the Municipality; 12% goes to the County; 1% to County Open Space; 1% to the Library; 1% to Clinton Township Open Space; 27% to the Regional High School; and 47% to the CTSD PreK-8 Schools. Where does your Clinton Township PreK-8 school budget revenue come from? According to the CTSD 12-13 School Budget: 9.93% from State Aid; 2.44% from Surplus; 2.13% from Federal Aid; 1.44% from Tuition; 83.65% from Local Taxes and .42% of other monies compose the district revenue. Where does the CTSD PreK-8 money go? It is spent on salaries, benefits, out of district tuition, professional services, utilities, repairs and maintenance, transportation, equipment and supplies. How does CTSD build a zero-based budget? There are multiple steps to building a zero-based budget. The first step is to review all required spending. This consists of contracted salaries and benefits, mandated special education spending, mandated professional services (lawyers, architects, auditor), essential building maintenance (custodial supplies and repairs), transportation, mandated insurances, fixed equipment, state mandated testing. This makes up 89.9% ($23,940,961) of the total 2012-13 CTSD budget. That leaves 10.1% ($2,693,589) left for variable costs. Step 2 of building a zero-based budget requires that we identify variable costs and analyze them through trend analysis to estimate any increases in current costs. Then we review curriculum needs, state mandates, textbook needs, professional development requirements and needs, building equipment, classroom supplies and technology needs as related to age of equipment and curriculum. Last year, the state had some expected and unexpected mandates. NJ Schools were required to revise multiple curriculums to align with National and State Standards and this required many additional expenses in professional development and materials. The State also is requiring a complete change in the teacher evaluation system Follow and unexpectedly, moved up the timelines for a Dr. Clark on Twitter! new principal evaluation system. Both of these @ct_sd require training and support. CTSD Mission Statement: The Clinton Township School District, in partnership with the community, achieves excellence for each child by ensuring a meaningful and challenging educational experience in a supportive environment, developing life-long learners who are responsible and productive citizens. The Third Step in the zero-based budget process is to estimate aid and income (revenue other than local taxes). Inclusive in this are State Aid (figures are given in March and given NJ's budget deficit, State Aid will probably decrease or remain the same), Surplus (calculated during prior year budget), Federal Aid (calculated on trend analysis and projections), Tuition (based on current/expected contracts and trend analysis) and Other (calculated on trend analysis and contracted commitments, inclusive of investment income, building usage and shared service agreements). Step 4 would be to calculate the tax levy. This is done by adding the Total Required Spending to the Total Variable Costs and the subtracting the Total Revenue Not From Taxes and you get the Local Taxes Needed to Support the Budget. Can you spend more than budgeted? Yes. Additional revenues can be appropriated and spent in the current year. For example: Extraordinary aid. What is extraordinary aid? NJ funds a percentage of special education costs per student in excess of $40K in district and $55K out of district. This money is applied for in January of the current budget and not awarded until May. Therefore, this money can be appropriated and spent in the following year budget. So, it is really a reimbursement for prior year expenditures. Do you accelerate spending at the end of the year? If not, what do you do with any leftover monies? No, we evaluate our spending regularly. We have a tight budget, but if there is money left, we can put it in reserve, move it to surplus or give it back in next year's taxes. What is surplus, excess surplus and reserves? And why does a district need to have a surplus? Surplus is excess revenue over expenses up to 2% of the budget. Excess surplus is surplus over 2% of the total budget. Reserves are the money saved for future needs. A district needs to have a surplus for emergencies. An example would be broken boiler that needs replacement in February. What is the district planning to cut from the budget this year? We do not plan cuts, but reductions from cost savings, although there does seem to be some decreases in enrollment and we may not replace a few staff positions through attrition or reductions in staff. This year we are planning a zero-based budget where the budget is built on the specific needs of the district and not "cuts" on last year's budget. Where does the district see savings? We are currently looking at a variety of areas and are still working on them-specifically the competitive bidding process. What is the budget calendar? December: Budget 101 and the Superintendent and Business Administrator evaluate Principal and Department budget requests; January: BOE assembles preliminary budget; January, February: DOE releases State Aid figures and BOE adopts tentative budget; March: Budget sent to County for approval, Public Hearing; March/April: Meeting with our Town Council and Mayor. What happens if the tax levy exceeds the 2% cap? There are 3 options: 1. Cut expenses; 2. Tap into Surplus (the "rainy day fund"). CTSD has $495,635 in current surplus, 2% of the total budget. The State allows and recommends a 2% surplus; or 3. Bring the Cap Over-ride Question to the Voters. A temporary budget would be in place at the 2% cap, until the additional proposal for the increase on the November election date is approved. A voter approved cap over-ride would increase the temporary budget in the current year. Please watch our website for future Budget meetings and you can see more of this Budget 101 Presentation there, as well as all future budget information. CTSD has many steps left to go in the 2013-2014 budget process and we want our community to be part of it. Let's continue the conversation. Thank you. Sincerely, Dr. Drucilla Clark, Superintendent, Clinton Township C TSD B o a r d of E d u c at i o n January 3, 2013 (Reorganization Meeting) Board-approved meetings for Feb. 2013 – Jan. 2014 will be posted in a later issue of the Newsletter. Meetings held at CTMS (34 Grayrock Rd., Clinton) in the Auditorium or Library at 7:30 pm, on the 4th Monday of the month, except when noted. Get a first-hand knowledge of what's going on in our schools, meet the Board and the Superintendent! All residents of CT are encouraged to attend, not just the parents of CTSD children. Visit: www.ctsd.k12.nj.us for BOE meeting minutes. THAN K YOU, THANK YOU . THANK YOU ! A BIG THANK YOU from the Clinton Township Education Association to all CTSD families, administration and faculty that participated in donating to Operation Jersey Cares (OJC). OJC is a volunteer organization whose mission is to help our troops overseas, as well as the returning Soldiers and Marines who have been wounded in combat. The total amount collected was over 215 pounds! The Commander, Tom Cunningham, was thrilled to be able to add this amount to his total poundage. Because of Clinton Township families, many wounded soldiers at home and active soldiers abroad will be able to get items from home to help ease the loneliness during the holiday season. 8 J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3

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