Englewood Voters Overwhelmingly Support $66M School Budget

Voters overwhelmingly approved the city's $66 million school budget Tuesday, according to unofficial election returns.

The district's budget, which includes a 2 percent tax levy increase that raises taxes $73 on the owner of a home assessed at $458,000, passed by a nearly two-to-one margin, 802 to 415.

The budget in an effort to boost student achievement on state tests, Board President Stephen Brown said last month.

The board increased expenditures for staff training and improvement of instruction services by a combined $910,695, or 182 percent over last year. 

“Part of this budget focuses on bringing in a system of diagnostics that will allow administrators and teachers, in a much quicker time frame than waiting on state testing or federal testing, to understand and address where the deficits are,” he said.

Approximately one-third of the $913,272 capital budget is allocated for the construction of a maintenance building intended to house school buses and other equipment for the school district, NorthJersey.com reported in March.

Another $2 million will go toward unemployment compensation owed to the nearly 100 classroom assistants and secretaries who were outsourced last summer to bridge the district's $4 million budget gap.

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