Heights BOE Presents School Budget Thursday Night

The Hasbrouck Heights school board invites the public to hear a presentation regarding the 2013-2014 school budget during its public meeting Thursday night set for 7:30 p.m.

Earlier this month the board approved a $28 million budget which would collect $25,980,566 from Hasbrouck Heights taxpayers and $135,731 from Teterboro. 

A full explanation on what is proposed and how the budget would affect the average taxpayer is expected.  Compared with last year's figures the tax levy appears to have an increase of roughly 4 percent over the 2012-2013 tax levy.

The 2012-2013 budget raised the amount to be raised by school taxes by about $127 for the average homeowner whose house is assessed at around $350,000.

The district received only a small bump in state aid of about $14,000 for a total of $1,101,186 for this upcoming school year.

Among the challenges the district faces this year is managing overcrowded classrooms.

The district decided to do away with the pre-K program at both Euclid and Lincoln Schools next year in order to use that class space for other grades which have large class sizes.

The district is also in the process of having an outside consultant conduct a security assessment. The results of which will be used by the district to determine what additional security measures may need to be implemented.

A presentation on the security assessment is also expected for the Thursday night meeting.

The public meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21 in the high school media center.