School Board Introduces New Budget

The district's budget for next school year will be about $61.2 million, a decline of $1,3 million from the 2011-2012 budget. 

Former Business Administrator Robert Davis presented the document, informing the board of education that the tax levy will remain as good as flat. 

The document isnt' final yet, and a public hearing will still have to be held on the budget, Davis said. It's still unclear how much state aid the district will receive. Davis said, however, that he expects that it will be roughly the same as in the 2011-2012 school year. 

The district also has a surplus of about $800,000 in the 2012-2013 budget already, after the district received $1.6 million in unexpected extra funding from the state last year. 

Almost 60 percent of the budget is spent on salaries and wages for the district's employees. Roughly 27 percent goes to charter and non-public schools. Other costs include contracted services (about 6 percent) and supplies (about 4 percent).

The new budget also includes a bargaining agreement with the teachers and the principals who work for the district, Davis said. 

The district still has a debt to the Chartwells, its contracted food services provider, according to Davis. With the help of the surplus, Davis said, about $150,000 of that debt can be taken care of next year. 

For the 2012 school year, the Hoboken district will employ 190 teachers—about 49 percent of the district's staff—and hire a teacher to work with autistic students. In total, the Hoboken School district will employ 392 people next year. This is three more than in the 2011-2012 school year, because the district is hiring a autism teacher at Wallace as well as a reading and a math coach at Connors.

More stories about the school budget will follow in the coming weeks, as the school board will hold hearings and vote to adopt it.