Board of Ed. Budget Workshop Monday Night

The Montclair Board of Education will meet Monday night to discuss the 2013-14 school budget. 

The board will convene at 7 p.m. in the Glenfield Middle School auditorium, at 25 Maple Ave., for a budget workshop. The meeting is open to the public. 

On Feb. 25, the board passed an $111.5 million preliminary 2013-14 school budget which included a zero percent tax levy increase and seven new positions.

The overall budget is 3.3 percent lower than the previous year’s budget.

The seven new positions announced were four dean of students and three content supervisors. The dean positions will come with a price tag of $400,000, and content supervisors will cost $354,000. 

If approved, the four dean positions will be hired at Bradford, Bullock, Northeast and Watchung elementary schools. On Feb. 25, Superintendent Penny MacCormack sited growing populations at those four elementary schools as a reason for the positions. The deans will help with discipline and daily operations in order to reduce the workload on principals and allow them to spend more time in classrooms. 

Near the end of last week, the board also learned the school district will receive the same amount of state aid in 2013-14 as it did this year.

Montclair schools will get $6.5 million in state aid, a figure which includes $4.1 million for special education, $1.1 million in transportation aid and nearly $750,000 for security aid.

The board will meet Tuesday, March 5, for another budget workshop. This meeting will be held at 7:30 pm in the Glenfield Middle School auditorium, at 25 Maple Ave.