Extra State Aid Cuts Taxes, Delays Pay-to-Participate

Moorestown’s additional, and unexpected, school state aid will be applied toward cutting taxes and delaying the district’s planned pay-to-participate policy.

The Board of Education passed a unanimous resolution Tuesday to keep next year’s school tax rate at the current level by applying $695,000 of its budget toward tax relief. That means the increase approved by voters in April— which would have resulted in an approximate $80 tax increase on a home assessed at the township average of $533,800—goes away.

The board also decided to delay its  by one year. The policy assesses a fee for extracurricular activities and sports. It was to start in the fall, but will be pushed back to the 2012-13 school year.

Board President Don Mishler called it an “enticing” realization when the district figured it could delay the policy.

“Pay to participate is a lightning rod issue … and it wasn’t something we were wild about doing to begin with,” Mishler said. “There’s a sense that it will limit students’ participation in activities and that’s counter to everything that we believe a Moorestown education is all about.”

The policy is still in place, Mishler added, and “it’s as likely as not that there will be some level of participation fees in next year’s budget.”

The school board cut taxes and delayed the policy through two revenue streams: the extra state aid and an anticipated extraordinary aid reimbursement.

Moorestown, like other school districts statewide, received an unexpected boost from the state last week. The district got an extra $617,070, which matches Moorestown’s state aid increase announced earlier this year. In total, Moorestown schools will receive $2,735,299 in state aid for the coming academic year, $1,234,140 more than the current year.

Additionally, Mishler said the district expects an $800,000 extraordinary aid reimbursement in August for special education costs. The aid recoups some of the unexpected costs related to special education, already spent last year.

There’s no guarantee schools receive any reimbursement from the state, so when Moorestown learned of both the extra state aid and the extraordinary aid, the math was right for both cutting the tax rate and delaying the participation fees.

The timing, however, presented something of a challenge.

State law demanded that school districts finalize their tax rate by Tuesday, so the  sent some districts scrambling. At the same time, state officials applied not-so-subtle pressure for schools to use the extra funds for tax relief.

Moorestown’s school board was not scheduled to meet again until August, but called a special meeting for Tuesday.

Editor's note: The original story was updated at 9:26 a.m., Wednesday, to reflect comments from Don Mishler on the board's decision.