$100M Schools Budget: Under Tax Cap, Ready for Voters

Last year was a rough year for school budgets.

But Morris School District Thomas Ficarra told those at a well-attended hearing March 28 that if the school district's budget gets voter approval, "there will be no additional cuts this year to our programs."

The school district is seeing an increase in state aid for the 2011-12 school year, and is proposing a budget with a tax levy increase under the state's 2 percent cap.

The Morris School District Board of Education unanimously approved the budget, which must now go before voters for approval on April 27. If the budget is rejected by voters, it would then go before the councils of both Morristown and Morris Township, who then must agree what cuts would need to be made.

This year's budget, of $100,493,559, carries a tax levy increase of 1.69-percent; the state allows for no more than 2 percent, with exceptions for certain kinds of expenditures. An average home in Morristown, assessed at $354,000, would see a $158 tax increase for the year, with a tax rate of $1.27 per $100 of assessed valuation. An average home in Morris Township, assessed at $390,000, would see a $189 increase, with a tax rate of $1.40 per $100 of assessed valuation.

Ficarra began the presentation saying several cuts were required in last year's budget in order to shave $5.2 million, including cuts to food services and professional development. He said there had been a gutting of the district's summer school programming "to an almost unrecognizable form," he said.

Those summer school cuts reduced faculty to the program, as well as a whole day from the program's five-day schedule. With increased funds, much of what was lost last year in summer school would be restored, except it would remain a four-day-a-week schedule. "We really believe four days is much healthier," Ficarra said.

The superintendent called the Morris School District "a comprehensive school district, and our school district is a reflection of our community," citing what he said was the ability for students from families new to the country and still learning the language, to those looking to learn multiple languages, to find a quality education.

Facilities repairs expected to be performed in 2011-12 under the $100,493,559 budget would include $1,032,700 for new windows at Hillcrest Elementary School; $833,238 for a new roof at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School; and $738,750 for two new science labs at Morristown High School.

This continual maintenence to the schools as needed is something Ficarra said sets the Morris School District apart from other districts, which, he said, have let facilities fall into disrepair to the point where a referendum has to go before voters, leaving those districts in great debt.

Ficarra said the Morris School District has not asked voters for additional monies in a referendum since at least his first year as superintendent, in 2002. He credited sound planning by the district, as well as a pro-active approach to maintaining its facilities.

"Virtually every building we have has had major renovation work done," he said. "We have paid for this without borrowing any money."

The annual debt payment in a school's total annual budget in Morris County is 44 percent, while it is 7 percent in the Morris School District. Only 1 percent of the 2011-12 for the district is going toward annual debt payments.

"I wish my own budget was like that," Ficarra said.