SCOTCH PLAINS — Residents in both Scotch Plains and Fanwood should expect to see an increase in their school-tax obligations this spring, district officials said last week.
The $119,551,636 budget for 20242025, introduced Thursday during a regular meeting of the district’s board of education, represents an annual increase of about $411 per average assessed home in Scotch Plains and $268.80 in Fanwood.
“We keep our mission in mind no matter what we do, and our budget is no exception,” said Superintendent Joan Mast, Ed.D. “The mission of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools is to educate every student to become a confident and caring lifelong learner who can communicate and contribute positively to the rapidly- changing world. The district, in cooperation with the community, will provide an academic environment which values excellence, initiative and diversity.”
The district’s strategic plan also was a guiding factor in determining this year’s budget, district officials said. Middle-school students will have expanded elective choices to help develop their interests and passions going forward, and high-school students will have the opportunity to participate in certain classes for college credit as part of an agreement with Kean University.
A district enrollment report showed that enrollment is at its highest since the end of the baby boom.
“We are up 157 students from last year,” said Board Secretary Christopher Jones. “We expect additional enrollment next year, up to 350 students additionally over the next two years, and our schools are at capacity. We will have a vote in September when we purchase the new building and there will be more about that in the next coming months. In order to create new classrooms, we will be vacating this space next month and this space will be turned into eight new classrooms.”
Mr. Jones told residents that the higher enrollment is because of an increased birth rate, families moving into town, and new developments as well, with significant increases in the elementary schools.
“This is a maintained programs and costs budget,” Mr. Jones said. “We did have some administrative costs, but overall, it is a maintained budget. We continue to have historic increases in costs.”
An appropriation of surplus in the amount of $2,000 is included in the tentative budget and an adjustment for banked cap in accordance with N.J.A.C. 6A:23A-10.a(b) is made because the district has fully exhausted all eligible statutory spending and must increase the base budget in the amount of $870,318 for the purpose of health-insurance costs. This adjustment for health-care costs was made along with an adjustment for enrollment in the amount of $1,379,898. Travel and related expense reimbursements in accordance with N.J.A.C. 6A:23A-7.3 were approved to a maximum expenditure of $250,000 for the 2024-2025 school year.
In addition, expenses included unprecedented and historic increases in costs, including an increase in transportation costs, due to the shortage of bus drivers, and health insurance, which continues to be a challenge. There is a 9-percent increase for transportation from the previous year and a 5.9-percent increase for health benefits. There also is an increase in expenses due to the teacher shortage because the district has to offer higher salaries to find teachers, which represents a 4.7-percent increase from last year. The state also continues to push pension costs down to local levels, resulting in a 11.8-percent increase from last year.
“Health-care costs continue to be a challenge and we were unable to negotiate a lower cost, so this year the increase was 5.9 percent,” Mr. Jones said. “Coming out of Covid, I think a lot of health-care costs across the board have increased for all organizations and we have been looking for ways to decrease health-insurance costs, including looking at switching providers. The municipality shared our concern that the state continues to push pension costs down to a local level, and it’s a percentage of the total cost of pension that they continue to increase, which puts pressure on the local budgets.”
Residents will have the opportunity to attend a public hearing on Thursday, April 25, at 8 p.m. It will be held in the Evergreen Multipurpose Room, 2280 Evergreen Avenue, Scotch Plains. The tentative budget will be submitted to the executive county superintendent of schools for approval in accordance with the statutory deadline.
