Schools
West Deptford BOE Discusses Budget Transparency, Meeting Changes
The board discussed holding a public hearing on the budget, which is currently scheduled for the same night as its final approval.
West Deptford residents no longer vote on the school district budget, but the Board of Education (BOE) is still looking at ways to ensure continued transparency along the way.
According to the tentative preparation calendar for the 2014-15 budget, the official public hearing is scheduled for the same night as the final approval.
“In the past, we would take the tentative budget to different groups, present it and ask them to vote on it,” Board President Christopher Strano said at Tuesday night’s meeting at the middle school. “Now, we have nine people voting on it.
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“We took the vote out of the public’s hands, but I don’t want to lose the disclosure.”
Previously, after presenting a tentative budget to the County Superintendent, school districts tweaked it and presented a final budget proposal to the public. Voters would then determine the fate of the proposal on Election Day, which was held in the spring alongside candidate elections.
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In 2012, state law was changed to allow school districts to move the elections and voting on the budget to November. West Deptford voted to move their elections shortly thereafter.
The public hearing on the West Deptford School District’s budget is currently scheduled for May 5, 2014. The budget process gets into full swing next month, with a tentative budget due to the County Superintendent by March 20.
Superintendent of Schools Kevin Kitchenman stated that there can’t be a public hearing on a tentative budget.
He did suggest the possibility of holding a presentation during the process, as the Board of Education is modifying the introduced budget. Kitchenman said the presentation could take place during a regularly scheduled meeting if the board allows him to select which meeting it could take place.
Board Member Lisa Eckley pointed out the initial budget introduction, usually held on a Saturday morning in February, is informative, and Board Member William Thomas suggested moving that meeting to a day during the week.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Board Member Ginny Brockway suggested committees need more time to conduct their meetings. Currently, committees meet prior to the action meetings. They are often pressed for time, and don’t always get to all topics to discuss.
Kitchenman suggested the possibility of changing one of the board’s action meetings to a night designated for committee meetings. These meetings would be closed to the public.
The Board also would have once a month to approve all bills, and make personnel decisions.
“We would have to meet twice during the summer, when we’re hiring people,” Kitchenman said.
Strano also pointed out that the chair of a committee can hold a meeting at any time, in any place.
“We’ve had meetings at the high school library,” Strano said.
Any decision would have to be made prior to the January reorganization meeting of the school board.
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