Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Despite a lot of cuts, the West Deptford Township School District maintained its most curriculum-intensive budget in history, according to Board President Christopher Strano.
Despite a 0.65 percent increase ($181,954), the final, approved West Deptford Township Public Schools budget still absorbed nearly $2 million in cuts from its preliminary form. On Monday, Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman told the public at the monthly meeting of the Board that although the final budget was pared down, there are still a number of important things for which it provides. Here are some highlights. At the high school level, some of the most expensive expenditures were one-offs, including new uniforms for 12 different sports teams and for the champion W.D.H.S. marching band. The new band unis will cost $47,000: a big price tag, but one that only comes once a decade, Kitchenman said. "That’s for 70 uniforms and they last 10 years…
Monday, March 25, 2013
The average household will pay about $123 more in school taxes this year, even under a budget that hews close to the bone, said Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman.
Had the ratable base in West Deptford not declined by some $188 million in 2012, the average household would have seen almost $60 savings in school taxes under the budget proposed by the Board of Education at its March meeting Monday. But that's not the case. Instead, taxpayers can expect a net increase of 6.01¢ per $100 of assessed property valuation this year. Based on the average assessed value of $207,966, that’s an average annual increase in costs of $123.03, or $10.25 per month. The district put forward possibly its most curriculum-intensive budget in history, said board President Christopher Strano—a necessity as the district works to bring its performance assessments in line with state expectations. “The school board does not want …
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
A revamp of the school district's policy page created a cleaner design to make it easier for the public look up specific documents.
Anyone who has gone to the West Deptford School District website to find copies of school board policies in recent years may have had trouble finding what they needed due to a cluttered design. Now, looking up district's policies should be much easier thanks to a new layout introduced last Friday. Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman briefly mentioned the new look of the policy page during his report at the Board of Education meeting Monday night. He mentioned that the new look was created to make the page more user-friendly. The new-look policy page breaks the board of education policy guide into 10 separate categories. After clicking on a specified category, the user will be given a list of all of the policy documents that fall under that …
The West Deptford Board of Education passed a preliminary budget that included a reduction in the tax rate increase thanks to a boost in state aid.
A bit of relief in the form of increased state aid has helped to lower the initial tax levy on township residents in the tentative West Deptford School District budget for 2013-14. The school board passed a tentative budget of approximately $44.696 million at Monday night's meeting. The tax increase, which was originally presented as 9.90¢ per $100 of assessed value at a budget work session meeting back on Feb. 23, now stands at a 8.344¢ increase per $100 of assessed value. Much of the reduction in the tax rate increase was due to an increase in state aid. Last week, the school district received a 3.8 percent increase in state aid from the 2012-13 school year. The total amount of state aid the school district will receive for 2013-14 is $…
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The district's 3.8 percent increase in state aid comes as New Jersey gives more total funding for education than it ever has.
In what the Christie administration calls “the largest appropriation of K-12 education dollars in the state’s history,” West Deptford got a bump in its state aid to schools. The district will receive 3.8 percent more in the coming year from its state package than it does now. State aid will total $11,973,549, an increase of $441,890. The news of any state aid increase is likely welcome to West Deptford administrators, who have taxpayers staring down the barrel of a tax hike. The preliminary budget presented at the school’s board workshop meeting featured a tax rate increase of 9.9¢ per $100 of assessed property value. A steep drop in West Deptford’s ratables—the number of taxable properties—in West Deptford. This year's decrease amounts to…
Monday, February 25, 2013
Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman said he prepared for a federal funding cut in the preliminary school budget for 2013-14.
With the possibility of sequestration by the federal government becoming more and more likely as the week goes on, local officials are preparing for drastic cuts to their funding. Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman and the West Deptford School District are prepared for such cuts. During Saturday's school-budget work session, Kitchenman acknowledged sequestration in his presentation to the school board. On Friday, March 1, more than $85 billion in sequestration spending cuts will take place if Congress does not pass legislation that finds a solution to stop it. Kitchenman said he anticipated cuts in funding as he put the budget together. “We were giving a directive to budget only 70 percent of what we received the previous year,” he said about…
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The preliminary budget presented by Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman includes 9.9¢ tax rate increase for West Deptford taxpayers.
West Deptford taxpayers were given advance warning two weeks ago about a decrease in tax ratables for the township. On Saturday, the numbers revealed a drop even steeper than the previous year. The West Deptford Board of Education's budget work session on Saturday confirmed another huge drop in tax ratables—the number of taxable properties—in West Deptford. This year's decrease amounts to just over $188.1 million, an even larger decrease than last year's $172 million ratable decrease. In that respect, Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman's presentation was similar to last year. He broke down a preliminary budget of $43.871 million for the 2013-14 school year. The figure is lower than the final budget the school board approved for 2012-13, which…
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The first-grade students participated in 100th day at Oakview Elementary, where they took part in fun activities and games while learning more about numbers.
On Tuesday morning, Oakview Elementary School's first-graders made the 100th day of school unlike any of the previous 99. The students spent a couple hours doing fun 100th day-themed activities and games while learning a lot about numbers along the way. Oakview's 100th day was the brainchild of math teacher Adrienne Boucher, who proposed the idea to the school's fellow teachers a few months ago. “I suggested the activity and to set up stations throughout the school,” Boucher said. “I asked who would be interested and all of the first-grade teachers were interested in doing it. So I let them pick what activity they wanted to do.” With all of the teachers collaborating on different activities for the students, 100th day was born. Each of the…
Parents in West Deptford can begin to make appointments to register their child for kindergarten on Tuesday morning.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Parents in West Deptford can begin to make appointments to register their child for kindergarten on Tuesday morning.
Registration for kindergarten in West Deptford may not be until April, but parents will need to make their appointments to enroll their child very soon. Starting on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 8 a.m., parents can call the West Deptford School District's curriculum office at 856-848-4300, ext. 3214 to make an appointment to register their child for kindergarten at any of the three elementary schools. Registration for new kindergarten students for the 2013-14 school year will take place on April 9, 10 and 11. However, parents must make an appointment in advance to register their child on one of those days. After making an appointment for registration, parents will be mailed a packet with all of the information about the registration process. All of …
Madeline Fucci
4:14 pm on Monday, April 1, 2013
How far down in the sand do ostriches have to stick their head before they find they are suffocating? Continuing to ignore the fact that our debt and interest is $200 million defies logic.Who created the debt? It wasn't Ray Cintall or Sam Cianfarini. How many court cases do we need to lose and how much more should be paid in legal fees? The only people benefitting from the litigation were the … more ›