Schools
School Budget Ready Once State Aid Delivered
The Hopatcong Board of Education will hold a special meeting to present its 2013-14 spending plan once aid figures arrive, expected Thursday.
The Hopatcong Board of Education plans to call a special meeting to introduce the 2013-14 budget as soon as state aid figures are released.
Board President Cifford Lundin said the board has a tight window to introduce the budget and file it with the state.
State aid figures are expected to be released Thursday, Feb. 28 he said.
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Gov. Chris Christie released his 2014 state budget Tuesday.
Lundin said once state aid figures are released, the board will schedule a special meeting to introduce the budget between Thursday and March 6, the day the preliminary spending plan must be sent to the state.
Find out what's happening in Hopatcong-Spartawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Last year, Hopatcong chose to hold their school board elections in November. That election did not allow a public vote on the school budget.
Under the state’s 2-percent tax levy cap law, school districts were allowed to discontinue the public vote on the school budget if they moved the election for board members to November.
The 2012-13 Hopatcong school budget is $35.82 million. It called for $22.9 million in local taxes, and included $11.1 million in state aid.
Lundin said the district is losing $400,000 in state adjustment aid in 2013-14.
Board secretary Theresa Sierchio said the district lost $750,000 in that aid category this year, and in five years will lose $4.5 million from that type of state aid.
