The Bellmawr Board of Education (BOE) voted to approve the district’s tentative 2018-19 budget on March 19, 2018. The budget has been sent to the County for approval.
A Public Hearing for the 2018-19 budget will take place on Wednesday, April 25 at 6:00 p.m in the Bell Oaks Media Center.
The BOE also voted to approve the use of the following adjustments in preparation of the tentative 2018-2019 Budget:
- Automatic Pre-budget Year Tax Levy and Enrollment Adjustments
- Banked Cap from the 2016-2017 school year ($20,936) and 2017-2018 school year ($79,064), for a total of $100,000 to be used in 2018-2019 for the purchase of new social studies and writing curriculum, with funds to be used by the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
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- $100,000 withdrawal from the Capital Reserve account for the 2018-2019 budget for the Bell Oaks Greenhouse Project.
- $98,515 withdrawal from the Maintenance Reserve for parking lot resurfacing ($48,515) and building security reinforcement ($50,000).
Regarding an estimated tax increase, Business Administrator, Patrick Doyle, stated: “The average home will probably see about a $60 tax increase. It is still tentative and could still change.”
He also said: “We are adding a few positions – a couple of basic skills math positions and a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst). We have a couple of withdrawals from our capital reserve and our maintenance reserve for some facilities projects and the potential greenhouse at Bell Oaks. We are bringing in about $100,000 in banked cap to increase our tax levy.”
To view the advertised budget in detail, click below:
In other matters, Superintendent, Annette Castiglione, said that pre-school enrollment is complete. There was a two-week open enrollment and 135 pre-school students were registered. Anyone who registers from this point on will be placed on a waiting list, she said. “We have 84 going into the four-year old program and 51 going into the three-year old program. We are pretty excited about that. We also continue to get additional pre-school funds and we are always looking at ways to open additional classrooms.”
She also stated that Bell Oaks is up for a national School of Character Award and that an announcement is expected in mid-May.
In February, Bell Oaks was named an Outstanding School of Character.
Board member Lisa Young stated the Bellmawr Learning Center Community PTO collectively raised $3,500 from the recent Rock Our Socks fundraiser and they are looking into possibly having a Color Run in June.
All business on the meeting agenda was approved. To view the agenda in detail, click below:
