Glen Ridge BOE hears presentation on budget with 2-percent tax increase

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Glen Ridge School District business administrator Barbara Murphy presented the district’s preliminary 2021-2022 budget at the March 15 Board of Education meeting, beginning the process of putting the $35,811,254 budget in place. The tax levy will increase by 2 percent, which is lower than the 2020-2021 budget’s increase of 3.16 percent.

Support services take up the bulk of the budget at $19,029,360. Instruction costs are the second largest amount at $16,245,733. Capital expenditures will cost the district $536,161.

According to Murphy, the local tax levy will bring in $31,979,860. Glen Ridge will receive more state aid next school year than during the 2020-2021 school year; next school year the district will receive $1,611,101 from the state, as opposed to $1,434,732 in 2020-2021. The total increase in the general budget from the last budget to this budget is 0.88 percent.

Murphy highlighted several new expenses that are included in the 2021-2022 budget, including $149,000 for a principal at Central School, a full-time secretary at Central School for $51,706, a counselor for Central, Forest Avenue and Linden Avenue schools for $55,820, and roof repairs at Ridgewood Avenue School for $402,000.

Some line items will cost less than in previous years. There will be a decrease by $20,000 for supplies and more than $300,000 in staff cuts. Glen Ridge resident Charlie Breslin asked about the staff reduction during the public comment portion of the meeting. According to Superintendent Dirk Phillips, some of the cuts are coming from a new operating system.

“During the pandemic, we had to operate differently,” he said at the meeting. “We weren’t bringing in as many substitutes. If a teacher wasn’t there, students would be sent to one central location or another teacher would cover it. It was well received and will remain.”

Though some staff cuts will still occur, Phillips said the administration did not yet want to comment on specifics without the budget having been approved by the BOE or the county. However, some of the salary reductions come from full-time positions being changed to part-time positions.

“Staff decreases will not affect the number of sections being offered or impact class size,” Phillips said.

Summer programs to make up for pandemic learning losses are a possibility in the district, and BOE members Jocelyn Gottlieb and Anthony Bonnett asked if funding would come from outside the normal budget for summer programs. Murphy said there is $18,000 for summer programs that can be used over a two-year period.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at the BOE meeting on April 26. The budget will then be submitted to the county for approval.

  FEATURED, Glen Ridge Board of Education