The North Bergen Board of Education officially introduced its 2000-2001 budget at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting Wednesday night – a budget that is $1.3 million higher than a year ago and will eventually mean an increase in taxes for local homeowners. The budget, which will appear on the general ballot for approval from voters on April 18, will show an increase from $75.4 million in 1999-2000 to an anticipated $76.7 million for 2000-2001. If approved by voters, the budget will mean a tax increase of approximately $61 per every home with an estimated value of $140,000. According to Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach, the increase in the budget was need for two reasons. One was the fact that the district had lost $337,000 in state aid due to changes in the state’s evaluation of the township. The second was the need to hire 13 new teachers to instruct the district’s new classes in world language and special education. “By the year 2006, the state’s standardized test will feature a section for world language in the elementary schools,” Fischbach said. “Right now, we offer world language in several of our elementary schools, from second through seventh grades. But it’s not throughout the system. So we have to add teachers to the system.” Some of the new staff members will be used as part of the state-mandated program which will see students who were once classified as special education students to be included in regular mainstream classes. Although some teachers have expressed interest in retiring at the end of the current school year, the addition of the new 13 staff members has no bearing on pending retirements. “We have to hire the new staff members,” Fischbach said. “There’s nothing we can do about that. So the budget has to go up and right now, the increase would have to come from taxation. There’s no avoiding that fact. We will have replacements for retiring teachers, but we still have to hire the new staff members.” Fischbach promised that, while the budget did represent an increase, the Board of Education would seek all available funding from both the state and federal government. For example, the board just received an increase in transportation aid that was not reflected in the expected budget. There was a rumor that the board meeting would address the possibility of some coaching changes within the high school – which seems to be an annual rumor at this time. However, there were only a handful of minor personnel matters handled – and none that concerned any possible replacements of high school coaches. “On April 1, applications for coaches will be sent out for all coaching positions within the system,” Fischbach said. “At the present time, we have had no personnel matters with our coaches.” After the meeting, Fischbach told the Reporter that the latest setback concerning the possible construction of a new high school will push the project back “definitely from a year to two years,” and that a final solution to the problem would not come “in excess of five years.” The Board of Education’s consulting group had devised a plan to build a new $60 million high school within the confines of North Hudson Braddock Park. But the plans were scrapped last month when the board received public outcry in opposition of the plan. “As it stands now, we haven’t had another recommendation,” Fischbach said. “We’re going to look at the community and see if there are other alternatives. We will look into the possibilities of addition to existing schools.” Fischbach added, “But I’m a firm believer that the only way to solve the problem of overcrowding would be a middle school facility. We believed that the park was the best possible solution. We have to look for another place, but each day we move along without an alternative hurts us. I know I don’t want to see a plan that will displace any member of the community. It would be too disruptive.” Which means the entire idea is back to the drawing board – with no solution in sight.
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
