Dear Editor:
Every year, public school districts across the country go through an annual January-to-March process of preparing budgets for the next fiscal year. In many communities, the school district is often one of the larger financial enterprises and its budget is the focus of much community scrutiny and debate as districts seek to strike the right balance between the needs of the schools and the concerns of taxpayers. Hoboken is such a community.
This year, the Hoboken Board of Education will hold a community forum on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 7 pm in the Hoboken Junior Senior High School auditorium. Although the budget itself is still being developed by the school administrators and will not be formally presented to the school board and the public until March, the district invites the Hoboken community to attend this first-time-ever forum to learn more about the process, understand the many regulations under which the budget is constructed, get up to speed on the latest state laws as they apply to public school funding and budgets, get a feel for some of the challenges facing the district in the coming year, and hear answers to a variety of frequently asked questions about our district public schools and where the money is being spent.
In the meantime, community members can begin to participate in the budget process by sending an email to budgetquestions@hoboken.k12.nj.us. Questions and comments will be incorporated into Tuesday evening’s presentation.
Dr. Mark Toback,
Superintendent of Schools