HOBOKEN – The Board of Education on Thursday night released its $64.8 million 2014 preliminary budget, which contains a 3.9 percent tax rate increase and a levy (the amount that comes from taxes) of $39 million. The school board budget is significantly more cash-strapped than the city’s, and as many as 54 faculty and staff members could lose their jobs as a result, school officials said.
The board’s tax increase and spending cuts are largely due to a reduction of federal and state funding as well as an increase in charter school funding due to the Hoboken Dual-Language Charter School’s (HoLa) expansion to eighth grade, which is costing the district upwards of $575,000, according to documents provided by the board. In the last two weeks, Board of Education President Leon Gold caused controversy when he said that charter schools were taking away too much funding from the other public schools in Hoboken.
School officials were reluctant to place a dollar amount on the increase an average Hoboken taxpayer might see, as the budget is preliminary. Additionally, Superintendent Mark Toback would not say whether the potential layoffs would affect exclusively teachers or staff, noting that it could be a mix. Subsequent Board of Education agendas are set to include budget discussions, school officials said, before the board holds a vote on a final budget by May 6.
For more information on the school’s budget, tax increase and potential layoffs, see this weekend’s edition of The Hoboken Reporter. – Dean DeChiaro
BREAKING: Hoboken school budget could result in 54 layoffs
