RBR Board of Ed. approves budget, increases tuition for 2011-2012 school year

At last night’s meeting, the Red Bank Regional Board of Education approved a preliminary budget of $26,031,769 for the 2011-2012 school year, with $23,953,255 allotted to the General Fund, $1,324,389 to the Special Revenue Fund and $754,125 to the Debt Fund.

The board also approved a ballot question for the Annual School Election on Apr. 27 that proposed $18,617,308 as the amount raised for General Funds for the ensuing school year.

A public hearing will be held on Mar. 23 in the Red Bank Regional High School media center to discuss the proposed budget before the election on Apr. 27, when Little Silver, Shrewsbury and Red Bank residents will have the opportunity to vote on prospective school board members in addition to the budget.

John Garofalo of Red Bank and Lisa Gilmour of Little Silver have already submitted petitions for three-year terms with the board. Those who are still interested in running for Board of Ed. positions must submit completed petitions to the Board office by 4 p.m. on Mar. 8.

Also at the meeting:

• The board approved a tuition increase of approximately 2% for the 2011-2012 school year. The annual, per-person rate is now $12,500 for full-time Regular Education students, $6,250 for part-time Regular Education students, $17,500 for Level 2 Special Education students and $28,000 for Level 3 Special Education students.
• Interim Superintendent Dr. Edward Westervelt commended the Red Bank Regional Education Foundation and VPA students on a “wonderful” and “extremely well-attended" Sunday Showcase . Board of Ed. VP Emily A. Doherty said the event raised over $8,000 to benefit the Foundation. “The wonderful thing to see is the spirit, and the support from the school, and the kids were wonderful,” Doherty noted. “They had a wonderful time doing it, the audience was really enthusiastic, and that’s worth as much as whatever dollars can be earned.”
• Mary Karlo, President of the Red Bank Regional Education Association, submitted a letter to the board asking them to pass a resolution for distribution to the Monmouth County delegation assembly and senate representatives to vote “no” on the School Voucher Bill “in view of the crisis affecting New Jersey public schools and the current uncertainty pertaining to our funding for the 2011-2012 school year.”

“This is a simple voucher bill with the final effect of lowering our existing funding structure to support private parochial schools and not public education,” Karlo wrote. “Our public schools work at Red Bank Regional. We have already suffered enough without another drain on our already limited resources.”

• Vice-President Doherty announced that . “This is the one major fundraiser that The SOURCE Foundation does every year,” Doherty said. “I’m really urging some support this year…more so than usual, because of what The SOURCE has been doing in terms of supplementing student services.” The School Based Youth Services Program is currently funding the majority of ELL tuition for the Brookdale duel enrollment program. “This has given some of our kids a tremendous opportunity to advance and they’re doing well,” said Doherty. “I think we have twelve kids enrolled this year.”