The Hillsborough Township Public Schools was thrown a lifeline – not the lifeline they wanted – but something that was placed in front of Schools Superintendent Michael Volpe.
“I know what you have hired me to do,” Volpe said at a budget presentation in June. “You hired me to run a school district to the best of my capability and this is a tool that I have in front of me and I’m recommending it.
“Even if I don’t like it, I now have that tool in front of me. I now have that life preserver. I now am ready to get off of my back.”
The lifeline that Volpe is referring to are bills that “restore a significant portion” of planned cuts that Gov. Phil Murphy approved in May. The measures extended the budgetary timeline to July 19; returned two-thirds of the state aid cut as a one-time return (not returned to the baseline of the district’s annual state aid); and enabled boards of education to go through the 2% tax levy cap in order to recoup previous amounts of lost aid.
The bills have provided immediate relief to more than 140 school districts.
For Hillsborough, 45% of the fiscal year 2025 state aid cut is $1.23 million that will come back to the district for a one-time use.
When Volpe first sat down with school officials to put together the budget, he projected a 64.1%, or $400,000, cut in state aid for the 2024-25 budget.
Coming into this year, the district was projected to lose $243,694. For historical data, Volpe said the school district has experienced a total of $7 million in state aid cuts over the past five years. It has been the only school district in Somerset County to lose state aid since the state S2 school funding formula that made state aid allocation changes.
However, when state aid numbers were released in February indicating a $2.3 million state aid cut, or 1,019.6%, for the Hillsborough Township Public School District, it left school officials reeling.
“Nobody can prepare for that,” Volpe had said of the drastic cut. “I don’t care how good of a budget manager I am, nobody can prepare that the cut will be 1,000 percent higher than you thought.”
And with factors such as inflation and consumer price index numbers as well as contractual and health care obligations, school officials are “financially shackled.”
With the recouped funds, Volpe is making a commitment to staff.
“No one will end up losing their jobs and we will be able to follow through what we said to the taxpayers,” he said.
On July 15, the Hillsborough Township Board of Education approved the revised $148.37 million spending plan for the 2024-25 school year, which restores $1.23 million in state aid and exceeds the 2% tax levy cap to recoup the amount of state aid lost between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2025 of $5.74 million. This becomes part of the district’s tax levy base.
The revisions to the budget do not change the tax rate for Hillsborough and Millstone residents.
The Hillsborough school tax rate for 2024 is 1.3833, a decrease of 0.0074. The average home assessed at $547,355 will pay $7,575 in school taxes for 2024.
The Millstone school tax rate for 2024 is 0.8835, a decrease of 0.0207. The average home assessed at $396,255 will pay $4,501 in school taxes for 2024.
Board president Paul Marini, Board Vice president Cynthia Nurse and Board members Joel Davis, Cassandra Kragh, Allison Laning-Beder, Danny Lee and Jane Staats voted “yes” on the final revised budget and Board members Elaine Jackson and Jean Trujillo voted “no.”
From the beginning, Volpe has laid out his recommendations for the one-time use of state aid funds, which include:
- The permanent restoration of all cuts from the April public hearing – 11 staff positions from the November referendum, five staff positions that were being lost due to attrition, new instruction materials and the restoration of extracurriculars, including Hillsborough Middle School sports in the amount of $2.73 million
- Restore courtesy busing (not for the start of the school year) – $500,000.
- Additional building monitor at Hillsborough High School (HHS) – $60,000.
- One restored administrator – Hillsborough High School vice principal – $140,000.
- District centralized registrar – $94,794.
- Construction for full-day Kindergarten – $3 million.
- Suspension of “Pay to Play” policy for 2024-25 – $125,000
- Construction at high school – create hallway through library for safer transitions for students between classes – $200,000.
- Repair bleachers at HHS – $50,000.
- Re-keying security efforts in the district – $70,210.
The use of the funds would ultimately be decided by the board. And when Murphy approved legislation for districts to recoup state aid funds, school officials reached out to the public through focus groups and a survey with 83% of respondents in favor of increasing the budget, 66% of respondents wanting instructional staff and 45% of respondents in favor of full day kindergarten.
On the agenda during the meeting on July 15, the board considered a design proposal from LAN Architects to support the various kindergarten classroom renovations at multiple schools throughout the district in the amount of $80,000 and a competitive request for proposal contracting process for redistricting planning services.
The board tabled LAN Architects’ design proposal 7-2 at the meeting citing the impact of redistricting. The board moved forward with the competitive request for proposal contracting process for redistricting planning services.
