Proposed Budget & Audits

Notice is hereby given by the Board of Education of the School District of Springfield in the County of Union and the State of New Jersey in compliance with N.J.S.A. 18A:22-11 that a Public hearing on the School Budget for the School year July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 summarized below will be held in the Jonathan Dayton High School-Instructional Media Center-First Floor, on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 7:00 PM, and that said budget will be on file for public inspection on March 26, 27, 30 and 31, 2009 between the hours of 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM in the Office of the Secretary, Board of Education Administrative Offices, second floor of the Jonathan Dayton High School, Mountain Avenue, Springfield, NJ and posted in the following schools:
                            JAMES CALDWELL
                            FLORENCE M. GAUDINEER
                            THELMA L. SANDMEIER
                            EDWARD V. WALTON
                            JONATHAN DAYTON HIGH

Please click here to download a copy of the Advertised 2009-10 Budget (March 19, 2009).

"This Board of Education approved "tentative" budget is being presented for advertising prior to Executive County Superintendent/County Superintendent approval. The budget will be approved by the Executive County Superintendent/County Superintendent prior to the Public Hearing."

Matthew A. Clarke
School Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Springfield Board of Education

Proposed Budget Information 2008-09

Please click here to download a copy of the Tentative 2008-09 Budget Presentation (March 3, 2008).
Please click here to download a copy of the Advertised 2008-09 Budget (March 20, 2008).
Please click here to download a copy of the Tentative Budget 2008-09: Budget Presentation Public Hearing (March 24, 2008).
Please click here to download a copy of the User Friendly Budget 2008-09.
Please click here to download a copy of the District Information.
Please click here to download a copy of the Appendix C – Contractual Information.

Proposed Budget Information 2007-08

Click here to download a copy of the budget goals.
Click here to download a copy of the updated budget.
Click here to download a copy of the public hearing.

Budget Basics

The average citizen does not understand how little flexibility a board of education has in drafting the annual budget. The vast majority of a school district’s budget is fixed. In that case that includes 61% salaries, 16% for benefits, 5% for special education, 12% for cost associated with running the district, i.e. utilities, transportation, legal, etc. The remaining 6% is spent on curriculum and staff development, technology and materials to run the instructional programs.

Our staff does an excellent job anticipating what their expenses will be for the following year; they do not ask for items that they do not absolutely need for instruction. When we review their budget requests, there are very few items that we can suggest cutting without impacting on the quality of the programs.

The only way to reduce a well-developed and defensible budget like this is to cut programs and/or services. We offer a great education to the students of Springfield and think all residents should take pride in the district. In September 2006, Springfield was recognized in New Jersey Monthly and ranked as the 44th top high school in the State. For District Factor Group GH, Springfield was ranked 3rd.

While everyone is against increased taxes, we would like to share the following information: There are 566 operating school districts in the state. When you compare our share of town’s cost covered by state aid, Springfield is ranked in the bottom 15% of all communites and is ranked dead last for Union County.

Budget Bullets

The general fund is being increased by only .09% or $28,866 which is $700,389 less than last year’s increase of 2.44%
The overall proposed budget is being decreased by -0.19% or (-$60,443) which is $684,538 less than last year’s increase of 1.97%
The budget is at the NEW CAP
Health Benefits have increased 3% over the past year
Energy cost have increase 4% over the past year
General Administration costs have been reduced $56,721 (-4.6%) over the past year
We are not allowed to have more or less than 2% surplus so were not able to use the average ($700,000) that we had in the past two years to lower the tax impact.
The average district gets 41% of its budget from state aid. We get 5%. Our state aid totals approximately $1.54 million dollars.
The total tax increase for this budget is $834,656 or 3.01%.
Per pupil costs for administration continue to be among the lowest in the County and our region (Central). The regional average is $1,616. The district projection for 2007-08 is $1,286. For Springfield that’s $330 less per pupil or $703,890.

Springfield Board of Education 2006 – 2007 Budget Comparison

-	2006-07 Revised Budget	2007-08 Proposed Budget	Percent Change
Instruction	$17,275,486	$16,998,797	(1.60%)
Business functions & Employee benefits	$5,086,386	$5,479,179	7.72% (includes SLPO)
Maintenance and Operations	$3,024,083	$3,197,464	5.73%
General Administration	$1,229,399	$1,172,678	(4.61%)
Special education Tuition	$1,603,431	$1,594,023	(0.59%)
Transportation	$969,150	$1,016,214	4.86%
Community services	$75,000	$90,000	20.00%
Athletics	$475,110	$468,637	(1.36%)
Summer school	$81,628	$57,740	(29.26%)
Capital Outlay	$909,948	$683,755	(24.86%)
State/Federal projects	$625,906	$532,022	(15.00%)
Debt service	$ 1,253,100	$1,257,675	0.37%
Total Budget	$32,608,627	$32,548,184	(0.19%)