Pinelands board submits tentative budget after $2 million state aid reduction

The Pinelands Regional School District on March -- submitted a tentative budget to the county office after administrators reported a roughly $2,000,000 reduction in state aid that district leaders said must be absorbed into an approximately $40 million budget.

Superintendent Dr. McCooley told the board she wrote to the state commissioner asking that the aid reduction be reevaluated and said district staff and the budget committee have worked to craft a budget that minimizes impacts to students and staff. Amanda Miller, the district’s business administrator, said approximately 63 percent of revenue is expected from the local tax levy, about 27 percent from state aid and roughly 10 percent from other sources such as tuition and interest. She said the tentative budget will go to the county office for review and any county-requested changes will be made before the district’s final hearing, which was moved to April 22 for budgeting purposes.

Officials reiterated that most of the district’s expenditures are payroll and benefits and that the $2 million change mainly affects equalization/state aid line items. Miller said the special-revenue figure in the presentation is an estimate because grant balances are often finalized after the budget deadline. Board members thanked the administration and budget committee for their work updating numbers under a short timeframe.

Next steps: the county office will review the tentative submission; staff said they will report any required changes back to the board before the April public hearing.