Board hears special-education committee report and readies budget after state-aid figures

The Bordentown Regional School District board heard a report from an Ad Hoc special-education committee that met March 2 and discussed current programs, outreach and a set of legislative measures the committee recommends watching.

A committee member told the board the committee distributed handouts listing legislative contacts and committee membership and summarized bills that could affect the district. "From what I read on the first one, s 33 82 of school construction bond, that if it passes, we'll open up an additional 3 and a half billion dollars, to districts that need to do ADA and building upgrades," the member said, while noting the measure would require referendum and is in an early stage.

The report also highlighted proposed measures to prevent reductions in state school aid for districts below adequacy benchmarks, to set minimum ratios for school psychologists, and to require districts to post curriculum materials online.

On budgeting, the superintendent said the district has been preparing multiple budget scenarios and is awaiting state-aid figures expected after the governor's budget address. "We will have a meeting between March 12 and March 18 once we know state aid so that we can go over" budget scenarios, he said, and added the administration intends to present a tentative budget for approval at the March 18 meeting.

Board members asked about finance-committee timing and next steps; the superintendent said district administrators, building-level leaders and the finance committee will finalize dates and review the scenarios once state aid is known.

No formal votes or motions on budget adoption or bond measures occurred at the meeting; the committee report and the budgeting timetable were for information and planning.

Next steps: board and administration to schedule finance-committee sessions in mid-March and continue legislative monitoring.