Budget Highlights for Eatontown School District

The hosted an information night last week detailing changes coming down the pike now that school elections have been moved to November and the annual budget vote has been eliminated.

For administrators, the time line for preparing the yearly school budget won't really change, according to Superintendent Scott McCue at the Feb. 8 meeting at which only two journalists, a board of education member and one resident were in attendance. The Board of Education voted to move the school election from April to November at it Jan. 23 meeting.

McCue highlighted a number of items driving the budget, including:

• Support of New Teacher Evaluation Program: A state-wide initiative that will produce additional costs for staff professional o. "You have to have a tool that's pretty well-calibrated to evaluate teachers," said McCue.
• Enhance the District Technology Program: As Eatontown pushes more technology into the classroom and into the hands of students and teachers, there is a cost for the equipment and training to use it.
• Revision of the District Curriculum to the New Common Core State Standards: As school districts across the country adopt a common set of standards, Eatontown will be focusing of revising its math and language arts curriculum.
• Maintain Extracurricular Activities and After-School Programs: All existing programs, like intramural programs and NJ ASK Saturday Institute.
• Support a Part-Time Technology Technician: The district created the position to support the existing technician coordinating for all four schools. The part-time technician works at night and McCue called it a "cost-effective alternative."
• Support a Part-Time Administrative Position Focused on Improving Student Achievement: This three-day-a-week position wold focus on improving student achievement and educational practices and would jibe well with the new teacher evaluations.
• Provide New Van for Student Transportation Services: A vehicle in the school's fleet needs to be replaced.

The district will also incur costs to adopt federal and state-mandated programs like the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, the Common Core State Standards and changes in the No Child Left Behind Law.

The district is investigating a variety of shared services and energy savings programs to offset perpetually rising costs like well, energy and health benefits.

McCue said his goal has been to "move the district forward educationally and fiscal withing the current two-percent cap."

"Blending tradition and innovation to drive education," he said has been his mantra since he became superintendent in December 2010.

The budget for 2012-2013 will be introduced to the public in mid-March, said Business Administrator Charles Shay, who joined McCue in presenting the information session at .