2013-14 Edison school budget presented under tax cap

Republished from Kathy Chang's article in The Sentinal.

Superintendent of Schools Richard O’Malley has presented the Edison Public Schools’ preliminary budget for 2013-14, a spending plan that he said maintains the focus on teaching and learning.

The $213.8 million budget is under the state-mandated 2 percent cap on tax-levy increases. The total tax levy for the 2012-13 school year was $188 million, and the proposed tax levy for 2013-14 is just under $191.1 million. Most of the major increases to the budget have to do with instructional salary increases. Salaries and wages totaled $94,655,445 in 2012-13, and will increase by $2.5 million to $97,189,208 in 2013-14.

Eight new positions are included in the proposed budget — four library aides, three teachers and one driver.

The preliminary budget was presented at the Board of Education’s Feb. 20 caucus meeting. The board was expected to discuss and vote on adopting the package on Feb. 25.

School administrators said they hope the district will receive at least the same amount of state aid as in 2012-13, which was $14.3 million. State aid figures are expected to be forthcoming later this week.

O’Malley noted that the district’s total increase in spending is less than 1 percent, the lowest since 1994, with the exception of 2010, when aid cuts forced the district to reduce its budget, according to school Business Administrator Dan Michaud.

O’Malley explained that the budget cuts of 2010 included library aides. With the proposed addition of four library aides, the James Madison Primary, Lindeneau, James Monroe and Washington elementary schools will now have aides, and this will bring parity to all of the schools in that respect.

The district is proposing to add one teacher for the gifted-and-talented program, a fifth-grade teacher at John Marshall Elementary School and one music-technology teacher.

The addition of three new teachers will bring the district up to 1,128 teaching positions. Total salaries for teachers will be $92,672,981.

According to O’Malley, because of an increase in the employee contribution cost for salary benefits, from $2.7 million to $3.6 million, the increase in the budget for benefits will be about $40,000 — from $31,751,200 in 2012-13 to $31,792,000 in 2013-14.

The salaries for central administration, which still represent the second-lowest total administrative costs and the lowest salaries and benefits per student in the state, according to O’Malley, will increase by about $318,000, from $6,290,179 in 2012-13 to $6,607,976 for 2013-14.

O’Malley said school security, which has been a hot issue locally and across the nation, will see the existing 10 security officers remain, with five stationed at each of the two high schools. The police security salary totals $5,000.

The superintendent said significant strides have been made in technology since he came to the district in 2011. The technology line totals $1,345,000, which will include the installation of computer labs at the Menlo Park and James Monroe elementary schools.

Textbook costs total $1,001,000.

“We actually cut the textbook line by $400,000,” O’Malley said.

Capital-outlay site-improvement projects total $1,644,000, which aside from sidewalk and pavement improvements, include renovations to the food classrooms at three of the middle schools and at Edison High School, as well as to the wing that will be used for the science and engineering academy at Edison High School. It will also fund a replacement for an antiquated boiler and some lockers at Herbert Hoover Middle School; and repairs to the auditorium and water-damaged walls from when a portion of the at J.P. Stevens High School roof came off during superstorm Sandy.

O’Malley and Michaud noted that $3.3 million is on hold for whenever they receive access to their portion of the Camp Kilmer site. The Sgt. Joyce Kilmer Reserve Center at the Camp Kilmer site officially closed in 2009. Along with 120 proposed affordable housing units, other possible uses include a preschool and a community center. The township’s Department of Public Works might also make some use of the site. The extra building space is sorely needed, school officials said, adding that their elementary school classrooms are filled to the maximum, with Woodbrook Elementary School having 28 students per classroom.

Full-day kindergarten was one of the cuts made in 2010 and it remains that way due to overcrowding issues, school officials said.

“If we had full-day kindergarten in place, those class sizes would likely exceed 30 students. … Woodbrook would see over 40 students,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley will travel around the district, presenting the budget from March 17-24. The district will then hold a public hearing and final budget adoption on March 21 at 7 p.m. at Herbert Hoover Middle School.

The school budget goes to the public for a vote on April 16.

Tricky Tray Tickets

Lindeneau's 5th Annual Tricky Tray will soon been here and the tickets are going fast.  If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, it's not too late.  Send in your order form and payment as soon as possible to be assured a seat.

Lindeneau's 5th Annual Tricky Tray

Event Date: Friday, April 5, 2013
Location: Thomas Jefferson Middle School
450 Division Street, Edison, NJ 08817  (map)
Doors open at 5:30pm  Drawing begins promptly at 7:30pm

Admission: $20.00 per person
(Admission includes one general sheet of tickets)
Bring your own food and drinks and be prepared to have fun!!! 
** ADULTS ONLY (18 yrs of age & over)** (NO CHILDREN)

All proceeds from this event benefit Lindeneau Elementary School.
Seating is limited. Purchase your tickets now!  No tickets will be sold at the door!

Three levels of prizes, Grand Prizes, 50/50 and Super 50/50!!!

All tickets are sold on a first in, first filled basis.
Contact:  Dawn Marie Slocum (732) 754-9269 or download and print the ticket form here and send to:

Lindeneau PTO
Attn: Dawn Marie Slocum
50 Blossom Street
Edison, NJ 08817

February Newsletter

Dear Lindeneau School Families,

The tricky tray is our biggest event of the year and funds the majority of the PTO sponsored programs like the busses for the field trips, PBIS and most of the end of the year events.

Please note that this year’s Tricky Tray has been rescheduled from March 1, 2013 to Friday April 5th, 2013 at Thomas Jefferson Middle School due to laggard donations.

Please consider donating to your child’s class basket (see attached flyer for the basket list).

We still have entertainment books available. To purchase a book send in $15.00. Checks should be made out to the Lindeneau PTO.  Please stop by the PTO table at the parent/teacher conferences on 2/12, 2/14 and 2/19 and purchase your student a smencil-gram ($1) for doing a great job this school year.  Due to February 14th being an early dismissal day for conferences, the pretzel sale will be on February 15, 2013. Have your child buy hot delicious pretzel for a $1. Get one for yourself too, I promise we won’t tell.

Come voice your opinion/suggestions at the PTO meeting on 2/20 @ 7pm in the MPR.

However you decide to participate, we hope to see you involved at Lindeneau School.

If you need to contact the PTO for questions, comments or have an idea you'd like to share, please call 732-395-7501 or email lindeneaupto@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Richard Jeffreys
President

View / Download the newsletter PDF in its entirety here.

Canceled - Bingo For Books

Due to the early dismissal today, the Bingo for Books event has been canceled.

Principals Newsletter

Dear Parents/Guardians,

It is amazing that January has already come and gone. As always at Lindeneau many exciting events and
learning have been taking place.

Our students in grades 1-5 have completed another STAR assessment and it was great to see the progress
that the students made. The results of these assessments will be discussed at Parent/Teacher conferences.

Parent/Teacher conference forms have been sent home. The dates of conferences are February 12th and 19th from 5:30-7:30 and February 14th from 1:45- 3:45. If you have not received these forms, please call the office and we will send another one home.

Our students continue to earn Tiger Stripes and Tiger Tickets. In addition to our weekly winners, our monthly
winners were:

Kindergarten
Martin Chen
Madison Frost

1st Grade
Sa’Miyaa Dixon
Gabriella Bochenko-Nanna

2nd Grade
Lucas Tindall
Mackenzie Caffrey

3rd Grade
Jillian Lord
Pranav Chundi

4th Grade
Angelina O’Connor
Andy Lowe

5th Grade
Luis Zuniga
Haya Siddiqui

On Wednesday, February 9th, I will be drawing 26 names from the “tiger cage” that all tiger tickets since September have been kept. Those 26 students will be treated to a pizza lunch with me. The PBSIS initiative has created such a positive climate in the school that we as a staff couldn’t be happier for our students.

The first annual PTO Pasta and Talent Show night was a great success. The students who performed were truly amazing and the food was the best. Thank you to the PTO, but especially to Mrs. Westdyke for chairing the event.

Lindeneau School has become the recipient of a $5000.00 grant from Lowe’s Toolbox for Schools. The goal of the grant was to provide the students with a reading courtyard to be used at recess for students who want to do what they love to do…read! Thanks to Mr. Stryker for helping to complete the grant.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you at conferences. Have a very Happy Valentine’s Day.

Warm regards,

Rosemary Schutz

Scholastic Book Fair and Bingo For Books

Reading is the most important skill you can teach a child. Of all the skills children learn, it is the one you can influence the most. We invite you to visit our Scholastic Book Fair and experience a celebration of reading that provides families the opportunity to get involved in a universal mission: encouraging kids to read every day so they can lead better lives.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is part of an exciting reading event that brings to school a wonderful selection of fun, engaging, and affordable books kids want to read. Giving kids access to good books and the opportunity to choose their own books will motivate them to read more. And like most acquired skills, the more kids practice reading, the better they’ll get.

All proceeds from the book fair help the PTO provide even more books for the classrooms and the school library. 

The Book Fair is open to students on Thursday, February 7th and Friday, February 8th from 9:00 - 3:00.  It will also be open for families on Friday, October 12th from 6:00 - 7:30.

Bingo For Books

As part of the Scholastic Book Fair at Lindeneau School, the PTO will be hosting Bingo for Books on Friday 2/8 at 6:30. Come join us for this FREE family event that promises to be a lot of fun! Prizes include Scholastic books for all grade levels. The Book Fair will also be open during Bingo Night for students and parents to purchase books.  As always, we thank you for your support and hope to see you for bingo!


We are still in need of some volunteers to help with these events, if you would like to help at either event please volunteer here.

Gourmet Food Fundraiser

Don't forget, our Gourmet Food Fundraiser is going on now.  You should have received a brochure home last week, if for some reason you haven't please contact us or stop by the main office.  This brochure is filled with wonderful frozen food items carefully selected with busy families in mind. Pizza, cookie dough, desserts and snack items are made with REAL butter and cheeses. Something for everyone.  Over 40% of sales benefit Lindeneau School.  All orders are due February 12th.

View the brochure here.