Proposed school budget introduced by district Residents will vote on $195,030,235 spending plan on April 15 BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer The Edison school district has unveiled its proposed budget for the 2008-09 year. According to acting Superintendent John Dimuzio, the preliminary budget is $195,030,235. This is a $9,214,855 increase over last year's budget. The average Edison homeowner will see a tax increase of $87. Dimuzio and district Business Administrator Daniel Michaud said they were relieved that the increase came under $100 and said that the additional aid from Trenton, as part of Gov. Jon Corzine's school funding plan, was a welcome relief. The aid, Michaud said, is going toward funding the budget and "priorities." "One of the priorities we wanted to do, and this board came forward, was they wanted to see if they could bring this budget under $100 to provide relief to property owners in Edison. Dan [Michaud] and I worked weeks and weeks to bring it under $100, and we were under," said Dimuzio. "We did talk to a couple of neighboring districts, and they were kind of envious we were under a hundred bucks, because they said they didn't think they would be able to get theirs under 100 [dollars]," added Michaud. Transportation costs rose 5 percent, taking up $9,627,714 of the budget. Salaries and benefits, which rose 4.9 percent, make up 78 percent of the budget. Energy and natural gas costs went up 9.7 percent. This figure is part of a total operation cost of $12,305,051, making up 6.3 percent of the budget. Michaud said that the No. 1 priority was teachers, and said that there are 18 new positions for teachers, 11 of which are in special education. The reason he did this, he said, was because the school board voted to have the district to take over a collaborative special education program in the county, which he said would save $486,000, though he stressed that the real reason was that it was felt that educators in Edison could just do a better job in general. The district is also going to be spending $700,000 in technology upgrades, which includes improving the district's Internet connection.Michaud said that since so much of what the schools do today is online, the connections have been getting sluggish from all the traffic.And with this new spending in technology comes the hiring of two new technicians. "When we put $700,000 into technology, we do need people to go out and be able to fix any problems we have and install the new computer software … for us to put the money into technology without having these technicians to go around, was really a waste of money, and I did not want to waste money," said Michaud. The district is also hiring another school nurse, who can cover for other nurses who might be absent on a given day. They are doing this, Michaud said, because it's difficult to find another certified nurse if one is out. There will also be $1,460,000 in facilities upgrades. Dimuzio said that the new contract for the teachers has been accounted for in the budget as well, though it still is in negotiations. The Edison Township Education Association (ETEA), the local teachers union, and the Principals and Supervisors Association (PSA), representing the school administrators, have been engaging in their regular contract negotiations this year. Dimuzio said that board President David Dickinson and Vice President Joe Romano are the board members participating in the negotiations with the ETEA, and that Romano, Rosemary Meade and Raymond Koperwhats are taking part in negotiations with PSA. Edison's school budget will need to be approved by the voters through a referendum on April 15, along with a $52 million school construction bond proposal. The voters have rejected both the budget and similar construction bonds two years in a row. When the budget was rejected last year, the Township Council amended the document and cut $1.7 million from the spending plan. This, Dimuzio said, led to fees for certain bus routes and for beforeand after-school programs. "If the budget passes, [the programs] will go back to being free, and if the budget is defeated again and takes a similar cut, then all bets are off and we may have to re-establish [fees] again, possibly deepen them." said Dimuzio. The acting superintendent said he believes that the budget is fiscally sound and urged people to support it in the April election. "We do feel very good about it, and we feel … it came at a good time for us because of the fact that we are both cognizant of the property tax paid in this town, and we wanted to go with a budget that was realistic [and] doesn't hurt services to the kids, yet at $87 the board felt very good about that," said Dimuzio. Board member William Van Pelt shared this assessment. "The budget is very fiscally responsible. The increase is $87 for the tax year, which I think is pretty doggone good. I don't think we've had anything under $100, at least since the elected board has been in place," said Van Pelt, who, along with incumbent Koperwhats, is up for reelection this year. Board candidate Aimee Szilagyi was similarly supportive. "Well, I've seen the budget and I think it's the most reasonable one to taxpayers in years, mainly because of the extra aid of the $3 million from the state, though. Regardless of the reason, however, it is one I can and will support," said Szilagyi, who is running on a slate with residents Veena Iyer and Gene Maeroff.