8 Teaching Positions Eliminated In $11.7M Bernards School Budget

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Eight teaching positions will be eliminated as part of the adopted $111.7 million 2022-23 Bernards Township school budget.

Superintendent Nick Markarian said the reduction in staff was due to a "downward trend in enrollment."

The eight positions to be cut include three elementary school positions, two middle school positions, and three high school positions.

Here is a look at the year over year decline in enrollment since 2016 in the district:

• October 2016 - 5,518
• October 2017 - 5,419 (-1.8%)
• October 2018 - 5,295 (-2.3%)
• October 2019 - 5,125 (-3.2%)
• October 20120 - 4,845 (-5.5%)
• October 2021 - 4,709 (-2.8%)

Markarian noted the number of positions cut might change as this is an estimate for the upcoming September.

"I don't want to alarm people. I think we have been judicious over the last couple of years... in trying to make our estimates at budget time of the reality of how we think school will open in September," said Markarian.

The overall $111.7 million 2022-23 school budget brings a $1.288 million increase over last year. This equates to a .73 percent increase in the school tax levy, according to Rod McLaughlin.

The major factors that negatively impacted the budget include an increase of $401,000 in salaries, an increase of $972,000 in health benefits, an increase of $757,000 in special ed placement, and an increase of $325,000 in grounds and maintenance due to a union being formed.

Additionally, the budget includes a $561,223 roof replacement project at Oak Street School. The state will cover 40 percent of the project leaving $366,000 to be paid by the district.

While the board passed the budget, one member Kristen Light voted no without explanation.

When questioned by board member Karen Gray, Light said she felt that "some things maybe we could forgo that we probably didn't need to not increase the taxes at all in our area where inflation is crazy for the taxpayers. And I figured there was a way we could actually not raise taxes."

"What would propose forgoing? Because that’s the hard part. It's easy to sit here and say that but
what should we cut? Which class? Which teacher? Which program? I'm very curious," said Gray.

Light said she was "looking for more detail" from the district and that she wasn’t able to get to figure out what to forgo.

Board member Jennifer White asked McLaughlin what the tax impact is to the average assessed homeowner but he didn't give a clear answer.

"It is difficult to give an answer this year because there is a significant increase in assessed valuations," McLaughlin said of the increase in home values.

In Bernards Township, the average home was valued at $621,788 in 2021 and increased to $663,991 in 2022.

"Off the top of my head, I didn’t do the math on that because that’s not really our job to do that," said McLaughlin about the school tax impact on residents.

Property taxes in Basking Ridge are made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here's how that broke down in Bernards last year:

• School – 66.5%
• Municipal – 16.5%
• County – 17%

Read More: Bernards Homeowners Pay 77th Highest Property Taxes In NJ

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