Tax Decrease, 11 New Hires Proposed In Hillsborough School Budget

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A tax decrease and 11 new hires, including 8 teachers, are proposed in Hillsborough's tentative budget for the 2021-22 school year.

Superintendent Dr. Lisa Antunes and Assistant School Business Administrator Ashley Sanguiliano presented the $136.4 million budget on Monday night at the Board of Education meeting.

For an average homeowner with a home assessed at $426,224, they would see a tax decrease of $120 per year or $10 per month.

"For the third year in a row taxes for Hillsborough have gone down," said Sanguiliano.

Antunes said some of the district's goals for this budget were to maintain current programs, maintain all positions, maintain class sizes, and use reserves.

The tentative budget seems to do just that. Some of the expenditures in the budget include:

• All programs remain intact and no staff reductions
• Adding 4 full-time teachers
• Adding a Community Outreach Coordinator
• Adding Special Ed positions including 4 full-time teachers and 3 instruction assistants based on IEP mandates and district needs
• Budgeting for COVID personal protective equipment
• Includes year 1 of 5 lease payments for Hillsborough Elementary School paving and roof
• Buying 4 new school buses

The tentative budget is roughly $1.5 million more than last year's budget. However, the district is using $500,000 from the maintenance reserve and $600,000 from the capital reserve to bring the cost down.

Additionally, even though the district is receiving a cut of roughly $694,000 in state aid, it was more than the district anticipated being cut, Antunes said. Read More: Hillsborough Schools To Get Less State Aid For 2021-22

The biggest cost savings came from the school district switching from Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey healthcare plan to using New Jersey School Employee's Health Benefits Program(SEHBP).

The BOE members unanimously voted in favor of the tentative budget. While this is a tentative budget, things could still change. The final budget hearing is set for April 26.

Jane Staats said she was "ecstatic" about the hiring of additional teachers.

"Especially when we lost so many teachers 4 years ago," said Staats. "I am really, really happy about that."

See below for the full budget presentation. It begins around 3:49:

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here. Don't miss local and statewide announcements. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters.