VOL. 103, NO. 13
Friday, March 30, 2018
cranburypress.com
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Budget plan shows spending, taxes going up By Philip Sean Curran Staff Writer
Spending and taxes are going up in an $18.9 million budget for the 2018/19 school year. The Cranbury School Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a tentative budget that next goes to the Middlesex County Superintendent for review and approval. The budget, then, would return to the school board for a final vote in April.
A breakdown of the tax impact on the average assessed home was not available. The tax levy will be $17.3 million, up 3.55 percent, according to the district. During the meeting, board member Lindsay McDowell said appropriations are up by 5.23 percent. He pointed to rising health benefits, transportation and special education costs and Princeton and charter school tuition. The district is incurring extra
transportation costs to accommodate a schedule change at Princeton High School, where the school day will start and end 30 minutes later than it does now, beginning in September. “So there’s a couple of drivers,” he said, “but nothing like one big contributor. There’s a lot of little contributors to it. So that’s what behind our expenses for next year.” He said Cranbury is getting an
increase in state aid, of $65,520, for a total of $572,483. More details about the spending plan are expected at a budget presentation April 24, when there will be a public hearing for the community to weigh in. In other business, board member Evelyn Spann, the representative to the Princeton Board of Education, updated officials on plans in that community for a facilities bond referendum for $137.1 million. She said the ref-
James “Jay” Taylor
Incumbent ‘Jay’ Taylor will seek re-election By Philip Sean Curran Staff Writer
Photo by Scott Jacobs
Morning has broken A beautiful sunrise over Brainerd Lake in Cranbury greeted local resdents on March 23. Now that Old Man Winter appears to have realized that it’s springtime, there should be many more peaceful mornings at the lake.
Snow closures force makeup school days this year By Philip Sean Curran Staff Writer
All the snow that hit Princeton this year gave public school stu-
erendum would pay for a new school for students in fifth and sixth grades, “improvements at the high school” and other projects. Princeton is facing a growing enrollment, districtwide, that officials there see getting bigger in the coming years. It’s a major factor in why Princeton officials are looking to appeal to voters this fall. The Princeton BOE intends to have the ballot question on Oct. 2.
dents some time away from their classes, but it also means make up days and a slightly later end of the school year. The five days that school was closed, combined in January and March, have to be made starting this week. The first makeup day was Thursday, followed by May 25 and June 20, 21 and 22, district spokeswoman Brenda Sewell said Tuesday. The last day of school originally would have been June 19 “if we had no snow days,” Sewell said. But now it will be June 22, also the day of the high school graduation. “So our high school graduation date gets pushed back as we have snow days,” she said. Asked hypothetically what
happens if there is another weather-related closure, she said she did not know “how those days would be made up yet.” “We’ve used up all the snow days that we have scheduled,” she said. By law, the school year must be at least 180 days long. In a message to parents last week, Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane called this a “long winter.” He explained the decision to have Thursday as a regular day of school, on what was originally supposed to be a staff development day for teachers. “We know that some families may already have plans scheduled for March 29,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, we are hopeful
that students will be in school on that date to make up for the learning time that has been lost to snow.” The district goes on spring break starting Friday and continuing all through next week. Schools reopen April 9. Princeton and the region were hit by a series of nor’easters this month, including one last week, that dropped around half a foot of snow on parts of Central Jersey, even though it was technically spring already. In all, public schools were closed Jan. 4 and 5, March 7 and 8 and again March 21 because of snow. “It varies year to year,” Sewell said of snow closures, “but this year was worse than usual.”
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Control of the Cranbury Township Committee is at stake in November, but so far only one incumbent has said he is in the race for one of the two seats that will be up for election. Township Committeeman James “Jay” Taylor, speaking after the governing body’s meeting Monday, confirmed that he would seek a fourth term. The Democrat said the governing body “works really well together” and that everyone respects one another. But Township Committeeman David W. Cook, the other incumbent, said this week he hasn’t yet made up his mind whether or not to seek a fourth term. In a text message, Cook said Tuesday that “professional circumstances and considerations will dictate the decision which I will make this weekend.” He and Taylor were running mates in 2015, when they defeated their Republican challengers Fran McGovern and Sean Deverin, and ran together again in 2012. Taylor had been a Republican. As for whom Republicans might put up this year, a party leader could not be reached for comment. A message left at the Middlesex County GOP was not returned. Candidates wanting to run in the primary have until Monday at 4 p.m. to file petitions with the municipal clerk’s office. Democrats hold a 4-1 edge on the governing body. Last year, Matthew A. Scott, a Democrat, defeated Nancy Witt, a Republican, to win a seat on the Township Committee. Members of the governing body serve three-year-terms.
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