by Gabe Donio, Gazette Staff Writer

Part one of two.
HAMMONTON—A closer examination of the school budget figures shows that the budget grew substantially from the 2007-2008 budget voters passed in April of 2007 to the 2008-2009 budget sent to the county earlier this month.
During their special meeting of March 4, Hammonton Board of Education Business Administrator Barbara Prettyman stated that the 2008-2009 budget was $43,301,196. Prettyman also stated that the 2007-2008 budget totaled $39,942,527. The increase in spending was $3.3 million, or an 8.4-percent increase, when those numbers were compared.
While those figures are accurate, a closer examination of the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 budgets by The Gazette revealed that the original 2007-2008 budget passed by Hammonton voters in April of 2007 was $38,464,707. On February 27, the board voted unanimously to raise the 2007-2008 budget for the additional Core Curriculum Standards Aid in the amount of $1,073,980.
According to the school board’s meeting agenda, that million-dollar-plus appropriation, funding received from the state in addition to the amount passed by local voters in April 2007, will be placed in health benefits. The funds were moved for accounting purposes only, at the request of Atlantic County School Business Administrator Charlie Muller, Hammonton Board of Education Finance Committee Chairman Stephen DiDonato said.
“That money will be used toward the deficit, which is currently approximately $1.2 million,” DiDonato said.
The additional $1,073,980 accounts for nearly all of the difference between the original 2007-2008 budget of $38,464,707 passed by voters and the 2007-2008 budget figure of $39,942,527 quoted publicly by the board last week.
Using the voter-approved budget figure – the one that did not include the additional million-plus dollars in additional state aid – shows a much larger jump in spending by the school district. The difference between the 2007-2008 original budget figure of $38,464,707 and the proposed 2008-2009 budget figure of $43,301,196 is $4,836,489, or a 12.6-percent increase in spending.
The budget also is the first budget since the new Hammonton High School was built that will no longer include payments for leases. While the $643,757 in lease payments is no longer in the budget for 2008-2009, the budget has not been reduced by that amount.
According to the budget, the $1.2 million in state aid for Early Childhood Education was reduced by $807,603, lowering the state Early Childhood Education Aid to $457.519. The state aid helped justify the construction of an Early Childhood Education Center, which was built instead of additional classrooms at the Warren E. Sooy Jr. Elementary School. Those classrooms – not the ECEC – were what voters actually approved with the passage of the 1999 school bond referendum. They were never built, and the ECEC building was constructed instead.
According to the school budget, because of state aid cuts, another funding source will have to be found for funding nearly two-thirds — $807,603 — of the ECEC budget as part of the overall budget of school district.
NEXT WEEK: A look at some line items within the budget shows major differences between last year and this year.