Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education Passes Final Budget

An assembly of about 25 gathered for tonight's meeting.

Following is a recap of two items relating to this evening’s regular meeting of the B-R BOE at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville.  The first item, the budget, was on the agenda.  The second item, negotiations, was not. 

2011-2012 School Budget.  Voting unanimously in the affirmative, the full Board passed a $129.5 million budget for the 2011-2012 school year which begins July 1^st, 2011.  Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Michael Schilder; and School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Peter Starrs, outlined a presentation which was, in essence, the same as the one given previously. 

In addition to the public budget information sessions already announced and still in progress at various schools in the district (see the school website for presentations still to occur), two more have been scheduled.

The first will take place on April 4^th, at 7:30 PM, before the Bridgewater Township Council.  The second will be at the Raritan Borough Council at 6:30 PM, on April 12^th. 

Labor Negotiations.  These are currently in various stages of progress between the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education and three of its bargaining units; in this case, the Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association, which represents predominantly the district’s teachers.

The B-R BOE and the BREA met yesterday, March 21^st.  Both are scheduled to meet again on April 11^th. 

There has been no formal, public announcement by either party on the specific progress of yesterday’s meeting.  Nor was there any similar public indication by either group as to whether or not an agreement might be reached before voters go to the polls on April 27^th.

There is more to cover on this topic, and I will address it in a forthcoming post.

Thanks for your reading time, and take care of yourselves.