ALLENTOWN — Imagine if the new middle school opened, but the school district didn't have enough money to staff and equip it.

Budget decisions made this year will affect the 2010 opening of the new school being built off Route 524. Acknowledging the current economic climate and the hardships many community members currently face in their homes and at their jobs, the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education is encouraging more than ever that the public participate in the budgeting process to continue the quality education the school district provides and to ensure the smooth opening of the new facility.

Board of Education President Joseph Stampe noted at the Jan. 7 meeting that this would be a difficult budget cycle for the school district.

"Getting voters to vote on any tax increase, no matter how prudent, will be difficult in this economic and political climate," he said.

Superintendent of Schools Dick Fitzpatrick said, "If we don't come close to the cap this year, it will limit our resources the following year when we open the new school. These times are very concerning and we want to make certain that we think all of this through and be responsible to the community."

The school district's first preparation for

the 2009-10 school budget has been to develop a budget calendar, as required under NJQSAC (New Jersey Quality SingleAccountability Continuum), which are rules the state's commissioner of education adopted in 2007 to implement a monitoring and evaluation

system for public school districts and county vocational school districts. NJQSAC requires districts to record their budget process.

The school district's Business Administrator Diana Schiraldi said the 2009-10 budget process began in summer 2008 when the Board of Education and the administration set their goals. She said the process continued in October when the school district started distributing budgeting materials to its administrators, who were asked to formulate their budget requests based on the goals set earlier in the summer.

The administrators took November to develop their requests, which were due Dec. 5, 2008. On Dec. 8 and 15, Schiraldi, Fitzpatrick and former Business Administrator Viola Yosifon met with the administrators in each school building and members of their staff to review the budget requests, which include new staff members and/or classroom items for the existing schools and the new middle school.

The Board of Education will have the month of January to provide its input regarding the budget requests and Schiraldi and Fitzpatrick will again meet with the administrators to put together the base budgets for each department in each school this month. Once this process is finished, the school district will evaluate how close the totaled base budgets come to the revenue cap and where cuts or additions need to be made, according to Schiraldi.

"Our goal is to get as close to the cap as possible," Schiraldi said.

Schiraldi said the school district does not know how much state aid it will get for the 2009-10 budget. She said the district had been told last year that it would get a 2 percent increase in state aid this year. The district received $5.3 million in state aid last year. However, the Millstone representative on the board, Laura Dreifus, said her town has heard that state aid would remain flat this year.

Fitzpatrick said the district might not know how much state aid it would get for the 2009-10 budget until February or March.

Schiraldi said that the budget also has to be made within a 4 percent cap on the tax levy.T

he board will present the proposed budget to the public in February and has scheduled two extra meetings next month for public budget discussion.

The board expects to present the first draft of the proposed budget at its Feb. 4 meeting. The board has scheduled a special budget meeting on Feb. 11 and will again talk about the budget at its regular Feb. 18 meeting. The second special budget meeting would take place Feb. 25.

The school district must present its proposed budget to the county superintendent of schools March 12.

Fitzpatrick said that the county superintendent of schools has expressed concern about all communities passing their school budgets this year. He said getting as many people as possible to participate in the budget process is important.

"We need to encourage public debate and participation before the final adoption of the budget," he said.

Dreifus said it might be prudent for the district to encourage budget process participation during its upcoming strategic planning meetings. She also encouraged the board to advertise the budget meetings in the "Roots and Wings" feature it has in the local newspaper.

Board member William Borkowski encouraged the board to again hold meetings in Allentown to explain the difference in the school tax levies paid by borough and Upper Freehold residents. Fitzpatrick noted that the discrepancy in the levies is based on property values in the two towns.

Board member Elizabeth Trent said the school district Web site should keep the community abreast of budget developments and meetings. She noted that there has been momentum in the community's support for the school district in the past few years, with the budgets and the referendums passing muster with voters.

"It would be a shame if it didn't keep moving," she said.

Stampe noted that the school district put together multiple budget presentations last year, including coffee talks, but the spending plan only passed by 11 votes in the election.

"We have to get people informed and we have to be mindful that this will not be an easy sell, even with people seeing steel coming out of the ground [at the new middle school site]," Stampe said. "The economy is tough and people will be saying that at their jobs they have to do with less so the school district should have to do with less."

Stampe said the tough economic times create unfortunate circumstances for this year's school budget because some of the funds allocated in the 2009-10 spending plan will go toward staffing and equipping the new school.

Board member Patty Hogan said, "We will open the new school in one-and-a-half years but we need money to do that. We could put all of the money in the world into a building, but it doesn't matter if we can't staff it."

Fitzpatrick said that he believes if the school district works hard to determine what the costs of staffing and equipping the new school will be and phases them in over the next two years in an efficient and cost effective manner, the community would support them.

"I believe if you work hard and demonstrate that you are trying to do what is best for the kids people will understand that and do their best to support you," he said.

The board noted that it can only advocate for community members to get out and vote in the April Board of Education election and that it cannot advocate for voters to approve the proposed budget. Board members also said that anyone in the community interested in advocating for the budget could do so individually or by forming a group of concerned citizens to do so.