Voters in favor of budget
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
4/25/2008

Goodwin, Klukoff and Roth win open Board of Education seats

The voters of Cherry Hill have spoken, and for the third year in a row, they have voted in favor of the Cherry Hill School District’s proposed budget.

Voters also elected three new candidates for three open positions on the Cherry Hill Board of Education. Candidates Eric Goodwin, Seth Klukoff and Elliott Roth defeated Stuart Chaifetz, Constantine Cheston and Nancy Muldowney for the open seats on the board of education.

Goodwin, Klukoff and Roth received 4,699, 4,198 and 4,599 votes respectively. Muldowney garnered the most votes out of the three losing candidates with 2,546.

Following a tumultuous few months leading up to the April 15 board of education elections, residents voted in favor of the 2008-09 $171 million school budget by a vote of 4,126 to 3,650.

The budget features a 9-cent tax increase, which equates to a $126 increase this year for an average home in the township valued at $140,000.

The budget featured a 6.8 percent overall increase in expenditures from the 2007-08 budget. Maintaining staff, programs and services from the 2007-08 budget – and also adjusting for rising employee salaries and benefits – accounted for the almost 7 percent increase.

“The budget protects those items that our community values,” Superintendent David Campbell said. “Things like our small elementary class sizes, our middle school support structure, our high school Advanced Placement and elective offerings, our athletics and extracurricular activities, and more.”

The budget allows the district to attend to systems and staffing needs in the district’s business and human resource offices, Campbell said, as well as continuing the district’s blueprint for students’ success.

Additionally, Campbell said parents will be pleased to see the addition of technology in the district that will allow for the rapid notification of parents in the event of an emergency, parent portal technology that will enhance communication between select schools and home regarding student performance, and software to improve the Individualized Education Program writing process.

“Our objective has been to keep our district strong by continuing the excellence for which Cherry Hill is well known and to move forward in certain key areas aligned with our district goals,” he said.

Campbell said the tax increase was minimized by the appropriation of fund balance and additional state aid the state declared for the district.

The state levied $17.1 million in aid, a 10 percent increase over the 2007-08 state aid levy.

State aid to the district is expected to decrease in the next few years, Campbell said, and the district should be prepared.

“As you know, the tax impact was minimized by the appropriation of fund balance and additional state aid for tax relief,” Campbell said. “I have recommended a very early start to the planning process for 2009-10, and I look forward to participating in that important discussion with the board and the community.”

Campbell praised residents of the township for voting in favor of the budget and supporting education in Cherry Hill.

The budget passed by a margin of 476 votes, with almost 8,000 residents casting votes.

“Thank you again for voting in the school election and for your support of our schools,” he said.

For more information on the 2008-09 budget, please visit the Cherry Hill School District Web site at cherryhill.k12.nj.us.