County Schools’ Budgets OK’d

CREST HAVEN – Budgets to operate the county’s Special Services School and Technical School districts were approved March 28 by respective boards of school estimate hearings at the 3 p.m. freeholder caucus. 
Technical District Superintendent Nancy Hudanich made the presentation on behalf of the district. The district’s $16.08-million budget will get $7.9 million from county taxes for the 2017-18 school year.
Special Services Superintendent Barbara Makoski presented her district’s $12.3-million budget which received $4.05 from the county.
Special Services
The district’s students are served in Ocean Academy and Cape May County High School. All have been classified with a defined disability.
When established the district taught pupils with even mild disabilities, said Makoski.
“In more recent years with the focus on including students with disabilities in the regular education classrooms, our population has decreased, but it has also shifted to a high concentration of the more severely disabled students who need an educational environment very specific to their unique needs,” she continued.
There are more students with autism and students with disabling behaviors that inhibit their ability to be taught in a regular classroom.
The district has 10 autism classes, one full day preschool, six elementary classes in Ocean Academy and three high school classes.
Some of those students, at times, display “very aggressive behaviors,” Makoski said. Elementary autism classes are limited to six students per classroom.
Some students who finished their academic requirements to graduate may not be ready to transition into the working world, she said. Makoski cited partnerships with commercial entities that allow the students to work with adult support.
Enrollment in the district has stabilized over the last two years, yet it is not possible to project future needs, since families may move into the county and require student placement.
Technical District
Hudanich cited the $290,592 increase in the budget. That was necessitated by an additional special education position and reduction in tuition adjustment for the 2015-16 school year.
Seventeen additional full-time students are anticipated that will bring total enrollment to 611 full-time and 102 career technical students.
State funds, which remained flat at $1.5 million, make up about 9 percent of the revenue. The county tax will support 51 percent of the expense. Anticipated tuition of $5.7 million represents 37 percent of the general fund. Miscellaneous revenue makes up 3 percent.
Hudanich reminded the board that, while many think first of the high school, “there are other schools or divisions,” said Hudanich. They include the Post-Secondary dental, cosmetology and dental assisting programs, practical nursing program, adult high school, continuing education English as a Second Language and adult basic education.
She stressed that instructors have a passion to ensure career instruction is up to par and to industry standards.