On March 14, 2023, the School Business Administrator, Ms. Joyce Goode, presented the 2023-2024 preliminary budget to the Board of Education at its public meeting. The PowerPoint presentation can be accessed here. The total general fund represented in this preliminary budget was $74,875,799. The tax levy presented was $59,940,002, which represents an 8.47% increase over the 2022-2023 budget. The total comparative per pupil cost was $18,798, as calculated by the New Jersey Department of Education’s budgetary software.
A preliminary budget is a working draft that includes all items submitted by our schools and departments across the district. The preliminary budget is not a final budget, nor is it an approved budget by the New Jersey Department of Education’s Hudson County Office.
After the March 14, 2023 presentation, the Business Administrator continued to work with schools and department directors, as noted at the public meeting. The preliminary budget was submitted to the Hudson County Superintendent of Schools Office on March 20, 2023. During that six day window and even after the submission, the Business Administrator continued her work. This work resulted in updates to the preliminary budget. These updates reflect a revised preliminary tax levy of $58,748,317, which represents a 6.31% increase over the 2022-2023 budget.
On April 17, 2023, Ms. Goode made some additional changes to the draft budget. These most recent updates reflect a newly revised preliminary tax levy of $58,716.311, which represents a 6.25% increase over the 2022-2023 budget.
The total comparative per pupil cost is now $18,356, as calculated by the New Jersey Department of Education’s budgetary software. To put this into perspective, the total comparative per pupil cost for the 2016-2017 school year was $26,150.
Prior to approval by the New Jersey Department of Education’s Hudson County Office, a district’s budget is still deemed a working draft and is not a public document. Once approved, a district is then required to advertise the 2023-2024 budget for a public hearing and make the budget documents available to the public.
The Hoboken Public School District’s preliminary budget was approved by the NJ DOE’s on April 20, 2023. The budget was then advertised to the public and the public hearing is slated for May 2, 2023.
At the public hearing, Ms. Goode will present the county approved 2023-2024 budget. The district then has until its May 9, 2023 Board of Education Meeting to finalize budget and tax levy. The Board of Education will vote at that meeting to adopt the budget. Changes cannot be made to the budget or tax levy after it is adopted by the Board of Education.