BOARD OF SCHOOL ESTIMATE MEETS TONIGHT

The Board of School Estimate, which is formed with members of the Maplewood Township Committee, the Board of Education and the South Orange Village Trustees, meets tonight to approve -- or disapprove -- the annual school district budget.


No, you do not get to vote on the budget, they do. But you do get to show up at the 7:30 p.m. meeting and tell them what you think.


PATCH details the inside dope:

As the South Orange-Maplewood School District looks to raise more than $100 million in taxes to support the 2012-2013 school budget approved by the Board of Education earlier this month, it is uncertain whether or not the Board of School Estimate will vote to approve the tax levy this evening.

The South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education approved a 2012-2013 school budget of $114.9 million on March 12. The Board of School Estimate will vote on the proposed $101,959,453 tax levy to support the budget at a public meeting on March 28.

Members of the BSE — which has the power to vote the levy up or down — indicated that the votes may not be there at a meeting on March 14 because, although the Board of Education approved a budget within the 2% cap mandated by state law, the district's debt service will increase more than 2%. The district considered its debt service outside of the budget cap, as per the law.