School taxes in North Arlington are poised to rise 4.6 percent for the average taxpayer, or $190.80 a year for a taxpayer owning a property valued at $180,000. The board of education adopted a budget at its March 24 meeting. Voters will have the chance to vote on the budget on April 15.

A taxpayer owning a $180,000 piece of property will pay $4,368.24 in school taxes for the 2008-2009 school year. Last year, the same taxpayer paid $4,177.44, a 3.5-percent or $141.08 jump from the previous year.

The total budget for this year is $22,598,177, a $273,976 increase from last year’s $22,324,201 revised budget. The tax levy, the amount needed to be raised through taxes, increased $1,215,658 to $19,413,368 this year from $18,197,710 last year.

The tax levy increased 6.6 percent, which is outside of the state-mandated four-percent cap. However, the school board requested waivers for increases in fixed costs such as energy, special education and the school district’s state pension plan.

The state granted the waivers for special education and pension plan, but were not granted the full waiver requested for energy increases. The state allowed the school district to increase its budget by an additional $440,913 over the four-percent cap for special education, $37,366 for pensions and $9,471 for energy.

The district requested a $42,000 waiver for energy and the state did not grant it in full, so the district needed to cut an additional $33,000 from elsewhere in the budget.

This year’s tax increase can be traced to a $527,369 increase in the cost of out-of-district special education. North Arlington schools do not have the facilities to educate the number of special needs students living in town, according to Superintendent Oliver Stringham. Currently, the district has one class of autistic students in Washington School. "We would like to bring back more students, but there is a space problem," said Stringham.

Teaching special education students in the school district saves the borough money, but without adequate space and resources to teach them, the district must send them out of district. "Every child is entitled to the best education we can provide," said School Board President George McDermott.

Typically, special education students are sent to classes run by the South Bergen Jointure Commission, a group made up of 13 towns that teaches special needs children in the area.

North Arlington has an unusually high number of special needs students, according to McDermott. McDermott believes the district’s reputation for taking care of special needs students might attract parents of special needs children to move to town.

In addition to teaching special needs children out of district, the school board must provide transportation for students who attend class outside of North Arlington. The costs of transporting these students increased $51,657.

Another major cost driver is employee health benefits, which could increase $353,264. Health benefits are determined by the teacher’s contract and are set in stone until it comes time to negotiate a new contract. The teacher’s contracts expire on June 30, 2009.

Last year, residents voted down the budget, causing the school board to reexamine the budget with the borough council and make further cuts. Mayor Peter Massa spoke out against last year’s budget, calling on the school district to be fiscally responsible in the wake of a 33-percent municipal tax increase.

As of 2007, North Arlington continues to spend the lowest amount on education per student of any town in the area, including Lyndhurst, Rutherford, East Rutherford, Carlstadt, Kearny and Harrison. North Arlington spends $10,699 per pupil, according to the New Jersey Department of Education.