JACKSON - An auditor is in the process of reviewing the budget that the Jackson Board of Education has proposed for the 2008-09 school year.

Voters in the April 15 school election rejected a $64 million general fund local tax levy that was requested to support the Jackson School District's $136.5 million budget for the 2008-09 school year.

The tax levy was rejected by a vote of 3,319 no votes to 2,741 yes votes.

The voters' rejection of the tax levy in the school election means that the proposed budget for 2008-09 is now being reviewed by the Township Council.

The council may recommend cuts to the budget, which the school board may accept or appeal to the state commissioner of education. The council also has the option to leave the budget as it was proposed by the school board. A decision by the council is due by May 19.

The defeat marked the eighth straight year that Jackson voters have rejected the school tax levy and forced a review of the budget by the council. The council has typically come back to the school board with a recommendation to reduce the tax levy that is needed to support the overall spending plan.

On May 1, Councilman Scott Martin told the Tri-Town News that Eugene Farrell, of the firm Hutchins, Farrell, Meyer andAllison, "is in the process of reviewing the school board budget and then he will make recommendations to the council: (whether) there are any cuts that can still be made and if so in what department."

Martin said the council will eventually meet with a subcommittee of the board to put forth its recommendations. He said that based on the new school funding formula, there are caps that determine how much the tax levy can be cut. That figure, $1.3 million, represents the maximum cut allowed by law, he said.

As proposed, the budget would have raised the local school tax rate by 5.34 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2008-09. To the owner of a home assessed at $150,000, the increase would have added about $80 to the school tax bill in the coming year. To the owner of a home assessed at $300,000, the increase would have added about $160 to the school tax bill in the coming year.

Martin said that if the maximum allowable cut to the tax levy is applied, the increase in the tax rate will be about half of what the board proposed (i.e., approximately a 2.6-cent increase).

District administrators said the defeated tax levy and the $136.5 million budget it would have supported aimed to protect class size, maintain programs, add a grade-12 curriculum to Jackson Liberty High School, add 35 new courses, make curriculum updates, return the starting time to 9:05 a.m. at all of Jackson's elementary schools, and add a 5:05 p.m. late bus at both high schools.