Gloucester Public Schools superintendent Ben Kiser recommended a $58.4 million fiscal year 2012 budget to the Gloucester County School Board during its meeting Tuesday.

The budget overall is up 1.8 percent over the current division budget of $57.3 million, due primarily to a $1 million request for county funds for capital improvement projects. The division did not receive any CIP funds for the current fiscal year.

Kiser’s budget includes a $52.3 million operating fund, up just 0.3 percent over the current operating budget, and would require $525,408 more than the current local contribution of $20.7 million. Kiser expects a slight increase of $192,663 or 0.7 percent in state funding for a contribution of $21.2 million toward operations and a 0.9 percent decrease in federal funding to put it at $3 million. Division finance director Joanne Wright said some adjustments to the plan are expected after the General Assembly finalizes its 2012 fiscal plan.

Kiser said the budget maintains the 160-day school calendar that the division moved to last year due to budget constraints. Under his proposal, the division will continue to pay 100 percent of employee retirement contributions, but he said any health insurance increases will be passed to employees. Compensation will remain the same for the fourth consecutive budget cycle.

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