Central office staff and attorneys from both districts met earlier this month to discuss the latest offer. Richard Salkin, attorney for the Hackensack Board of Education, said this week that officials are closer to reaching a deal.

"We've had discussions, and I think we have an agreement," he said.

Rochelle Park Schools Superintendent Fredrik Oberkehr said it's too soon to say that an agreement has been reached. He said officials discussed a number of proposals, and that Rochelle Park trustees are still exploring the offers.

"Proposals have been talked about and the Rochelle Park Board of Education is considering those proposals, and no action has been taken," he said.

The next Board of Education meeting in Rochelle Park is scheduled for July 11, and Oberkehr said contracts will be discussed.

Rochelle Park sends about 120 students to Hackensack High School, and that number is expected to increase next year, Oberkehr said.

A five-year proposal, being reviewed by Rochelle Park, calls for the district to pay $13,125 per student and any retroactive adjustment payments would be paid in installments during a seven-year period, Salkin said. He said the number of years that the district will have to pay retroactive adjustments has been one of the issues discussed.

Oberkehr said the district currently pays $11,684 per student, the 2009-10 rate. The district also has been billed $177,750 in tuition adjustments for the 2007-08 school year. He said the district has not received bills for tuition adjustments since then, but said those costs were expected to be close to $250,000 for the 2008-09 school year, and near $300,000 for the 2009-10 and for the 2010-11 school years.

"To pay those kind of arrears it would be impossible under the 2 percent cap," he said, referring to 2 percent limits on tax levies set by the state.

Hackensack, which also serves high school students from South Hackensack and Maywood, reached tuition agreements with South Hackensack earlier this year. Salkin said South Hackensack agreed to pay back tuition adjustments it owed in five years, but said that would be changed to seven if Rochelle Park agrees.

Maywood and Hackensack have not reached an agreement. Last year, the tuition increases prompted Maywood school officials to hire a company to conduct a study on whether it would be financially and educationally beneficial for the borough to send its public high school students to Paramus instead of Hackensack.

That study is pending, according to Maywood schools Superintendent Michael Jordan.

E-mail: alvarado@northjersey.com