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Voorhees board submits $64.32 million tentative budget to county; approves routine consent items
Summary
The Voorhees Township Board of Education voted to submit its 2025–26 tentative budget of $64,323,791 to the county for review and approved a slate of routine consent items including policy and finance package votes.
The Voorhees Township Board of Education voted to submit its tentative fiscal year 2025–26 budget of $64,323,791 to the county for review and approved a series of routine agenda items, the board announced at its public meeting.
The budget presentation, provided by the board secretary, showed a local tax levy of $53,494,899 that includes the 2% cap increase of $1,048,920. The board’s presenter said the tax levy increase equates to a 1.93% increase to taxpayers because of higher ratables; the district calculated the impact on an average home assessed at $263,518 as $82.52 per year, or $6.87 per month.
Board members and committee chairs told the board the tentative budget maintains “all current education programs” and reflects a nearly flat overall spend after excluding construction projects; the presenter said the year-to-year decrease is 0.99% once construction items are removed. State aid for 2025–26 was reported as $5,249,255, a decrease of $253,064 from the prior year.
Board finance documents show planned withdrawals from reserve accounts to cover capital and maintenance needs: $680,472 from capital reserve for additional security cameras and door-hardware replacement; $456,363 from the maintenance reserve for required maintenance; and a small emergency-reserve withdrawal of $4,049 that may be applied to health-care premiums above a 4% threshold. The presenter said remaining balances would be approximately $2,000,000 in capital reserve and $500,000 in maintenance reserve after those withdrawals.
Other budget highlights discussed by board members included a 12.1% increase in health and prescription insurance premiums, measures to control transportation costs tied to a state-designated CPI of 3.57% for vendor adjustments, consolidation of kindergarten bus routes into K–5 routes to save money, and a restructure of registered behavior technician (RBT) services that would include stipends to instructional aides and competitive bidding for contracted RBT work. The budget also includes lease-purchase financing for desktop and laptop computers, HVAC equipment, and textbook adoptions over useful lives of three or five years.
Committee reports and the board’s finance discussion noted there have been no bond issues in the past 15 years and that recent construction projects have been funded from capital reserves and grants. The finance committee also confirmed a progress payment for the early childhood development center; committee materials indicated the center is expected to start with 95 pre-kindergarten students.
In the meeting’s business session the board approved a slate of consent motions covering policy, curriculum, personnel, transportation, buildings and grounds, and finance items. Online voting results were announced as unanimously passing for the policy, curriculum, personnel, transportation, buildings and grounds, and finance packages. Separately, the board approved the minutes of its Feb. 26, 2025 regular meeting with seven yes votes and one abstention (Mrs. Watson).
