Haddon Township School District board adopts 2025–26 budget, raises local levy about 15%

Haddon Township School District Board of Education members voted to approve the district’s final 2025–26 budget during a public hearing on April 25, 2025, adopting a plan that raises the local tax levy roughly 15% to $30,489,288 and would cost an average homeowner about $58.56 per month (approximately $702.97 per year), according to the superintendent’s presentation.

The budget matter was presented by Dr. Daskaris, the district spokesperson, who told the board the district is planning the coming year “with a deficit” while also managing work from a $30,000,000 bond referendum and ongoing construction. Dr. Daskaris said the district had been informed the same day that final participation in the state’s tax levy incentive program remained pending and asked the board to approve the budget “pending the acceptance of our application opting into the tax levy incentive.”

The nut graf: board approval follows years of fluctuating state aid and local decisions to maintain programs amid reduced resources. The superintendent said the district lost $637,000 in state aid this year (after a partial 40% restoration last year) and that the two-year reduction total exceeds $1 million, placing pressure on fund balance and staffing.

Board members adopted the budget after a roll-call vote on agenda item 5.1. The board also previously moved to open the public hearing on the budget earlier in the meeting. The motion to approve the final 2025–26 budget passed; one member was recorded absent during roll call.

Support and cuts: Dr. Daskaris emphasized both notable academic gains and necessary reductions. He highlighted higher AP participation and scores, strong SAT averages, national merit recognition, a 41% drop in middle-school disciplinary incidents year over year, and district successes in music and performing arts. He said the district would preserve full-day kindergarten and maintain school nursing services that had been retained after ESSER funding reductions.

At the same time, the superintendent outlined planned staff reductions tied to the budget, including elimination of one administrator, a business education high school teacher, a student assistance counselor, a physics teacher, a math position, and an elementary teacher. On support staff, the district plans to reduce one secretary, a bus mechanic, and a buildings-and-grounds position. The presentation framed some cuts as the result of enrollment or staffing changes (for example, the physics position was described as an enrollment-driven reduction) and one math teacher’s departure as a move out of state.

Program investments and contingency items: the district plans to pursue a one-time tax levy incentive payment (described in the presentation as about $189,000) and expects roughly $1.2 million in federal funds (title funds, extraordinary aid, IDEA) but called those federal amounts uncertain. The superintendent described partnerships and programs the district intends to use or expand with limited/new funding: a statewide tutoring organization (New Jersey Tutoring Corps), an artificial-intelligence–enabled program referred to as Magma Math, and continued Claypool mental-health services after school. He noted the district had obtained a philanthropic donor willing to match district tutoring dollars over three years.

Other items noted in the presentation included vendor reductions (vendors asked to reduce services by 10% complied), a tripling of internet bandwidth, a new website and scheduling platform, a new facility camera system and security protocols developed with the Haddon Township Police Department, and extracurricular expansions (robotics, esports). The superintendent also said the district is considering elementary-level school reconfiguration for 2026–27 and intends further community engagement around that possibility.

The superintendent and other speakers framed the budget decision as partly driven by state-level formulas. Dr. Daskaris said aggregate local income increases reported to the state reduced the district’s state aid and that the district did not have declining enrollment — distinguishing Haddon Township from districts that fall off a “fiscal cliff” because of enrollment loss.

Board action and next steps: the board approved the final budget by roll call on agenda item 5.1. Dr. Daskaris said the district would continue planning for potential state changes to aid and encouraged continued community engagement. The board also opened and closed the required public hearing on the budget earlier in the meeting; no members of the public spoke during the hearing.

The district will proceed under the approved budget while awaiting final confirmation of tax levy incentive participation and federal fund amounts; administrators signaled continued monitoring of state actions and potential use of one-time funds for targeted supports rather than ongoing staff costs.