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Board finance committee warns of 2026–27 budget pressures; health insurance costs and other items flagged
Summary
The finance committee told the board the 2026–27 budget will be challenging, driven largely by health-care-cost increases related to the No Surprises Act, and reported recommendations including selling a surplus bus and reviewing election and records retention costs.
The Moorestown Township Board of Education's finance and operations committee told the full board it expects the 2026–27 budget process to be challenging and flagged higher health-care costs, changes tied to the No Surprises Act, and other revenue and expense items the district will address as it prepares next year's budget.
At a committee meeting Sept. 8, committee members reviewed health plan manager guidance that the No Surprises Act and associated arbitration processes are reducing an available pool used to settle provider-insurer disputes, contributing to upward pressure on plan expenses. Committee members said the business office will include a placeholder in preliminary budget documents and continue working with the district's health-plan manager to refine projections.
"This budget is going to be challenging," a finance committee member said during the meeting, citing health-care costs as a principal driver.
Other finance items discussed: the committee recommended putting a surplus school bus up for sale; it reviewed preliminary cost estimates for the recent special election (estimated at just under $24,000 in poll costs) and said it will examine whether some election expenses can be charged to referendum bond proceeds; and it reported a records-retention project that reduced off-site storage from about 600 boxes to 60 boxes required for legal retention, a change the committee said will save recurring storage costs over time.
The committee also noted planned improvements to the high school lunch program under vendor NutriServe, with a new chef and menu changes the committee hopes to publicize to the community. Committee members reviewed updated state bid-and-quote thresholds and recommended board approval of those thresholds at the upcoming agenda vote.
What happens next: The finance committee said the district calendar for the budget process will be published in October and that administrators will refine estimates for medical-cost increases in the spring when final rates are available. The committee recommended board consideration of the bus sale and bid-threshold updates at the board meeting agenda.
