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Verona schools present preliminary 2025–26 budget showing $1.5M gap; board to consider one‑time tax‑levy waiver
Summary
District officials presented a preliminary 2025–26 budget with roughly a $1.5 million gap between projected expenditures and revenues; board members will decide whether to use a one‑time waiver to raise the tax levy to 3.53% (from 2%) before the tentative budget vote in April.
Mister Cruz, a district official, presented the Verona Public School District’s preliminary 2025–26 budget at the board’s Feb. 25 meeting, telling trustees the district currently faces an estimated $1.5 million shortfall between projected revenues and expenditures.
The presentation showed projected revenues (excluding state aid pending a release that week) of about $807,002.61 and total projected expenditures near $3,200,000, driven largely by salary, benefits and special education cost increases. “Seventy‑eight point six percent of our budget is salaries and benefits,” Cruz said, noting an increase in benefit costs that could qualify the district for a one‑time waiver to exceed the 2% tax‑levy cap.
Superintendent Diane DiGioppi highlighted cost pressures including rising benefit costs and special education spending and warned that kindergarten class sizes are approaching the state limit of 25 students, which would trigger additional staffing requirements. “If you go over 25, you have to put a paraprofessional in the classroom,” DiGioppi said.
The board discussed a possible waiver that would allow an additional 1.53 percentage points — bringing a maximum increase to 3.53% for 2025–26 — but Cruz said that even with the full waiver the district would still face roughly $1 million of the current shortfall. Cruz told the board the waiver would be a one‑time action for the 2025–26 year and must be decided before the April 29 final budget presentation.
Board members pressed for clearer public‑facing numbers, including estimated per‑household tax impacts, and asked for a comparison to prior years’ state aid. DiGioppi said state aid figures were due from the New Jersey Department of Education and the administration would provide updated slides and a tentative budget at the March 11 meeting.
What happens next: the board is scheduled to receive state aid numbers once released by the state and will present a tentative budget March 11; if trustees approve the tentative budget it will be submitted to the county superintendent and the board will hold the required public steps before the April 29 final vote.
