Board votes to submit tentative 2025–26 budget; members seek clarity on staffing and borough aid

The Collingswood Public School District Board of Education voted to authorize submission of its tentative 2025–26 school budget to the county executive superintendent and the New Jersey Department of Education and set a public hearing for April 28 at 6:30 p.m.

Board members pressed administrators for clearer line-item detail and staffing impacts during discussion before the roll-call vote. The board motion, presented as agenda item 6.02, included a general fund figure read on the record of $42,816,458, a debt service amount of $1,286,163 and planned reserve withdrawals including $376,620 from capital reserve for masonry repairs at the Kyneswood High School gym entrance and $150,000 from the maintenance reserve. The resolution also recorded a health-care adjustment of $724,469 and set the maximum annual travel expenditure at $25,000 per NJAC 6A:23A-7.3. A public hearing on the tentative budget will be held Monday, April 28, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. at Konigsberg High School.

Why it matters: Submitting a tentative budget starts a county-level review required before final adoption. Board members said the item restores prior proposed cuts but that programmatic and staffing changes could still occur depending on final reconciliation and any borough contributions.

Administrators said the district and borough finance teams will meet to determine whether the borough’s previously discussed $3 million request is fully required or can be reduced from amounts already pledged. “The next step… our chief financial officer and our financial team, will sit down and review the full details of the budget with the borough chief financial officer and their financial team,” one administrator said, adding the joint review will determine whether “the full $3,000,000 is needed or is it less.”

Board members sought clarity on which budget lines reflect permanent staffing reductions versus accounting changes such as retirements or breakage. A board member asked for reassurance that the borough partnership was intended to avoid layoffs; an administrator replied the partnership’s goal was to close the district’s deficit and “to avoid unnecessary layoffs,” but explicitly warned that programmatic changes could still be made based on student needs and long-term planning.

Administration emphasized the pace of recent work to restore cuts. “We had to reverse 3 and a half million dollars worth of cuts,” a district staff member said, describing the effort to rebuild the budget in a short time.

Public comment reflected staff concern. Mike Palucci, who identified himself as vice president and representative of the Collingswood Education Association, urged the board to minimize staff reductions: “I would just please continue to urge you to not make staff cuts as much as possible… these are the people that teach our kids and are the biggest investment that we make.”

The motion to submit the tentative budget passed on roll-call with unanimous approval. After the county and state review, administrators said they will present any changes and committee notes to board members ahead of final adoption at a future meeting.

Next steps: county review of the submitted tentative budget, committee-level deep dives (finance, curriculum and personnel) with more detailed materials for board members, and the public hearing scheduled for April 28, 2025.