Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Staff member outlines preliminary budget; 3.4% tax levy proposed to cover health-care costs and address funding shortfalls
Summary
A staff member presented a balanced but lean preliminary budget that uses a 3.4% tax-levy increase (an automatic 1.4% healthcare adjustment) to cover rising benefit costs, noted a $159,596 revenue reduction and that Oakland is $625,686 below its local fair share, and said pending state legislation could change the district's access to additional funds.
A staff member told the Oakland Board of Education that tonight's vote would send a preliminary 2025–26 budget to the county office for review and that the draft includes a 3.4% tax-levy increase, driven by an automatic health-care adjustment above the usual 2% cap. "It's about a $106 on the average assessment," the staff member said, describing the likely homeowner impact.
The presenter said overall revenue in the draft is down $159,596, in part because the district carried a lower fund balance and because Collingswood refunded Oakland roughly $162,000 in tuition; without that refund the revenue loss could have been closer to $300,000. The staff member also reported that the district lost about $41,000 in state aid and is $625,686 below its local fair share calculation, a gap the state's funding formula treats as locally collectible.
Board members pressed for detail about the 1.4% health-care adjustment. The staff member explained the state budget software automatically calculates health-care cost differences and for Oakland the system produced roughly $88,000 tied to increased prescription and benefit costs. "So once I entered everything into the state budget software, it automatically kicked out, like, 88,000 for Oakland for health care in automatic," the staff member said.
The presenter described a pending state proposal that some board members had heard about: legislation that could loosen the 2% cap or otherwise allow districts that are "upside down" on local fair share calculations more ability to access additional levy capacity or short-term relief. "If that happens in the next week or two, we can opt to revise Oakland's budget and restore the 100,000 plus supply line items that I took out of Mrs. Bolden's budget," the staff member said, adding that the board could then hold a special meeting to re-open the document before the April public hearing.
The staff member also noted one program increase in the draft: an added preschool classroom that will expand capacity by about 15 children and add one teacher. The board was reminded that the district must file the preliminary budget with the county by March 19 and that changes are permitted up to the public hearing.
What happens next: the board voted to transmit the preliminary budget to the county office for review; any changes prompted by state action or by further local decisions would be considered prior to the April public hearing.
