Winslow Township board approves submission of tentative 2026–27 budget after presentation by business administrator
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Summary
The Winslow Township Board of Education voted March 25 to submit its tentative 2026–27 budget to the county/DOE after a presentation by Business Administrator Miss Boyle that described state-aid increases, health-care-driven levy adjustments and line-item changes.
Miss Boyle, the district business administrator, presented the Winslow Township School District’s tentative 2026–27 budget and asked the board to approve sending the advertised/tentative budget to the county superintendent for review.
“We're seeking approval to send it up to the DOE, who will then look at it and report back to us,” Miss Boyle said, describing the required submission process and the board’s opportunity to review the advertised budget once the county returns its comments.
Miss Boyle told the board the district had an increase in state aid of about $3,400,000 and that preschool aid—accounted for in a separate fund—rose by $675,933. She said the district’s overall increase in support was $4,083,008.59 and that federal Title I/other federal aid lines saw modest decreases.
On the local side, Miss Boyle said the district plans to rely on a 2% tax-levy increase (a historic baseline practice) plus additional adjustments tied to health-care costs ($4.2 million) and a Cap Bank draw of $1.1 million, composing an approximately $6.4 million change in levy-related support for next year.
Line-item shifts discussed included a $2.2 million increase for instruction, an approximately $1.3 million increase for transportation, and a roughly $4.4 million increase in benefits driven by higher health-care costs. Miss Boyle noted encumbrances and multi-year projects can create apparent inflation in current-year numbers and that some capital work has been pushed to future years.
Board members asked where salaries are recorded; Miss Boyle explained salaries are budgeted by function (instruction, transportation, administration, etc.). She also discussed the status of the long-planned high-school HVAC project, which she said remains a roughly $17 million project that the district has been working to advance.
After discussion and clarification that the evening’s vote would be the tentative vote to transmit the budget for county review, the board voted to approve the relevant business-administrator/board-secretary report and related addendum that included the updated tentative-budget numbers. Miss Boyle said the district would submit the materials to the county/DOE by the Friday deadline.
The motion to approve the adjusted report and send the tentative budget for review carried in roll call vote.
