Piscataway Township School District presents tentative 2026'27 budget, proposes 7.7% tax levy increase

The Piscataway Township School District presented its tentative 2026'27 budget at a board meeting, recommending a 7.7% tax-levy increase that would set the district's proposed levy at $118,276,096 and raise the average assessed homeowner's school tax by about $453 next year, officials said.

Business Administrator David Oliver told the board that roughly 75% of the district's general fund is supported by local taxpayers, 16% by state aid and the rest by other revenues, and that instability in the state funding formula has made multi-year planning difficult. "The formula is still unpredictable," Oliver said, noting that recent caps limited some losses to about 3% but that aid swings over a two-year period remain large.

Oliver and Superintendent Glover framed the proposed levy as a response to several pressures: a projected ~30% increase in employee health-benefit costs after the state health plan rose 31.9% Jan. 1; slower or declining enrollment (including a projected kindergarten class of about 435 versus a graduating class near 515); and a rise in students attending charter schools (projected 79), which shifts per-pupil funding out of the district.

To limit the immediate tax impact, the budget would draw one-time resources: $2,000,000 from the maintenance reserve (from the district's $6.5 million cap) and some fund-balance uses that Oliver said are not sustainable long term. Oliver cautioned that even with the levy increase the district would remain about $28 million below the state's calculated local fair share for Piscataway.

Superintendent Glover highlighted program priorities and operational changes tied to the budget. The district plans to expand Preschool Piscataway to about 800 students next year (state-funded seats for regular-education preschool), adding roughly 15 full-time preschool positions funded from federal/ fund-20 sources for preschool operations, Glover said. "If we have 800 seats, if we can get that up to 1,000 seats,' I feel much better about our long-term goals of growing our enrollment," he said.

At the same time, the administration proposed targeted reductions and efficiencies to balance recurring costs. Glover said positions would be collapsed or not refilled where vacancies occur and that the net staff reduction across the district would be 23 positions. "The net reduction of staff members would be 23 positions," he said, adding the intent is to avoid noticeable class-size impacts for students.

Program changes include eliminating the district's Jump Ahead summer program (to be replaced by community-education foundation offerings) and suspending two extracurricular sports (field hockey and gymnastics) because combined participation was low (about 20 students), Glover said. Transportation routes would be consolidated to save costs while avoiding excessively early pick-up times; the administration estimated about $1,000,000 in objective savings from staffing and operational adjustments.

Oliver emphasized capital and reserve positions: the district has completed roughly $44 million in projects funded through capital reserves over the past decade, no bonded debt, and a capital reserve of about $15 million restricted to facilities work. He noted Piscataway spends about $16,424 per pupil (about $1,800 below the Middlesex County average) and framed much of the budget work as balancing taxpayer burden with program needs.

Next steps: the board will submit the tentative budget to the county superintendent for approval to advertise; a public hearing and final budget vote are scheduled for April 30, with the user-friendly budget required to be posted the following day, officials said. Oliver said the board will continue fiscal-committee review and public transparency ahead of the vote.

The board president closed by thanking Oliver and Superintendent Glover for the fiscal planning work and the fiscal planning and operations committee for its scrutiny.