Neptune Township Board approves routine agenda items as residents press for audit, consolidation and budget cuts

The Neptune Township Board of Education approved the superintendent's report and multiple finance, transportation and personnel items at a public meeting that also featured an extended public-comment period dominated by concerns about the tentative budget, rising property-tax bills and low test scores.

During a presentation before the public-comment period, business administrator Mr. Carabello told the board that the district’s state aid notice included roughly $529,005 in additional aid, a roughly $25,000 reduction in preschool education aid, and an increase in mandated charter-school tuition obligations of about $1,248,696. He said those shifts, along with other factors, produced a net budgetary challenge that the tentative 2026–2027 budget addresses by proposing a 2% tax-levy increase and $1.9 million in reductions from the prior year. Carabello said the tentative…