Superintendent James Reyna warns rising insurance and utility costs could force staff cuts, urges state action

James Reyna, superintendent of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District, told the board that the district is facing “accelerating” health‑insurance and utility costs that threaten current staffing levels and the delivery of services.

Reyna said the district and others statewide are seeing health‑insurance increases well above usual budget assumptions and that the effect is cumulative. “If we have two more years in a row of a 24% increase in health insurance benefits, we will be eliminating dozens of teachers in each building,” Reyna said, urging board members to press legislators for attention to the problem.

Why it matters: Reyna framed the issue as both a local and statewide budget problem. He said that although some districts received increases in state aid this year, the growth in insurance and utility costs is outpacing those increases, forcing many districts to cut staff despite higher aid levels. He urged the board to raise the issue with state lawmakers and to support conversations among school‑district organizations.

Board members and staff elaborated on the cost drivers. A staff member noted a mix of factors including a small number of very high‑cost medical cases and sharply rising prescription prices. “Prescription costs are just astronomical,” a staff speaker said, adding that pharmacy benefit‑manager practices and the consolidation of specialty pharmacies are pushing up district outlays for drugs.

The superintendent and business staff said brokers were unable to place stop‑gap (stop‑loss) coverage this year in some cases and that the district is evaluating whether partial self‑insurance or other plan redesigns are feasible longer‑term. Reyna and others also raised utilities—noting tens of thousands of square feet of district buildings and thousands of devices plugged in—as an additional line‑item pressure.

Discussion of regionalization: Reyna said regionalization or consolidation and shared services are recurring responses to rising costs, but he cautioned they are not a universal fix. He noted that any consolidated district typically adopts the highest of participating pay scales, which can raise costs in the short term, and that regionalization requires local votes by each participating district. “There are benefits to that, but not enough of a benefit to compensate if our expenses continue to accelerate at the rate they are accelerating,” he said.

What happens next: Reyna requested that board members and local stakeholders raise the issue with state legislators and with statewide school‑board and superintendent organizations. He said district staff will continue evaluating plan design choices, broker options and potential self‑insured approaches and will report back to the board.

The board took no formal budget action at the meeting; the conversation was presented as context for ongoing budget planning and advocacy.