MORIARTY-EDGEWOOD School District lays out FY2526 budget priorities as state and federal funding shift

District staff presented the Moriarty-Edgewood School District’s initial FY2526 budget picture and a package of staffing and program recommendations during a May 6 work session, saying recent state legislation will increase formula funding but proposed federal changes and Title I reductions leave several grant lines uncertain.

The presentation, delivered to the board during a non-action work session, highlighted two state measures staff said will affect next year’s budget: House Bill 63, which staff described as revising the state equalization guarantee and raising some unit values including a standalone factor for recent English learners, and House Bill 156, which staff said raised minimum teacher salaries by $5,000. Combined with district calculations of unit-value changes, staff reported roughly a $3 million increase over last year’s allocation in the district’s 910 B-5 funding estimate.

Even with the higher state allocation, staff told the board the district faces funding pressure. Presenters said Title I allocations were down for SY26, and they expect to absorb about $450,000 in salaries and benefits formerly paid from Title I into the operational budget. Staff also said IDEA (federal special-education) grant allocations appear to be frozen or subject to consolidation proposals at the U.S. Department of Education, leaving the district unsure about final awards.

To address priorities tied to the district strategic plan, staff presented a set of recommended investments and their estimated costs. Among the items:

- An assistant principal at Moriarty Elementary (MEES), estimated at up to about $139,000 at the high-benefits option; a CTE/work-based learning coordinator, estimated around $113,426; and one additional security officer at Moriarty High School, salary-only estimates between $34,000 and $45,000, depending on experience and benefit choices.

- Increases to athletic coaching stipends (an estimated $53,715 including benefits) and raising lunch-duty stipends from $1,500 to $2,000 (an estimated $26,281 including benefits) to support recruitment and retention of extracurricular staff and volunteers.

- An option to increase district-paid health insurance contributions (expanding higher employer contribution tiers) with a current initial estimate of about $225,000 for current enrollees, plus the caveat that wider enrollment in benefits could raise that amount substantially.

- Continued funding for before- and after-school clubs (the budget committee recommended maintaining the current $500,000 allocation), and discussion of family and consumer science courses and a proposed CTE coordinator to support career pathways and employability skills.

Staff also discussed program and personnel models for student supports: the budget committee recommended student-success coaches at secondary sites (staff estimated roughly $495,000 for a coach at each school), while staff cautioned that moving to district-wide reading interventionists would be costly (an estimate cited of about $732,492 for K–12 coverage) and could require secondary schedule changes or cutting electives; the district has instead emphasized instructional coaching at the elementary level as a research-supported strategy.

Board members pressed staff for details on some items. On security, staff explained that when students are placed in in-school-suspension (ISS) one officer must stay with them, reducing capacity to patrol campus areas; adding an officer would allow broader supervision and programming in ISS. On office staff pay, staff provided a proposal to raise hourly rates for administrative assistants and clerical staff (estimated $192,000 with benefits for school office staff and an additional $46,640 for certain central office level-one positions) to close pay gaps observed when salaries are broken down to hourly rates.

Staff emphasized the list of recommendations is not a set of final commitments and asked for board direction on priorities before the board is asked to adopt a formal budget later this month. The board scheduled further action on the FY2526 budget at upcoming meetings.

Ending: Staff said they would refine the budget and return with a recommended FY2526 budget and priority list for board approval at a later meeting, noting remaining uncertainty on several federal grant lines and the need to balance district priorities with the board’s statutory cash-balance policy.