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Kenilworth superintendent outlines budget pressures and proposal for April school ballot questions
Summary
Kenilworth Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Davies told the council the district faces rising health-benefit and special-education costs; state aid rose by $19,310 while benefit costs rose about 22%, producing a projected 3.36% tax-levy increase. The district will hold a budget hearing April 29 and is considering moving school elections back to April to put levy-exceeding questions to voters.
Jeremy Davies, superintendent of Kenilworth Public Schools, told the borough council on April 15 that the district faces mounting fiscal pressure from rising health-benefit costs, utilities and special-education mandates even as state aid provided only a modest increase.
Davies said state aid for the district rose by $19,310 this year, but projected health benefits costs are up roughly 22 percent; the district faces a projected tax-levy increase of 3.36 percent, which he said translates to about $206.77 for the average assessed home (about $17 per month). To avoid deeper program cuts, Davies said the Board of Education is considering moving the annual school-board election back to April so voters can answer a focused ballot question allowing the district to exceed the 2 percent tax-levy cap when necessary.
"If the school district needs to go above the tax levy cap...the voters will now have an opportunity to make their voices heard," Davies said, describing the April ballot as a way for residents to decide whether to approve specific levy increases that would preserve staff and programming.
Davies invited residents to the Board of Education's annual budget hearing on April 29 at 7:00 p.m. at David Brearley, where the district will present slides and handouts with more detail. He said the district has reduced staff in recent years and is drawing on reserves to hold the levy down; the Board's proposal for an April ballot question would ask voters to choose whether to accept targeted increases rather than accept additional cuts.
What happens next: The Board of Education will hold the public budget hearing April 29; if the board votes to move the election/budget question to April, the ballot question would first apply in April 2027 and would require notice to voters.
Speakers and quotes are taken from the meeting transcript.
