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Hillsborough board approves tentative 2025–26 budget, warns of program cuts and 24-staff reduction
Summary
The Hillsborough Township Board of Education on March 17 approved a tentative 2025–26 budget that relies on reserve withdrawals and could eliminate about 24 positions after a reported decline in state aid; the budget includes a health-benefit cost spike and capital withdrawals for prioritized projects.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. — The Hillsborough Township Public School District presented and approved a tentative 2025–26 budget at its March 17 board meeting that district leaders said was forced by multi-year state-aid reductions and rising benefit costs.
Superintendent Mr Eard told the board the budget team had worked through a months-long process that included public input, committee review and meetings with budget managers. The tentative plan uses one-time reserve withdrawals — a $500,000 withdrawal from the maintenance reserve and a $1 million withdrawal from the capital reserve — and increases the local tax levy under the existing 2% cap framework, the presentation said.
Why it matters: district officials said recurring state-aid declines have left the district with limited local options because of the tax levy cap. The district reported notable increases in health-benefit costs and said salary and benefits remain the largest drivers of the budget.
Key numbers and actions: the presentation described the general fund rising by “just over $1.4 million” compared with 2024–25 and reported a tax-levy increase described to the board as approximately 3.96% (including a health-benefit waiver). The superintendent told the board that health-benefit renewal is estimated at about a 12% increase — characterized in the presentation as roughly a $2.7 million higher cost versus 2024–25 — and dental costs rising near 10%. The tentative budget also anticipates an increased e-rate Category 2 reimbursement for a wireless upgrade (about a 40% reimbursement) and includes listed capital projects to be funded from the capital reserve.
Personnel and program impacts: district leadership said the plan will reduce roughly 24 positions across certified, support, HAA/unaffiliated and administrative staff; about half of those reductions are expected to come from attrition and retirements while the district said "around a dozen" positions will be specified and processed with due process and appropriate notifications. Planned program changes discussed included reinstating pay-to-play fees for activities, postponing the full-day kindergarten expansion and suspending middle-school sports in the near term. The administration emphasized an attempt to share reductions across employee groups rather than concentrate them in one classification.
State-aid context: presenters said Hillsborough has lost baseline state aid since 2019–20 (the presentation cited a $7.5 million cumulative reduction to the district baseline) and described an additional $535,000 cut for the current year. Board and administration speakers criticized the state-aid formula and the local fair-share calculation, saying the formula’s local capacity measure has produced a large funding gap for the district.
Local tax-rate correction: the finance presentation reported Hillsborough’s reported 2025 school tax rate and explained that a registration-data coding error had previously assigned many Millstone Township students to Hillsborough, affecting the local shares of the tax levy. District officials said they are facilitating discussions with Millstone and Hillsborough municipal officials to phase in any tax impact over several years to reduce disruption for Millstone taxpayers.
Board action and next steps: after the presentation the board approved the tentative 2025–26 budget and related operations motions by roll-call vote; the business office will submit the tentative budget to the executive county superintendent by the March 19 deadline. The district will advertise the budget in local papers and hold a public hearing on April 28 where final adoption is expected. District officials said they will continue advocacy with state legislators over the aid formula.
What wasn’t specified: the presentation listed the total of some line items but several specific personnel and position-level details (exact titles and departments for the ~12 positions expected to be eliminated) were not yet specified and were described as pending review and required notifications. The board said those specifics will be completed in the weeks ahead and detailed at the April 28 public hearing if changes remain.
A spokesperson for the board said the district will provide further public documentation (the user-friendly budget) online within 48 hours of final adoption.
