After years of losing staff they can’t afford to replace, Little Egg Harbor School District officials say they are considering a nearly 33% school tax increase for homeowners.
The school board in the Ocean County district — which has 1,700 students in grades pre-K to 6 — approved a tentative budget with the tax increase at a meeting earlier this month.
The final vote on the budget is scheduled for Tuesday.
The nearly 33% tax increase would mean a yearly school tax hike of $615 on an average house valued at $308,000.
The state says Little Egg Harbor’s contribution to its education budget should be $24 million for the upcoming school year, according to a recent district budget presentation. However, that’s $10 million more than the district can pay without a school tax increase.
“Little Harbor, along with many other school districts across the state, are ready to fall off this fiscal cliff,” Little Egg Harbor Superintendent Lisa Antunes said at the April 15 school board meeting.
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Under Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed state budget, Little Egg Harbor is expected to receive $7.7 million in state education funding for the upcoming school year. That is a 6% increase, or about $436,000 more than last year, according to state Department of Education data.
Robert Green, the district’s business administrator, said the Little Egg Harbor was notified March 28 that it is eligible for the state’s Tax Levy Incentive Aid program, which gives eligible school districts 5% extra funding if they raise taxes to get more money for schools.
Little Egg Harbor and 280 other school districts are eligible for the aid this year. Districts that apply for the program and are approved can impose larger-than-usual tax increases on homeowners this year.
To incentivize districts to apply for the extra aid, the state will pay the districts 5% of the amount they want to raise in taxes. For example, if an eligible school district wants to increase its tax levy by $3 million, the state will chip in $150,000.
Little Egg Harbor says it wants extra funding to pay staff salaries.
“This district is only going to be asking for staff relief, meaning money towards funding staffing and educational staffing,” Green said.
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The district was also told by the state to expect federal education funding cuts by the Trump administration, Green said.
“The state informed us that we should only be budgeting at 75% of what we currently receive,” Green said. “Washington, right now, is unpredictable.”
Little Egg Harbor School Board President Laura Erber voted against the tax hike proposal at the April 3 meeting.
“My duty is to serve students, parents, and the community as a whole,” Erber said. “And that means making a difficult decision, but I feel a responsibly financial decision.”
Since 2023, Little Egg Harbor has lost more than 60 staff members and it expects to lose five more this year. District officials said all 60 either retired, resigned or did not have their contracts renewed and their positions were not filled.
“I am concerned about class sizes, but more importantly, I cannot say that I can run this school safely if I lose any more staff,” Chrissy Cummings, the principal of George J. Mitchell Elementary School, said at the April 15 meeting.
”I implore you to approve the 32.6% tax increase to preserve our school district and to provide a safe, thorough, and efficient education to our students," Cummings said.
“I’m a senior citizen on a fixed income,” a grandmother of Little Egg Harbor students said at the school board meeting. “I understand finances are difficult, but we have to think about the future of our schools.”
The district’s budget presentation includes a slide with information about how seniors can apply for a state program to freeze their property taxes if they are income eligible.
Antunes, the district superintendent, said the district’s budget woes are a “10-, 15- or 20-year issue that’s come to its peak.”
“There’s no one person to blame here, and doing so or trying to do so does nothing to move us forward,” she said. “We have something to learn here, not something to prove.”
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Liz Rosenberg may be reached at lrosenberg@njadvancemedia.com.