- Toms River Regional Schools is cutting three administrative positions to address a $22.3 million budget deficit.
- The district has applied for state Tax Levy Incentive Aid, which could allow them to raise taxes above the 2% cap.
- A public hearing on the proposed $293.5 million budget is scheduled for April 30.
TOMS RIVER -- Toms River Regional is cutting three administrators' positions and has applied for state tax levy incentive aid to close a $22.3 million budget gap.
The Board of Education voted April 16 to eliminate an assistant superintendent's job, as well as the positions of the human resources and facilities directors. Schools Superintendent Mike Citta said Assistant Superintendent James Ricotta is retiring Sept. 1, and his job will not be filled. Human Resources Director Megan Osborn and Facilities Director Sam Pepe will have their positions cut July 1.
The job cuts are expected to save the district at least $300,000, with the responsibilities of the three positions shifted to other district employees.
"We are doing everything we can to thin out what we can," Citta said. "This is not something we want to do."
The board also agreed April 9 to apply for Tax Levy Incentive Aid, a new state funding source reserved for school districts considered "under adequacy," which means school systems that are spending below the amount the New Jersey Department of Education says a district should be spending to educate its children. Toms River is $106.7 million under adequacy, and the state says district taxpayers should be paying about $120 million more to support the 2025-2026 school budget.
The program allows under-adequacy districts to raise school taxes above the state-mandated 2% cap, and also provides additional education aid (up to $1 million for Toms River Regional). If the state approves Toms River Regional's application, the district could raise the school tax levy by up to 15.9% — a number that Citta said the school board would never support.
"We have no way to balance the budget," Citta said. "They (the state) are going to have to step up to the plate and figure it out."
Nearly 300 New Jersey school districts are eligible for the tax levy incentive aid, including many in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Toms River Regional received $1.69 million more in state aid this year than last year, but Doering and Citta have said that it still leaves the schools far short of the money needed to provide a "thorough and efficient" education as required by New Jersey's constitution.
The school board on April 16 also unanimously approved a resolution to sell Toms River Regional's 1144 Hooper Avenue headquarters to the county. Ocean County has agreed to buy the building for $15.4 million, and Citta said the district hopes to receive that funding by May. It should close a $12.4 million budget gap for the current (2024-2025) school year.
Board President Ashley Lamb said the district's administrative offices have moved to the top floor of 1144 Hooper.
"We can stay there for four years," she said. "We are scouting other locations," for those offices, she added.
"Our plan is not to put them in a school building," Lamb said.
Public school districtsthroughout the Shoreare dealing with crippling budget deficits due mainly to years of cuts in state aid. The state's school funding formula shifts money from districts with declining enrollment, such as Toms River Regional, to those with a growing number of students.
Citta and other Toms River Regional leaders said the formula does not take into account the changing demographics of the school system, which has seen large increases in special education students and English language learners over the past decade. Toms River Regional has also had a big increase in the number of economically disadvantaged children who attend its schools.
The school board has scheduled a public hearing on the $293.5 million budget for 2025-2026 for 5:30 p.m. April 30 at the Toms River High School North Media Center, 1245 Old Freehold Road.
The budget as introduced would raise school taxes 1.7% in Toms River, which would equal $70.78 on a house assessed at $448,400, the township's average. In Beachwood, school taxes would rise 5.6%, or $147.70, on a home assessed at $208,200; in South Toms River, 8.8%, or $167.70, on a $170,600 house, and 2.5%, or $88.38, on a $413,200 Pine Beach home.
Jean Mikle covers Toms River, Seaside Heights and several other Ocean County towns. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.
