Board approves budget for next school year

By a vote of 6 to 3, the Monroe Township Board of Education voted on May 7 to adopt the district’s budget for the 2026-’27 school year.

A presentation from Superintendent Brian McBride and district Business Administrator JoAnn Matienko revealed total expenditures of $148,938,008.

“Our mission is to prepare all of our students,” McBride said, “to lead productive, fulfilling lives. Encompassing a sense of purpose with a diverse foundation of applicable knowledge, involving innovation and creativity in order to become compassionate and caring citizens of the 21st-century global society.”

McBride also laid out the plans for professional development, including a new teacher induction program that will be offered in conjunction with the district’s mentoring program; on and off-site development for teachers; and the continuation of Global Compliance Network (GCN) virtual training, among other initiatives.

Approximately $4.8 million in funds will pay for capital improvements, including replacing the roof at Oak Knoll Elementary School, upgrades to its office heating and a unit ventilator retrofit. Holly Glen Elementary is getting upgrades to classroom insulation, and Williamstown High’s consumer science classroom is being renovated.

The entire district will get parking lot renovations.

“You have to embed costs into your budget and identify those costs,” McBride explained, “so that you can pull out the money to then do that part. That is the checks and balances between the state of New Jersey, the taxpayer and the board of education.”

Preschool was also a focus of the budget presentation, with an allocation for the program of $7,838,231. The number of students enrolled in district preschool – what McBride dubbed “the universe” – is 682, but there are about 302 unhoused preschoolers because of a classroom space shortage.

“Unfortunately,” McBride acknowledged, “we have more children who need to go into preschool classrooms than we have available classrooms. So we have to run a lottery, and each year, we have to show demonstrated growth to the state of New Jersey, and we’re working towards that.”

Matienko also discussed finances, paying specific attention to the tax levy, which will amount to $57,646,656 for the new school year, compared with last year’s total of $55,855,083.

“Our tax levy percentage is 42.6% of total revenues,” she noted. “Our fund balance is 4.4%. Fund balance is the leftover, unspent funds from the ’24-’25 budget that carry forward to the ’26-’27 budget. We use that to help balance out our budget to have our revenues equal our expenditures.”