After feedback from the public, courtesy transportation that had initially been cut from the 2026-’27 school district budget will be back in the township financial plan.
School business administrator Helen Haley addressed the changes ahead of a public hearing on the $75.994-million budget at a board of education meeting on May 6.
“I would like to take a moment to acknowledge and express our sincere regret regarding the concern and stress experienced by families as a result of the recent transportation adjustments associated with closing of the budget gap for the 2026-’27 school year,” she said.
“We are grateful to our parents and guardians for their feedback, engagement and willingness to collaborate with us throughout this process. Your input has been both valued and impactful.”
Based on the concerns shared, Haley said the district conducted a thorough review in partnership with the township police and determined that several of the streets initially identified for the removal of courtesy busing because they travel fewer than two miles will continue to be served due to their hazardous walking conditions.
“As a result, those routes have been formally designated hazardous and the district policy has been updated to ensure that accurate and consistent information is applied moving forward,” Haley noted. “While we regret the inconvenience this process has caused, we want to assure our families that decisions are now grounded in verified data, and student safety remains our highest priority.”
In addition, families on 12 streets will transition back to Osage Elementary School in the fall, an adjustment necessary to alleviate enrollment pressures at Hamilton Elementary and ensure students living in the Victory Commons neighborhood are accommodated.
Osage principal Robert Cranmer and a school team will host an information session for affected families at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, to share details.
Haley outlined the budget process at a March meeting, explaining that discussions started with the worst-case revenue scenario, a gap of $6.4 million. The board then analyzed revenues and appropriations for possible reductions.
On the revenue side, the district looked at increasing budgeted interest income, classroom rental income from the Voorhees Early Childhood Development Center – where the Gibbsboro school district leases five classrooms – and revenue from bus leasing.
The pre-K to 8 school district made cuts to appropriations with no impact on instruction or district staffing. They included allocating permitted expenses to preschool expansion aid for utilities and transportation; allocating utilities to Enterprise Funds or Community Education and Recreation and Food Service; restructuring the timing of lease purchase financing payments to level out impact over the remaining years; reducing contracted vendor usage for substitute staffing and registered behavior technicians (RBTs); and eliminating courtesy busing for non-hazardous roads.
The district is using banked cap for its health-care cost adjustment. It has $1.97 million that can be used within the next three years. The health-care increase for 2026-’27 is $1.92 million. Haley noted that surrounding school districts are doing the same with rising health-care costs.
The district proposed to use $1.79 million in banked cap. That action reduced the gap to zero. The tax levy in the 2026-’27 budget is $54.56 million. With the addition of banked cap, that amount increases to $56.35 million.
The tax rate increases by $.0416 cents per $100 of assessed valuation from $0.931 in 2025-’26 to $0.973 in 2026-’27. For an average home assessed at $455,056, the annual impact of 2% is $117.43 for the same year. The annual tax impact is $189.42, an increase of $71.99.
School taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes municipal taxes, the Eastern Camden County Regional School District and Camden County taxes. Haley explained that the reinstated busing caused a $248,113 hole the district needed to close; it did so through preschool route consolidation, geographic placement and retirement breakage.
“We had more retirements from when we started the (budget) process,” she added.
The budget includes two capital reserve projects totaling $200,000: a new playground at Osage, hard surface flooring and carpeting replacements.
After the May 6 public hearing, the board adopted the 2026-’27 budget. There were no public comments.
Board vice president Julie Ketover pointed out that the district is not unscathed financially.
“I urge you to look at neighboring districts, cutting programs and services, eliminating staff, raising taxes, in some cases more than seven-fold,” she remarked. “We are cutting no programs, no services, no staff. And our tax increase, while real, is far lower than our neighbors.
“That is not an accident, (but) the result of skilled expert administration and thoughtful financial planning.”
Bus cookies were given out during School Bus Appreciation Day on April 28. The township school district conducted a thorough review along with police and determined that several of the streets initially identified in the budget for removal of courtesy busing because they travel fewer than two miles will continue to be served due to their hazardous walking conditions.
