Today, the New Jersey Department of Education unilaterally adopted Fiscal Year 2024-2025 school district budgets for Jackson Township School District and Toms River Regional School District.
The State says that in both cases, the DOE has not made any reductions or reallocations from the tentative budgets submitted by the districts to their County Office of Education.
The school district budgets being adopted today include additional state support provided through the Stabilized School Budget Aid Grant Program and tax flexibility.
“This action is necessary because the Toms River Regional School District Board of Education and the Jackson Township School District Board of Education both failed to adopt their respective final budgets by the extended deadline of July 22, 2024 in accordance with P.L.2024, c.12,” the DOE says. “As a general matter, the Department believes that adopting a balanced budget is among the most basic and fundamental responsibilities a school district bears to provide a constitutionally required thorough and efficient education (T&E) to its students.”
“While the Department does not underestimate the difficulty of these decisions – budget development and adoption is a complex, multi-faceted, even emotional process, given the importance of school programs to our students and communities – we also fully expect New Jersey’s world class district leaders to rise to that challenge,” the statement adds.
“The difficulty of these decisions does not excuse any failure by district leaders or local boards of education to comply with one of their most critical statutory obligations to successfully oversee a public school system.
“Our action today is compelled so as to provide a balanced budget for both districts, ensuring that the failure by these boards of education to meet their budget adoption obligations does not impact the students in their respective districts.
“The Department has, and will continue to, consider all options available under its authority to take action in the event that a district risks falling short of its obligation to ensure the provision of T&E.”