$76.4M Tentative Budget Approved For Holmdel Schools For 2025-26

HOLMDEL, NJ — The Holmdel Board of Education introduced a tentative $76.4 million budget for the 2025-26 school year during a recent board meeting, outlining economic challenges the district is facing as well as its goals for the upcoming year.

The tentative budget was presented at the board meeting on Wednesday, March 19, by Superintendent Scott Cascone and Business Administrator Deborah Donnelly.

Work on the budget began in October, and while the board submitted their budget for county approval on the 19th, school officials said there will still be a public hearing on April 30 for the final budget.

Though the budget can change between now and then, school officials emphasized that it can only be decreased from here.

“We’ve made a commitment to transparency and being open with the community about where we’re at financially as a district,” Board Vice President Alison LoPresti said. “We’re going to continue to engage with you guys with these important discussions.”

Holmdel Township schools are slated to receive $4,981,079 in state aid for the 2025-26 school year under Governor Phil Murphy’s proposed budget. This is $154,054 (3%) less than what Holmdel schools received the year before.

This decrease in funding has not helped what school officials outline as “skyrocketing transportation costs” in their budget presentation, alongside rising benefit costs and other economic challenges.

In their presentation, the district outlined the following budget challenges:

• Managing current CBA costs (expiring contract on June 30, 2025)
• Managing increase in health benefit costs (despite a change in insurance carrier, over $500K in savings from Feb. 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026)
• Managing increases in tuition costs for students attending schools other than Holmdel (such as vocational or special education placements)
• Meeting existing and new state and federal mandates
• Managing anticipated increase in energy costs
• Protecting and growing the schools’ future-ready infrastructure with minimal capital and maintenance reserves available
• 2025-26 budget utilizes the last of any banked cap — $1.3 million
• Reduction in state aid for 2025-26 of $154K ($225K without 3% floor) — future years unknown
• No funds remain from American Rescue Plan (ARP – pandemic funds)

Though the district is facing these challenges for the upcoming school year, they’ve also outlined some budget efficiencies and support, such as staffing efficiencies through attrition and reduction in force (3 positions), grants, shared budget cuts, and a recent $600,000 shared services agreement with Holmdel Township, plus $250,000 in SLEOs.

As part of the board's shared services agreement, the district will be able to continue its courtesy busing and put agreement funds toward supporting students, staff and community members of Holmdel schools.

“$850,000 is significant,” Cascone said. “We were managing about an $800,000 deficit this year after we pulled all the different levers we could. If we were managing a $1.7 million budget, those three positions would’ve been more like 14, so that was critical.”

Alongside budget challenges and efficiencies, the district also outlined its budget goals and proposed investments, such as a parent square platform/white-listed Holmdel app, courtesy busing for 740+ students, HIBSTER anti-bullying program, PBIS Supports, and more.

According to the presentation, the total tax levy increase for 2025-26 will equate to an estimated annual tax increase of $612.94 per year or $51.08 per month on the average residential assessed value of $1,033,216.

"Being that the district is heading in the right direction, it makes me feel more confident and comfortable speaking to my neighbor about a $600 increase on taxes," Board President Christian DiMare said. "Because there's a positive storyline here and I respect the staff and administration that's working hard to get us there...we've come a long way."

Some budget goals for the 2025-26 school year also include ensuring that schools are secure, well-run, and well-maintained, accelerating and maintaining Holmdel schools’ upward ranking trajectory; using funding efficiently to maximize the community’s investment to achieve district goals and their 5-year strategic plan; and recruiting and retaining outstanding professionals.

The district also named maintaining class sizes, adding human & curricular resources to support students' mental and social-emotional health, implementing a digital curriculum warehouse, and ensuring technology access for all students as some budget highlights.

“Holmdel as a community needs to decide how we want to invest in our schools and at what comfort level,” DiMare said. “Because to continue to get through these challenges, the only area you can really reduce is salaries and benefits at this point.”

To watch a full recording of Wednesday’s meeting, you can watch it here.

The meeting agenda can be found here, as well as the 2025-26 budget presentation.

Related

• See Which NJ Schools Will Get More State Aid For 2025-26
• Holmdel Enters Into $600,000 Shared Services Agreement With Board Of Education