Learn Details Of Toms River Schools' 2025-26 Budget At Citizens Meeting

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Toms River Regional School District officials will present the details of the 2025-26 tentative budget Wednesday night at the annual Citizens Budget Advisory meeting.

The meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. in the media center at Toms River High School North, 1245 Old Freehold Road. The meeting also will be livestreamed, but residents who wish to ask questions should attend the in-person meeting.

The district is facing a $22.3 million shortfall for 2025-26, a reflection of the impact of filling budget gaps the last two years with one-time revenue sources in the sale of district property while officials continue to battle with the state Department of Education over the amount of state aid provided to the district.

Toms River Regional, which educates more than 14,140 children from kindergarten through 12th grade across four towns — Toms River, Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River — has seen its aid cut drastically since the passage of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008.

In 2010 under Gov. Chris Christie, the state slashed aid to hundreds of school districts, with Toms River Regional losing $9.7 million that year. While some aid was restored for a few years, the fight over state aid led to a cut in 2017-18 as a precursor to S2, which was fully implemented the following year.

Under S2, Toms River Regional has moved from receiving $4,374 in state aid per student to $2,112 under the 2025-26 proposed state aid, a 51.7 percent reduction even as a variety of costs have risen significantly.

The state has argued Toms River Regional was not paying its fair share of property taxes to support its schools; for 2025-26, the state says the district's tax levy should be $323,648,068, more than $30 million more than the district's total budget including debt service.

The district is well under adequacy — the amount the state Department of Education says it should be spending to educate students — at more than $106.7 million below what the state says is necessary to provide a thorough and efficient education for students for 2025-26.

The 2025-26 budget discussions come as officials are anticipating finalizing the sale of the district's administrative offices at 1144 Hooper Ave. — a property that brings in revenue for the district through office space rentals — to Ocean County.

The county's business administrator, Michael Fiure, said the matter was anticipated to be discussed at the county commissioners' preboard meeting Wednesday afternoon.

It is the second year the district has resorted to selling property to close a budget shortfall. The district sold a 17-acre parcel next to Silver Bay Elementary School to Toms River to fill a $4 million hole in the 2023-24 budget.

The price of the potential sale of 1144 Hooper Ave. has not been revealed but the district was short $12.4 million for the 2024-25 school year. The funds are necessary to meet payroll, and Superintendent Michael Citta has said the district would run out of funds to pay staff salaries in May.

The Toms River Regional District continues to pursue its lawsuit against the state Department of Education over the impacts of S2. The lawsuit, which the district filed in October, has been moved from Ocean County to Mercer County, where the state's offices are located. In it, the district laid out the impacts of the funding cuts on Toms River Regional students: Falling Test Scores, Rising Absenteeism: Suit Details Aid Cuts Toll On Toms River Schools