NJ Imposes School Budget On Toms River Regional; 'Additional Steps' Coming

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Taxpayers in the Toms River Regional School District will see a 12.9 percent property tax increase after the New Jersey Department of Education adopted the district's 2025-26 budget, over the objections of the district.

The budget had been rejected by the Toms River Regional Board of Education, which had insisted the state needs to provide additional state aid or allow the district to receive advances on state aid as other districts have done to allow it to close a $21.5 million budget gap.

The state had ordered the school board to approve the budget at a special meeting Monday night or shut down the district until a budget was approved, an order the district defied by staying open Tuesday and Wednesday.

The board, at Monday's meeting, also approved a measure for its attorney to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy laws.

In a statement, Department of Education officials said the adoption of Toms River Regional's budget by the state was "compelled by the Board’s failure to adopt its final budget by the start of the fiscal year, a marked violation of several statutory and regulatory requirements."

"While it is exceedingly rare for the Department to take such action, Fiscal Year 2025-2026 marks the second consecutive school district budget the Department has been forced to adopt for the Board," the statement said.

"This troubling pattern indicates deeper and systemic concerns about the ability of the Board and district administrators to meet their most basic responsibilities. As such, the Department has no choice but to take additional steps to safeguard district students and the school community’s public trust from further risk," the statement said.

The statement, issued just before 4 p.m. Thursday, did not say what those steps might be.

"While this prevents Toms River Regional Schools from going bankrupt, it passes the financial burden onto the hard-working taxpayers of the Toms River Regional Schools," district spokesman Michael Kenny said in response to a request for comment. He said the district was notified of the budget adoption shortly before 4 p.m. in a letter from Susan Naples, the acting Ocean County Schools Executive Superintendent.

The district had submitted a final budget to Naples on May 13, and that budget had received the state's approval. But the Toms River board never formally approved the budget because it objected to the 12.9 percent tax increase.

"Adopting a district budget requires innumerable complex, and sometimes emotional, decisions regarding the allocation of resources to ensure that all students receive the educational services they deserve," the Department of Education statement said. "While the Department acknowledges the difficulty inherent in school district budgeting decisions, the State and the public hold their school district leaders to the highest standards and expect them to rise to this challenge. This is not only an expectation but is required under State law."

"The weight of these decisions only affirms – not excuses – the importance of every district leader to deliver upon this most fundamental obligation. On this vital measure, the Board has fallen short, despite having been afforded extended opportunities to deliberate, revise, and adopt a budget acceptable to the Board," the statement said. "Now, with summer programs and other student services set to begin next week, the Department must step in and act accordingly."

The district has been fighting with the state Department of Education since the 2017-18 school year, when S2, the law that has led to multiple years of state aid cuts, first came into being.

Initially imposed to remove so-called "adjustment aid" that a number of districts, including Toms River, had received in the wake of the introduction of the School Funding Reform Act of 2008, S2 resulted in deep cuts to districts across the state. In Toms River, the cumulative loss is $175 million in state aid.

The district has cut more than 250 positions in that time, sold off land and its administration building to fill $20 million in budget gaps, has cut programs and seen classroom sizes rise significantly, and Superintendent Michael Citta has said the district is struggling to meet students' educational needs under the current situation.

The district filed a lawsuit against the state in October 2024 that detailed the impact on its students of the state aid cuts that came even as the district taxed its taxpayers to the 2 percent cap. Read more: Falling Test Scores, Rising Absenteeism: Suit Details Aid Cuts Toll On Toms River Schools

The budget of $293 million includes $271 million in general fund spending — the part that funds the day-to-day educational activities of the district — along with debt service. The overall tax levy was $222,945,373, up from $193,201,141 for the 2024-25 budget. Those figures include the debt service payments from the bonds for the $147 million in capital projects throughout the district approved by voters in January 2019.

Here is the tax increases for each of the towns in the Toms River Regional District:

Toms River residents will see a 12.1 percent increase, amounting to $41.50 per month or $498 per year for a property assessed at $448,400, the median value in Toms River.

Beachwood residents will see a 16.4 percent increase, amounting to $35.97 per month or $431.68 per year for a home assessed at $208,200.

South Toms River residents will see an increase of 14.5 percent, which would be $22.97 per month or $275.62 per year for a home assessed at $170,600.

In Pine Beach, the increase would be 12.9 percent, equalling $38.60 per month or $463.22 per year for a home assessed at $413,200.

If you want to calculate the school tax for your property, here is the formula:

Take the assessed value of your home (from your property tax statement). Divide that number by 100, then multiply that result by the school tax rate.

Toms River's tax rate under the budget adopted by the state is $1.030; Beachwood is $1.474; South Toms River is $1.272 and Pine Beach is $0.980.

Additional reporting:

• Toms River Regional Schools Applying For New NJ Tax Levy Incentive Aid
• Toms River School Board Rejects 2025-26 Budget With Double-Digit Tax Increase
• Budget Crunch Leading To Administrative Cuts For Toms River Schools