NJ School Aid 2025-26: See How Toms River Schools Fared

TOMS RIVER, NJ — For the last seven years, the Toms River Regional School District has grappled with reductions to the state funding provided to the school district.

The cuts, mandated under a state law that purported to balance out imbalances in funding from the School Funding Reform Act of 2008, have had multiple impacts in Toms River, which is currently in the process of selling its administration building to fill a $12.4 million budget gap for this school year.

For the 2025-26 school year, the district will be faced with a different kind of budget season as it is slated to receive an increase in state funding. The total aid package from the state under Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed budget is $29,871,392, an increase of $1,690,833 over the 2024-25 funding, according to figures released by the state Department of Education on Thursday.

That change is not because the state has become more generous; it reflects changes in how the state is funding one of the most challenging categories for districts: special education aid.

Toms River Regional is slated to receive $17,979,309 in assistance for its special education students, an 82 percent increase over the $9,865,327 received last year.

The change is the result of a move from funding special education based on an estimate of the number of special education students in an area to funding the actual number of students being served.

The district also is slated to receive an increase in transportation aid, with $8,095,090 for 2025-26, up from $5,458,073 last year.

Those increases, which ease budget pressures in some areas, are offset by the elimination of educational adequacy aid; Toms River Regional received more than $10 million in that category last year.