Toms River School Board Rejects 2025-26 Budget With Double-Digit Tax Increase

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Regional Board of Education unanimously rejected the district's 2025-26 school budget on Wednesday night, in the process rejecting what would have been a 15.4 percent increase in the general fund tax levy, and an overall 12.9 percent increase in the tax levy.

It is the second straight year the board has rejected the district's proposed budget. In July 2024, when the board rejected the budget, the state Department of Education certified the tentative budget the district had submitted, in the process cementing a 9.9 percent tax increase.

It was unclear Wednesday night whether the outcome would be similar for the 2025-26 budget.

The rejected budget of $293 million included $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.

It included an anticipated $1 million in additional aid from the state Department of Education that would be received in exchange for the district increasing the tax levy by $21.3 million, Business Administrator William Doering said. That $21.3 million increase accounts for 15.4 percent of the rise in the levy.

The debt service tax levy is decreasing because the district has paid off bonds, and that reduces the overall tax levy increase to 12.9 percent.

The school board had approved applying for the Tax Levy Incentive Aid program at its April 9 committee meetings, seeking permission to increase the tax levy to close a $22.3 million revenue gap in the budget.

That gap, Superintendent Michael Citta said, is the result of the cumulative impact of cuts under S2 and exists in spite of the district cutting more than 300 staff positions since 2017-18 and selling properties as stop-gap measures to fill holes.

S2 was pushed by its supporters as redirecting state funding to districts that were seeing increased enrollments from districts where enrollment was falling, and while Toms River Regional's enrollment has fallen about 1,000 students over the last seven years, Citta said the demographics of the district's enrollment have changed in ways that have had significant budget impacts.

The largest of those impacts have been in special education, where the cost of tuition for out-of-district placements has risen dramatically, Citta said, "because there's no regulation" on what the out-of-district programs are permitted to charge.

Out-of-district special education placements are a last resort for school districts, and usually undertaken when the district cannot provide the special education programming that is deemed necessary under a student's IEP — individualized education plan.

Citta said those costs have increased 43 percent.

Special education costs also have increased within the district, which has needed 50 additional special education teachers, 86 non-certificated special education positions and 16 English-as-a-second-language teachers, Citta said.

The district's enrollment of students who are economically disadvantaged — students living at or below federal poverty guidelines — has risen from 20 percent to 40 percent, he said, and its ESL student population has risen from 100 seven years ago to about 1,000.

Those positions were not additional hires; they required moving staff positions around, increasing class sizes as a result, Citta said.

The overall loss of state aid over the last seven years is not the only issue hurting the district's 2025-26 budget, however: The final proposed budget also anticipates a $4 million loss in federal funding for programs to assist the district's economically disadvantaged students.

The board's rejection of the final budget carries the same potential outcomes as the district faced in July 2024: The state could impose the possible tax levy increase or it could simply take over the district and impose a state monitor, as it has done elsewhere.

If the state imposes the tax levy increase, here are the projected tax increases for each town:

Toms River residents would 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 would see the highest increase, of 16.4 percent, amounting to $35.97 per month or $431.68 per year for a home assessed at $208,200.

South Toms River residents would 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 proposed school tax rate.

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

For a $600,000 home in Toms River, it's 600,000 divided by 100, which equals 6,000. 6,000 times 1.030 equals $6,180 in school taxes.

School taxes are only a portion of your property tax bill. That bill includes your municipal taxes, county taxes, library and for some, fire district taxes.

Note: This article has been corrected and clarified to reflect the overall tax levy increase is 12.9 percent. The general fund tax levy proposed was 15.4 percent but the debt service tax levy is decreasing because the district has paid off some of its bonds. Patch regrets the error.