Brick School Budget Will Hike Taxes, Cut Staff As State Funding Woes Linger in 2026-27

Brick Township High School. (Photo: Shorebeat)

Brick Township schools officials have unveiled a proposed $178.3 million budget for the 2026-27 school year, reflecting a 4.16 percent increase over the current year’s $171.2 million spending plan. The budget carries a total property tax increase of 5.84 percent – the maximum 2 percent allowed under the state’s cap law, plus a waiver for increased employee health benefits costs that allowed an additional 3.84 percent, forming the total.

The largest component, the general fund, will rise 3.01 percent to $163.1 million from $158.4 million. Grants and entitlements are slated to grow more sharply — up 18.36 percent to $15.21 million, largely the result of a preschool expansion grant — while debt service remains at zero. The budget presentation delivered by district officials last week did not include an estimate of the amount by which property taxes would rise for the average township resident. When asked via e-mail after the meeting, Business Administrator James Edwards declined to provide that detail, stating the district is not a “taxing entity.”

Superintendent Thomas Farrell said despite the increased tax levy, Trenton is still short-changing the district by at least $3 million in special education funds by way of a modified formula that was designed to limit losses to other districts. The state has also failed to deliver extraordinary or more adjustment aid this school year. The budget, as a result, calls for the further reduction of 40 positions – or multiple positions that add up to the equivalent of 40 full positions – “with the hope that the majority of these job cuts are absorbed through retirement, attrition, and some vacancies not being filled.”

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The average class size in Brick will rise to 27 students, with several sections averaging 29 students or more, Farrell said. The class sizes would have been even higher if more staff had to be shed in order to close the funding gap.

“Once again, we are foregoing capital projects, facility improvements – roofs, parking lots, et cetera – in order to retain positions, people,” said Farell.

In order to provide more funding to other districts, Brick saw its equitable amount of special education funding slashed by the state this year. Using the state’s own formula based on the number of students classified for special education – in Brick, 22.5 percent of the student population – Trenton owed the district an additional $3,866,368 in funding. But the state placed caps on its own formula, reducing the increase by $2,942,923. Overall, according to the state’s figures, Brick is about $26.7 million under financial adequacy to deliver a “thorough and efficient” education, and residents are considered under-taxed by $71.9 million to meet what the state conisders the town’s “fair share.”

“We’ve been lobbying the state for years to change the way they fund special education and switch from a census approach of 15.9 percent to an actual enrollment approach,” said Farrell.

The budget was adopted in a unanimous vote by school board members. No members of the public spoke during a required public hearing on the spending plan. A copy of the budget document can be found here.