{"id":26099,"date":"2026-04-03T00:33:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=26099"},"modified":"2026-04-03T00:33:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T04:33:42","slug":"brick-school-business-administrator-to-retire-amidst-another-tough-budget-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2026\/04\/brick-school-business-administrator-to-retire-amidst-another-tough-budget-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick School Business Administrator to Retire Following Another Tough Budget Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"James<\/a>

James Edwards (File Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

James Edwards, who has served as business administrator for the Brick Township school district for 19 years, has announced his retirement effective at the end of the current school year.<\/p>\n

Edwards, who was hired by a board led by former member and township council member Brian DeLuca, has seen his tenure last through at least ten superintendents and seven years of state-imposed funding cuts that had the potential to decimate the district’s finances. He replaced the late Melindo A. Persi, who had served simultaneously as superintendent and business administrator. Notwithstanding the occasional heated debate with board members over the years, Edwards remained one of the district’s most steady administrative figures and garnered praise from many of his peers. In 2024, he was granted the New Jersey Association of School Business Administrators Distinguished Service Award.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Thomas Farrell, the longest-serving superintendent during Edwards’ tenure, credited him with helping to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic \u2013 which occurred literally days after Farrell started work in Brick \u2013 as well as year-after-year state funding cuts that led to staff reductions and mandatory tax increases ordered by Trenton. Still, the district was not forced to sell off school facilities or impose the level of massive property tax increases that befell other districts in similar straits.<\/p>\n

“I joke that with Jim, it is not black and white,” said Farrell. “It’s black and black. It is what it is, the numbers are what they are. But when you look around the state, the last few years, and you see people in dire fiscal situations, they are a lot worse off than we are.”<\/p>\n

Farrell said when he was a teacher in the New Egypt school district years ago, he would invite Edwards to his business classes to speak with students about accounting, finance and budgeting. The two were reunited in early 2020 when Farrell was named the district’s new superintendent after years of a revolving door of chief school administrators.<\/p>\n

“This district is indebted to his service,” said Farrell. “He really has moved the district forward, and he really has kept us in a situation where we haven’t been that dire. We’ve increased programs, we’re always asking him to get more grants, to expand Pre-K, to do all these last minute things to help us with the budget. And Mr. Edwards and his department does a fantastic job doing that.”<\/p>\n

\"Business<\/a>

Business Administrator\/Board Secretary James Edwards receives NJASBA Award. (Credit: Brick Twp. Schools)<\/p><\/div>\n

Edwards said he looks forward to more time on the golf course, but there may be other professional opportunities ahead.<\/p>\n

“It’s nice to know that the work I’ve done here has been appreciated,” he said, noting that he and DeLuca reminisced recently about his hiring, and how he has heard from past board members and former colleagues wishing him well. “There’s mixed emotions. I’ve been telling people I’m excited to enter a new chapter, but at the same time, sad to be going. I’ve got a great office staff, and they’ve been tremendous and the backbone of all the things we’ve been able to do in this district.”<\/p>\n

Edwards will depart after one last budget season which will likely lead to additional staffing cuts due to higher costs and the potential for continued funding cuts on the part of the state. The board introduced a tentative $173,152,174 budget last week, however it is expected to change significantly once state aid figures and final costs are determined. A public hearing on the spending plan will be held at the board’s April 30, 2026 meeting.<\/p>\n

Edwards, according to state data, earned $215,496 in 2025, making him the district’s second-highest paid employee after Farrell. There has not been an announcement as to who might replace Edwards after his final day of work on June 30, 2026.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Edwards, who has served as business administrator for the Brick Township school district for 19 years, has announced his retirement effective at the end of the current school year. Edwards, who was hired by a board led by former member and township council member Brian DeLuca, has seen his tenure last through at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[24,957,4484,469],"class_list":["post-26099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brick-schools","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-brick-public-schools","tag-featured","tag-james-edwards"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/edwards_contract.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-6MX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26099"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26102,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26099\/revisions\/26102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}