In the Board of Education meeting on March 22nd the Superintendent presented a tentative budget for the 2026-2027 school year to the members and public. The BOE voted 5-4 after the discussion about long-term school funding and the issue of rising property taxes. Under the proposed increase, the general tax levy is increasing by $2,891,204 to $147,451,418. Superintendent Michael Volpe recommended increasing the tax levy for stability in future and he believes the district can do a lot with the money as well. “If the board goes with my recommended budget, I will spend dollars wisely. If it goes something below that, and we are status quo for a year, that will be fine,” Volpe said.
The cuts to the balance of the budget would impact various factors. “‘Removing proposed high school rekeying project, lease purchasing security and tech upgrades, removing planning services related to redistricting, funds being reserved for full day kindergarten, middle school sports’” Volpe said in the meeting. To add on, with the cuts, 24 staff members would be removed. Volpe explains the difference between township budget and school budget to remove confusions; the school year starts in September, the financial aspect is offset by six months from the calendar year. The residents of Hillsborough are not paying taxes for the 2026 calendar year but for the “tail end” of the 2025-26 budget and the “front end” of the 2026-27 budget, Volpe said. Meaning the tax increase from last year is still being paid.
In the meeting, he also presented the reasons why school taxes change, explaining decisions made about the BOE are in control of BOE, but are dependent on state aid, housing assessment and town rateable, which are both not in control of BOE. Volpe said, “The Board can only control what they can control is what the budget for next year is and it is important to know some factors are out of control.”
Additionally, the biggest impact on taxes is from last year’s budget and its tax increase is paid over two years as well. And for the next school year the state aid is reduced by $1,519,761. As of now the board is debating between a 0% or 2% tax levy increase. The final decision will be made at the end of the month, in the next BOE meeting. Despite any changes made in the next meeting, the school district will not be impacted in any way. There is much potential to reorganize staff and resources and keep everything the same, rather it is a bigger problem for the 2027-28 school year.
