(Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
The fiscal shock waves rattling school districts across New Jersey over the past few months have reached Red Bank.
Faced with rising costs, a $2.5 million cut in state aid and additional anticipated cuts in federal aid, the district unveiled a plan last week to cover the shortfall by raising the school portion of property owners’ tax bills by roughly 13 percent.
That comes to about $528 for the owner of a home assessed at the town average, according to figures released by the Red Bank Board of Education. 
To do it, the district which manages the Red Bank Primary School and Middle School last week joined the growing number of districts applying to the state for permission to raise taxes above the two percent legal cap.
Due to a tight April 14 application deadline, Red Bank Borough Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage said, “our board of education needed to make a decision in a short period of time.”
He added in a press release:
“After a deliberate assessment of our current situation heading into the 2025-26 school year and also considering the next five years, it was evident we needed to take advantage of this one-time opportunity. The 2% cap is suffocating all public school districts in New Jersey; however, our Board of Education is always mindful of our budget’s impact on the local tax payer.
While our past history clearly shows a hesitancy to stray far from the 2% increase, this infusion of funds will enable us to continue our outstanding service to the community. Moving forward, we anticipate remaining closer to the 2.26% tax levy increase we have averaged over the past five years.”
In February, Gov. Phil Murphy announced a budget plan that allows districts that are spending below their local fair share — the amount of school funding the state deems the district must supply locally — to raise their local tax levies above the state’s 2% cap on property tax growth. Under the plan, the state would provide additional funding to districts that do so.
Across the state, about 280 districts squeezed by the property tax cap, cuts to state aid and the formula itself, have been declared eligible to apply for the one-time cap exception.
Plainfield is asking for a 33 percent increase. Middletown is seeking a 10 percent increase in the local tax levy to avoid the closure of two schools. Keyport is seeking a 12.5 percent hike. Bordentown schools applied for a $1 million increase over the cap and announced a plan to lay off 50 staff members to close the district’s budget gap.
Citing an “unsustainable trend” of repeated shortfalls, Red Bank schools found they had few other options than to join them.
In a detailed statement and slide presentation posted to the Board of Education web site, (click here to view) Rumage cites a long list of factors driving the fiscal squeeze, including inflation and salary and health care costs. There’s also a whopping cut of $2.5 milllion in state aid.
The district will also be required to fork over $2.8 million to the Red Bank Charter School, the presentation notes, repeating an argument that the charter school’s existence results in “duplicative costs” and “redundancy in services.”
The state’s complicated school funding formula considers a wide range of factors to determine how much each district gets. Two of those factors, rising local property values and income levels, are reducing Red Bank’s aid levels, according to the district.
“According to the State, we are currently $6.5M under adequacy and the expectation is we should be generating that money locally,” a line from the presentation reads.
While the law allows Red Bank to ask taxpayers that full additional $6.5 million, officials are asking for a tax levy increase of $2.57 million, which mirrors the cutbacks in state and federal aid.
Last year’s local tax levy was $19.8 million according to budget documents released by the district. The $2.57 million hike would be the largest since the 2014-2015 school year in which the levy was raised by 9.9 percent.
The Board of Education has its regularly scheduled public budget hearing at 7 p.m. on April 29 at the Red Bank Primary School.
Post below is the entire press release sent out by the superintendent’s office last week.
District Applies for Tax Levy Incentive Aid
The Red Bank Borough Public Schools recently announced the District will be taking advantage of a new opportunity titled Tax Levy Incentive Aid. The mechanism was announced earlier this month and represents a one-time exception to the 2% cap on any tax levy increase designed to support school districts who are under adequacy AND under their local fair share as deemed by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE).
The District is currently considered $6.5M under adequacy. Red Bank Borough is one of 280 districts in the State and 20 in Monmouth County to qualify for this program. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Jared Rumage,
conveyed the following in his most recent Community Update.From Website:
The story of the Red Bank Borough Public Schools is filled with inspiration, BIG Dreams and striving to be the Best School District in America so we can be certain we are THE BEST for the children, families and community of Red Bank. It’s a story about children running into schools in the morning just as fast as they run out at the end of the day and it’s a story that resonates with the perfect balance of rigor and nurture.
However, the chapter relative to school funding has a different tone. The phrases that come to mind include – view crisis as opportunity, do even more with less, and teamwork makes the dream work. It started with a decade of underfunding from 2013 to 2023 which resulted in a total shortfall of $44,108,540.More recently, we have seen an annual decrease in federal grant funding with the strong possibility of additional cuts on the horizon. Simultaneously, with the increasing Consumer Price Index (CPI) we continue to see a rise in annual fixed costs (contractual obligations, transportation, utilities, health benefits, etc.) that exceed the 2% cap on the local tax levy increase, making it difficult to
implement long-term planning.
With all of this in mind, we are moving forward with a plan to fortify our community assets, mitigate future risk, support our Strategic Plan Dream BIGGER: A Five Year Roadmap, maintain programs and average class size (20), recruit and retain the best staff possible, and support the needs and BIG Dreams of each learner who runs in our doors.
This information linked to a comprehensive explanation of the district’s funding history including details on how the district has navigated the volatility of state aid by accessing and purposefully utilizing a variety of other grants, partnerships, and aid to fortify infrastructure and continue to offer robust and high-quality educational experiences for the children of Red Bank.
Dr. Rumage shared, “Based on the release of this information, our Board of Education needed to make a decision in a short period of time. After a deliberate assessment of our current situation heading into the 2025-26 school year and also considering the next five years, it was evident we needed to take advantage of this one-time opportunity. The 2% cap is suffocating all public school districts in New Jersey; however, our Board of Education is always mindful of our budget’s impact on the local tax payer.While our past history clearly shows a hesitancy to stray far from the 2% increase, this infusion of funds will enable us to continue our outstanding service to the community. Moving forward, we anticipate remaining closer to the 2.26% tax levy increase we have averaged over the past five years.”
Some highlights from the website’s slide deck include:
● The District is facing a decrease in overall funding of $2.5M heading into the 2025-26 school year. The
increase in the tax levy will generate approximately $2.57M – offsetting the overall aid increase.
● The incentive program will also generate $93K in additional State Aid and impact the average
household’s quarterly tax statement by $132.
● Following a decade of being underfunded by over $44M, the district has continually developed a
student-centered budget while maintaining an average 2.26% tax levy increase for the last 5 years.YEAR PERCENT
20-21 2.37%
21-22 2.0%
22-23 2.0%
23-24 2.0%
24-25 2.91%
AVERAGE 2.26%● The district used pandemic funding to fortify community assets, improve educational experiences for
our students, and beautify the schools for our neighbors. Additionally, the district passed a tax-neutral
referendum in 2019 and successfully applied for and received a Regular Operating District (ROD) Grant.
● The District worked closely with State legislators, State Superintendents, and multiple funding advocacy
groups to push for a change in the funding formula. Under Senator Gopal’s leadership, we have
received funding specifically dedicated to support student mental health services. Recently, Gopal’s
efforts to revise the school funding formula protected us from a more substantial loss as new legislation
capped State Aid losses at a maximum of 3%. Without this temporary guardrail, the District would have
lost an additional $1.3M. This temporary guardrail will not exist next year and outside of major
enrollment changes, we will likely see a projected loss of $1.5M in State Aid heading into the 2026-27
school year.
● The revenue will support the full implementation of our Strategic Plan, Dream BIGGER: A Five Year
Roadmap which was designed by a collaborative and diverse group of community members.
The Board expects feedback from the New Jersey Department of Education on the Tax Levy Incentive Aid
application before the end of the month. A successful response will allow us to continue to provide a
high-quality educational environment and strengthen the district’s long-term financial stability.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
