The Jackson Township Board of Education (BOE) — the elected board that oversees Jackson Township Public Schools — has posted a $182,882,502 Final Budget for 2026-2027 dated April 29, 2026. Total spending across all funds is essentially flat from 2025-2026 (up 0.07%), but general fund operating spending rises 2.22 percent, the portion paid by local property owners rises 8.83 percent, and the budget projects a $7.7 million increase in employee health benefit costs.

On May 20, 2026, the board separately voted 6-0 to apply for a short-term bank loan of up to $2,933,034 to cover operations because the state’s June 2026 aid payment is not scheduled to arrive until July.

Figures below come from the district’s Final Budget Presentation, the line-item Final Budget Document (revised March 16, 2026), and the BoardDocs detailed agenda for the May 20 meeting.

The tax levy

The “tax levy” is the total amount the district collects from Jackson property owners through school taxes. The general fund levy rises from $107,104,888 to $116,561,807, an increase of $9,456,919, or 8.83 percent. Adding the debt service levy ($7,786,800) brings the total tax levy to $124,348,607.

The presentation states the increase exceeds the state’s standard 2 percent annual cap because the district applied a separate cap waiver for rising health care costs. On the average assessed Jackson home, valued at $654,839 for 2026-2027, the district calculates the impact at $305 per year, or $25.42 per month.

Health benefits drive most of the increase

“Health Benefits/Fringe Benefits” — employee medical insurance plus related payroll costs — rises from $32,837,385 to $40,564,233, an increase of $7,726,848, or 23.53 percent. The line is now 24 percent of all general fund spending, second only to salaries.

The presentation attributes the increase in part to a 31.9 percent rate hike that took effect January 1, 2026 in the New Jersey School Employees’ Health Benefits Program, the state plan covering many district employees, along with high-cost prescription drugs and medical inflation.

Public enrollment falling, nonpublic enrollment rising

“Nonpublic” students are Jackson children who attend private or religious schools rather than public schools. Under New Jersey law, the public district must still fund certain services for them, most notably busing or “aid in lieu of transportation” payments when busing is not provided.

The presentation’s 10-year enrollment table, sourced from the district’s October 15 Application for State School Aid (ASSA) report, shows public K-12 enrollment fell from 8,190 in 2017-2018 to a projected 6,345 in 2026-2027 (-22.52%). Over the same period, nonpublic K-12 enrollment rose from 675 to a projected 8,534, an increase the district calculates at 1,164.30 percent. The presentation states nonpublic enrollment surpassed public enrollment during the current 2025-2026 school year.

“Aid in Lieu of Transportation” payments climb from $8,251,947 to $9,765,431 (+18.34%). State Nonpublic Transportation Aid doubles from $1,500,000 to $3,300,000, partly offsetting that cost.

State aid and the short-term loan

Total categorical state aid falls again, from $22,699,951 to $22,018,952 — the latest in a run of consecutive year-over-year reductions shown in the presentation’s nine-year history. The presentation states this is the maximum 3 percent reduction the state allowed any district this year.

At the May 20 meeting, the BOE adopted a resolution authorizing the district to apply for short-term financing “due to the delay in the June 2026 State Aid Payment.” The resolution states “The June State Aid payments are always paid in July” and authorizes a loan “not to exceed $2,933,034.00, which is the amount of the June State Aid payment due to Jackson.” The funds are for the 2025-2026 budget — the current year, not the new one.

The loan would go through the district’s bank of record, OceanFirst Bank N.A. The BoardDocs agenda records the omnibus finance motion containing this resolution as approved 6-0, with Tina Kas, Erica Osmond, Michael Walsh, Tara Rivera, Brian McCarron, and Megan Gardella voting yes.

Below adequacy, again

Jackson is projected to spend $29,656,337 less in 2026-2027 than the state’s “adequacy budget” — the New Jersey Department of Education’s calculation of what the district needs to provide a “thorough and efficient education.” Jackson has been below adequacy by a growing amount every year since 2022-2023.

What happens next

The loan resolution authorizes the application but conditions actual borrowing on bank approval. The terms of any loan accepted, and whether state aid arrives as expected, would appear in subsequent postings at go.boarddocs.com/nj/jacksonsd.