Over the last three school years, security spending in the Berkeley Heights Public Schools has ballooned — far exceeding original budget estimates while state aid has remained flat.

What the Numbers Show

• 2023–2024: The District budgeted $214,000 for school security but ended up spending $260,396, according to the official ACFR (Annual Comprehensive Financial Report). That’s a 22% overrun in a single year.

• 2024–2025: Security costs surged again — up to $386,076, . That’s a 48% increase over the previous year’s actual spending. Meanwhile, state Security Aid remained flat at $172,508, meaning over 55% of the cost was covered locally.  We did not add this to the graphs we published because the ACFR (the authoritative document) isn’t out – the year isn’t over.

• 2025–2026: The proposed budget  for next year reflects a 24% increase from this year’s budgeted amount based on internal budget documents shared by the District last year but no longer publicly available this year (261k for 2024-2025 v. 324k for 2025-2026 ). However, I am sure the District will advertise it as a decrease from the actual spend (which was well over budget according to the documents we received from them). While Security Aid is expected to rise to $280,145, about $45,000 still must come from local funds, assuming the District stays within budget and all costs are eligible.

Notably, not all security-related costs qualify for state aid reimbursement. Security Aid is a fixed allocation, not a reimbursement mechanism. When the District opts to spend above that level — as it has for the past two years — Berkeley Heights taxpayers are left footing the bill.  Also, state aid is not free money- it is also funded by your tax dollars.

If the District’s own projections are off by 22% one year and then followed by a 48% spending increase the next, what confidence can the public have in the newly advertised figures?

It’s almost as if the budgets are meaningless – instead of addressing overruns from original budget points – we are consistently budgeting according to overruns.

Perhaps most troubling is the District’s refusal to release the line-item Excel version of the budget, despite multiple formal requests and its clear relevance to public oversight. While PDF summaries are made available, the public is being asked to accept general assurances without the tools to verify them.

When costs rise this sharply, residents deserve a clear, auditable explanation. And they shouldn’t have to rely on outdated spreadsheets or buried state audits to piece the story together themselves.

This is especially true in a context where the Mayor and Town Administrator are demanding that the District cover the full costs off security personnel while demanding District property and now, tacking on sewage fees.

I spoke with Dr. Feltre- yesterday and am exchanging emails with her today as a way of holding this understanding accountable.  I did correct one error I published yesterday (the 62% increase I indicated yesterday was closer to 40%) – if anything more comes out of the discussion I’ll post an update.

Lastly. none of this touches upon the question of how all this money – locally and from the state – is doing anything to help students with Math, Science or ELA nor is there one conclusive piece of evidence to support that these investments are making Berkeley Heights or any school safer.  As I said yesterday, most of the research shows the opposite is true.

Source Documents:

2023-2024 ACFR

2024-2025 Excel Formatted Budget

2025-2026 Advertised Budget

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