Last week, I published No Names, No Budgets: Transparency Continues to Erode Under Feltre, documenting how Berkeley Heights Public Schools continues to obstruct public records requests. Since then, the district has finally provided a document — but what they released makes the problem even clearer.

The file they produced covers a small subset of the full $63 million 2025–26 budget — limited to discretionary items like school supplies and minor building expenses. Entire major categories remain completely missing: salaries, benefits, special education tuition, transportation costs, building security costs — all of it withheld. Some rows even appear to have been selectively removed, effectively redacting portions of the document by omission.

Under N.J.S.A. 18A:22-8 and N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. (OPRA), the full adopted budget is a public record. In addition, the New Jersey Department of Education requires districts to maintain and publicly disclose full budget appropriations under the Uniform Minimum Chart of Accounts.

The records exist.

They are not exempt.

This isn’t just about the budget. Back in May, NJ21st requested copies of police-related invoices from 2023 through 2025 — payments the district made for police services outside of formal SRO or SLEO contracts. These are routine invoices that should already exist. Instead, the district claimed that producing them would be a “summer project.” That response is absurd on its face — and raises deeper questions about how this spending was tracked and reported in the district’s own financial filings.

The District responded with another incomplete record (2023 was missing invoices)

What’s now emerging is a pattern:

• Anonymous email accounts managing OPRA requests.
• Delayed and vague responses, often without any named individual.
• Shifting legal arguments that fall apart under basic review.
• Selective document releases designed to give the appearance of cooperation without actually providing the requested records.

In response to NJ21st’s request for comment on this matter, Board member Sai Bhargavi issued a statement breaking from the district’s approach. She acknowledged that she has seen firsthand how these OPRA requests have been handled, stating:

“Delays, vague replies, and the use of anonymous email responses don’t reflect the transparency our community deserves—especially on key topics like police spending and school-level budget data.”

She flatly rejected the district’s “draft” argument, stating that the school-level budget files should already have been finalized and made public once the full budget was adopted. On the missing police invoices, Bhargavi made clear:

“Most of that data is compiled already — for reporting, monthly bill payments and audit purposes — so treating it like it’s a major lift just delays public access without good reason.”

This is not a question of technicalities. This is a question of whether Berkeley Heights residents are entitled to see how tens of millions in public funds are being spent — or whether public officials believe they can simply decide what the public is allowed to see.

The law is clear. The only thing in question now is whether the District intends to follow it.

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