Well we finally got the rest of the Budgets from the DOE just as NP posted it’s agenda one day before a meeting- weird right? It seems both NP and the DOE feel the little detail they do provide on the budget 24 hours before the meeting is enough for the public to feel comfortable with the over $50M spend. However, if you’ve hung around here long enough it wouldn’t surprise you. This will also act as my notes for tomorrows meeting – see below for the additional items worth paying attention to.
With that said, the numbers that show up on the agenda appear to match what’s in the preliminary budget but the details may be different from the budget we’re analyzing here what ultimately gets approved.
The total operating budget moves from $47.8M in ’24-’25 actuals to $52.2M (’25-’26 revised) to $53.5M (’26–’27 proposed). That is a $1.36M year over year increase (+2.61%)
Total budget across all funds is $57.48M, $53.52M – General Fund, $1.06M – Special Revenues and $2.90M – Debt Service.
Operating Budget Growth
New Providence operating budget rises, but growth slows into 2026–27.
Year-over-year increase: +$1.36M / +2.61%
Tax levy moves up from $45.19M to $47.46M in the General Fund, a $2.27M/ 5.02% increase. With debt service included, total taxes raised comes to $49.47M, with $47.46M for General Fund and $2.01M for Debt Service.
So it looks like spending is being outpaced by tax raise.
Tax Levy Outpaces Operating Growth
The operating budget rises 2.61%, while the General Fund tax levy rises 5.02%.
Levy moves from $45.19M to $47.46M.
State aid moves down a little – $3.66M to $3.61M- ($53K) /- 1.45%. Special Education Aid drops ~ $65K, Security Aid drops ~ $24K and Extraordinary Aid goes up by $42K. The net effect is meh – not much pain but not much help either.
State Aid Trend
State aid remains essentially flat with slight declines into the proposed budget.
Overall trend: flat to slightly declining support.
Federal and grant funding is where we see the drop, but the larger driver is benefits/health costs. Total grants and entitlements move from $1.37M to $1.06M- a 22.76% drop. Federal sources alone drop from $570K to $435K, (- 23.73%). That is the post-ESSER funding reality showing up.
Grants & Federal Funding Decline
Post-ESSER funding drop becomes more visible over time.
Down ~33% from ACFR baseline.
Moving on to classroom impact – regular instruction drops 4.54%, from $16.31M to $15.57M, a $741K reduction. We saw salary drops across teacher salaries – grades 6-8 show a 9.10% drop as an example – despite growth on the top line.
Tuition for out-of-district and other placements has a meaningful ~$600K jump from $3.58M to $4.17M- or 16.75%. Notes indicate students moved in after last year’s budget was adopted and an additional out-of-district placement.
Tuition Costs Jump
Out-of-district and other tuition placements become a major pressure point.
Increase: +$599K / +16.75%
Transportation also hops ~5% from $2.36M to $2.47M with special education transportation being a big slice of that pie going from $1.93M to $2.03M.
And then there’s the benefits.
Total unallocated benefits go up ~13%/ ~$1.5M from $11.66M to $13.19M, a $1.53M as health benefits alone jump ~15% from ~$10MM to ~$11.5M, up 15.32%. Notes indicated these are connected to projected increases in health and dental premiums. The 04/30 Agenda drives this move a bit more clearly as it includes a ~1.36M health care cost adjustment for increased health benefit premiums – banked cap isn’t being used.
Benefits Growth Acceleration
Benefits are rising faster than the rest of the budget.
+33% increase from ACFR baseline.
Operations and maintenance are mostly stable -required maintenance is essentially flat, custodial services goes up less than 1%, and overall plant operations rise by ~ 0.54%.
Security increases from $136,696 to $144,612, up 5.79% notes indicating door security for Central Office.
Debt service is one of the few areas holding some good news as that drops ~17%/$602K to $2.9M. Debt service drops from $3.50M to $2.90M, a decrease of about $602K or 17.17%. Notes indicate that the district district made its last payment on a bond issue last year; but since the General Fund levy is still going up its more a story of the tax increase not being as bad as it could have been versus a reduction.
Debt Service Decline
Debt service drops after final bond payment.
Down ~29% from ACFR baseline.
Reserves are going to be used and shifted with unassigned fund balance falling from $1.66M to $1.03M, legal reserve is going to burn all the way to $0, while capital reserve increases a little to ~$495K. Not a building year.
Outside of the Budget but related and on the Agenda for the 04/30 Meeting…..
$69,833.65 in New Providence Education Foundation grant awards
$74,400.56 technology purchase for Juniper network switches/ equipment
$411,000 HVAC upgrade at Salt Brook School
So New Providence’s 2026-27 budget looks stable on the on the top but is tightening under the hood – driven by fixed costs like health benefits, tuition and drops in outside revenue.
|
Related Articles
Benefit Burden – How Rising Health Costs Are Reshaping Madison’s School Budget
John’s Notes on 04/28 New Providence Council Meeting Agenda
