001Good afternoon and welcome to the Tuesday, March 10th, 2026 budget only workshop meeting of the Wall Township Board of Education. At this time, please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Smythe, will we can we have the sunshine announcement and roll call, please? Yes, this is the Wall Township Board of Education meeting for which adequate notice under the Open Public Meeting Act was provided by a notice to the Coast Star, Asbury Park Press, written notice to all Wall Township Public Schools, the Township Clerk's office and the posting in the Board of Administration office on January 8th, 2026. Mr. Roll Call, Ms. Adams. Ms. Barbier. Here. Ms.
002Biddy. Here. Mr. Buffer. Here. Ms. Di Giovanni. Here. Ms. Lawler. Here. Mr. Smith. Here. Mr. Wandrak. Mr. Maliff. Here. At this time, we're going to open the floor to public comment. If there's anybody here who wish to comment on school related issues, this would be the time. Seeing no one, I'm going to close public comment and at this time, I'm going to turn the meeting over for a few minutes to our uh acting superintendent of uh schools. Thank you, Mr. Maliff. I just wanted to speak briefly uh or touch on the action item on tonight's agenda as it pertains to a revised 2025-26 school calendar. Uh this is in response to the changes made by the Department of Education regarding the graduation requirement and NJGPA exam this year. The revision will only impact junior class
003students who will be taking the exam, which is scheduled for Monday, March 16th, Tuesday, March 17th, and Wednesday, March 18th. So, in order to accommodate these new testing times and the seating requirements, our junior class only students who take the exam will follow the early dismissal schedule at the conclusion of their testing periods for the 3 days on March 16th, 17th, and 18th. The communication from the high school will follow uh after tonight's meeting. So, thank you. Okay, thank you, Mr. Scarano. At this time, I'd like to have a motion to approve the uh consent agenda for the revised 2025-26 district calendar. Ms. Di Giovanni, a motion. I have a second. >> I'll second. Okay, uh Mr. Smith. Okay, uh roll call. Ms. Barbier. Yes. Ms. Biddy. Yes. Mr. Buffer. Yes. Ms. Di Giovanni. Yes.
004Ms. Lawler. Yes. Mr. Smith. Yes. Mr. Wandrak. And Mr. Maliff. Yes. Okay. Thank you. At this time, I'm going to turn the meeting over to our acting superintendent, Mr. Scarano, who will introduce the people who will present the budget presentation tonight. Mr. Scarano. Thank you again, Mr. Maliff. Before we get started, I just wanted to thank our administrative team and their teams as we we work on a you know, the budget process. It's it's a long process starting in the beginning of the school year, Um just culminating in tonight's presentations, but all of the work that goes into crafting and formulating the budget. Um You know, so that we can put the best possible programs together for our students. So, I did want to thank our administrative team, our team in the back who's here
005to support. Um and um and thank you for that. The work will continue, but um tonight's a big night where we get to talk about a lot of uh you know, the initiatives, the programs that we're looking to uh support in this year's budget. So. Our budget workshops are sessions for the full Board of Education to meet as a whole and discuss the annual budget process. Our and are in addition to the many discussions that take place at committee meetings where no more than four board members meet with school and district administration on a monthly basis. The budget workshop is held in public because it includes the full Board of Education and therefore provides an opportunity for the public to observe the board as they work on the final stages of the budget with administration.
006Budget workshop meetings are not presentations of the final school budget. And most documents being referenced, reviewed, and discussed have not been made available to the public and are not made available at tonight's meeting. It is important to note that to date, state aid and federal grant figures have not yet been released and we are expecting these state aid figures soon. Please understand that these allotments can and will impact the school budget process. At the March 17th Board of Education business meeting, the board will be asked to approve a tentative 2026-2027 school budget for the purpose of submitting to the NJDOE for review and approval prior to advertising the proposed budget that will be presented at a public meeting and voted on by the board. The deadline to submit this tentative budget this year to the
007NJDOE is March 27th. >> [snorts] >> Our work will continue after the tentative budget is approved on March 17th with the final budget being presented at a public hearing on April 28th. At the April 28th public hearing, there will be an opportunity for public comment specific to this annual budget prior to the board vote. Before we begin with tonight's workshop presentations, I would just like to share with you the priorities of next year's budget and some of the themes you will hear throughout the evening as we continue to move through this process. These budget goals adhere to our strategic plan and support the goals and objectives from the strategic planning process. Our desire is to develop a fiscal year 2027 budget that supports the following. Curriculum development, instructional resources, and supplemental programs rooted in evidence-based
008practices designed to support teaching and learning. Expanding and supporting the capacity of staff members through professional development opportunities but offered both in and out of district. Strengthening student programs and services. Comprehensive evidence-based student wellness programs and tiered systems of support designed to build and reinforce belonging, voice, and agency for all students. A focus on physical and network security, instructional device availability, and infrastructure updates. Max- maximizing efficiency with respect to staffing and purchasing and facility maintenance of the upgrades made through the voter-supported referendum. As I mentioned earlier, the 2026-2027 school budget continues to be a work in progress. Currently and in the absence of the specific state aid figures, we are expecting to submit a balanced tentative budget for Board of Education approval on March 17th. Over the next month and a half, the board committees
009and district administration will work to refine the budget by identifying additional efficiencies and making necessary adjustments based on state and/or federal aid allocations. So, at this time and as we generally do every year, um we kick it off with Ms. McCann, our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction as she sets the table for the rest of the night and um speaks about her proposed budget. So, thank you, Ms. McCann. Thank you, Mr. Scarano. Um so, I have um some topics to talk about related to curriculum and instruction and what we are requesting um in the upcoming budget. So, the curriculum and instruction budget is designed to support the academic programs of the district. It is centered on four key areas: curriculum development, instructional resources, professional development, and supplemental programs. The goal of curriculum design is
010to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. A well-developed curriculum provides teachers with a clear roadmap outlining what content to teach, effective instructional strategies, and appropriate assessment [snorts] practices. Regular curriculum revision is essential to ensure alignment with best practices and updated standards. Each summer, teachers collaborate to revise curricula in response to updates from the New Jersey Department of Education or to refresh the content that I may not have been reviewed in several years. This summer, revisions will focus on science and world language across all grade levels, K-5 English language arts and social studies, K-3 mathematics, elective courses at the intermediate and high school, and secondary level special education courses. A strong curriculum alone is not sufficient to ensure high-quality instruction. >> [snorts] >> Research-based instructional resources are equally important in supporting effective teaching. Ongoing evaluation
011of these resources ensures alignment with the New Jersey student learning standards and current best practices. In the upcoming school year, grades K through 3 will implement a new mathematics resource, i-Ready Classroom Mathematics. The high school will explore the adoption of new world language resources, as well as updated texts for precalculus honors, AP history, and business law. The budget also includes funding for consumable materials such as our K-5 literacy workbooks, intermediate level science and mathematics materials, theater supplies, and novels for grades K through 12. Additionally, it covers classroom general classroom supplies, including paper, writing utensils, paint, and student desks, as well as specialized materials required for music, art, and technology programs. In today's digital learning environment, educational platforms play a critical role in supporting classroom instruction. The district utilizes assessment platforms that provide detailed, individualized reports
012to help teachers target student strengths and areas for growth. Content-specific digital tools further enhance teaching and learning across our subject areas. Our professional platforms are also used to manage and share information across the district. For example, Genesis serves as the district student information system and is also used for lesson planning, grade books, and professional development tracking. Additional platforms such as SchoolFi, Frontline, and iObservation support various operational and instructional functions within our district. Professional development is the third major component of the curriculum and instruction budget. Ongoing professional learning is essential for teachers and administrators, enabling them to refine their skills, remain current with educational research, and improve student outcomes. Effective professional development equips educators to address diverse learning needs while fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. Professional development is supported in two ways: out-of-district
013and in-district opportunities. Out-of-district professional development includes local, state, and national conferences, as well as regional workshops. In-district professional development is delivered by outside consultants who provide in-class coaching, workshop workshops, and guest presentations tailored to district needs. The district budget is supplemented by federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary Act, ESEA, which includes Title I, Title II, Title III, and Title IV grants. Each funding source has a specific focus. Title I supports the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. Qualifying schools in our district include Central, West Belmar, Whis, and the high school. And these funds primarily support morning and after-school programs. Title II funds funds professional development initiatives. Title III supports language instruction programs for English language learners and immigrant students. Title IV funds initiates initiatives are related to mental health and technology. The district will receive
014notification of the federal allocations in late June or and these allocations will determine the scope of funded programs. There is one supplemental program that we have kept um in our budget last school year, and that is our elementary summer night academy, which was previously, way back when, funded with all of our ESSER money. And we made it a point last year to include that in our district budget, and we would like to keep that in our budget due to the positive impact on student achievement. Um the 2026-2027 budget includes about $90,000 to include to continue with this initiative. Um and given its success and measurable benefits for our students, we're committed to offering the program again this summer, budget dependent. Any questions? Thank you, Ms. McCann. I just uh Thank you very much for the
015report. Um just in terms of a a little bit more specific. I know the state We may already be uh prepared for this and maybe doing it already, but you can tell me. The state I think passed a uh a law this past year about uh requiring cursive writing Yes. >> to return to the elementary schools. So, we prepared Will be doing it? Or we How are we doing it? >> been doing it. Um we never took it out of our curriculum. We were previously um doing it in second grade. However, this current school year, because we are Wall, we implemented it into third grade. So, we are ahead of the curve. Great. Thank you. Any additional questions from anyone on the uh board? I just Ms. McCann, thank you and your team for your
016hard work on this. And um huge thank you for trying to keep the well, keeping the Summer Nights Academy in there. That was a great program, and I'm happy to see that in there. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh Mr. Schirano, would you like to introduce the next presenter? >> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Maloof. I was just going to say the same. Thank you, Ms. McCann and your team for prioritizing particularly the student supplemental programs uh this year. So, thank you. Um Up next, we'd like to welcome our assistant superintendent of special services, Ms. Kelly Bond, to review the proposed special services budget. Okay. Thank you, everyone, for um for listening to the proposed budget here. So, we're going to talk about a few areas of focus that are the uh backbone of
017the special services proposed budget. So, starting with um the various locations and the continuum of services that we offer to our students here in Wall Township. Some of this is a little bit of education from the code, but I think it's important because it's all rooted in how we fund and uh how we budget for our department. So, you'll see that we work along the continuum of least restrictive to most restrictive programming. We have all of these offerings within district, starting with having our students educated in the general education classroom, having an in-class resource teacher, so that is where there are two teachers in a general education classroom. If a student needs more support than that, we move along the continuum to having a special education teacher pull that student out to teach them with
018more specialized instruction in one or more subject areas. Then, we may move along to our self-contained programs, which we'll talk about on a future slide, all of the programs that we have in district. And that's more specialized and for more intense instruction when a student requires a special education program for the majority of their day. Then, if we are unable to educate a student in district, we look to out-of-district programs, which again we're going to talk about a little bit more in depth. And the most restrictive program would be considered home instruction, and that's considered most restrictive because the student has no access to um any peers. That tends to be on a very short-term basis, maybe due to a medical need or something of that nature. The next slide talks about our special programs
019in district. So, these start down at Wall Primary School, where we have integrated preschool, and we also have a special education preschool class for students with IEPs who require more targeted and specialized instruction. Moving into our elementary schools, Allenwood and Old Mill, house our self-contained programs. We have emotional regulation impairment, multiple disabilities, and our learning and language disabilities classes in those two elementary schools. All three of those programs continue on through the intermediate and the high school. And at the high school, we have the addition of the RISE program, which I'm going to talk a little more specifically about because it's our newest specialized program in district, as well as our work-based learning. So, that is where 18- to 21-year-olds go out onto job sites with job coaches, and they learn employability skills to help
020them to transition to adulthood. We also have created some specialized resource programs, where we have students who have specific needs that we place together in a classroom, so the teacher can really target their instruction and the techniques that they use with them in that class. So, the New Jersey Administrative Code mandates very specific staff-to-student ratios. I do feel it's important just to highlight these because it's it drives our personnel and our staffing budget. So, you'll see there listed the a variety of programs, and then you see numbers and numbers in parentheses. So, the number is the number of students that can be in a classroom with the teacher. When you move to the number in parentheses, that is the number of students that can be in the classroom if you add a paraprofessional. If you
021go above those numbers, we are required to either open another classroom or consider other placements. So, for example, if you look at in-class resource, there there is no option to add a para to an in-class resource class to increase the number of students. You can have eight students at the elementary level with an IEP in an in-class resource section. If we have a ninth student either move into district or require service, we either need to open another section or we have to consider another elementary school that may have that program offering. Um so, that's a lot of the um you know, the law and the statute, which which is is a lot of what we do in special services. But um my favorite part and what's near and dear to my heart is when we're
022able to look at student need and create programs based upon that. So, the RISE program is our newest special education offering. And this initiative came about and and demonstrates just that. We looked at student need. We were finding that we had many students who were requiring out-of-district placements because they were exhibiting anxiety, school phobia, and not coming to school as often as we would like them to. We created this program, where we were able to have a very flexible and calm environment. The students have access to a special education teacher, a clinician, and the therapeutic programming in which they need. What is wonderful about this is it happens here. So, when the students are ready, they can go into any academic course in which they would like, an elective, extracurriculars. They are able to participate
023with their peers when they are ready. So, having these kinds of programs and creating them when we see the time comes is not only fiscally responsible for the district, but also extremely beneficial to the students that are in them. The next two slides talk about our out-of-district placements and our tuition-in students. So, you can see in that graph, in 2010-2011, we had 43 out-of-district students. As we started to create more and more in-district programs, that has shifted downward each and every year. Um and that continues true as we move into the next school year. So, last year at this time, we were projecting 25 out-of-district students. Now, we are projecting there will be 22 out-of-district students in September. Um and tuition-in students, um we are surrounded by towns that um some may not have all
024the specialized programs that we offer in Wall Township. So, we are able to accept tuition-in students after um a a fairly rigorous um data dive into their files. We do observations. We meet with their parents. We meet with the students. But um we can accept tuition-in students who can benefit from our self-contained programs. That fluctuates. We fluctuated between 11 and 13 over the past few years. So, currently, we have 13. We are projected to have 11 in September. Uh the wonderful news about that is two of the students are returning to their home district, and that is a testament to the teachers in and the staff in this district who have helped those students so tremendously that they're capable of returning to their home district. So, we think that's really cool. >> [laughter] >> Um
025And then the next slides are more the nitty-gritty of um what the special services department buys in each budget line. So, we have professional services and extraordinary services that are required for students based upon what is in their IEP and what their needs are. We have general supplies, testing materials. When a new assessment comes out, we are required to purchase that within 1 year of the new assessment coming out to be within compliance. Specialized [snorts] equipment, technology, and curriculum for our special education classes. And then we have supports for staff and students that include various trainings, um technology platforms, uh and things of that nature. Um as Ms. McCann shared, we do have federal uh a federal grant that supports our budget, the IDEA grant, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Same as Ms. McCann mentioned,
026we won't have those numbers, uh but when we do, we tend to utilize that uh those funds for out-of-district placement costs, professional services. And we do use a small amount for some supplies. So, thank you very much for listening. And also uh really just for supporting the special education department as as much as this board always does. So, I thank you for that. And open to any questions that anyone has. Thank Thank you, Ms. Bond. Special education certainly has been and continues to be one of the very largest portions of any school budget. Seems like more and more laws and mandates are put upon the school districts and uh what you are doing, I think, you know, in trying to bring back students to our school, whether it be through the Rise program or other
027programs, to make sure that we are following the law, but at the same time being as as res- responsible to the students as as you can, but also fiscally responsible uh to the district so that we can provide the best possible opportunities for all the students at at the the most reasonable expense. So, I appreciate that. I appreciate all the work. Any other questions from the members of the board? Mr. Buffa. >> I had a question, but you answered it in the tuition in students piece. So, thank you for doing that. Um I also just wanted to note that um and it wasn't in here, but I know it's an initiative that you had um with the unified sports, unified phys ed, unified music now, unified art. Um seeing those offerings uh and knowing that
028it it it impacts more than just our special ed population is huge. Um and I wanted to thank you for that and and thank your team as well for kind of working through this and making sure that all of our students um are able to kind of reap the benefits of what we have to offer here in Wall. Thank you. And thank you, Ms. Bond. Um having an had an opportunity to work a little bit closely with you on the um you know, your budget this year was it was impressive to see the the amount of costs that are associated with your side of the house. And um and how well you manage them and how some can be unexpected. And you know, you have to adjust sometimes, you know, depending on student needs. So,
029thank you and your team for that. Thank you. Um and at this point would like to uh welcome Ms. Tiffany Steiner, our director of intervention services and student student wellness to present uh the budget in her area focus. Ms. Steiner. Thank you, Mr. Scurranzo, and I would like to begin by thanking the Board of Education for their continued support of student wellness. Your understanding that wellness is not something separate from learning, but rather what allows learning to happen, provides a strong foundation for the work we do each day. The vision for student wellness in Wall Township schools is to support the well-being of our entire school community through intentional programming and responsive supports. This work focuses on the physical, social, emotional, behavioral, and technological development of students, staff, parents, and guardians. At the heart of
030this work are the principles of belonging, voice, and agency. When students feel they belong, know their voice matters, and have opportunities to take ownership of their growth, they become confident, motivated, and independent learners. Our first goal is to strengthen our comprehensive evidence-based student wellness program. We will do this through clear, consistent instruction for students, continual professional learning for staff, and strong collaboration with families. And our second goal is to continue developing the tiered system of support that ensures safety and provides a coordinated, responsive approach to academic, social, emotional, medical, and behavioral [snorts] needs. This system allows us to respond early, provide targeted support when needed, and ensure students feel supported. On our universal slide, I've highlighted our universal programs and supports, the experiences all students participate in as part of our commitment to student health
031and wellness. Two of our district-wide K-12 programs, Seven Mindsets and the Lifelines Trilogy, serve as key resources and pathways for this work. Together, they help establish a shared language and common values around wellness, mental health, and help-seeking behaviors. In grades K through 5, we will continue with the morning meeting as a daily experience. While our initial focus was on establishing a strong sense of belonging and a school culture built on connection, the upcoming school year will build on this foundation by adding learning experiences that elevate student voice and agency. Students will find and express their voices as individuals within a classroom community and become empowered to create their own contributions to the school community. In grades 6 through 8, we will strengthen the weekly advisory period known as Wellness Wednesdays. This year, it serves as
032a dedicated time for students to learn about positive habits of mind. Next year, we hope to elevate the experience by incorporating more opportunities for teachers to serve as mentors and by fostering deeper, more meaningful relationships within an advisory framework. Curriculum writing and targeted professional development on advisory best practices will be critical to the success of this work. In grades 9 through 12, we will continue to reinforce key social and emotional skills through our health curriculum, but beginning in grade 9, the school counseling curriculum supports post-secondary read- readiness by helping students understand their personal strengths, making healthy decisions, and connecting them to future goals. To support this work, for the first time students this year participated in the YouScience assessment, which provided insights into their aptitudes, interests, and potential career pathways. In the upcoming year, we
033will build upon this experience by using assessment results intentionally with both students and families. Additionally, for the first time, we will introduce a secondary transition and readiness counselor to support students across grades 8 and 9. While we have previously offered a ninth-grade counselor as a best practice for students entering high school, this new model intentionally loops the current eighth-grade counselor with students as they transition into ninth grade, strengthening continuity of care. At the same time, our current ninth-grade counselor will begin working with intermediate school students, focusing on the essential skills that they need for high school success. This approach allows for stronger relationships, smoother transitions, and more targeted support. On the next slide, I've highlighted the programs and supports delivered through our tiered system of care, which directly align to our second goal. When we
034talk about a tiered system, we are referring to a continuum of support. Students whose needs cannot be fully met through our universal programs, they would receive either what's called tier two or tier three supports primary through our school counseling team. These supports include individual and group counseling, as well as coordinated responses from multi-disciplinary teams such as our I&RS and 504 teams. Two district K-12 programs that will be incorporated in that are incorporated into this budget are BASE, delivered through Seven Mindsets, and the Lifelines intervention and postvention components of the Trilogy series. These serve as primary pathways for our work in intervention. BASE is a Castle endorsed evidence-based program that strengthens coping skills, emotional regulation, and connection, while also serving as a restorative and behavioral support for students with targeted needs. And our Lifelines intervention component
035of the Trilogy supports students exper- experiencing elevated emotional distress. Both of these align closely with I&RS and 504 systems. These efforts are further strengthened through our family, school, and community partnerships, including collaborations with Compass and Preferred Behavioral Health. I wanted to highlight here a unique strength of Wall Township, which is our partnerships with our local community providers. To deepen staff professional knowledge, we host each year an annual community resource panel that showcases local providers and programs that support our youth. This event is organized by our district social worker, Ms. Caylin Gilvary, and now includes school counselors from some of our neighboring districts that we invite to come and meet our providers. On our next slide, which features our nur- our nursing needs, I've outlined the nursing services that are essential to student health and safety.
036Um these range from, you know, medical supplies for routine care, as well as maintenance and calibration of essential equipment. Also in this area is our uh statute requires that we have a medical oversight that's provided by a school physician, Dr. Hughes, and our head nurse, Carrie Penn. We also provide individualized nursing care to meet specific student needs, including before and after school nursing coverage required. This is for children whose private health care provider um writes orders for life-saving medication that can only be administered through our nursing staff. So, when we offer children these services, it promotes equity and access for our medically fragile learners. In addition, um as Mrs. Bond had mentioned in her presentation, we have um homebound for medical homebound instruction incorporated into the budget as well. To support this work, we also
037maintain two part-time registered nurses, each working a defined set of hours per week at an hourly rate. So, this staffing model allows us to remain responsive to student needs while maintaining fiscal responsibility. I'd briefly like to explain a portion of wellness budget that addresses one of our fastest growing needs in our community, which is our housing insecurity. Our work here is guided by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and coordination through DCP&P, which protects students who who who lack fixed, regular, and inadequate housing. Since 2021, Monmouth County has seen a 40% increase in students experiencing housing instability. While Wall Township from 2021 has experienced a 160% increase. Under federal law, stability equals choice. Students may remain in the school they attended when they last had permanent housing, even if they're temporarily placed in housing in another
038town. Or they're given the choice to enroll in that town. In most of our cases, families choose not to uproot their children and remain in the district where the parent had the last permanent housing address. When a family remains in temporary housing for 365 consecutive days, the district where the student is temporarily living becomes fiscally responsible for the tuition and transportation of the school the family chooses to attend. In cases involving DCP&P, the court determines both school placement and district fiscal responsibility for payment. This is um directed by through the courts, and most likely what occurs is the parents home district typically remains responsible for tuition for students even when they're placed outside of the district. These changes may result in a district either paying tuition to another district or receiving tuition in in return.
039When budgeting in this area, we review current cases alongside historical trends. However, due to the unpredictable nature of these type of placements, this does remain a challenge. Together, these laws are designed to minimize disruptions for students during times of instability. Our goal is always to provide continuity, dignity, and access to education while meeting our legal and ethical responsibilities. I would like to conclude by reiterating that together, these universal, targeted, and intensive supports reflect a comprehensive approach to student wellness. This budget ensures we are meeting the academic, social, emotional, medical, and safety needs of our students while maintaining compliance with state and federal requirements. I appreciate your continued support and would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay, thank you again, Ms. Steiner. Just like with with special education, there's certainly a lot
040of state and federal laws and mandates that have to be followed. And often when you know, when when people think of what the schools do and what they provide for their kids, you know, they're mainly focused on academics and extracurricular. And uh don't focus so much on these many behind-the-scenes things that are so very important for the well-being of our students. And I thank you and your staff for doing so much for our students and and staff when necessary, as has been the case in in recent weeks. Okay. Thank Any other questions for Ms. Steiner? Mr. Buffett. Thank you, Ms. Steiner. I've enjoyed following the past few years as we've kind of progressed through Seven Mindsets and some of the other initiatives you've done within your department. Um Is there any data that we Are
041we at a point now with Seven Mindsets where we could grab some data from that and see if there's been an impact on the student body or Yes. Okay. >> That's a That's a great question. And when we look at data, we typically look at performance, student performance, attendance, and then we also have access to behavioral data. So, um just recently, we looked at some of our behavioral data from the SSDS reports. And just this year, since 2021 till this point, we looked at how many cases of harassment, intimidation, and bullying we've had. And in our elementary where we're implementing the morning meeting, there has been an 80% decrease. In our secondary, there's been a 30% decrease. Now, the data that I did look at is data from reporting period one, which is from September
042to um the end of December. So, that's where we are so far this year. And then we'll also look at that again at the end of the year along with attendance and some of our test scores. Thank you. That's huge. That's That's amazing. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you again, Ms. Steiner. Any other questions for Ms. Steiner? Okay. Mr. Scarano, I think you're up. And I just wanted to reiterate one of the the innovative ideas from Ms. Steiner and her her department regarding the 9-12 transition and readiness counselor. It's just another example of using, you know, current district resources to provide better services to students without an additional cost. So, you know, thank you and your team for for doing that. I know it's very innovative and, you know, something that should
043benefit our students greatly using the resources that we have. So, thank you for that. And now I'd like to turn our attention to the technology department. Something that a lot of a lot of us know a lot don't know a lot about until we need something from the technology department. So, Mr. Allworth, our director of technology integration. Good evening, everybody. >> [clears throat] >> I would like to walk you through our technology plans for the 2026-27 school year, including where we've been able to save, where we're in looking to invest, and why. I promise I'll keep this moving, but I do want to make sure you have a clear picture of the work that we've accomplished and where we're headed. Our mission hasn't changed. Everything we do in technology is in the service of creating
044a safe, reliable environment where students can learn and grow, where our staff have the tools they need to teach effectively, and our district operations can function efficiently. That mission drives every budget decision you'll see tonight. Before I get into the specific budget categories, I want to share some context that I think is important. Over the past year, the technology department completed a significant amount of work renegotiating and restructuring our vendor contracts. We moved several key agreements to multi-year terms, and that's had a real impact on what we're able to do with our funding. For example, we are looking uh we are changing our primary internet service uh for next school year, uh and we've cut that cost in half uh from our current contract to the next contract, uh which will be over the next
0453 years. Our content filter had the same effect. Doing a multi-year contract, we cut it by 67% per year. These kinds of decisions give us the stability and free up dollars that we can redirect towards the areas that matter most. And this year, that's going to be student devices. I also want to take a moment to highlight something that happened recently that I think speaks directly to the value of planning ahead. During the major snowstorm that we had a few weeks ago, our district maintained full internet connectivity. >> [snorts] >> That wasn't luck. That was the redundant connections we discussed and approved last year at the budget meeting. Our district Other districts in our area, unfortunately, they they use the same service provider that we do, and they experienced significant connectivity issues, and they struggled
046to operate normally during that week. I'm not sharing this to pat ourselves on the back. Maybe a little bit. I'm sharing it because it's it's a real example of what happened and why we we're continuously talking in the technology department about, "Okay, well, if plan A doesn't work, what do we do? What's plan B? What's plan C?" Um and it's a it's a continuous conversation that we have more often than I'd like to admit. In our world in technology, anything can happen. And our job is to make sure it doesn't stop us from serving our students and community. So, as you look at the budget numbers tonight, I'd like to ask you to keep that context in mind. The year-over-year changes you'll see reflect deliberate decisions, not fluctuations. We are moving money strategically so that
047every dollar is working as hard as possible. Cybersecurity and data backup. Our cybersecurity and data backup budget reflects the contract work I mentioned. We've maintained and in several areas strengthened our security posture while bringing the cost down from $194,000 in the current year budget to $135,000. This includes everything from multi-factor authentication to endpoint security to on-site firewalls, off-site backups, and internet redundancy. We didn't cut corners here. We did cut costs through smarter contracting. The productivity, collaboration, communication, and student management tools. This category covers the tools our staff and students rely on every day. Our Google Workspace, which involves all of our email, our Google Drive, our Docs, calendars, uh uh which is our student information system, our staff software, our website, mass notification system, internet and phone service, and more. We reviewed our subscriptions carefully
048and consolidated where we could. You'll see a reduction from 351,000 to 322,000, which again reflects those intentional decisions around licensing and service agreements. Student and staff devices. This is the centerpiece of our fiscal year '27 plan, and I want to be straightforward about why the number is higher this year. The savings we achieved through our contract work, the internet uh connectivity of the internet contract, the content filter, and others allowed us to redirect funding here, where we have the most immediate need for the upcoming school year. Here's what we are looking to do. Um our rising ninth graders, which is approximately just under 250 students currently, will receive a new Chromebook. Uh these are four-year devices that the students take home that they receive in high school, and they return at when they graduate. Our
049rising fifth graders will receive uh new Chromebooks when they arrive in fifth grade. In fifth grade, they don't take them home, but when they graduate fifth grade, they do take them home in preparation for the intermediate school, grade six. And those devices stay with them for four years, grade five, six, seven, eight. We're also looking at replacing approximately 250 Chromebooks across grade levels two through four. These are classroom sets. Uh they don't go home with the students, uh but they have not They have not been a focus of a replacement cycle in the past 2 years. Uh so, with respect to state testing and making sure that the operating system stay up to date to make sure that their apps work, uh that's something that we're looking to focus on next year. I don't want
050to say a specific grade level because we're going to be looking at specific devices. So, the obsolete devices will be replaced in those grade levels. For kindergarten, uh we have a significant number of iPads that will no longer be able to update to the current iOS version this coming summer. They've been identified as end of life. Um and unfortunately, due to that, we use a mobile device management software, an MDM software, that actually allows us to manage them from a central location so that we can push down apps, uh we can basically set them up easier for the teachers so that if the teacher wants a new app to be installed or the uh for curriculum or special services, we can push that down without too much delay. Um so, a majority of our devices
051will lose that capability this summer. So, that's going to be a a big focus uh moving into next school year. All outgoing devices do go through an inspection process. We do look at them. We make sure that they are either broken completely where they will be recycled, or we put them back into the revolving stack of devices that will be uh replacing broken ones when accidents do happen. Our maintenance and repair replacements. Our maintenance and repair budget has come down as well from 182,000 to 150,000. A big part of that is our team taking on more work internally. Uh device replacements uh such as like cameras, access points, um projectors, not just necessarily end user devices, but any devices within the district that uh may need to be replaced, uh internal cabling, infrastructure maintenance, uh
052rather than outsourcing it to contractors. Uh we will we will still budget for unforeseen items because things do happen unfortunately that we can't foresee, uh but we've become much more self-sufficient internally, and that does save us money in our department. Uh physical security. Physical security sees a modest increase next year. Uh so, this is another area that we're looking to uh focus on next year. Uh from 118,000 to 236,000. This covers uh a new implementation of uh finishing the door lock implementation for new RFID access control, uh which will increase our uh security at our door locks and also allow us more capability for future growth uh for our access control system. Uh we're also looking at um maintaining and increasing services in our security cameras, perimeter systems, emergency notifications, and our IP clock and
053speaker systems. The increase reflects expanded coverage and added redundancy across our buildings and administrative facilities. Uh student staff student and staff safety is one area that we that we don't that we want to take seriously and make sure we focus on. System management tools and services. Uh system management is another area where our contract work paid off. We've brought this down from 104,000 to 64,000. Uh what we ended up doing in this area is we actually replaced some paid subscriptions that we have uh with open source applications that actually function better than the what the paid subscriptions were providing us. Uh so, that was a big shout out to Mike team for finding the solutions and implementing them uh so that we can change directions on some of our subscriptions. Uh these costs also cover
054everything from our wireless access point licensing and network management to our help desk system. Uh password management and print management. So, uh in closing, uh I would like to thank the support from the Board of Ed. Uh I In the grand scheme of things, we are not even though some of you can see the money is shifting from one area to another, uh the budget has remained flat from the current year to next year uh in the technology department. So, I'm I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Allworth. I think of of all the areas that uh uh you know, the of interest in the school, I think your area in in technology is the one that can change the fastest. You have to adapt to it uh
055quickly to make sure that we we stay up, but also uh making sure that uh the devices that are are provided for our students are devices that they can use safely, all right, and uh effectively. I know what an a very big uh part of the responsibility is making sure that these devices are ready for the the online testing that all the students have to take, and uh you know, it was good to hear what you said about uh you know, that we maintained our uh internet connectivity uh during the storms, and and to the degree that that's happened, you and your staff, I know you have a you have a lot of good things to say about your staff, and they work very hard, and we you know, we see evidence of that uh
056every time that we have a meeting here, and we greatly appreciate what uh what they do for us here at the meeting, and and for what you do for the district as well. Thank you very much. Any comments or questions? Yes. Ms. Lord. I just want to say I really appreciate how you compared this year's or next year's um costs to this current year. That was really helpful to see. Thank you. I do have one. Mr. Buffer. Thank you, Mr. Allworth. Um I I kind of want to echo what Mr. Maliff said um to some extent uh that it was when you first came in, there were a lot of things that you quickly addressed, which made this impact where we saw it budgetarily, uh and then we came into this year, and it's always
057in the operational end of things. You always see that up front when you get into a new place, but it's really great to see that you were able to find those efficiencies in your second year here. Um And just a quick story about the redundant internet. Um when we lost um uh in my house, I can't remember if it was December or November, we lost Fios for almost a day, um and I overheard my three teenagers talking upstairs while I was downstairs, and after they got done talking about how they knew how it felt to be Amish cuz they didn't have internet for a day, um they proceeded to say that they wish they were at school cuz at least they had Wi-Fi at school while they were there for the day. So, um while
058the FNF committee had to listen to your redundancy plan for way longer than we'd hoped to last year, um it seems that it it paid off, and we we really I really appreciate your work and the work your department as well. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Buffer. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Buffer. Mr. Scarano. And thank you as well, Mr. Allworth, from a personal level. Just uh your responsiveness to our department when things, you know, don't work as they should um because, you know, when we call, you always come cuz if you don't, we're going to call again and again. So, but you always come, and it's provided a great comfort to us. Um you know, a lot of times if I'm in a meeting, people will talk about cybersecurity, and I just say I
059don't know, I'll talk to Chris. So, it's uh it's a it's a comfort to have that. So, thank you. Thank you. Um just going to switch hats quickly um and put my human resource hat back on and take a few minutes to present the personnel budget uh for this year. So, before I get started, it's an opportunity annually for me to thank our office staff, both uh Lisa Rose Amelia, our human resource coordinator, and Michelle Meisner, our human resource secretary. You know, we're a small but mighty department um manage a number of you know, obviously the staff in the building over close to 700 FTEs. So, they do a tremendous job in helping with the day-to-day, and uh even more so as trying to balance two positions. So, I wanted to just give them a
060a special thanks for the work that they do, and I think that every year we get a little better at what we do, um and I and I and I appreciate them for that. So, I'm not going to read the mission statement. You can see it, but I did just want to highlight that, you know, the the themes of that are we like to operate with fiscal and ethical responsibility, and we do value collaboration, relationships, and equity with the primary goal focused on student empowerment and achievement. So, some of our personnel budget goals for 2026-2027, um fairly similar to years past, but we always try to ensure that our personnel is maximized and the district is appropriately staffed. Um we often this time of year will audit certifications to ensure staff are appropriately assigned um
061in an effort to provide the greatest possible assignment flexibility. So, somebody with multiple certifications may be able to fill a role somewhere else, which allows us to to provide some flexibility with our staffing. Um one of the more important sides of the budget, not just to get the money side correct, but also it gives us an opportunity annually to verify our alignment of our FTEs and our position accounts. Um you know, it's been nice to see over the last couple years when we go, things are in the right places, people are in the right accounts, but ultimately it's it's almost an annual audit for us to make sure that our systems are clean and up-to-date. So, in addition to preparing a budget, it's also, you know, an annual system audit um that allows us to
062ask certain questions and and to some cases learn about the positions that people are in and uh the account numbers why they're split, so. And to clean those up should somebody not be in the account that they're supposed to be um in. Um we'll evaluate our current personnel options uh for staffing any new programs and positions. Uh we'll allocate our staff to ensure any continuation or expansion of programs and services. And uh what I'll talk about a little bit more um throughout the presentation is maximizing our breakage and attrition savings in order to not only fund additional positions, but achieve or develop a balanced budget. I'm just going to talk briefly about our full-time equivalents and FTEs. This is essentially the amount of time that employee works for the organization and how we categorize our
063employees based on their employment status in the district. Um [snorts] it's really what dictates the difference between part-time and full-time status. So, they can be applied two ways. It can be the number of days that somebody works in a week or the number of hours somebody works in a day. So, to use a teacher as an example, um employee FTEs can range from zero to one. You might say, what employee might be a zero? Those would be substitutes. We house all our own substitutes in district, but they do not hold a specific FTE or position. They are per diem employees that are brought in. So, even though they are our employees, they hold an FTE of zero. Um if there was a teacher that worked three days a week, they would be at an FTE
064of 0.60. If they worked four days, it would be 0.80. And if they obviously worked full the full five days, they would be a full one FTE. Um if it had to do with, let's say they work every day of the week, but work a part-time schedule, if they work three out of their six classes, that would be a 0.5 FTE. If they worked four out of six, that would be 0.67. And if they worked five out of the six, that would be a 0.83 FTE. And obviously, if they taught all six periods um throughout the course of every day, they would be an FTE of one. Um the final budget from last year, 2025-2026 in that school year had a 695.84 FTEs in the general fund. And currently, the budget for the 2026-2027 reflects
065a two FTE increase of 697.5 FTE in the general fund, which I'll explain um that increase in just a second. But, I think it is important to note that our FTEs we we house everything here in district. So, these FTEs when you look at that number includes all of our our transportation personnel, our custodian and maintenance, um paraprofessionals, uh certificated staff, cuz we house everything in here, including our substitutes, even though they're not part of the FTE allotments. So, that's a that's a, you know, a point of pride for Wall Township that we do employ these positions all in district. So, and it's the uh the first time in the four years that I've been here that our FTEs have been below um 700. So, we're making progress in that that area. So, to to
066talk about a little bit with the uh increase of the two FTEs, this would be due to the incorporation of one elementary teacher at the elementary level due to increased enrollments, and one music teacher at the secondary level due to um increased enrollment offerings. Um now, you might say, how do we fund those positions? Those two total additions to the budget, those two positions would cost the district budget-wise $144,100. But, when we look at our retirement and our breakage savings, that's the money between somebody retiring and the money we save between, you know, what we hire, we're looking at savings of uh approximately $309,000 um over $309,000. So, that leaves us with a total savings currently of $164,900 well, 984. However, I expect that number to increase as we keep getting retirements between now and
067the end of the year. Those savings in what we budget for to replace those retirement positions would only increase those savings. And generally between now and uh and June 30th, we can anticipate an additional few uh retirements to come through, some of which we've heard about that haven't been official and others that, you know, may or may not be a surprise, but that we can expect to uh see a savings there as well. So, the next steps, um we'll continue to evaluate our class sizes and those enrollment numbers across the district. Uh we'll review the need for the current positions that we have, while also reviewing staff certifications for any of the position flexibility should we need to fill additional positions. Uh we'll utilize our staff transfers as a means to as a means to
068preserve these positions, while also identifying any inefficiencies or areas where we could potentially consolidate. Um what we will also do is we'll notify our impacted staff members. Generally, if there's any staff members that we would not be looking to return, we would notify them by early May. But, transfers we always try to notify prior to the summer as we know them. Now, some transfers may become um more known as the school year goes. You could get a resignation or another retirement that would require a transfer, but generally speaking, once we know they're official, we'll try to notify those staff members as soon as possible, so they can prepare for their new um their new position or potentially their new location. Um we'll be posting for any new positions uh to fill retirements, resignations, or any
069new additions. Generally, we'll do that after the budget is passed, so we know that we have these positions. So, we're looking at the end of April, but our goal is always to hire and have as many of our certificated staff members for next year, new hires on our May and June agenda. Um sometimes they trickle into the summer through July and August um as they become available and known, but um our goal is always to look at getting as many of them early on our May and June agenda um so we can tie up those positions. Um we also approve our certificated, paraprofessional, and administrative assistant staff. We do those at the May board meeting, and we will approve our non-certificated and non-represented staff at the June board meeting. And we'll always continue to monitor
070any other areas, particularly as uh state aid and federal aid becomes available for areas of potential savings. So, our overall staffing costs last year in the budget, um our salary accounts uh added up to uh 52,868,664. This year, due to general salary raises, we're looking at our salary accounts being 54,327,229. Um that's an increase of just below 1.5 million, and that's about a 2.76% increase for this year, where last year we were looking at a 2.29% increase in 2025-2026. So, that's uh everything that I have, and happy to certainly answer any questions um if you have any. Okay, I think very good that you you pointed out that even with the with the breakage and the savings that we're making, you know, the the increase uh you know, basically has to do with the contractual
071salary increases that all of the employees uh receive, you know, yearly. So, [snorts] uh uh certainly, you know, having been with uh you at the uh personnel meetings, I know that you're uh you know, very much on on top of things and trying to make sure that uh we staff our schools uh properly, but not more than we need to, all right? Uh again, so that we can provide the best services for our students and also the best value uh for the taxpayers of the district. Uh anything else from any of the uh >> [snorts] >> Okay. Mr. Buffer. Uh thank you, Mr. Scaranello. Yeah, to just again echo what Mr. Maliff said, I feel like the three of us are just repeating what each other says to some extent, but um Yeah, I it
072it's thank you for explaining that, and it at also, as being a member of personnel, like we members of personnel get to see how you operate within your department and where you find these efficiencies and how frequently you review these things to make sure that we're always kind of exactly where we need to be to keep Wall um running in in tip-top form. So, thank you for that. And having had the uh opportunity to serve very work very closely with you on the superintendent search, your level of expertise and your knowledge when it comes to all things human resources is mind-blowing. So, thank you again and and thank you for putting time into this. Thank you. And I and I would be remiss if, you know, when we talk about staffing in the different departments,
073[clears throat] that's that's really a team effort that comes from, you know, everybody depending on their specific area, but that that really is a team effort. But, thank you for for noticing and acknowledging that. Um, up next, I just was go I would like to introduce Mr. Smythe, our business administrator. I just wanted to thank him ahead of time cuz sometimes when he's done I might not have anything left, but um uh I wanted to I wanted to thank him for all of the work that he, you know, does on the budget and all of the guidance that he provides as we go through our process. Um, he and I spend a lot of time together and you know, from the personnel side, now he gets me on the other side. So, I appreciate all
074the guidance you've provided not just in this, but some of the education in um you know, learning more about the budget process. So, thank you, Mr. Smythe. So, uh you know, this is kind of an outgrowth of the F&F committee, which we're normally good for what, 8 8:30 on a F&F night? So, buckle up, Kathy. We we we good? Now, don't [clears throat] worry. What It won't be that bad. Uh but, I do have the in my area of the budget, I do have the privilege of being able to develop certain departments or programs within the budget and then the overall responsibility kind of packaging it together, identifying the revenues, and submitting it to the Department of Education. Um, and I will say at this point, compared to where we were at this point last
075year, we are in a lot better position. We had a very big hole that we were still trying to um you you know, reduce appropriations and find revenues in order to balance the budget. And you know, although this budget is still a work in progress uh and without and barring any, you know, surprises with regard to the state aid, which should be out in a couple days, we intend to provide a balanced tentative budget to the board on the 17th so that we can meet the statutory deadline of submitting it by March 27th [snorts] um you know, for this for this month. So, as part of the handout I am what I'll say is in any of the sections, you don't have to wait till the end. If there's any questions on any particular area,
076please stop me, interrupt me. And as well, not only for tonight, but anytime in the future between now and the public hearing, if there's any concerns, questions with regard to the budget, please do not hesitate to contact me. We'll make an appointment, you can come into the office and we can review whatever concerns, questions that you have. You know, the different areas of the budget the business office was responsible for this year in in preparing with some assistance from those individuals in the support services. And our ultimate goal is to provide the support and the facilities and the support services for all the areas of the district that were just presented to you. We provide the percentage of the budget from building maintenance all the way to the capital projects, including personal benefits, which includes
077our health benefits. Some are a very small percentage of the budget, but as you'll see, they're just as important as some of the the larger ones. [snorts] So, the first one is our building maintenance. It's also referred to as required maintenance. Uh school districts are required to invest in their facilities in order to be eligible for state facility aid in future projects such as rod grants or referendum. If you recall as part of our referendum presentation, we were eligible for 40% of eligible costs. And the reason we were eligible for that 40% funding is because we demonstrated over the prior 10 years that we had invested in our facilities. And the requirement is uh 2% of the replacement value over 10 years. So, if you recall every fall we approve a comprehensive maintenance plan. It's
078reviewed in F&F and it's submitted to the Department of Education. And that's to demonstrate that we are in fact investing. It's a $75,000 increase over the prior year. Just give you an idea, these accounts and that's just over or just under a 10% increase from the current school year. But, this is all the only cost we record in our required maintenance is actually supplies that we use we use to maintain the facilities. And the idea of the required maintenance is to prolong the life of the structure and our facilities. And only those costs are allowed to be charged to the to these accounts. So, it's supplies for that purpose as well as contracted services. Um Anything on required maintenance? Again, it's significantly important because of the 40% state debt service aid that we are eligible
079for for performing that work. We also have our custodial accounts, which is uh just under a $90,000 increase. It's almost $7 million of the budget. 50% of the costs are salaries as Mr. Scrano indicated in his presentation with regard to the salaries, $54 million is more than 50% of our total budget. So, it kind of goes hand in hand with these categories such as building custodial services. We charge here our maintenance staff, our custodial staff, as well as our non-instructional paras. I won't read read each of the lines, but you know, we we are If you see with regard to the utilities, it's up 40%, which is only a 2.5% increase. And with regard to the cost increases we're hearing about, we're really hoping that we we recoup some efficiencies with regard to all the
080improvements that we've added to our facilities with in response to the with regard to the referendum that we are almost to the point of completing. We also have our grounds accounts. It's up approximately 10%. Again, we're doing turf as part of the referendum. That's going to help our line item budget, but it also is going to provide us the ability to reallocate some funds so that we can invest in our other fields that are not turf. And the utilization of those turf fields is going to allow us to make improvements on the other athletic fields and our and our general grounds throughout. We're good? Student transportation, $6 million is part of the overall budget. This is a decrease of just under 2% or 1.75% but the only reason why it's a decrease is for years
081we always lease purchased our purchase of school buses. We would do a lease purchase over 5 years. And that was done years ago because we were not able to include in our budget the actual purchase price. Eventually though, that catches up to you cuz after 5 years you essentially have the same dollar amount in in your in your budget. It's just that you're lease purchasing over a 5-year period for up to, you know, we've had 2 to 15 buses being paid off on a lease purchase. We've moved to actually purchasing buses outright. That's a different cost that's part of equipment. And you'll see that reflected in a later slide with regard to our equipment purchases, but we have our standard increases with regard to transportation, but overall it's being reduced because of the reallocation or
082the reappropriation of the funds. Again, 47% of this budget is salary and also 44% is contracted services. And what we contract out, we contract out Our processes, if we have the ability to do it in-house, we prefer to do perform any transportation in-house. However, there are a number of routes runs that we cannot perform efficiently. And as required, if we are not able to do it in an efficient manner, then we are to first go to our Monmouth-Ocean Educational Services Commission to allow them to combine our students or our routes with neighboring school districts' routes and package that together again for efficiency. But, we outsource through MOESC parochial runs. We have Monmouth County Vocational, some of the academies that we're not able to do in-house, we contract that through MOESC as well as certain out-of-district
083special education routes. Um So, but again, you know, we are a service organization and similar to the operations, the custodial, we're almost half the the cost is related to our personnel, which is interesting also in both departments. We have approximately 56 positions in both our custodial maintenance and you know, non-instructional paras as well as our bus drivers, which includes the management, our bus drivers, as well as our transportation aids that ride the buses. Anything on transportation? Yeah, a large cost center of our budget, 24% is personnel benefits. I provided, you know, the major line items. We have social security contributions that district is responsible for. We have support staff pensions and the one difference is our certificated staff, the pension contribution is reimbursed by the state. However, all non-certificated staff positions, which is essentially all
084of our support staff, the district is responsible for those pension contributions and we receive an annual bill that's due in April and the budget for that is $1.7 million. So, when we look at in-house services that we provide, it's not only the costs that are associated with the custodial services, the transportation costs, but the support staff pensions and their personal benefits would be attributed to those support staff. Workers comp is part of our insurance package. We're in the diploma joint insurance fund um that we've been been in for at least 25 years now in the district. Health benefits, the very large line item obviously. You can see the increase. I'll touch on that in the next slide. And we also have other employee benefits, which include uniform sick time reimbursement. When when you look at
085the category of personal benefits, when you remove health benefits, we're about a 1.3% increase from the prior year. It's because of the health benefit increase of $2.5 million, which brings it up to 13% and when you like when you read about it on the news, you read about it on social media, you know, you take the overall line item of category of personal benefits and you have a 13% increase in in your budget, that's pretty good. And with regard to health benefits, the individual line item for health benefits, we're at a 16% increase. And again, I'll reiterate it, this is a working document. We are continuing to work with our broker as well as Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield to identify like we're somewhat able to identify what our costs are between now and December
08631st of 2026, but come January, the last 6 months of the year is a projection when it comes to the health benefits because our contract is in place on a calendar year basis. So, with respect to personal benefits and specifically to health benefits, you know, and and I'll qualify it again. At this stage, we're at a 16% increase. And we are self-insured and you know, just real quick, there's you basically have three options when it comes to health and benefits. You can either be in the state plan, state New Jersey state health benefits plan. You can go private in a sense, you're just going with Aetna, you're going Horizon or you could be self self-insured, which we are fully self-insured for our medical and our prescription. There's also the hybrid where some people are just
087self-insured for prescription. And and the main difference, not to go in too much of the weeds on it, is rather than pay a premium for our member for our employees who are enrolled in health benefit plan, we pay the actual cost to run the plan. So, when our employees go to the physician, we pay that cost. You know, when there's a medical procedure, the district pays that cost. We use a third-party administer administrator and that's Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield to manage that and we are in their network and we receive their rebates. And then also we have referred to as stop-loss insurance, but it's essentially reinsurance to limit our exposure within within the budget. So, in our budget protects the district up to those reinsurance limits. Let's give you a small idea. On an
088individual basis, the district incurs the the first $125,000 in medical prescription costs for an employee or a member and then we have reinsurance for those costs that exceed that. There are certain exceptions where they put lasers and we're, you know, on the side we have a a liability of $800,000 separately for lasers. But most importantly, we also and we talk about it in F&F and each year we compare ourselves to the state health benefit plan. And is it advantageous for the district to move into the state plan as opposed to being self-insured because being self-insured, there is there is some exposure, there's some some liability even though we we provide those protections with reinsurance. So, we compare annually whether we should be going into the state health benefit plan. And in the and for years
089because we've been self-insured since January 2011, we've always compared and saved a million, there was a year it was $2 million. As a case in point, when we were in COVID and everything was shut down, most districts just continued to have to pay their premiums to whoever their provider was, whether it be Aetna, Horizon, whether they were in the state plan. We did not. And we were not paying any any claims because nobody was able to you know, see a physician. So, those costs stayed in our budget and we were able to utilize them as a revenue source in the subsequent budget year or to fund our reserve accounts and and to offset the costs in the subsequent year for health benefits. So, and I know it's in the news now with regard to the
090districts that are scrambling that are in the state health benefit plan, how they're managing their budgets. The state health benefit plan for January 1 increased 31%. Their premiums increased 31% from 2025 to 2026. So, I compared and again, we're at 16% for our health benefit line. And being self-insured at 16% increase to health benefit line, it allows us to be eligible for the health benefit waiver. And in reviewing the budget and balancing the budget and if there's any discussion about, hey, are we able to balance the budget without utilizing the health benefit waiver, the answer is no. We're just not going to be able to do it unless we significantly make cuts throughout this budget. We have mandatory budget meetings with the Department of Education in Monmouth County. The discussion came up with regard to
091the health benefit adjustment. And by a show of hands, every and you're required every BA in Monmouth County is required to attend the meeting. Every single hand in the place went up that they are going to be they need to use the health benefit adjustment in order to balance their budget and to absorb the increase in the in the health benefit line. So again, the self-insured plan for us, it's a 16% increase to the budget line and it adds 3% to the tax levy. So, where the allowable of 2% for the tax levy by statute, just put that into context, you know, the the tax levy increase of 2% is about $1.5 million, a little bit more than that. You know, as Mr. Scranton indicated, the increase in contract salaries alone is $1.45 million. So,
092essentially the contractual obligations of the of the board in honoring the contracts that are in place with the personnel that are in place is essentially absorbs all of the allowable 2% tax levy increase that the school district by statute alone with the tax levy is allowed to increase. That's why they have enrollment adjustments, health benefit adjustments. If we were in the enrolled in the state health benefit plan, either chose to do it in January or 4th of July start, and that's with the 30 it would be a 30% increase in our line item for the budget as opposed to a 16% and the health benefit adjustment would add 5.8% to the tax levy as opposed to the 3% under our current budget. And that's anticipating a 0% increase in the state health benefits for January
093of 2027. I was on the phone with the broker today and they're telling their clients to anticipate a between a 25 and 30% increase in state health benefits for January of 2027. So, I don't even know what that would look like with regard to our budget, but if we were in the state health benefit plan and we were increasing 10% as of January 2027, it would be a 37% increase in the line item. It would be a 5.9% increase to the tax levy. And the reason why it's not that much different than the 5.8 is because there's a cap. So, the tax levy adjustment is driven by the state health benefit plan increase. So, when the state health benefit plan increase is 30%, that allows school districts that aren't in the state to also have
094spending authority with regard to the tax levy up to that 30% that's in the state health benefit. The first 2% of an increase in from budget year to budget year is within your 2% tax levy increase by statute. But then above that, you're capped at the state health benefit plan. So, in the years that the state health benefit plan absorbed the increase and did not increase their state health benefit plan or only increased to 2% or 4%, then the health benefit adjustment was not available to the districts in the state plan or all of the other districts that are not in the state plan. But again, with projecting a 10% for January, if we were in the state health benefit plan, it would be a 37% increase in the line item. We'd have 5% 5.9%
095increase to the tax levy on top of the 2% and we would still have a million dollar hole in our budget that we would have to balance because the the additional cost at the 10% increase it it exceeds the allowable adjustment and but we would still have to come up with a balanced budget and we would have to identify a million dollars in cuts in order to offset that increase. So again and and I'm sorry if that was long-winded but you know, we've been self-insured and being self-insured and we discussed it in FNF is a lot of work. Paying premiums on you know, the number of lives that we have in our health benefit plan is easier but it's just a lot costlier. This has been a benefit to the district to the district since
0962011 and I'm glad thank you for the FNF committee for not pushing moving towards the state health benefit plan when we when when we were teetering but again it's it's it's paid off. So any questions on No, I just like to say I think the district and and we we and the board greatly appreciates the you know, we're very happy to give you the extra work that you have to do you know, for the to be self-insured but just a just a little quick question. You know, regards to like if if I get my uh something from my health insurance and it will say something like your they the provider billed you a thousand dollars. Let's say we paid three hundred dollars. How much do you owe? Nothing. So they accept you know, let's say
097Horizon you know, Horizon will pay the three hundred dollars out of the thousand dollars that they were asked. How does that work when we are self-employed? So it would be similar you know, the provider will bill a thousand dollars but because we are in the and for us it's the we're in the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield network. It could be Aetna could be others but in the Horizon so we receive their discounts. So it's similar to Horizon being the provider. So Horizon pays or the district through Horizon will pay that three hundred dollars. So and the same thing with the with RX there's a number of rebates that Horizon receives for certain prescriptions. So the district realizes those benefits as a refund to the district on certain benefits and that's again managed as a
098third-party administrator by Horizon but if you call Remeny Analytics is a firm that we use to negotiate with Horizon to ensure that we are getting the best rebates. They have audited them for the purposes of ensuring that we're actually receiving the the the rebates we meet quarterly they make recommendations for the plan structure and those are the things that you know, we discuss in FNF we bring those recommendations and and and again just overall it's been a benefit to the district. I think also another point with regard to health benefits Yeah, I might make it 30. Sorry. Um you know, with the cost of the medical and the dental plan it's about you know, if you're hired after July of 2020 you know, you don't have a choice of what plan you go into. You
099are required by statute to go into the educators health benefit plan. Every school like if you're in the state plan again that's the state's educator health benefit plan. If you're not in the state plan you must have an equivalent plan that mirrors that educators health plan then there's also the Garden State plan. But again they're both by statute and any new employee hired after July 1 2020 must enroll in that plan. You don't have a choice. The contribution by that employee is by it's it's by statute it's chapter 44. So it's it's not a choice of the Board of Education it's not a choice of the district it's not a negotiated item for seven years from July 1 2020 any higher and that's not just Wall Township that's any public school in the state of
100New Jersey. They're required to go into the educators health plan or the Garden State plan and the contribution is is different the the cost for Wall Township and we have again premium equivalents because we don't actually pay premiums but on the educators health plan is about forty-five thousand dollars. It depends if you're you know, the contribution goes from single to family and you can and it's a percentage of your salary. So if you make under forty thousand dollars it's a lower percentage it could be under a thousand dollar contribution but if you're a higher compensated employee you could be paying ten thousand dollars toward that forty-five thousand dollar cost center. And if you're not in the educators health plan and you're in direct 15 which was a pre-existing plan which is permitted but again anybody
101hired after July 1 2020 is not eligible for that plan they must go into the EHP but anybody that was here prior would pay up to 18% of the premium of our direct 15 plan which again is approximately forty-five thousand dollars for the medical RX and the and the prescription and if you're an administrator in the district you're paying 30% of that premium as as to offset the cost of that for the district. That would be the employee's contribution which could be up to thirteen thousand dollars. Ms. Feeney Uh yeah, I have some questions just going back to what Mr. Maliff was asking regarding coverage and who pays what. So I have a bit of background with health insurance and so my question is with regards to our plan that we offer to our employees.
102When we get that bill is there a deductible on on these plans? Do does the district cover 100% of everything? Cuz that's Short answer that is no. One there's co-pays um So this is it's a co-pay uh scale. Okay. Like direct 15 is based on the name it's a fifteen dollar co-pay for most procedures and then it it depends if it's in network it Sure. We can get into the weeds in network yes if you go out of network it's it's going to be a percentage So our employees are going to be paying a portion of the bill until they whatever their requirement whether it's a co-pay or deductible. It depends on the plan. >> Depend on the plan. How many plans do we offer? We have five plans. >> Five different options. Okay. Five
103five different tiers. Well they're just different plans like the EHP the educators health plan the Garden State plan are required by statute and like the Garden State plan is very similar to the educators health plan but the network is only in the state of New Jersey. That's why they call it Garden State plan. The premium for that is half of what it would be if you were in the educators health plan but you give up the network. >> All five of our plans are have co-pays? Yes. Okay. Cuz some plans do exist where there are no co-pay and it's just a deductible. So I'm just trying to figure out what we're offering with regards to um And I don't want to speak out of turn with all the plans cuz we have direct 10 direct
10415 a 2040 which we have limited people we have an EAP plan >> sure. Any of these plans they also include deductibles I'm assuming. It depends if you're in network or out of network. So in network >> Right let's pretend we're all in network. Then no. No, okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. And if you want to talk more detail feel again you know, what the office is there for and we can go into further detail with regard to the plans we offer. But suffice it to say the district is looking to continue to stay self-insured and again the we'll be applying for the health benefit adjustment and submitting the tentative budget. So those are all under the operating budget. We also have a capital budget included under total equipment it's similar to last year.
105It's not a significant different difference with the exception of the school buses and again that's a reallocation of funds from the transportation budget to equipment. However, the line item itself is a hundred thousand dollar reduction from the current year because we were about four four hundred twenty-five thousand dollars for the purchase of bus buses in the current school year next year we've included school bus replacement for two buses and typically we we purchase buses when we're retiring buses. However, we're trying to you know, not only in balance the budget we're trying to flatten out the budget so we're not trying to absorb hits in specific years. So in 27 we're going to be required to retire seven school buses and we're not going to be like and because of the 2% tax levy cap you
106know, a district is not in a position to be able to absorb purchasing seven buses in one year. So you know, through the FNF committee over the years we've identified when that year was going to be. We've done this in prior years and we're looking to on a consistent basis purchase two buses so that when we do have to retire the seven we already have them and you know, these buses are 20 years old so if we're able to take them off the road and utilize the newer buses in the meantime I think we're all better for it. Otherwise the technology custodial equipment and the maintenance is the same as it was in the current school year. Okay. Two new buses are included in the budget, yes. Uh with regard to capital projects, and again
107principles, this is a work in progress, so continue to be discussed at at finance and facilities. Uh the total proposed budget is 1,107,000. It's interesting, the 7,780 uh is the debt service aid that the state requires us to include in our budget to pay for the debt service aid that we receive. I mean, it's almost like you can't make it up. Um but that's not by our choice, that's a requirement of the uh of the budget. So, what is important is the projects that we include in the capital uh facilities uh budget is 100% funded by our capital reserve. So, if the board wanted to reallocate funds and say, "Hey, we're going to, you know, cut half a million dollars out of our capital budget." That does not affect the other revenue sources such as
108the tax levy or um the other categories with within the uh within the budget that were were discussed here. Um the capital reserve is solely for the purposes of funding capital projects, uh and which we've done year after year, as we funded this uh this line item or these line items from the capital reserve account. Uh in addition to what's been identified here uh and again, we're um you know, we have district-wide paving. We've undertaken this for a number of years, and the idea is we we don't want to get too far behind and have to spend millions of dollars to uh repave or replenish our our parking and our facilities, so we're trying to do it on an ongoing basis. Um you know, we have the high school front and athletic entrance. Those are
109upgrades to the sidewalks. Uh they were intended to be included in this current school year, but however, because of all the work related to the referendum going on at the high school, it precluded us from being able to uh work in the same area, so we're looking to include it again in next year's budget. And again, these funds were budgeted, and if they go unused by statute, they're required to be returned to the capital reserve account. They're not able to be transferred to any other line accounts or anywhere else in the budget. They must stay in capital projects, and any unused uh funds are required to go back to the reserve account. Uh and I was remiss in not pointing it out earlier. Under the required maintenance uh $792,000 line item, we fund that category
110of accounts with a withdrawal from our maintenance reserve. It's indicated in there, I just didn't say it. And again, we've been doing that year after year, $700,000 withdrawal from maintenance reserve funds that category. So, if we wanted to work that we've included in our in our required maintenance account, again, it's not going to impact the revenue sources um you know, that that are typical for the budget. Uh in addition, item still being discussed is our operations transportation facility to the point that we're, you know, developing this budget is uh you know, in compliance with our strategic plan. Uh that is continued to be discussed with our finance facilities committee, and even though it's not a line item in the budget, again, this would be funded from our capital reserve account, and we would be able
111to withdraw the funds from our capital reserve. Um so, even though it's not a line item, it is still on the agenda for um capital improvements for um next school year. As well as uh another point is a concession stand at the Wall High School, uh which is continues to be discussed, and again, that would be funded from capital reserve and could be withdrawn from those funds during the school year. Continues to be discussed at F&F. Uh School tax levy, it's $82,780. Again, it's a work in progress at this point in time. That's based on uh revenues and appropriations that are are a balance of $95,400,000. It is also pending state aid, which again, we hope to receive in the next 2 days. That is the 2% increase uh and the health benefit adjustment of
1123%. Um So, the allowable 2% over the prior year is $1.5 million. Again, the reference to the increase in salaries, the health benefit adjustment is $2.3 million. The health benefit adjustment available to school school districts because of the increase in the state health benefit plan would be about $4.6 million that a school district would be able to to apply for and utilize as a revenue source. Uh and based on our projections at this point, and again, we're still working with our our broker and Horizon, uh we're currently at an increase of two a utilization of the adjustment of just under $2.4 million. Uh bank cap, which is spending authority with regard to the tax levy, either because of a health benefit adjustment that wasn't used in a prior year or an enrollment adjustment uh school
113districts have the ability to utilize that tax levy spending, and they refer to it as bank cap in one of the subsequent 3 years. Uh we do not have any uh bank cap available to us, so it's not applicable. Uh and also, when we go to calculate the tax impact on the homes, uh the ratable base for 2026, and again, it is estimated, has increased $20 million from what the ratable base was for 2025, um which helps offset the individual tax increase on the uh homeowner. Okay. Pause. Uh with regard to the budget calendar, we have the budget workshop meeting tonight. Uh again, notice the state aid, hopefully it's going to come out March 12th. Um and we are still planning to approve a tentative budget on March 17th. The original deadline to submit the
114tentative budget to the DOE was March 19th, uh but because of the delay in state aid, uh they extended the deadline to March 27th. I'm again optimistic that um the notice of state aid is not going to adversely affect us too much. Uh looking at how we would be able to absorb uh vari- uh variance in in what our state aid is compared to our our current school year. And again, the tentative budget is a a process in the overall budget. It's a requirement that all school districts uh the board approves a tentative budget, again, submitted by March 27th, and it's basically a compliance review by the Department of Education, um which it's it's it's a pretty exhaustive review. Uh they ensure that you don't exceed administrative costs in in certain categories. Um there's a
115number of documents that gets submitted, and it has to be approved um prior to the board being in a position to advertise the budget for the public hearing. Again, we have a finance facility committee, and the budget, even though it's approved as a tentative budget, it is subject to change between then and the public hearing, which is scheduled for April 28th, 2026. So, again, this is a working document, and we'll continue to to work on it even after the tentative budget is approved, hopefully next week. Okay. Thank you very much, uh Mr. Smythe. It's you know, certainly worth noting that all of the the work for in all of the departments ultimately filter their way through to the to the business office for them to uh put together the budget, and certainly, you know, I
116encourage all members of the board when the when the budget is uh made ready to look through it. It you know, if you have a few hours to spare, because it it you know, it you know, it it is quite extensive to look, you know, you can look through it, you can see exactly where uh the money is being applied and where it is being uh spent. So, and again, I want to thank uh thank Mr. Smythe for for this very thorough presentation, especially the uh the the work that you do with the with the health benefits. That is I believe a a tremendous uh benefit to the district. Um And also, I'd just like to uh again, appreciate all of the work that the people here who presented uh tonight, but also the the
117building principals and the supervisors uh who did the work at the, you know, at the the first level to then bring it up to the uh to the principals, and then ultimately to the directors and assistant superintendents, and then finally uh to the board here. So, it's uh I know that it's probably the uh the least uh uh thing you like to do the least in terms of you know, you you you like to do the things you you like to work with kids, you like to work with staff, you know, you like to do all of the all of the good things. This is the the part that's not that that fun, but as you see, it is it is so so so very important uh that this work be done, and so that
118we can get this budget you know, ready so that we can present it to the board on the the 27th. Uh were there any other board members that would like to ask any other questions or make any other comments? Mr. Buffone. Mr. Smythe, thank you. Um it's a pleasure working with you on F&F and seeing all of your hard work from over the past few months kind of come together in in this uh in a in a budget that I I feel is a responsible budget um and one that really allows us to allow the other administrators here to continue to do what they do in educating our kids and keeping the best staff here and and just doing what we do. Um I again, just to echo Mr. Mr. Maliff, um thank you to
119everybody that came tonight. Thank you to the administrators that are in the audience tonight. Thank you for coming. Um thank you to our new superintendent, uh Dr. Bleakly. Um Really an exciting time. I I will disagree with Mr. Maliff. I think this is a really exciting thing to do the budget. Um and anybody that wants to see that can meet with Mr. Smythe. Uh, just set aside 4 or 5 hours to go over the budget and he'd be happy to do that. So, um, thank you again, Mr. Smythe, for everything. Okay. All right, if there's nothing else, I would like uh, to Can we have a motion to adjourn? Ms. Barbier, do we have a second? Ms. De Giovanni, all in favor? Aye. We are adjourned. See you on the uh, 17th for the next
120public meeting.