Robbinsville Public Schools

A: It is a special election held by a Board of Education, with state approval, when seeking voter approval for funding to undertake a large expense beyond the annual school budget. Robbinsville school officials are presenting this referendum for the sole purpose of addressing a chronic budget shortfall.  No capital improvements are being considered as part of the plan.

A: Expenses are rising faster than the amount of funds raised through property taxes and state aid. Major cost drivers include such fixed costs as contracted salaries, health insurance, special education tuition for out-of-district placements, insurance, courtesy bussing and utilities.

A: Despite our pleas, the school district consistently receives an inadequate amount of aid from the state; that revenue stream has decreased by $300,000 in recent years and future cuts are anticipated. Federal aid is uncertain.

A: Cost of clubs, sports, and activities

The total budgeted cost for clubs, sports, and activities includes:

• Programs, equipment, coaches/advisors, et al: $1,274,332

• Transportation: $280,000

• Staffing support: approximately $260,000

This totals about $1.8 million.

Many costs are shared across schools and cannot be cleanly separated. These costs do not include maintenance of the fields, groundskeeper, insurance, and potential rental revenue. I estimate the cost to climb up to $2 million.

What we do track is spending by school as a percentage:

• Elementary schools: 8%

• Middle school: 17%

• High school: 75%

This reflects that elementary schools have the fewest activities, middle school has more, and the high school has the largest number of teams, clubs, competitions, and travel.

 A: “Miscellaneous” category in the operating budget

“Miscellaneous” is what we call the long tail of the budget.

It is not one large spending item and it is not discretionary.

During the public budget presentation, I group many small required costs together so the chart is readable. Each individual item is under $500,000 (less than 1% of the budget). When shown separately, the chart becomes cluttered and misleading.

This category includes many required costs, such as:

• School supply items used in classrooms

• Legal, audit, and compliance costs required by law

• Purchased professional services

• Mandated state and federal reporting costs

• Other small operational expenses required to run schools safely and legally

These are real bills that must be paid and cannot be eliminated without violating laws or basic school operations.

A: Budget surplus over the last 6 years

A school district does not keep extra money year to year like a savings account.

When a small surplus occurs at the end of a year, state law requires it to be used right away. It can only be used for things like:

• Paying bills that arrive late

• Reducing borrowing

• Helping balance the next year’s budget so taxes do not increase

Because of this, any surplus from prior years was fully used in the following budget year, which is why it no longer exists today.

There is no unused or hidden surplus. We do have Capital and Maintenance Reserve that are less than the amounts required to maintain our school buildings.

For transparency:

• All district audits going back to 2008 are publicly posted on our website

• The State of New Jersey also posts every school district audit

• District audits can be found here: RPS Audit Information

For specific surplus figures, please refer to:

• Pages 74–79 of our latest audit, which is Exhibit C-1.

These audited financial statements are the official, certified record of surplus amounts and how they were used.

A: Raising taxes to the current state-mandated cap would only generate approximately $900,000 in new revenue, which is insufficient to cover the rising costs and aid reductions the school district is facing.

It is important to note that school officials since 2017-2018 adopted annual school budgets that did not reach the spending cap. By not “going to the cap,” which would have prompted nominal increases in school taxes each year, the school district lost out on nearly $23 million in revenue which would have greatly offset the burden now being faced.

A: Without the approval of the upcoming referendum, the Robbinsville Public Schools will not have adequate funding in the 2026-27 school year and will eliminate numerous academic offerings, sports, clubs and extracurricular programs to balance the budget. There would also be an increase in class sizes, as well as a decrease in AP classes, foreign language offerings, electives, literacy programs and more. Unfortunately, the school district would also be forced to undergo staff reductions.

Regardless of the outcome of the vote, the Robbinsville Public Schools will continue to meet the requirements for the New Jersey Student Learning Standards mandated through the New Jersey Department of Education.

A: Fiscal realities require the school district to make priorities. Because we cannot cut from academic programs that the state mandates, we need to focus on clubs, sports and other non-essential areas of school operations. This is an unfortunate reality, not an alternative that anyone wants.

A: The initial Public Question voted down in 2023 would have been a multi-year plan to address budget shortfalls. A second Public Question, with reduced funding, which passed on March 12, 2024, only addressed a one-year shortfall.

A: Municipalities with well-funded, high-rated school districts typically see strong real estate values, as young families are attracted to the community and see value in paying more for a home. In contrast, municipalities that continually struggle to fund their public schools, and face ongoing reductions in programs and services to students, see a noticeable decrease in the value of a comparable home.

A: Robbinsville Public Schools routinely have less funding than surrounding school districts on a per-student basis. On average, the school district spent $12,946 each year per student from the 2016-17 school year to the 2023-24 school year. This average was the lowest in Mercer County over that span.

A: The school district runs on a very tight $65 million budget tied to fixed costs, with little discretionary spending. Approximately 54% of the 2025-26 budget covers district employee salaries, 16% covers employee benefits, 7% covers buildings and grounds, 7% covers transportation, 6% covers out-of district specialized tuition, and then curriculum, technology, utilities, guidance, insurance and liability, and capital outlay each constitute 1% of the budget. Just 4% is set aside for miscellaneous expenses, including services, supplies, legal and other items costing less than $500,000 per year.

A: Yes. The school district is running as lean as possible, we believe. In fact, school officials continually undergo detailed, line-by-line reviews of the budget to identify any potential savings. Cost-saving measures have created an estimated $5,128,667 in savings, which included a savings of $2.88 million by switching employee health insurance programs, $700,000 (and growing) in pre-school revenue, $400,000 from using solar panels and $174,000 by switching to higher yield savings accounts. 

Smaller amounts of savings have been realized by repairing student Chromebooks, rather than buying new, eliminating a courtesy bussing route and purchasing copiers, rather than leasing them. The goal has been to eliminate any cost that is not necessary to operate the school district.

A: Expanding fundraising efforts is always beneficial to the bottom line, but fundraising alone will not cover the revenue needed to cover rising expenses. To balance the budget in the coming school years in a stable and deliberate way, we need to rely on the local levy, while we continue to advocate for more state aid.

A: The Robbinsville Public Schools spent the past year developing options based on community input following a change in administrative leadership in January 2025.

A: School officials will host open public meetings each Tuesday leading up to the March 10 vote, encouraging community questions. There will also be open office hours Tuesday afternoons and other days/times upon request for community members to meet with school officials. Also, to maximize outreach, school leaders are introducing “On the Road Thursdays,” meeting with any local group to outline the issue, answer questions and provide detailed explanations.