The Manville School Board held a special meeting on Wednesday, March 25th to review their budget presentation for 2026-2027. Board President Tina Breen was absent. Board Vice President Lisa Antonelli presided. Editor's Note: Ms. Breen contacted ManvilleToday to inform us that her absence from the Board meeting was due to a medical emergency.

Prior to the presentation, Mr. Devanshu Modi, the School Business Administrator, outlined the methodology for preparing the budget. Mr. Modi indicated they conducted extensive data collection on essential costs like salary projections, health benefits, and student enrollment and analyzed transportation and tuition costs for both in-district and out of district student placements. According to Mr. Modi, the step-by-step process used for their financial plan was both realistic and responsible and the methodology was designed to be transparent, thorough, and fiscally responsible.

In addition, the calendar driving the budget activities was also shared. According to the presentation, the budget process began in October. Once the budget is approved during this meeting it will be sent to the State before the March 27th deadline. A final public hearing will be scheduled for April 29th.

Editor's Note: Per the State of New Jersey's website, the Manville School District is set to receive an increase in state aid in the amount of $857,429 or 3.14%. Details can be found here: State Aid

The Board is proposing a tax levy increase of 6%. This includes using their "banked cap" or unused Taxing Authority from the previous 2 years. According to their calculations, this will result in a tax increase (school side of tax bill only) of $334/year on the average assessed home value of $427,000 or approximately $78 for every $100k assessed.

Superintendent Dr. Jamil Maroun spoke next, looking back at 2017-2018 "the last time the Board of Education raised taxes" and when "our district was facing an incredible financial strain as many of you are aware". It was during this time, that many residents, faculty, and others were part of the advocacy to fight for the equalization aid in the state.

Dr. Maroun continued by explaining that the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008 defined what was a mandated, adequate budget, and through this act, they created a specific formula based estimate of adequate funding a district needs to provide a thorough and efficient education for all students in the school district. According to Dr. Maroun, the state "decided" to underfund the formula approximately $9 billion dollars between 2009 and 2018.

In Manville there are two ways they reach adequacy. The first way is through local fair share which is basically the tax levy. The second way is through the equalization aid that's provided through the state of New Jersey. Equalization Aid is a process that's used to meet the expectations of the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) which is the funding they receive from the state.

Dr. Maroun stated that back from 2018, "Manville was the eighth most underfunded school" and that from "2009-2018, the state of New Jersey underfunded the Manville School District by approximately $65.5 million dollars that would have gone directly to educate the students in the Manville community".

After Dr. Maroun provided the history and context around the state funding, Ms. Kelli Eppley, the assistant Superintendent, shared the successes the schools have accomplished, from expansion of summer programs, to updating textbooks and technology programs, to investments in academic and extracurricular activities. The school buildings have been modernized, along with infrastructure projects such as roofs and HVAC systems. Dr. Maroun included that the Board successfully passed two referendums that led to a "zero tax impact on the public" which allowed them to bring in approximately $7 million dollars of additional state aid to improve facilities, and to secure additional grants.

For the first time in 2024-2025, the state provided Manville with it's 100% adequacy funding and the Board of Education "while holding taxes down, maintained its adequate share". Dr. Maroun explained that once that was met, there was a change in 2025-2026 which was an underfunding of our fair share. He indicated that the state recognized that it was going to cost more to educate Manville students, but due to the local fair share "that burden was shifted onto the public and the state aid was reduced". What caused this reduction was determined to do with the equalization values in our community, as the increase of the values of homes has risen 33% over the last few years.

It appears that as the town gains more value due to increased assessments, this drives the calculations used to determine equalized values, which in turn can increase or decrease the value that taxpayers are accountable for. It is worth noting that while the assessed value of homes in Manville continues to rise, 70% of our students are on free and reduced lunch according to Dr. Maroun.

In addition to raising taxes, the Board is looking to reduce/restructure support staff as well as reducing leaves of absences, retirements, stipends, and hourly positions as well as cost savings under operations and facilities.

After the presentation concluded, it was opened to the public to provide comments.

The first resident to speak was concerned that last year the Board was promoting a "no taxes and no tax increase" referendum that many "went out and pushed to get that supported". The resident stated that it appears "like you are now retroactively going back to last year to increase taxes because that two, per because you can go back the three years to get your six percent. That means you're taxing on last year after you told taxpayers and residents to pass the referendum that you would not raise taxes". The resident continued that the Board will need to come back to taxpayers for future referendums and asked "what you guys are going to do to address that because I cannot be the only person in this town who is thinking that or will think that when they hear this".

After a several second pause, Dr. Maroun responded "thank you" with no additional comments.

The second resident has a question about preschool as they thought it was completely coming from the state and asked why "they would cut us by $1.2 million dollars". Dr. Maroun stated he was writing it down and would give the resident an update but that it had to do with enrollment numbers. The resident also stated that during last year's budget presentation a slide was shared that showed expenses and revenues would not "come to a head until like 28, 29" and that they were curious as to how they came to this point. Dr. Maroun responded that he would jot that down too and thanked the resident.

The third resident to speak asked what the surplus amount was and if any surplus was used to reduce the amount of the increase. Dr. Maroun indicated he would get that information to the resident. The resident stated that because of the numbers the Board was presenting their portion would be around $400, not including municipal and county, additional due to their assessment increasing $30k.

Public comment concluded and voting was opened on the motion to accept the budget.

Before voting began, Mrs. Lukac read a statement into the record that she would be voting no and expressing her concerns for our community. She highlighted the impacts of Hurricane Ida, COVID-19 and the very large senior citizen population, most who are on fixed incomes and any increase could mean the difference between stability and hardship.

Mr. Kenyon spoke next and simply stated "you know, knowing what I know. And just over the past six years, I think that it would be irresponsible not to pass this budget. This is the responsible thing to do. Yep, that's what I'll say"

Mr. Canica felt he should have shared his concerns in the finance committee but after thinking of it afterwards stated "I feel like six percent is too high of an increase. I do think we need to levy taxes. I think it should. It should be lowered because I think six percent off the bat is not good. Maybe three, three might be better but I think, six percent in the one year, um, time frame. It's a big jump especially with municipal raising taxes and county and state raising taxes. Um, I don't think six percent is, is a is a healthy amount for the citizens right now".

Vice President Antonelli spoke and indicated that she supports this budget and that "I think that we have a responsibility to the children, and I think that while it is going to impose a hardship. I, I think it's going to also help in the long run when we look at things out further. What's it going to do if we don't do something this year? Then next year is just going to be bigger and bigger and bigger. So where do we make that up? Our kids deserve better. It's every child every day".

Mr. Petzinger was the last to speak. His comments were difficult to hear, but he spoke about when his children were in school how they used photocopies because they didn't have textbooks and that we were the lowest funded school in the county, impacting students. "Throughout the years, the funding increased and was used frugally, allowing programs to advance. Despite not raising taxes for the last eight years, the staff, curriculum, activities and facilities are all now top notch. The students can reach their full potential. And I'm proud to say we're from Manville. Everyone worked hard to get here, and with much trepidation, we find it necessary to raise the taxes".

When Board comments concluded the roll was called.

Mrs. Lukac and Mr. Canica both voted no.

Mr. Kenyon, Mr. Petzinger, Ms. Antonelli, Ms. Babich, Ms. Fleming, Ms. Erickson all voted yes.

The motion passed.

A copy of the presentation deck is available from the Board of Education office. The next public meeting on the final budget is scheduled for April 29th.