On Tuesday, March 18, the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District Administration presented the tentative school budget for the 2025/26 school year at the Board of Education meeting.
The entire presentation can be accessed here: 2025-26 Tentative budget.pdf
The district's annual budget was challenging due to cost escalations, specifically health insurance, out-of-district tuition, transportation, and utility costs.
The preliminary budget includes a 2.49% increase in the tax levy for 2025/26, as the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District intends to utilize an additional $800,000 from the healthcare waiver, allowing the district to raise taxes over the two percent cap.
Rising costs and unpredictable funding coupled with a two percent budget cap led to eliminating 33 positions throughout the district. The vast majority of these positions were vacated via attrition.
This budget continues the district's investment in people, programs, and facilities that support essential operations for our students. This budget does not include any elimination of educational programming throughout the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District. The 2.49% local tax levy, while not ideal, represents one of the lowest increases in Somerset County.
The vote for the preliminary budget was 7-1, with Steven Singer, Emily Calistri, Rebecca Hassouna AJ Joshi, Jennifer Loughran, Michael Pepe, and Barry Walker voting yes. Jeremy Li was the lone no-vote, and Lucy Li abstained.
The official budget hearing will occur on Tuesday, April 29, at 7 pm in the Wade Administration Building.