Taxes Go Up In Approved School Budget In Washington Township

LONG VALLEY, NJ — Taxes will go up about $128 for the average Washington Township School District taxpayer in the 2022-2023 school year now that the school district's budget for that academic session was passed, a school official said.

The amount is based on a house valued at $439,258 in the township, which is equal to the average assessed value of homes in Washington Township. The tax increase does not include municipal taxes or the West Morris Regional School District's tax levy.

The school district's general fund for the 2022-2023 school year totals $43,279,538, which is a .1 percent increase from the previous year. Gov. Phil Murphy's administration announced the budget for state aid to all municipalities earlier this year. The Washington Township school district received a $1 million reduction in state aid.

According to district officials, the 2022-23 budget will focus on the following projects:

• Increase world language sections per teacher equal to PE teacher ratios.
• Implement district centered strategy for delivering speech services.
• Increase contract services for related services at the elementary level.
• Restructure behavioral intervention services and in-district professional development.
• Consolidate media instructional services at the elementary level.
• Restructure elementary level CST case management levels toward greater equity.
• Restructure special education resource room services to align with the student population.
• Launch Integrated Pre-K “hub” at BAC.
• New coach and professional development for elementary STEM and Math curricular resources.
• New technology investments in classrooms.
• Continued investments in facilities maintenance and security at all schools.

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