School Cuts Coming In South Orange-Maplewood, Superintendent Says

SOUTH ORANGE-MAPLEWOOD, NJ — There is some belt-tightening around the bend in the South Orange-Maplewood Public School District, administrators say.

Superintendent Jason Bing recently gave an update on the district’s finances and budget for the 2026-2027 academic year. The news isn’t pretty, he said.

“For the past year, I have been warning of the ‘fiscal cliff’ that is coming to our district and many others in the state,” Bing wrote.

“Rising costs are far outpacing expected revenue, and our only path forward to deliver a balanced budget is with responsible adjustments to spending,” he warned.

According to Bing, the district received its anticipated state aid figures on March 12 – and there is now a much fuller picture of the expected revenue coming SOMA’s way. Read More: How Much State School Aid For South Orange-Maplewood?

For the second year in a row, that amount was far less than the funding entitled to the district by the state aid formula, leaving taxpayers bearing a higher percentage of the total cost of operating local schools, Bing said.

For local homeowners, it will likely mean a tax hike, the superintendent said:

“We are developing our budget expecting to use the full amount of our statutory taxing authority, which is limited to a 2% increase over last year, plus certain allowances, the most notable of which is to cover our increase in health insurance costs. We worked very hard to mitigate those increases, but must rely on the additional taxing authority permitted by law to blunt the blow of these rising costs.”

“As I’ve mentioned many times in the past year, this year’s budget will require hard choices,” Bing said. “And we are now preparing to make those choices.”

>> Read More: Property Taxes Keep Rising In Maplewood And South Orange: See Latest 5-Year Breakdown

CUTS ON THE HORIZON

The superintendent is expected to give a preliminary budget presentation at the school board meeting on Tuesday, March 24. A public hearing and final adoption of the budget is scheduled for May 4.

According to Bing, some of the cuts that may be coming include:

Ending courtesy preschool busing – “The cost of delivering busing to general education preschool students who live between 1.25 and 2 miles is almost four times that of an elementary student, and we have seen limited demand for this service. Students with transportation on their IEPs would not be impacted.”

Change of school start and end times in elementary, middle, and high school – “In order to maximize the use of our contracted school bus services and minimize the number of buses needed to service these routes, we will adjust the start and end times for our schools to enable some of our school buses to serve three different routes in a day. These tiers will be separated by 30 minutes to reduce tardiness. These start and end time changes will also permit bus routes that do not exceed 30 minutes, significantly reducing crosstown trips. These are not only efficiency changes but are also aimed at improving mental health, academic performance, and attendance.”

Efficiently retain staff – “Every member of our staff plays a vital role in educating our students, however salaries are also our single biggest expense. We anticipate staffing to shrink naturally through retirements, attrition, nonrenewals and resignations, and hope to avoid major layoffs. We have completed a comprehensive review of enrollment and sections in each of our schools that will permit us to use our staff and resources most efficiently.”

Reduction in cost of privatized services – “The SOMSD is heavily reliant on outsourced services, and those increasing costs are a large part of our structural deficit. We intend to rebid contracts to optimize such services as security, custodial, and paraprofessionals. Our intention and commitment is to fully support our students in need of additional help in the classroom, while reducing costs that we currently pay above and beyond most other districts.”

View Bing’s full message here.

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