Middletown BOE Approves Next Year's Preliminary Budget, Which Includes Closing 2 Schools, 3 Percent Tax Hike

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — On Tuesday night, the Middletown school board approved the preliminary budget for next year's 2026-'27 school year.

This is not the original budget that was presented here from the district's business administrator Amy Doherty. The budget Doherty prepared originally included a two-percent increase to the school tax levy.

However, on Tuesday night a majority of the board voted to take what's called a healthcare cost adjustment, because it will bring in an additional $1.89 million in revenue for the district. That will increase the school tax levy to three percent.

For an average Middletown home assessed at $785,000, a three-percent school tax increase will be an additional $223 per year, said Doherty.

Next year's budget passed on first reading in a 7-2 vote by the board, in a meeting that lasted for more than five hours. The only two board members who voted against it were Joan Minnuies and Mark Soporowski.

Minnuies said she voted "no" because she would like to see different things be cut.

"I would like to see us get back together with Dr. Alfone and talk about different kinds of cuts in this budget and take out the things that are wish lists and not needs," she said.

Soporowski called next year's budget "a Band-Aid."

"There is no long-term plan. That's not how you run a district," he said Tuesday night.

Minnues, Soporowski and Erin Torres, who voted for the budget, continue to call for the district to release a line-by-line budget.

Budget was prepared planning for the three school closures

Next year's budget was prepared planning for the closing of Navesink and Leonardo elementary schools, and turning Bayshore Middle School into an elementary.

Due to closing the three schools, there will be anticipated staff reductions, however the district is not expecting layoffs, said Doherty. A total of 40 positions will be eliminated: Three administrative positions, 25 instructional staff and 12 support staff. However, the school district anticipates these jobs will be eliminated naturally through attrition (people quitting/retiring).

What happens next? Doherty will prepare a new budget with the three-percent school tax increase, and send that budget to the Monmouth County Office of Education for their approval by this Friday. There will then be a public hearing April 28 on the budget, and the board will be asked to adopt the final budget on that date.

Ninety percent of the school district's budget comes from local property taxes. The next biggest money source for the budget is state aid. Middletown received $15.7 million in state aid for next year, which was six percent more than it got this year.

Before the S2 funding formula changed in 2011, which is how New Jersey funds its school districts, the Middletown school district used to receive over $20 million in state aid every year.

"We still have not recovered back to that level," said Doherty. "It's not at the level that we received 16 years ago."

Teachers' healthcare costs were among the increase in costs for the district.

Parents accused Aveta of ramming school closures through

At Tuesday's meeting, many parents accused Board president Chris Aveta of ramming school closures through.

One woman, whose name could not be heard clearly, pointed out that Aveta used to sit on the Middletown Zoning Board and now sits on the Board of Education.

"Chris, you just came off the Zoning Board; you are now president of the Board of Education. You guys bulldozed school closures back into this budget, closures that turn public schools into valuable pieces of land," she said. "Let's not pretend we don't know what happens next. That land gets redeveloped and the rules of that redevelopment all run through the Zoning Board. The same system you, Chris, were just part of. At the same time, your campaign received donations from people connected to development interests."

The woman said Aveta has "a pipeline of interest. Close the schools, free up the land and then shape what happens to it. That's exactly how this looks ... This is valuable land. I don't think this is about kids."

She asked if Aveta would recuse himself from any decisions on school closures or future use of the Leonardo/Navesink properties. Aveta responded that if there is a conflict of interest, he will recuse himself, especially if he is advised to do so by the board attorney.

Aveta and superintendent Jessica Alfone say the school district needs to close schools to fix budget deficits, which are predicted to balloon to $13.9 million by 2029.

Also from the March 24 meeting: Middletown School Board Continues To Argue Over Closing Schools

Prior: Companies That Do Business With Middletown School District Donated To Students, Parents, Taxpayers Slate (Oct. 2025)