Montclair School Board Approves Budget; Staff Cuts Loom

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Montclair Board of Education has unanimously voted to approve the 2022-2023 school budget.

The board held a public hearing for the district’s annual spending plan on Monday, which can be watched online here. See the budget presentation here.

Superintendent Jonathan Ponds laid out details of the budget at the meeting, noting that the district will cut 26 nontenured staff members and some “newly hired paraprofessionals” because of a $3 million deficit.

“I’ve really gotten down to the last thing I could get down to, and it comes to people,” Ponds said.

Some of the educators who are cut may be hired back before next school year, the superintendent said.

The amount proposed to be raised by taxes is $125.49 million. Last year’s tax levy was $123.03 million, Montclair Local reported.

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Property taxes in New Jersey are made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here's how that broke down in Montclair last year:

• School – 57.2%
• Municipal – 25.9%
• County – 16.9%

In April, the Montclair Town Council unanimously approved the 2022 municipal budget. Montclair homeowners will see a tax hike of about 2 percent to the municipal portion of their taxes. It will mean a $100 increase for the average home valued at $632,000.

• See related article: Montclair Council Approves Town Budget, 2 Percent Tax Hike

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