Princeton Schools Set For Budget Vote Tuesday. What To Expect

Princeton Public Schools will hold its final budget hearing Tuesday night. The Board of Education is set to adopt a spending plan that would raise property taxes for the first time in several years and close a nearly $750,000 structural gap driven largely by soaring health insurance costs.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28. Residents will have the opportunity to comment on the budget before the board takes a final vote.

The district is facing approximately $116 million in projected expenditures against a maximum revenue ceiling of roughly $115 million for the 2026-27 school year, as Patch previously reported.

To close that gap, the board is expected to exercise its full taxing authority, raising the local tax levy up to 4.33 percent, translating to roughly $55 more per $100,000 of assessed property value annually. A home assessed at $500,000 would see roughly a $300 increase; a home assessed at $1 million, roughly $600.

The proposed tax levy for 2026-27 stands at $94,444,099 — up from $90,524,554 this year — and accounts for more than 81 percent of the district's total operating budget.

The single biggest driver of the increase is health insurance. While districts enrolled in the state's School Employees' Health Benefits Program saw premiums surge nearly 32 percent, with prescription costs jumping nearly 59 percent, Princeton is privately insured and fared somewhat better, with premiums forecast to rise about 15 percent.

Even so, the district's health insurance budget is expected to climb from $15.5 million to nearly $17.9 million next year. State law allows districts to pass health insurance increases through to the tax levy up to the rate of the state plan's increase — a provision that accounts for the bulk of Princeton's proposed levy hike.

State aid offered limited relief. Princeton is set to receive $5,853,382 in aid for 2026-27 — an increase of $202,349, or 3.58 percent, after absorbing a 3 percent cut last year. But over the past two years combined, the district's total state aid has risen only about half a percent, while general inflation has climbed 5 percent and the state's transportation inflation index has risen 7 percent, according to the district's preliminary budget presentation.

"We're not exactly swimming in it," Superintendent Mike LaSusa said of the state aid picture at the March budget presentation.

Several unexpected costs also emerged late in the process. The municipality notified the district it had not been billing the schools for sewer services and will now do so, adding roughly $100,000. Princeton Charter School's state-calculated tuition rose $320,974 more than projected, and two out-of-district charter placements added another $104,069. Combined, those surprise costs total about $525,000 — only partially offset by $502,000 in new revenue from a municipal PILOT agreement and the state aid increase.

The district is also drawing down fund balance as a revenue source, from $3.9 million this year to $2.7 million next year. LaSusa cautioned that $900,000 of the district's current revenue reflects interest earned on referendum bond proceeds, which will dwindle and ultimately vanish over the next few years, widening the structural gap further.

LaSusa has been candid about the longer-term outlook. "Our expenses are going to continue to be greater than our revenue," he said in March. "Right now we'll be at a position where we can accomplish a budget that does not have significant cuts to students, but it's likely that next year or the year after that will not be the case."

The budget hearing is open to the public. Residents wishing to comment should attend Tuesday's board meeting.

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