West Orange Schools Face $14M Budget Gap, 70 Jobs On Chopping Block

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Public School District is facing a $14 to $15 million budget gap, and it will likely take a combination of sweeping staff cuts and a tax hike to balance the books, administrators say.

The West Orange Board of Education recently voted to introduce the preliminary 2026-2027 school budget. View the district’s full presentation here.

A public hearing and second vote will need to happen before the spending plan crosses the finish line.

The proposal contains some “tough decisions,” superintendent Hayden Moore informed the school board – including a minimum decrease of 70 full-time staff positions.

A specific breakdown of the proposed cuts wasn’t included in the budget presentation.

Other cost-cutting measures may include increases in class sizes across the district, consolidation of courses, a restructuring of the middle school schedule, transportation and busing adjustments, and possibly outsourcing some services.

Meanwhile, local homeowners would face a tax hike if the proposed budget crosses the finish line intact.

A homeowner with a property assessed at $614,976 would see a $294 increase to the school portion of their taxes under the district's proposed budget.

Property taxes in New Jersey are mainly made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Last year, the average West Orange resident paid a combined $16,162 in taxes on a home valued at $615,472, not including credits and deductions (article continues below):

Administrators said the district is seeing cost increases that include:

• Salaries – 3 to 4 percent (contractually obligated)
• Health Benefits – 17.8 percent
• District Insurance – 8 percent
• Custodial, Maintenance and Security – 36.21 percent
• Special Education Tuition (out of district placements) – 6 percent
• Transportation – 3.58 percent

“We have bit we have scraped and scraped and we're taking as many things as we possibly can,” Moore said, emphasizing that the proposed cuts are painful to everyone involved.

“We understand that we want our teachers to work here,” the superintendent said. “We don't want to lose them like anyone else. But we're at a point where we have to understand that the reality has hit and this becomes a mathematical equation – and we have to face that.”

A public hearing and final vote is scheduled for May 4.

• Related: How Much State School Aid For West Orange? NJ Releases Latest Totals
• Related: NJ Funding Formula Is Hurting West Orange Schools, BOE Tells State Officials
  

Watch Moore speak about the budget proposal below (video is cued to his presentation at the 14:55 mark):

Several people spoke about the proposed budget during the public comment portion of the meeting – and received replies from Moore and board members. Watch footage below (video is cued to the start of public comment at the 55:25 mark):

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