UPPER TOWNSHIP – Two incumbent school board members and a third candidate who previously served on the board are running against three newcomers for three seats on the board in the Nov. 4 election.
Incumbents Michele Barbieri, the board’s current president, and Christine Lentz are running with Brian Teeney, who won a term on the board in 2021.
Newcomers Kristi Lancaster, Logan Bird and Meghan Miller, all parents of children in the district, are vying against them for the seats on the nine-member board.
The Upper Township School District is a pre-K to 8 system with three schools and more than 1,300 students. It sends its graduates to Ocean City High School in a send-and-receive relationship. Upper students represent over half of the enrollment at Ocean City High School: In fiscal year 2024 enrollment at the high school was reported at 1,190, with over 600 of the students coming from Upper.
Costs are a significant issue for the Upper school board. Earlier this year, the board passed a $41 million budget that included a tax hike. The increase in the tax levy will mean an extra $116 per year for a home with the township’s average assessment of $290,248.
As some residents of the township have noted in social media comments, Upper Township has the highest school tax rate in the county. According to the county tax board, the school tax rate in Upper is $1.587. That rate is a full 71% of the total property tax rate for the township, including county and local municipal taxes.
For two years running a major factor in the increases in the school budget has been a rise in the cost of sending Upper students to Ocean City. The tuition cost per student has risen by $1,000 per year in fiscal years 2025 and 2026. In total, $12 million of the $41 million 2025-26 budget goes as tuition to Ocean City.
The burden of that cost on the township is such that a payment plan has been established so that the township does not have to pay the full tuition charge in one lump sum.
According to social media posts, the need to renegotiate a better arrangement with Ocean City High School is seen by some voters as a critical task facing the school board.
Since 2018, when the new formula for state aid began to be phased in, Upper Township has lost more than half of the aid it once received. State aid to the township stood at $10 million in school year 2017-2018, and now sits at a hair over $4 million in 2025-2026.
Loss of state aid, rapidly rising tuition charges from Ocean City and historic increases in the premium rates for the state health plan program for employees have combined to pressure the budgets of the school district.
Add to this the fact that the state has determined that the township, along with nearly 300 others in the state, is spending too little tax money on education. A new state program would allow the township to raise its tax levy roughly $2.5 million over the cap limits without the benefit of a voter referendum. In the fiscal year 2026 budget the township school board decided not to use the added flexibility that the state program offered.
Both candidates for the governor’s office this year say that school taxes are too high. Jack Ciattarelli has called for a significant overhaul of the current School Funding Reform Act, while Mikie Sherrill has mostly favored strengthening the formula with additional funding. Both recognize that lowering property taxes requires a new approach to school funding.
Board President Barbieri has said the kind of funding the township once received from the state will not return. Bird has pointed to the tax increases imposed by the school board as evidence that a new approach is needed on the board.
The school board has had its share of controversy. In 2022 the sudden removal of then-Superintendent Vincent Palmieri unsettled many residents when the board refused to release information on why Palmieri was removed, especially given that his contract obligated the township to an added $300,000 of salary even after he was no longer in the position.
In another transparency controversy with members of the public, Lentz was blocked by the Ocean City School Board from serving on that body as an Upper Township representative. No information was given to the public for why this occurred. Barbieri feels the township board is fully transparent.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
