DENNIS TOWNSHIP – Having failed twice to gain voter approval for a permanent increase in the school district’s tax levy, the Board of Education this month took a different route: It applied to the state for an increase in expenditures beyond the level permitted by state budgetary caps. The application includes a request for Tax Levy Incentive Aid.
The amount of additional expenditures requested is $1.9 million, which would represent a permanent increase in the district’s property tax levy. The state program allows a one-time increase in the tax levy beyond the usual cap limits and attempts to limit the impact on taxpayers by additional state aid of 5% of the amount of the adjustment for the 2025-2026 budget year.
The state program provides for this increase in the tax levy in order to permanently reduce budget deficits and funding shortfalls without a referendum. The new tax levy level becomes the basis for future tax increases that would have to be within cap limits.
What makes this little-known program available to the Dennis School District is the fact that the school board has publicly stated that it is spending “below adequacy,” meaning that its spending is less than what state formulas say it should be to meet the district’s constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and efficient education for the township’s children.
The board’s resolution stated that it approved the submission of the application in order “to satisfy the thoroughness and efficiency standards” established by state law. The resolution states that the district “is below local fair share and spending below adequacy.”
School districts have an adequacy budget that uses base per-pupil costs and that is calculated dependent on a variety of cost-adjustment factors, including student demographics, with weights for factors like student poverty levels, special needs and English language levels. The local fair share is calculated based on property values and resident incomes.
The state equalization aid is supposed to be the funding that covers the difference between the adequacy budget, the money needed and the local fair share, what the portion is of the district’s budget that is expected to be funded by local property taxes.
The $1.9 million application approved by the board on April 10 states that the budget of the Dennis School District is below adequacy. It further states that the tax levy, even with the 2% cap annual increase, is below the fair share level it should be at, given the state’s formula for calculating it.
The resolution seeks to increase expenditures by $1,876,402. The district breaks that figure down into $1,787,050 in tax levy and $89,352 in incentive aid.
The details of how the $1.9 million in expenditures would be allocated include a new teacher at each grade level, part-time teachers for music and art, instructional aids, an increase in instructional supplies and reestablishment of sports programs.
The April 10 meeting was a special meeting at which about 25 members of the public turned out; two availed themselves of public comment. One expressed frustration with the circumstances and a desire to “get this settled.” The other engaged in a give-and-take with the board, critical of the move that would produce additional school taxes.
School board member Joseph Berg replied, “No one wants to be in this position.” He argued strongly that asking for this increase in the levy was an obligation the school board could not ignore. This, he said, was the “right thing to do” to provide a much needed quality education to township children.
The district is also looking at possible savings if it can consolidate students into one building. The enrollment in the district as of February 2025, according to school board meeting minutes, was 646 students.
With many school districts across the state facing budget crises due to what several of them claim is a badly flawed school funding formula, the state program of tax levy increases and incentive aid without the risks of a referendum is drawing many to apply. School districts in Brick, Collingswood, Keyport, Toms River and East Brunswick had indicated plans to apply, according to news reports.
The Dennis school board has scheduled one more special meeting in April, on the 29th, with no agenda yet listed.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
