Montgomery School Board Votes to Underfund 2025 Budget, Layoffs Begin, Board Member Abstains on Crucial Budget Vote, Wants Pre-Algebra for 5th Graders

By Barbara A. Preston | Posted May 2, 2025

The Montgomery Township School Board opted for a modest tax increase of 2.87% at its almost six-hour long budget meeting on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. An average Montgomery Township resident will pay $104 more in school tax, increasing from $11,577 to $11,681. An average Rocky Hill resident will pay $24 more in school tax, increasing from $6,332 to $6,356.

Some parents and residents had harsh words for the Montgomery School district educators, during the painfully long meeting. When the board voted at about 11 pm to underfund their 2025-26 budget — a move that will cost the district about 20 positions — the Montgomery Education Association (MTEA) members wearing red walked out in unison.

Layoff notices went out this week, according to school officials.

Montgomery educator's wore red to support teachers and school staff during the budget meeting.

MTEA President Michael Razzoli told The Montgomery News that the school board: “ Voted down money that could have secured jobs, helped children, and helped this community. It could have been worse. But we are still going to lose about 20 positions.”

“We bounced around a lot of numbers and scenarios tonight,” he said after the meeting. “Maybe we missed the mark of what we should have been talking about — it’s not just a lack of money in the 2025-26 budget, but it’s about the lack of money that will go into the future school budgets.”

“This is going to snowball, and it’s going to cause more position cuts in the years to come, and we are going to have to dig out of a hole now.”

The layoffs include teachers, secretaries, and paraprofessionals, so it will impact entire buildings, not just classrooms. “It’s really unfortunate for all of our staff."

School funding has long been a contentious issue in New Jersey, where property owners pay the bulk. In Montgomery Township and Rocky Hill, taxpayers pick up 83.5% of the cost. State aid adds about 8.9%, and the remainder includes grants, and reserves.

The MTEA members and some parents argued the actual increase in the budget was small — less than what many residents pay for coffee at Starbucks each year — in comparison to the education services provided to the community. Other residents argued school taxes are already too high, and they should not have to pay any more, or that they don't have children in the district, so why should they have to pay. Some said having so many educators wearing red was intimidating, and made people afraid to speak against the budget.

MTEA President Michael Razzoli addresses the board.

The school board initially proposed a budget in April that called for a 2% increase in spending during a time when employee health benefits have increased 6.7% and state aid will decrease by 3%. However, using the bank cap and health care waiver, the district was allowed by state rules to raise the budget by 4.98%.

Four school funding options were presented to the school board at its Tuesday, April 29 meeting. The Orchard Hill Road school cafeteria was filled to capacity with residents and MTEA members wearing red, and holding signs. 

[The four options are included below, along with the way each board member voted.]

Dozens of speakers spoke during the public comment session.

John Muentener of Belle Mead said, “As a former employee here, I’ve seen a lot of wasted money: spending money for school trips, using contractors at $235 an hour when you could have used an actual employee.”

To the people in the red shirts, he added:  “You all have a right to make a dollar. We all do. But I’m also going to say, because I work more hours than anybody here, if your salary isn’t enough, there’s always something called overtime or a second job. That’s all I have to say.”

Mark Gettinger of Belle Mead said, “It turns out that my kid is unable to read. I pay a significant amount of money in taxes … So, my son is in third grade. He has a second-grade reading ability. So the option is no.”

"Montgomery has a lot. The fourth best SAT scores in the state. Stellar robotic programs. Music and orchestra programs. Top tier athletics. After-school help from well qualified teachers. And more. All of that could go away, one cut at a time. Damage will be done. The property values will go down when the school district goes down.

— Parent Hope Caldwell of Skillman gives a shout out to the educators in the room.

Hope Caldwell of Skillman said she has eighth-grade twin boys. The main reason she moved to Montgomery 10 years ago was because of the excellent schools.

“I know first hand about the cuts [in the school budget] that happened last year because the occupational therapist that was assigned to my sons was cut… Tonight, you must vote to support our children. The 2%, 4%, 6%, I don’t really care what it is because none of them are the 14% that other school districts in the state are facing just to maintain any kind of semblance of normalcy.”

"The median income in Montgomery Township is more than $200,000," she concluded. "Residents can afford to fully fund the schools. There are reasonable solutions tonight." 

The Budget Options

Option #1 – Tax increase 4.98%

Would add 95% back to staff salaries and benefits that were cut in the tentative 2025-26 budget (presented in April).

Montgomery: An average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay $323 more, from $11,577 to $11,900. 

Rocky Hill: An Average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay $148 more, from $6,332 to $6,481.

Votes: [NO: Wang, Filak, Jernigan, Nargund];  [YES: Dowling, Spina, Todd];  [Abstain: Franco-Herman*, Harris*] 

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Option #2 – Tax Increase 3.79%

Would add back about $1.6 million to the budget ($1.2 million for salaries and benefits to maintain classroom sizes and programs and the rest for operations/maintenance), using the health care adjustment and the bank cap.

Montgomery: An average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 resident would pay $203 more in taxes annually, from $11,577 to $11,780. 

Rocky Hill: An average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay about $110 more, from $6,332 to $6,442.

Votes: [NO: Filak, Jernigan, Nargund];  [YES: Dowling, Spina, Todd];  [Abstain: Wang**, Franco-Herman*, Harris*] 

It was a tie, so option #2 was defeated.

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*** The board selected this budget option.

Option #3 - Tax increase 2.87%

This option would use the bank cap money to add back about $780,000 to the budget: $382,131 to staff salaries and benefits plus $397,732 to operations and maintenance. The remaining $6,000 in the bank cap will time out, so it just is returned to the state of NJ.

Montgomery: The average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 resident would pay $104 more, from $11,577 to $11,681.

Rocky Hill: The average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay $24 more, from $6,332 to $6,356.

Votes: [NO: Jernigan];  [YES: Dowling, Spina, Todd, Filak, Nargund];  [Abstain: Wang**, Franco-Herman*, Harris*] 

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The board never voted on this option, because they had selected option #3.

Option #4 - Tax increase 2%

This option would not use any banked cap or health fund waivers funds (although the state allows use of these funds when needed).

Montgomery: The average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 resident would pay $10 more, from $11,577 to $11,587.

Rocky Hill: The average resident with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay $29 less in taxes, from $6,332 to $6,303.

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*Why Did Some Board Members Abstain from Voting?

The Montgomery School Board attorneys advised two board members, Cookie Franco-Herman and Christina Harris, that they should not vote on this budget. A complaint was made to the NJ School Ethics Commission seeking an advisory opinion on whether Herman and Harris should be allowed to vote on personnel matters related to the MTEA.

The Ethics Commission has not made the opinion public. But board members are allowed to share the opinion, according to an official with the NJ School Board Association.

A Montgomery News source said the MTEA had endorsed the Franco-Herman/Harris ticket when they were running for election, and had donated approximately $1500 to their campaign.

"It’s an extremely harsh penalty, and unheard of, and to my knowledge never done before in NJ," the source said.

The school board attorneys, who have not responded to earlier requests from The Montgomery News on this issue, appear to have not challenged the state ethics commission on this "advisory opinion."

In fact, the Hillsborough Education Association has endorsed school board candidates, as have many teachers unions.

The Montgomery News hopes to explore the issue further, but this is all the staff has on this issue for now.

**Why Would a Board Member Abstain from the Most Important Vote of the Year?

During the meeting, Board Vice President Maria Spina said to board member Ting Wang : “There is something that’s been weighing on me. We are elected to make this hard decision. We need to make the decision here. The only reason two board members [Franco-Herrman and Harris] abstained is because they are forcibly required to abstain. They don’t want to.”

“You don’t get to run for election to not make the hard decisions,” Spina said, garnering a loud round of applause from the audience.

Board President Patrick Todd interjected to Spina: "I concur with your sentiments, but the board member does have the right to abstain from voting."

When asked why she abstained, Ting told The Montgomery News:

"It's complicated," she said. "I had conversations with school administrators, unfortunately my questions were not addressed sufficiently."

From left: Board Member Ting Wang made a motion to teach algebra and geometry in grades 5 to 7. Board member Michelle Dowling sits to her right.

The Debate on Teaching Algebra to 5th Graders

Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Staff Development Fiona Borland — who has been with the Montgomery School District for 13 years — said at the meeting that she opposed Board Member Wang's proposal.

"You are talking about changes that would effect 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds," Borland said. "When somebody is talking about pre-alebra in fifth grade, and dividing students at that level, before they are developmentally ready … we would be creating challenges and inappropriate experiences for our littlest learners.

Superintendent of Schools Mary E. McLoughlin, as well as the supervisors of the math and science programs agreed with Borland, and added, "In order to change this program we would need to add staff. And, I am not recommending it. We don’t have the staff or funds to do this. We just voted down a budget."

After hearing from the Montgomery professionals, Wang immediately made a motion to “align the [lower and upper] middle school mathematic curriculum with higher education [college] expectations, and ensure academic rigor is preserved — specifically reinstating ... pre-algebra in grade 5; algebra 1 in grade 6; and geometry in grade 7, and algebra 2 in grade 8. 

"By restoring these pathways, we’re not only maintaining academic rigor, but also ensuring our students are better prepared for high school, college, and career opportunities," Wang said.

Board Member Ania Wolecka-Jernigan seconded the motion.

The motion did not carry. Board members voted as follows:

Wang - yes,

Dowling - no,

Spina - no,

Franco-Herman - abstain,

Filak - yes,

Harris - abstain,

Wolecka-Jernigan, yes,

Nargund - yes

Todd - no.

Superintendent McLoughlin explained that she did not support the motion because “It is flawed."

"I have provided corrected information to the public, and to the board. I believe it does not adequately address the diverse learning needs of all students.

"The resolution lacks sufficient depth and opportunities. It does not promote a strong enough foundation of problem solving skills and critical thinking, which are essential for long-term academic success and is what the state standards demand.

"All opportunities are still in place, and we have data showing that our courses are successful. We have high proficiency on our state testing. All students, inclusive of our top 10%, continue to grow at an above average rate. Those students do not hit a ceiling.

"This notion of bringing algebra 2 back into the 8th grade is nothing more than returning to the practice of early math tracking for students beginning as early as 8 years old. Myself, along with educators in this district, will not do this to students. Our current math opportunities are both developmentally appropriate and proven to increase our students’ math proficiency.

A Bogus Survey

Board Member Dowling added that board members received an email from someone falsely stating that Montgomery teachers were given a survey and that teachers were asked and responded saying they were not happy with the current math program.

"This survey has not been verified by any math teacher, K-12, in our district," she said.

Montgomery High School Principal Heather Pino-Beattie told the board, that while "it's a sad time for Montgomery educators, we will continue to do what's best for the kids."