HOWELL – The Howell School District has introduced the tentative $151.1 million budget for the 2025-26 school year.
The public hearing is scheduled for May 7 at 7 p.m. After the public hearing, board members have the option to adopt the budget.
According to the board, the $151,074,942 budget will be supported by $93,248,413 in taxes collected from Howell’s residential and commercial property owners.
The budget will be used to operate 12 schools, grades kindergarten through eighth, which have an estimated enrollment of about 5,400 students, according to the school district.
Additionally, the board’s agenda did not include information as to how the proposed budget will impact local property taxes during the upcoming year.
Currently, residents pay municipal taxes for Howell K-8 and Freehold Regional High School districts, Monmouth County, fire districts, and open space.
For the last seven years, Howell Schools have struggled with state aid cuts due to the S-2 funding formula.
In Governor Phil Murphy’s preliminary budget announcement for the 2026 fiscal year, the Howell School District is slated to receive $21,455,291 in state aid for the 2025-26 school year. According to the NJ Department of Education, this is a decrease of $663,566 or 3 percent.
However, the district will receive $7,474,060 in assistance for its special education students, which is an increase over the $5,257,622 received last year.
Howell will also receive $3,419,152 for transportation aid, an extreme increase from the $903,761 received in 2024-25.
The equalization aid offsets this increase, as it’s decreased nearly 40 percent – $9,276,379 for 2025-26, compared to $15,439,995 from the previous year.
Freehold Regional High School District
In the Freehold Regional High School District, where Howell students attend for ninth through 12 grades, their introduced budget for the 2025-26 school year totals $221,967,069 and will be supported by $169,782,344 in taxes.
State funding is yet again decreasing for the district, who is slated to receive $29,633,713 in 2025-26, a $916,507 decrease from the previous year.
Similar to Howell School District, Freehold Regional’s special education and transportation aid funding has increased drastically. Special education funding is $17,475,130, more than double the $7,030,185 from 2024-25, and transportation aid is $9,632,700, five times the $1,816,395 from last year.
The state however completely cut equalization aid for 2025-26; last year they received $20,968,046.
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