How Winslow schools are paid for, who is in charge, and what changed this year
Where does the money come from, and why did the tax bill jump?
State aid rose in every category, and the school tax still went up 11.6 percent
Winslow is a state-aid district. Of the $135.5 million general fund the board adopted for 2026-27, $61.7 million comes from state aid and $62.3 million from the local property tax levy, with the rest from tuition other districts pay and a draw on surplus. Unusually for New Jersey in 2026, its aid went up, by $3,707,926 across every category. And yet the levy rose $6,470,184, or 11.59 percent, the largest single change on this page. The reason sits in the board's own resolution: costs the district does not control rose faster than the aid. Health benefits rose $4,422,391 to $23,916,938 and now equal 41.14 percent of salaries. Tuition the district pays to educate children outside its own buildings rose $2,069,247 to $17,235,008, and transport rose $1,393,816 to $12,953,426, because the number of pupils sent to another district's regular programme tripled from 15 to an estimated 45 and private placements rose to 112. New Jersey allowed the board to add a health-care adjustment of $4,220,162 on top of its ordinary 2 percent, and then the board spent the last $1,133,429 of the levy capacity it had banked in earlier years, for what the resolution calls the purpose of increased tuition costs. The resolution says the district has now fully exhausted all eligible statutory spending authority. At the same time the reserves that had been carrying capital spending are nearly gone: capital reserve falls from $30,105,715 audited at June 2024 to about $5.2 million, and the legal reserve is budgeted to zero by June 2027.
State aid rose, and the tax bill still rose more
Total state sources go from $57,998,767 to $61,706,693, an increase of $3,707,926 across equalisation, special education, transport, security and extraordinary aid. The levy still rose $6,470,184.
The banked taxing capacity is spent
The increase is $1,116,593 from the 2 percent allowance, $4,220,162 from the health-care adjustment and $1,133,429 from banked cap. The resolution states the district has fully exhausted all eligible statutory spending authority. On an average home assessed at $177,700 the bill goes from $3,579 to $3,805.
Cost per pupil is up about 48 percent in three years
Total budgetary comparative cost per pupil goes $15,568 in 2023-24, $18,524, $21,216 revised, then $22,978 budgeted for 2026-27, while the roll fell from 4,955 to an estimated 4,800.
Federal money is falling as state money rises
Title I drops from $2,478,944 to $1,859,208 and federal special education money from $1,507,422 to $1,130,567; total federal aid falls from $4,734,692 to $3,367,064. The district still reported over $12 million of state and federal grants in August 2026, including a preschool expansion grant of about $7 million.
No permanent superintendent for more than a year
An interim superintendent has run the district since September 16, 2025. The board only commissioned a search on September 9, 2026, at a cost not exceeding $8,000, to begin on October 1.
None of this suggests the district is in trouble. Its 2024-25 audit produced a single finding, that the food service fund held more cash than three months of expenditure, and a corrective plan the board certified as implemented. Winslow publishes a fuller written board record than most New Jersey districts of its size, with a full agenda, addendum, superintendent's report, board secretary's report, personnel report and policy list for every meeting and approved open and closed session minutes to match. Its state aid rose rather than fell. And the two biggest things it is spending on, new heating and ventilation at two elementary schools and repairing a flooded middle school, are the kind of work parents notice.
Where the district stands
Total adopted budget, 2026-27verified
146,999,840 USD
General fund, 2026-27, down from $143,545,273 revisedverified
135,522,019 USD
Local tax levy, 2026-27, up from $55,829,648verified
62,299,832 USD
Tax levy increase, 2026-27verified
11.59 percent
School tax on an average $177,700 assessed home, 2026-27, up from $3,579verified
3,805 USD
Banked tax-levy capacity left after this budgetverified
0 USD
Total state aid, 2026-27, up from $57,998,767verified
61,706,693 USD
Total federal aid, 2026-27, down from $4,734,692verified
3,367,064 USD
Total budgetary cost per pupil, 2026-27, up from $21,216verified
22,978 USD
Students on roll, estimated October 2026, down from 4,955 in October 2024verified
4,800 students
Tuition paid to educate pupils elsewhere, 2026-27, up from $15,165,761verified
17,235,008 USD
Student transport, 2026-27, up from $11,559,610verified
12,953,426 USD
Employee benefits as a share of salaries, 2026-27, up from 34.44 percentverified
41.14 percent
Capital reserve estimated at June 2027, down from $30,105,715 audited at June 2024verified
5,209,426 USD
Awarded for heating and ventilation at Schools 5 and 6verified
11,213,000 USD
Pupils sent to another district's regular programme, estimated October 2026, up from 15verified
45 students
Schools required to file a chronic absenteeism corrective plan, out of nineverified
5 schools
Share of the general fund from state aidcontext
45.5 percent
Calculated: $61,706,693 of state aid against the $135,522,019 general fund, both from the adopted budget, so the ratio is context rather than a reported figure.
District schoolscontext
9 schools
From the federal NCES Common Core of Data 2025-26 preliminary directory: an early childhood centre, six numbered elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.
Major projects
New heating and ventilation at Schools 5 and 6
Under construction through summer 2026, reported on schedule in July 2026
The board awarded the two biggest contracts of its year on December 10, 2025: $5,536,000 for School 5 and $5,677,000 for School 6, each to the only responder, each a state-registered school facilities project part-funded from capital reserve. A $596,000 option at School 6 was not taken. In June 2026 the board added $448,000 of architectural design for the same work at the middle school, so a third building is being prepared.
Next: Completion at Schools 5 and 6, and a bid for the middle school work once the design is finished. The district has published no completion date.
Both contracts awarded to a sole responder
Interim superintendent reports work will run through the summer
Reported under way and on schedule
$448,000 of design approved for middle school heating and ventilation
Funding
General fund with capital reserve withdrawals of $510,219 for School 5 and $203,031.22 for School 6 towards the local share
Recovering from the middle school water main break
Building reopened January 2026; replacement furniture still being bought in August 2026
A water main broke on September 25, 2025, forcing an emergency strip-out of carpet, ceilings, furniture and flooring. Three school days became half-day remote days, board meetings moved out of the building, and students returned only in January 2026. The bills ran through the year: $196,269 of flooring with $25,000 refunded by the insurer, $163,123.93 to replace about 500 feet of plastic piping with copper, $8,594 of air monitoring, $6,200 to inspect the main, $38,000 of drainage engineering and $68,300 of library furniture. Two further emergency contracts followed on a single Sunday in February 2026, for a backflow preventer leaking into the cafeteria and a burst sprinkler line at the high school.
Next: The district has not published a final cost for the break or a statement of what the insurer ultimately paid.
Water main breaks
Emergency remediation contract ratified; first remote make-up day set
Flooring and piping contracts and maintenance reserve withdrawals approved
Repairs reported complete and all students back in the building
$108,145.90 of flood replacement furniture approved
Funding
Insurance, plus $171,269 and $164,000 withdrawn from maintenance reserve for costs beyond the policy
New high school cafeteria serving line
Under construction; change order took the contract to $924,667.47
Awarded on November 25, 2025 at $890,000 to the only bidder, split between the food service and general funds, with a $34,667.47 change order approved on July 15, 2026 bringing it to $924,667.47. A further $488,693.49 of purchase orders to the contractor was approved in July. The interim superintendent told the board in February 2026 that the work would continue through the summer alongside the two heating projects. Meal prices for 2026-27 were held unchanged at $2.95 for elementary lunch, $3.00 at the middle and high schools and $1.40 for breakfast.
Next: Completion. No opening date has been published.
Awarded at $890,000 to a sole bidder
Reported as summer construction
Change order of $34,667.47 approved, total $924,667.47
Funding
Food service fund and general fund
The search for a permanent superintendent
Commissioned September 9, 2026; search to begin October 1
The district has been led by an interim superintendent since September 16, 2025. The board discussed the chief school administrator selection process in closed session in January 2026, heard a search firm present in February without retaining it, held a special closed meeting on the superintendent in March, and approved the previous superintendent's retirement effective September 1, 2026. On September 9, 2026 it voted 8 to 0 to engage the state school boards association to run the search at a cost not exceeding $8,000, with the vice president stating it would begin on October 1. The search is a formal board goal for 2026-27, and three special strategic-planning meetings are scheduled for October, November and December 2026.
Next: The search opening on October 1, 2026, and an appointment; the board has published no target date.
Special meeting to interview interim superintendent candidates
Interim superintendent's contract sent to the county for approval
Chief school administrator selection process in closed session
Search consultant presents; no consultant retained
Previous superintendent's retirement approved effective September 1, 2026
Search commissioned, 8-0, not to exceed $8,000
Funding
General fund; not to exceed $8,000 for the search service
Local elections & school board members
Elections & votes
Board electionScheduled
Winslow Township Board of Education election, November 3, 2026
Winslow Township
Winslow's nine board members are elected at large to three-year terms at the November general election, and the board reorganises the following January; the next reorganization meeting is January 6, 2027. At the November 2025 election three members were chosen with 6,925, 6,018 and 5,237 votes and sworn in on January 7, 2026. Neither the district nor this page publishes which seats are up in 2026 or who is running; the Camden County Clerk's sample ballot is the official source for that.
Built from Winslow Township's own written board record for the year to September 2026: every meeting agenda and addendum on its Board Agendas page and its 2025 year tab, including the superintendent's, board secretary's and personnel reports and the policy first and second reading lists attached to each meeting; the approved open-session and closed-session minutes on its Meeting Minutes page and 2025 tab; the board meeting date notices; the 68 public notices on its legal notices page, covering bid and request-for-proposal advertisements, professional service awards, meeting date and location changes and the advertised budget; the 2026-27 and 2025-26 user-friendly budgets and budget presentations; the 2026-27 district calendar; and Policy 5516 on student use of internet-enabled devices. Winslow publishes a fuller written record than most districts its size, so nothing on this page rests on a video recording.
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