Westwood Regional School Budget: Tax Hikes and Job Cuts Shake the District
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Westwood NJ, The Westwood Regional School District has officially approved a $78.9 million budget for the 2026-2027 school year, but the financial blueprint comes with a heavy price tag for both taxpayers and staff.
In a unanimous vote on April 30, the Board of Education greenlit a plan that eliminates 14 total positions and raises the school tax levy by 6.7%. The decision reflects a growing crisis across New Jersey school districts as skyrocketing healthcare costs collide with fixed state funding caps.
Why the Cuts? The $3 Million Healthcare Spike
Superintendent Patrick McQueeney identified health insurance and prescription benefit costs as the primary “budget killers.” The numbers are staggering:
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Health Insurance Premiums: Up over 32%.
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Prescription Benefits: Up by 25%.
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Out-of-District Tuition: Up by 33%.
“The increase in health care costs alone equated to about $3 million,” McQueeney noted. This financial pressure forced the district to trim 10 teaching/secretarial jobs and 4 administrative roles to keep the budget afloat.
Impact on Taxpayers: Washington Township and Westwood
Homeowners in the K-12 district, which serves both Westwood and Washington Township, will see a noticeable jump in their annual property tax bills:
| Municipality | Avg. Home Value | Estimated Annual Increase |
| Washington Township | $803,100 | +$450 |
| Westwood | $626,400 | +$765 |
The “Double-Edged Sword” of Tenure
One of the most emotional moments of the budget hearing involved the departure of Christina Lam, the principal of Brookside Elementary School.
Due to state tenure rules, an administrator from an eliminated central office position had the legal right to “bump” into a principal role held by a non-tenured employee. As a result, despite high praise from teachers and staff who described her as providing “immediate consistency and structure,” Principal Lam will leave the district on July 1.
“Tenure is a double-edged sword,” McQueeney said during the meeting. “It certainly hurts when it impacts someone that means something to us.”
Staffing Changes and Future Plans
The budget reshapes the district’s leadership and classroom support in several ways:
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Central Office Shrinks: Directors of HR, School Counseling, and Elementary Education were eliminated.
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Shared Services: The High School and Middle School will now share an ESL teacher and a Media Specialist.
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New Roles: Two new supervisor positions were created to absorb the duties of the eliminated directors.
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Special Education Expansion: Despite the cuts, the district is moving forward with an autism program at the high school to match the existing K-8 services.
A Statewide Trend
Westwood Regional is not an outlier. Across New Jersey, districts like Fair Lawn are grappling with similar “benefit cliffs.” Even with record school funding in the state budget proposed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, many local boards are finding that state aid cannot keep pace with the hyper-inflation of insurance premiums.
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