For the 2026–2027 school year, the district’s budget has faced significant stress with rising costs and reduced funding, resulting in changes to budget allocation, positions, and resource distribution.
“The district budget has been cut mostly because of the lack of [monetary] aid from [the] federal government and … unusually high costs that’s market driven, such as insurance costs at the state level,” said Princeton High School Principal Cecilia Birge.
Under New Jersey Chapter 44, state regulations strictly dictate how local school districts must handle employee healthcare coverage. Under this mandate, all public schools must enroll teachers in the New Jersey Educators Health Plan, the Garden State Health Plan, or an identical, locally equivalent plan, legally binding all public districts to these specific state-approved programs.
“Princeton [has its] own private insurers, and our cost only went up by 15 percent … [which is] a lot higher than the two percent property tax cap imposed by the [Chris] Christie administration,” said Birge.
The property tax cap directly limits the amount of money the government makes and therefore limits the money that schools can receive. Therefore, this imbalance in insurance premiums with tax caps creates a deficit.
Transportation costs and teacher contract obligations have also risen due to pre-existing contracts and market demand. Certain teachers receive annual raises that are higher than two percent a year, but the school can’t get more than two percent increase in its funding.
“Using this structure, [Princeton Public Schools] cannot maintain this operation in the same way as previous years and year after year,” said Birge.
While positions will be reduced next year, administration emphasizes that is due to attrition and not layoffs. As staff retire or resign, the district has chosen to not refill some roles in order to save money.
“All retired teachers, all teachers who have resigned … are being replaced … [by] the best teachers who are affordable,” said Birge. “We want to make sure we hire the teachers who are willing to grow within our school.”
These budget cuts are not planned to affect academics, as the administration emphasized how they have and will continue to prioritize the academic rigor of the school. Instead, the burden will be felt by extracurricular activities, which may not receive as much funds, as previously reported on by the Tower.
“Students are our highest priority. … I’m not looking at [an] increase of [individual] class sizes because no teachers have been cut,” said Birge.
Despite the pressure of budget strain, the administration has stated that it will not resort to cutting down core programs.
“We’re still exploring ways to expand programs; that’s our bread and butter,” said Birge. “[They make] PHS great.”