Jason Bing

Jocelyn Ryan and Erin Siders of the South Orange/Maplewood Coalition on Race’s Schools Committee asked the Board of Education to be “100%” committed to the Intentional Integration Initiative, in response to some town hall comments questioning the cost of the program and transportation.

The district will be holding a Residency Confirmation Town Hall on Wednesday, March 26 to provide more information and answer questions.

“We’re gonna have to be lean moving forward,” said Supt. Jason Bing. “We cannot predict what’s going to happen with federal funding. We can take a guesstimate that we’ll receive flat state funding for the remainder of the run of this formula. … there’s a lot of different factors out there, but we have to be prudent.”

School district staff have been working to close a $4M budget gap for the 2025-26 FY — despite a 6% increase in state aid over last year’s allocation.

Regarding the $4 million gap, Business Admin. Imani Moody said, “We have a conviction across all of the constituencies here to have this budget process be a success, and to get to a place where we’re providing a balanced budget and avoiding reductions in force and things of that nature by really being strategic about how we’re deploying resources.”

The announcement follows on two webinars and one town hall in which parents of special needs students pushed back on a proposal to reduce in-class resource support for elementary school inclusion classrooms.

Parents of special education students speak out at Feb. 25 Superintendent’s Town Hall.

“We also are currently working on ways to look at our current model, … a co-teaching bonded model where two full-time teachers are in the same classroom all day,” said Supt. Jason Bing. “Looking at our budget, it’s going to be very difficult to maintain that model moving forward.”

“I wanted to make clear, the Arts Department was the one department that wasn’t affected,” said Sanchez. “There wasn’t a single cut. We’re happy to say that unless there’s some severe cuts from the state aid, we foresee our program of studies to offer a wide variety of classes without losing any full-time teachers.”

“New Jersey law and federal regulations clearly affirm that all children, regardless of immigration status are entitled to a free public education,” wrote Supt. Jason Bing in a letter to families pledging to prioritize student safety and family confidentiality.