The Westwood Regional Board of Education introduced a $78.9 million budget at its March 24 meeting, proposing tentative cuts to 10 administrative and teaching staff positions in part due to increased health care premiums.

The budget, which won't be official until a public hearing and final board vote on April 30, includes a 6.7% school tax levy increase. The district can go past the state-mandated 2% cap due to a healthcare waiver for the additional expenses it's facing.

A breakdown of how much taxpayers will see their bills go up will be discussed at the April 30 meeting, Superintendent Patrick McQueeney said at the Tuesday night meeting.

“We’re looking at retirements and filling the retirements from within,” he said to a sparse crowd at Westwood Regional High School. “We’re looking at resignations and filling them within. We’re looking where we have programs that maybe we can shift staff focus without minimizing the program.”

At a school board meeting earlier in March, McQueeney had warned job cuts among teachers and staff remained a "very real possibility" as the K-12 district grappled with a projected $3 million rise in insurance costs.

The district serves about 2,800 students from Westwood and Washington Township.

Westwood isn't alone. Districts across New Jersey are discussing spending cuts and tax increases as health care costs climb, even with record school funding in Gov. Mikie Sherrill's proposed state budget.

At the earlier meeting, Westwood Business Administrator Keith Rosado said part of the problem was a 2020 state law that aimed to reduce costs and lower teachers' premiums by cutting out-of-network reimbursements. Some districts found that while the plan produced savings for teachers, the expenses were passed on to the district and taxpayers.

Health insurance premiums surged over 32% this year, prescription benefits have climbed by 25% and there is a 33% increase in out-of-district tuition rates, McQueeney said in a recent letter to the school community. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey proposed a 46% hike in premiums to the district before eventually agreeing to the 32% increase, which still equates to a $3 million rise.

On Tuesday, McQueeney said media coverage of Westwood's budgetary issues prompted its insurance broker to ask Horizon “what can you do to help.” After NorthJersey.com and The Record published a story about the district's fiscal woes, he said, the insurer agreed to lower the premium increase by 2 percentage points, to 30%.

“Our health insurance is still very high, but any decrease in percentages allows us a little more flexibility,” the superintendent said.

The district is still faced with a $3 million budget gap, McQueeney noted.

“We’re entitled to a healthcare waiver which means we’re allowed to raise the tax increase above the 2% [cap],” he said. “Even with that, it did not cover the totality of the increase because, as you can imagine, health insurance is not the only thing going up in the budget.”

To address the gap, the board’s finance committee worked to find savings. The district may forego purchases of new Chromebooks for students as well as some groundskeeping equipment, for example.

"No programs were cut, just the 'nice-to-haves' that were requested in the original budget," McQueeney said.

While the potential staffing cuts are still in flux, four administrative positions and five to six teaching staff may be affected. That may include retirements or resignations that the district would choose not to fill.

McQueeney said the district is trying to minimize the impact on people when looking at these teaching positions, as well as support staff like secretaries and administrative assistant positions. These cuts will fill the $2.9 million hole in the budget, he said

The district will continue with plans to establish an autism program at the high school. The program already exists at the K-8 level.

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Expanding the autism initiative is an investment for the future, said McQueeney. It’ll keep students with their peers and avoid expensive out-of-district placements.

“If we do not have that program, we would be sending each student out at a cost between $150,000 to $200,000 per child,” said McQueeney. “By investing in this program here, we’re able to keep them in district.”

Since the last meeting, the district also received its state aid allocation, which was up 6% from last year, a $250,000 boost that was “good news for us," said McQueeney.

This year's cuts might not be a “one-time shot,” he warned.

“We’re preparing for what may come next year,” said McQueeney. “We don’t know if we’re going to see 30 to 40 percent increases again. Is the state going to step in with some kind of regulation on health care specific to schools? What will state aid look like?”

“We look at this as needing to be efficient as we can be while maintaining our programs, but alas being holistic that this might be a conversation again next year,” he added.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Westwood NJ schools outline tax hike, staff cuts to balance budget