Cherry Hill schools cuts

Cherry Hill Public Schools says it will eliminate about 70 positions for the 2026-27 school year and raise class sizes, after Superintendent Kwame Morton told families on Friday that the district has run out of easier ways to close the gap. The district’s own budget page puts the shortfall at $29 million. (inquirer.com) (chclc.org) The first round of trimming already happened before the staffing cuts. Cherry Hill says it combed through the budget line by line and found nearly $8 million in operational savings, then still needed another $6.5 million in personnel savings. (chclc.org) Most of the job losses are not pink slips in the usual sense. The district says 76 percent of the roughly 70 positions would disappear through attrition, which means vacancies, retirements, and people who leave are not replaced. (chclc.org) The district is also asking taxpayers for the maximum local increase it can levy without special approval. Board president Gina Winters told state lawmakers on March 25 that the board voted to use its full 7.4 percent taxing authority, which she said would add more than $400 to the average home’s bill. (chclc.org) (southjersey.media) That tax increase still does not plug the hole by itself because Cherry Hill’s costs jumped faster than its revenue. The district says employee health benefits alone are projected to rise by about $10 million, and transportation contracts are also getting more expensive. (chclc.org 1) (chclc.org 2) State aid is the other half of the squeeze. Cherry Hill told families on March 12 that it had been cut for a third straight year and had lost more than $8.6 million in state aid over three years, including another reduction for 2026-27. (chclc.org) District leaders say the formula hits especially hard because Cherry Hill is large and has high needs that do not disappear when aid does. Winters told lawmakers that more than 25 percent of students require special education services and about 2,500 children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. (chclc.org) Cherry Hill is not a tiny system that can hide cuts in one building. The board says it serves about 11,000 students, making it the largest district in South Jersey and the 11th largest in New Jersey, so even small percentage changes turn into big dollar swings. (chclc.org) The numbers have shifted as budget season moved from warning to action. In late March, officials were publicly discussing a roughly $14.5 million deficit inside the tentative budget plan, with about 72 staff reductions and $14.5 million in total cuts, before Morton’s Friday announcement laid out the broader $29 million gap the district says it had to solve across the full budget picture. (nj.com) (southjersey.media) (chclc.org) The next date on the calendar is April 28, when the Board of Education is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the 2026-27 budget. That meeting is where parents and staff will get their formal chance to argue over whether bigger classes and fewer adults in schools are the least damaging option left. (chclc.org) (southjersey.media)