TOMS RIVER, NJ — Two Toms River school board leaders and their running mate are courting sponsors willing to spend as much as $2,500 at a waterfront campaign fundraiser.
Taxpayers get the backdrop.
Board President Ashley Lamb, Vice President James Capone and challenger Gerald “Jerry” Nappi will hold a Sept. 15 happy-hour reception at Water Street Bar & Grille.
For $500, you can be a “Friend of Education”, but that money is for the poltiical campaign expenses, not for the district.
The campaign flyer lists a $2,500 “campaign sponsor” package, followed by $1,000 community sponsorships, $500 “Friend of Education” packages and $200 supporter sponsorships.
Individual admission costs $100.
Lamb and Capone are seeking reelection to three-year seats on the Toms River Regional Board of Education, while Nappi is seeking his first term.
They are running together.
Lamb is pursuing a third term after becoming board president in January, and Capone is seeking a second term while serving as the board’s vice president.
Nappi is not currently on the board.
The fundraiser arrives months after the district approved a $306.1 million spending plan carrying a 4.9% increase in the amount raised through local school taxes.
Toms River homeowners took another hit.
The school-tax increase for township property owners was estimated at 4.6%, or about $17.76 more each month for a home assessed at $450,600.
That works out to $213.12 annually.
The district’s adopted budget estimated a total Toms River school-tax rate of $1.077 for each $100 of assessed property value, including debt and adjustments.
The pain has compounded.
The 2026-27 increase followed a state-imposed 12.9% school-tax increase for the previous budget year, pushing the combined increase over two years to roughly 18.4%.
Municipal taxes stayed flat.
Under Mayor Dan Rodrick, Toms River’s township tax rate has remained at 43.7 cents per $100 of assessed value for three years, leaving the regional school levy as a major driver behind rising local tax bills. The bulk of residents’ latest increased tax bill came from the school district hike.
Lamb supported the latest school budget.
The final spending plan raised the total local tax levy from approximately $230.7 million to nearly $242 million across Toms River, Beachwood, Pine Beach and South Toms River.
That is an $11.3 million jump despite declining enrollment, shrinking staff, and increased busing costs for private schools.
District officials blamed much of the increase on employee health insurance costs, which climbed approximately $6.6 million, along with continuing state-aid problems. Taxpayers will be on the hook to pay for those benefits.
Spending still rose despite all of the cuts. How is that even possible?
The district’s total operating budget increased from approximately $280.5 million to $285.7 million, while total appropriations reached slightly more than $306 million.
Enrollment continues moving the other way.
District budget documents estimated 13,963 students on its rolls for October 2026, down from 14,357 two years earlier.
Per-pupil costs climbed sharply.
The district’s comparative per-pupil cost rose from $15,526 during the 2024-25 school year to a projected $18,112 for 2026-27.
Superintendent Michael Citta also received a richer contract. One of the biggest in state history, despite the financial setbacks. School board officials touted this record breaking deal as a reward for him enduring through the financial downfall.
They went from a cash rich district under Michael Ritacco to a district selling trees from their school grounds to make a buck under Citta and the current board leadership.
School closing could be on the horizon if things don’t change, following what happened in Jackson earlier this year. There’s nothing left to sell off in the district’s fire sale. No more land, no more corporate office centers, and trees — well, they’re running low on inventory too.
As far as Citta? Unlike the residents who just opened their latest tax bills, he’s bearing the weight of any of the district’s or taxpayers’ financial hardships.
The board approved a five-year deal that retroactively increased Citta’s salary from about $228,000 to $275,000 for 2025-26.
He now earns $281,875.
Scheduled increases raise that salary to $290,331 in 2027-28, $299,041 in 2028-29 and $308,012 during the contract’s final year. He will be one of the highest-paid school superintendents in the entire country!
Other top earners include Norma Fernandez of Jersey City ($331,616) and Roger Leon of Newark ($330,978). Statewide, the average full-time superintendent salary rose 3% to $203,728, far outpacing the national average of roughly $131,000 to $156,000. This upward trend follows the state’s elimination of former salary caps. Citta will be paid $100,000 above the state average and $15,000 above the national average.
He must be doing something right for himself. After all, he had a good master. He was the assistant superintendent under convicted and disgraced former Toms River Schools boss Michael Ritacco.
Lamb voted for the contract.
Capone was not listed among the votes supporting or opposing the contract at the April meeting, while the agreement passed 5-1 with two abstentions.
Then came the busing vote.
In May, Lamb and Capone joined a unanimous board majority in renewing the district’s agreement with the Lakewood Student Transportation Authority for the 2026-27 school year. That authority has been under fire this year over a lack of transparency, roadway safety, and a sudden increase in fees for parents, despite receiving tens of millions of dollars in funding from the Jackson, Toms River, and Lakewood public school districts.
The LSTA provides taxpayer-funded busing for 25,000 Lakewood area private school children. Toms River schools pay a large portion of that funding.
The arrangement centralizes transportation for participating nonpublic-school students through the Lakewood-based authority instead of leaving every route under direct Toms River district management.
New Jersey law requires districts to provide eligible nonpublic-school students with transportation or aid in lieu of busing when statutory distance and cost requirements are met. The state does not mandate giving all of that money to a private entity that refuses to open their books after receiving public funding.
Using LSTA is a policy choice made by the board.
Toms River could administer qualifying routes itself, contract with carriers or provide aid in lieu when transportation cannot be arranged within the state ceiling. It could also demand fiscal transparency from the LSTA. But it hasn’t.
The district renewed the outside agreement this year despite pushback from residents upset with the rising costs and lack of transparency.
Shore News Network previously reported that the LSTA arrangement was costing Toms River taxpayers millions of dollars annually as nonpublic-school enrollment and transportation demand grew near the Lakewood border.
The district’s full transportation budget now exceeds $20.8 million.
Support from Toms River’s growing Orthodox Jewish community could become important in the November school-board race because many families depend on transportation to yeshivas and other nonpublic schools. They have already signaled endorsement for the Lamb team due to their support of the LSTA contract. That is very important to those families.
The LSTA vote provides a direct policy connection.
Lamb and Capone supported the contract renewal.
Who funds that campaign remains unknown. New Jersey Election reports won’t be made available for several weeks.
No sponsor list was included.
That leaves a major disclosure question surrounding the Sept. 15 event, particularly because Lamb and Capone vote on contracts involving attorneys, auditors, architects, insurers, consultants and transportation providers. Who is paying these volunteer school board members thousands of dollars to have buffet-style food at a downtown restaurant, and why? What do they want in return?
The slate’s campaign filings can show whether sponsorship money came from ordinary residents, district employees, public contractors, nonpublic-school advocates or businesses with financial interests before the board.
The reception runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Sept. 15 at Water Street Bar & Grille, 4 Robbins Parkway, with individual admission priced at $100.
A campaign flyer advertises a waterfront fundraiser for Toms River school-board candidates Ashley Lamb, Jerry Nappi and James Capone. Credit: Campaign flyer
Two Toms River school-board incumbents and a running mate seek sponsors up to $2,500 after tax hikes, a $306 million budget and busing vote.
Toms River Board of Education, Ashley Lamb, James Capone, Jerry Nappi, Toms River school taxes, school board election, Water Street Bar and Grille, campaign fundraiser, Lakewood Student Transportation Authority, private school busing, Michael Citta, Toms River Regional Schools, pay to play, Ocean County politics
