Middletown, NJ, March 30, 2025 – Residents of Middletown, New Jersey, are confronting a proposed 10.1% school tax increase as the Middletown Township School District grapples with a $10 million budget shortfall for the 2025-2026 school year. The plan, presented as an alternative to closing three schools, has ignited fierce debate in this Monmouth County community, known for its sprawling suburban landscape and highly regarded public schools.
The district will apparently not be getting any help from its most popular resident, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who said his school funding formula is working as intended.
While Murphy has ignored other districts facing multiple school closures and tax increases, he says the Middletown closures are ‘personal’ because he lives there.
“You don’t willy-nilly talk about closing the schools without a lot of emotion,” the Governor said during a radio interview this week. “And so this stuff’s hard. The math does not lie.”
There’s only one problem. It is Phil Murphy who is making the math that is forcing dozens of suburban communities to raise taxes and close schools in light of his flawed S2 funding formula and local districts’ inability to keep up with the unfunded mandates in the funding formula.
The Middletown Township Board of Education initially introduced a $197 million tentative budget on March 18, which included the “Middletown Reimagined” initiative.
This proposal called for the closure of Leonardo Elementary School, Navesink Elementary School, and Bayshore Middle School, with students redistributed to other facilities to address declining enrollment and financial pressures. The announcement sparked immediate backlash, with hundreds of parents protesting at the meeting, many locked out due to capacity limits at Middletown High School North’s library.
Facing this uproar, the district revealed a new option on March 24: a tax levy increase that would generate an additional $8.37 million in local revenue, potentially keeping the schools open. Approved by the New Jersey Department of Education under a special tax incentive program, this would raise the school tax rate by 5.2% on top of an already planned 4.88% increase, totaling 10.1%. For a homeowner with a property assessed at the township average of approximately $600,000, this could mean an additional $500 to $600 annually, based on current tax rates and district estimates.
Superintendent Jessica Alfone has pointed to years of state aid cuts as the root cause of the crisis. In 2009, Middletown received $20.9 million in state funding; for the upcoming year, it’s slated to receive just $14.8 million—a 6% increase from last year’s $13.9 million, but still $7 million less than 15 years ago. Adjusted for inflation and rising costs, the district estimates a cumulative loss exceeding $60 million since 2009. Enrollment has also dropped from 10,000 students in 2009 to about 8,500 today, further straining resources across its 17 schools—12 elementary, three middle, and two high schools.
“We’re in a perfect storm of financial challenges,” Alfone said during a March 18 meeting, citing inflation, staff salaries, transportation, and infrastructure needs. The three schools targeted for closure—Leonardo, Navesink, and Bayshore—house roughly 1,000 students combined, with Bayshore Middle School having the lowest middle school enrollment at just over 500.
Community response has been polarized. Parents, rallying under the “Save Middletown Schools” banner, have circulated petitions demanding a moratorium on closures and more transparent budget planning. “This is about our kids and our community,” said Jenny Cox, a local parent, echoing sentiments from a March 26 forum where residents called for collaboration over cuts. Meanwhile, older residents on fixed incomes voiced concerns at the same meeting about affordability. “I’ve lived here 30 years, but a 10% hike might force me out,” said an 83-year-old retiree, reflecting a sentiment shared by others reliant on pensions and Social Security.
As the deadline nears, Middletown stands at a crossroads: pay more to preserve its schools or accept closures that could reshape the district—and the town—for years to come.
