In 2025-26, Lower Township Elementary proposed a $27.2 million General Fund operating budget.
These are proposed NJDOE User-Friendly Budget planning rows—not audited actuals, household tax bills, or all-funds totals.
Budget front brief
For Lower Township Elementary, the first budget read is a recurring operating-pressure story: recurring operating sources moved -$9,333,390 after inflation while operating scale moved -$8,174,061; local sources supply 75% of operating revenue, 1 pt below the Cape.
Loaded UFB rows use 2025-26 unless a section names another frame; the map routes proposal, peer, inflation, category, student, side-file, and source-row proof.
Budget essentials
For Lower Township Elementary, these are the UFB-backed answers a resident needs before reading the line tables: the first story route, fair comparison, current proposal, payer mix, category signal, inflation trend, student denominator, and side-file context.
NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average.
NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost.
Peer evidenceComparative cost per pupil is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average; local rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts. Statewide rank 477 of 566.
A cost rank is not an efficiency, adequacy, quality, or waste finding.
Peer evidenceOperating budget moves +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed, +1 pt of proposed operating scale.
This is not the long-run inflation-adjusted trend or the board/contract/formula reason for the change.
Proposal changesLocal sources supply 75% of proposed General Fund operating revenue.
Revenue shares are not tax bills, sustainability findings, or proof of spending quality.
Revenue familiesPreschool: Current scale: 40% of operating-budget scale, $10,776,665.
Budget families are contextual, nested source-row groups; do not add them into an accounting schedule.
Categories and lines2019-20 to 2025-26: Real operating budget per UFB planning student moved -$3,297 from $21,657 to $18,361.
Real movement is context for the multi-year budget path, not proof of the current proposal’s cause.
Trends and inflationUFB planning on-roll is 1,481, versus 1,350 fall-enrolled students in the profile.
UFB planning rows are budget denominators and service-load clues, not direct evidence of need, quality, staffing, or compliance.
Costs and studentsSpecial Revenue Funds is $5.2 million, 19% of operating-budget scale.
Side-file and outside-operating rows can be restricted, one-time, projected, or contextual; they are not recurring General Fund spending by themselves.
Side filesEach answer names its comparison, time basis, fund scope, or denominator. The limits are as important as the figures: UFB can surface budget signals, but outside records still have to explain causes, choices, service quality, tax bills, and sustainability.
Peer position snapshot
Before the map, these strips show whether the opening cost, funding, and category signals are near the local pack or visibly apart from it. Gray dots are peer districts, the accent dot is this district, the dashed mark is the Cape May County average, and the short solid tick is the peer median.
Each strip has its own unit and scale; higher is not automatically better or worse. Use the rank as order, then use dot spacing to judge whether the rank reflects a meaningful spread or a tight cluster.
How to read this report
Use these terms before reading any rank, trend, category, source-row, or side-file claim. The report compares several evidence bases; the label tells which one is being used.
| Term | Use it for | Do not read it as |
|---|---|---|
| Comparative cost | NJDOE’s published per-pupil cost line for comparing districts. | A recomputed total-budget-divided-by-enrollment number, a quality rating, or proof that spending is high or low for the same reason everywhere. |
| UFB on-roll | The planning-enrollment denominator inside the User-Friendly Budget. | Fall enrollment, a head-count audit, or the only denominator that can matter for per-student claims. |
| Real dollars | Dollar movement converted to 2025 dollars with CPI-U when the report says real or inflation-adjusted. | The same thing as latest-file proposal changes, which are nominal revised/current-to-proposed budget columns. |
| Operating basis | General Fund operating budget or operating revenue, depending on the measure named in the row. | All-funds revenue, audited financial-statement revenue, or a property-tax bill. |
| Source rows and families | Named UFB revenue and appropriation lines, plus reader-facing groups that make row-level evidence searchable. | An additive accounting schedule; rows can be nested, repeated, or outside the operating budget. |
| Side files | Tax-rate, balance, unusual-item, shared-service, school-resource, and selected administrative-salary context. | Complete payroll, audited savings, spendable cash, recurring revenue, or tax-bill advice. |
| Peer and slice frames | County peers, statewide ranks, budget-model clusters, scale groups, and category slices that test whether a number is unusual for the comparison. | Causal peers, targets, or judgments that a district should match a different district’s budget. |
This key is an orientation layer for the generated budget report. It does not replace the statewide measure guide; it keeps the most common bases visible before the long evidence tables.
Budget thesis and reporting order
Operating squeeze. Test recurring operating pressure before outside-operating rows take over. recurring local, state, and federal operating-source summaries moved -$9,333,390 after inflation while operating scale moved -$8,174,061; local sources supply 75% of proposed operating revenue, 1 pt below the Cape May County average; real operating budget per UFB planning student moved -$3,297 as UFB on-roll changed -152. Treat ordinary nominal spending growth as background unless a peer or slice comparison, category/source row, proposal movement, CPI-adjusted trend, denominator, tax signal, or outside record makes it news.
Start here before writing from a single cost rank.
Use these rows to keep inflation, denominator, and service-load context attached to the claim.
UFB identifies the question; these checks name what has to be verified outside the source file.
This thesis is generated from published UFB rows, CPI-adjusted history where available, local/state comparison sets, and the report’s strongest signal scan. It is a reporting order, not a causal model or a replacement for board records, contracts, tax files, staffing context, and audited financials.
Budget reporting notebook
This notebook turns the ranked UFB leads into a document trail: the signal in this report, the outside records to pull, the interviews or checks to run, and the unsupported reading to block before writing from the numbers.
| Lead | UFB signal | Records to pull | Interviews / checks | Unsupported read to block |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Cost positionDoes the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered?Peer evidence | $19,138NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average. |
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| NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. |
| 2Tax effortHow does local tax effort compare once levy per planning student, estimated rate, and tax base are separated?Tax context | $13,748Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16. |
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| Estimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. |
| 3Pupil-cost lineWhich NJDOE standardized per-pupil row is furthest from the local peer average?Pupil-cost rows | $1,449Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average. |
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| Several pupil-cost rows are components of broader totals, not an additive bridge. |
| 4Named UFB rowWhich named source row is large enough versus peers to deserve follow-up?Source rows | +11 ptsPreschool Education Aid is 15% of the operating-budget scale, +11 pts versus the peer average; local rank 1 of 17. |
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| Named rows are contextual source-file lines; many are nested, subtotals, or outside-operating signals. |
| 5Line movementWhich named source row moved most after inflation across loaded UFB years?Line history | -$6,551,135Largest inflation-adjusted named-line movement: Equalization Aid, -$6,551,135 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. |
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| The selected row is a reporting lead, not a complete explanation of the operating budget change. |
| 6Real-dollar changeAfter inflation, is the long-run movement about operating scale, denominator movement, or both?Inflation trends | -$8,174,061After inflation, the operating budget changed -$8,174,061 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. |
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| Real-dollar movement is long-run context; it is separate from the latest proposal-column decision. |
The records and checks are reporting targets, not files contained in the UFB release. They are generated from the same signal ranking as the lead sheet so the report stays anchored in source evidence while making the next journalism step explicit.
Budget machine
The budget story for Lower Township Elementary starts with operating squeeze, then checks fair cost position, payer mix, recurring cost categories, inflation and denominator movement, and proposal or reserve timing. This panel extracts the basic resident-facing read from UFB before the report opens the long proof sections.
The machine read uses UFB summary, revenue, appropriation, pupil-cost, budget-enrollment, reserve, and side-file rows through 2025-26. Money trends use 2025 CPI-U dollars where labeled; proposal rows are nominal revised/current-to-proposed movement.
Budget squeeze explainer
For Lower Township Elementary, this panel connects the revenue model, recurring cost families, student denominator, current proposal, and local record checks before the report moves into the longer evidence sections.
| Lane | Evidence | Reader read | Check next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ceilingTrends and inflation | local sources supply 75% of proposed operating revenue, 1 pt below the Cape May County average; state sources supply 15%; recurring local, state, and federal source summaries moved -$9,333,390 after inflation while operating scale moved -$8,174,061. | This is the first test for a cap-sensitive district: is the recurring operating revenue model keeping pace after inflation, and how dependent is the district on local sources? | Pull the levy-cap worksheet, state-aid notice, cap-bank/waiver rows, tax-base records, and budget presentation before writing a cap-exhaustion or underfunding claim. |
| Cost engineCategories and lines | Preschool: 40% of operating-budget scale, +$4,643,699 after inflation, +26 pts versus Cape May County average, largest row: Total Preschool Education Aid; Instruction programs: 30% of operating-budget scale, -$4,376,245 after inflation, +1 pt versus Cape May County average, largest row: Total Regular Programs-Instruction; Employee benefits: 24% of operating-budget scale, -$1,624,186 after inflation, +7 pts versus Cape May County average, largest row: Total Personal Services-Employee Benefits; Special education and student supports: 17% of operating-budget scale, -$346,154 after inflation, +2 pts versus Cape May County average, largest row: Total Special Education-Instruction. | This turns the broad spending total into the first recurring categories to inspect. The story may be current scale, peer difference, real movement, or all three. | Pull staffing rosters, placement/tuition schedules, contracts, program schedules, and budget-book narratives before translating category rows into classroom, staffing, or service-impact claims. |
| Students and service loadCosts and students | real operating budget per UFB planning student moved -$3,297 from 2019-20 to 2025-26; UFB planning on-roll moved -152; special-education on-roll is 234 (16% of UFB on-roll); sent placements are 19 (1% of UFB on-roll). | This keeps the per-student story from becoming only a dollar story: the denominator, placements, and service-load rows can change the read. | Pull fall enrollment, special-education placement records, IEP/service-obligation context, tuition contracts, transportation records, and staffing schedules before explaining why the load changed. |
| Balancing layerProposal changes | latest proposal moves operating budget +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed; fund-balance, reserve, and carryover source rows total $2.8 million, 10% of operating-budget scale; largest row is budgeted fund balance at $2.5 million. | This separates the current budget vote and one-time support rows from the multi-year inflation-adjusted trend. | Pull the adopted budget book, audit, appropriation-of-surplus resolution, reserve schedules, and budget adoption minutes before calling this recurring revenue, audited cash stress, or a complete cut list. |
Money movement uses 2025 CPI-U dollars where the row says after inflation. This is a reporting synthesis, not a deficit finding, tax-bill estimate, quality rating, or claim that a listed category caused a cut.
Budget evidence board
For Lower Township Elementary, the useful budget read is a sequence: compare the published cost position, explain the category families, check inflation and denominator movement, then verify whether the live proposal continues or complicates that pattern.
$19,138; $11,435 below the Cape May County average.
| Frame | District | Average | Gap | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape May County districtsclosest local comparison frame | $19,138 | $30,573 | -$11,435 | 14 of 16 |
| All NJ UFB districtsstatewide baseline before narrowing the frame | $19,138 | $23,591 | -$4,453 | 477 of 566 |
| Mostly locally fundedsame funding model, so revenue dependence is not hidden by one rank | $19,138 | $24,352 | -$5,214 | 313 of 368 |
| 500-2,499 UFB on-rollsimilar UFB planning-enrollment scale | $19,138 | $22,956 | -$3,818 | 227 of 268 |
Preschool: 40% of operating scale, +26 pts vs Cape May County average, +$4.6 million after inflation.
| Family | Latest | Peer gap | Real move | Proposal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PreschoolTotal Preschool Education Aid | 40% | +26 pts | +$4.6M | +$822K |
| Special revenue fundsTotal Special Revenue Funds | 38% | +23 pts | +$3.5M | -$1.1M |
| Capital, facilities, and debtTotal Debt Service Funds | 15% | +7 pts | +$2.8M | -$1.4M |
| Transfers and tuitionTotal Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition) | 4% | -21 pts | -$481K | +$180K |
UFB on-roll moved -152; operating-budget numerator moved -$8.2 million after CPI-U.
| Measure | Value | Moved |
|---|---|---|
| Real operating per UFB on-rollUFB on-roll moved -152; operating-budget numerator moved -$8.2 million after CPI-U. | $21,657 to $18,361 | -$3,297 |
| Comparative cost per pupilLatest peer gap -$11,435; first gap was -$9,087. | $19,138 vs $30,573 avg | -$2,348 |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll studentLatest peer gap -$17,507; first gap was -$13,826. | $18,361 vs $35,868 avg | -$3,681 |
| Administrative costs per pupilLatest peer gap -$1,144; first gap was -$1,217. | $1,449 vs $2,593 avg | +$74 |
Latest-file proposal rows are nominal and should be read apart from CPI-adjusted history.
| Current-year clue | Move | Op. scale |
|---|---|---|
| Operating budget proposalnominal revised/current-to-proposed movement | +$402K | 1% |
| Total General Current ExpenseAppropriation; peer net +3 pts of operating scale across 17 districts | +$943K | 3% |
| Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction ServicesAppropriation; peer net -4 pts of operating scale across 15 districts | -$786K | -3% |
| Categorical Special Education AidRevenue; peer net +1 pt of operating scale across 16 districts | +$738K | 3% |
The board uses the latest UFB year for comparison rows, 2025 CPI-U dollars where it says real or after inflation, proposed operating budget as the category scale denominator, and nominal revised/current-to-proposed dollars for proposal rows. Source-family rows are contextual and can be nested, so this is a reporting map rather than an additive accounting schedule.
Budget operating model
For Lower Township Elementary, this is the compact operating model behind the long UFB report: scale, payers, uses, real movement, live proposal movement, and checks that can change the interpretation.
$27.2 million proposed General Fund operating budget; $18,361 per UFB planning student; $17,507 below the Cape May County average on operating budget per UFB planning student.
Use this as the recurring operating scale. It is not all funds, audited actual spending, or a household tax bill.
Cost basisMain operating sources: local sources 75% ($20.4 million); state sources 15% ($4.0 million); fund balance / other sources 10% ($2.8 million); 1 pt below the Cape May County average.
Read this as General Fund operating revenue mix. Grants, debt service, capital funds, and tax-rate files sit on different bases.
Revenue familiesLargest visible source families by operating-budget scale: Preschool 40%; Special revenue funds 38%; Instruction programs 30%. Largest visible row: Total Preschool Education Aid.
Families are source-row groups, not an additive accounting schedule. Use them to decide which category proof section to open first.
Category proofreal operating budget per UFB planning student moved -$3,297 from $21,657 to $18,361; operating-budget numerator moved -$8.2 million after CPI-U while UFB on-roll moved -152; top family movement: General current expense -$8.1 million after inflation.
This is the guardrail against the generic nominal-spending-growth story: separate inflation, budget numerator, and UFB planning denominator before writing.
Inflation proofoperating budget proposal moved +$401,510 (1%) from revised/current to proposed; largest visible increase: Total General Current Expense +$942,690; largest visible decrease: Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services -$785,827.
These are nominal latest-file proposal rows. They should be read beside, not merged into, the CPI-adjusted history.
Proposal prooffund-balance, reserve, and carryover source rows total $2.8 million, 10% of operating scale; tax levy per UFB planning student is $8,712 below the Cape May County average; rank 13 of 16; sent placements is 15 pts below the Cape May County average; rank 13 of 14.
Use these as follow-up checks before writing deficit, tax-bill, service-cut, adequacy, or efficiency claims from UFB alone.
Side-file checksThe model uses 2025-26 UFB rows for the current read, 2025 CPI-U dollars where it says real or after inflation, proposed General Fund operating budget as the common scale where labeled, and Cape May County average for local peer comparisons where enough rows exist.
Budget answer sheet
This answer sheet gives the basic budget read for Lower Township Elementary before the detailed report opens. It turns the current proposal, peer frame, funding model, spending uses, student/service load, inflation, and side files into direct questions a resident can answer from UFB evidence.
| Question | Answer from UFB | How to read it | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| +$402Kproposal changeWhat changed in the current proposal?Live proposal | The live proposal changes the operating budget +$401,510 (1%) versus the revised/current column. | This is the current budget-year decision point. Long-run charts later in the report convert history to real dollars, but this row is the latest file’s nominal proposal change. | Check proposal changes |
| $19,138comparative costIs the district high, low, or typical against a fair benchmark?Fair comparison | NJDOE comparative cost is $11,435 below the Cape May County average. | The ordinary per-pupil-spending line is only the starting point. The fair question is whether the district’s cost position fits its funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows. | Check peer and slice evidence |
| 75%largest sourceWho pays for the operating budget?Who pays | Local sources supplied the largest operating-revenue share, 1 pt below the Cape May County average. | Revenue mix is the policy frame behind the cost comparison: a locally funded district, a state-aid district, and a district using fund balance can show the same cost number for different reasons. | Check revenue families |
| -21 ptsvs avgWhere does the operating budget go?What money buys | Transfers and tuition is the strongest generated spending/category clue: 21 pts below the Cape May County average, -$481,206 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26, latest proposal movement +$179,827. | This keeps the report out of the generic spending-went-up narrative. The category and named-line sections show which uses are actually large, unusual, or moving. | Check spending categories |
| 1,481UFB on-rollWhat student or service-load context changes the read?Students and services | UFB planning on-roll is 1,481, versus 1,350 fall-enrolled students on the profile. | Per-pupil comparisons move when the denominator or service load changes. This report keeps fall enrollment, UFB planning enrollment, placements, and student-need rows next to the cost evidence. | Check students and service load |
| -$8,174,061real operating changeWhat changed across loaded UFB years after inflation?What changed after inflation | After inflation, operating-budget scale changed -$8,174,061 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | This is the long-run context. It is deliberately separate from the latest proposal-column changes so ordinary nominal growth does not masquerade as the budget story. | Check inflation trends |
| $2.8 millionfund/reserve sourcesWhat else can change the budget story?Reserves and side files | Fund balance and reserve sources total $2.8 million. | These rows can explain a budget year without being recurring operating spending. The report keeps fund balance, reserves, recap balances, unusual explanations, shared services, salary rows, and school-resource statements outside additive totals. | Check reserves and side files |
The answer sheet is generated from published UFB rows and local/state comparison sets. It is an evidence map, not a causal model; dollar trend claims are inflation-adjusted only where the text says so, and proposal rows are nominal latest-file movement.
Budget explanation brief
Local taxes and local sources is the largest current family outside the broad current-expense total, at 77% of operating-budget scale. Preschool has the widest local peer gap, +26 pts against the Cape May County average. State aid moved the most after inflation, -$5,465,929 across loaded UFB years.
These are the source-row families where current scale, peer position, inflation-adjusted movement, or the latest proposal move most change the story.
Bars are scaled separately within each scan column; use the printed values for exact cross-column comparisons.
| Signal | Question | Evidence | Use and limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest current familyLocal taxes and local sources | How much of the budget story is local levy, tuition, fees, or miscellaneous local revenue? | $20,979,594 in latest source-row dollars; 77% of proposed operating-budget scale.Largest visible row: Total Tax Levy (Revenue line 100/114, $20,360,489). | Start here for the part of the budget that has the most current scale before reading smaller line movers.Large does not mean unusual, efficient, inefficient, or recurring; the peer gap and source-row basis still have to be checked.Categories Source rows |
| Widest local peer gapPreschool | Is preschool aid, carryover, instruction, or support service scale material? | 40% locally versus 14% for the Cape May County average; gap +26 pts.The family sits above the local peer frame on the same operating-budget-equivalent denominator. | Use this as the clearest category clue that the district differs from nearby districts.A peer gap is not a cause, a quality rating, or proof of waste; it needs program, enrollment, tax, labor, and board-document context.Peer evidence Comparisons Categories |
| Largest real movementState aid | Which aid lines explain dependence on state funding or first-to-latest movement? | -$5,465,929 from 2019-20 to 2025-26 after CPI-U adjustment to 2025 dollars.Operating-equivalent share changed -8 pts over the same loaded years. | Use this for the trend question, because it tests whether a category changed after inflation instead of repeating that nominal spending rises.This is not the latest proposal movement and can reflect row availability, program shifts, or denominator changes across loaded UFB years.Trends Categories Source rows |
| Largest current proposal moveCapital, facilities, and debt | Are capital projects, facilities acquisition, reserve withdrawals, or debt-service rows distorting all-funds comparisons? | -$1,355,772 from revised/current to proposed in the latest UFB file.That equals -5 pts of proposed operating-budget scale.Largest named proposal row: Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services (-$785,827 current-to-proposed). | Use this for what the current budget file says is changing now, separate from the multi-year inflation-adjusted trend.Proposal movement is nominal and latest-file only; it is not audited actual spending and should not be added across nested rows.Proposal Source rows |
This brief uses generated UFB source-row families as a reporting triage layer. Latest scale and peer gaps use proposed operating budget as a common denominator; real movement is converted to 2025 dollars with CPI-U; proposal movement is nominal revised/current-to-proposed movement in the latest UFB file. Families are contextual and can be nested, so this is not an additive budget schedule.
Budget story package
For Lower Township Elementary, start with this budget question: Does the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered? The package keeps the UFB-supported claim, fair comparison, inflation/category/proposal checks, next reporting move, and blocked overread on the same row.
| Package | What UFB shows | Compare / change | Report / block |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead to testCost position$19,138 | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average.Check: Peer evidence | Compare againstStart with Cape May County districts and the Cape May County average; then test statewide, model, scale, student-service, and outside-operating frames before treating the rank as the story.What changes the readReaders can decide whether the fair next question is a local peer comparison, a statewide slice comparison, or a denominator/service-load check. | Report nextAdopted budget book and UFB narrative. Ask the business administrator which obligations make the peer set fair or unfair.Do not writeNJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. |
| Fair comparisonTax effort$13,748 | Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16.Check: Tax context | Compare againstCompare levy per UFB planning student, estimated school-tax rate, and tax-base rows separately before translating the signal into taxpayer burden.What changes the readUse this to decide whether local peers, statewide slices, scale, funding model, service load, or source-row context is the fair comparison before quoting a rank. | Report nextEstimated tax-rate worksheet and municipal rate or bill tables. Ask finance officials how equalized value and rate rows translate to local bills.Do not writeEstimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. |
| Inflation testTrend and denominator2025 dollars | real operating budget per UFB planning student changed -$3,297 from 2019-20 to 2025-26; UFB planning enrollment changed -152; NJDOE comparative cost changed -$1,678 after inflation.Check: Inflation trends | Compare againstCompare this with the latest-year Cape May County average, the report map, and the trend section before calling growth the story.What changes the readThis separates nominal spending growth from real per-student movement, denominator change, and the latest proposal columns. | Report nextFirst and latest budget books and budget presentations. Ask which decisions changed between the first and latest loaded UFB years.Do not writeReal-dollar movement is long-run context; it is separate from the latest proposal-column decision. |
| Category explanationPreschool40% | Preschool: $10,776,665 latest source-row dollars, 40% of operating-budget scale; +26 pts versus the Cape May County average; +$4,643,699 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26; +$822,154 latest proposal movement; largest visible row: Total Preschool Education Aid.Check: Category evidence | Compare againstCompare the same source-family share with the Cape May County average, then check category, peer, trend, proposal, and source-row sections.What changes the readThis is the category/slice evidence that can make a budget story specific; it is not a second total to add to the operating budget. | Report nextAppropriation account detail behind the large category. Ask which program, contract, staffing pattern, or pass-through sits inside the category.Do not writeBudget families can be nested, repeated, or contextual, so they are reporting leads rather than an additive budget schedule. |
| Live proposalCategorical Special Education Aid+$737,811 | Categorical Special Education Aid changes +$737,811 from revised/current to proposed; +3 pts of operating-budget scale; same-row local peer average movement is +1 pt across 16 peers.Check: Proposal changes | Compare againstCompare the proposal package with the category map and trend bridge before calling it a pivot or continuation.What changes the readThis isolates the live budget decision from the broader real-dollar trend and from nested source-row totals. | Report nextAccount detail for the moving row in first and latest loaded years. Ask which formula, grant, transfer, contract, staffing, or accounting event moved the row.Do not writeProposal rows are nominal latest-file movement, not audited actual spending or a multi-year inflation-adjusted trend. |
| Second signalReserves and fund balance$2.8 million | Fund balance and reserve sources total $2.8 million; largest is budgeted fund balance at $2.5 million.Check: Reserves | Compare againstCompare balance, reserve, and carryover source rows with the operating budget scale; then check audited balances, restrictions, and recurrence.What changes the readCarry this beside the lead so per-pupil, tax, reserve, side-file, or outside-operating context is not left behind. | Report nextAudit fund-balance note and reserve schedules. Ask whether the source is planned, audited, recurring, or a one-time budget bridge.Do not writeFund-balance and reserve rows are planned source or projected-balance context, not audited cash or recurring revenue. |
Story packages are generated from ranked UFB signals, 2025-dollar inflation checks, local peer and source-family comparisons, latest proposal rows, and side-file cues. They are an assignment path, not a causal finding, quality rating, or additive accounting schedule.
Budget mechanism read
This panel turns the budget evidence for Lower Township Elementary into mechanisms: relative cost; who pays; category or slice are the first lanes to test before a reader writes from totals, ranks, or nominal growth.
| Mechanism | District read | Proof already here | Report next | Block this overread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening frameRelative cost | Published comparative cost is $11,435 below the Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts. | $19,138; -$11,435 versus Cape May County average. Peer evidence | Test whether funding model, service load, category rows, or side files make the cost position explainable. | A cost rank is not an efficiency, adequacy, quality, or taxpayer-impact finding. |
| In playWho pays | Local sources supply 75% of proposed General Fund operating revenue; 1 pt below the Cape May County average. Tax levy per UFB on-roll is $8,712 below the Cape May County average. | Operating revenue source share from UFB summary rows. Tax: $13,748; rank 13 of 16. Revenue families | Ask whether the cost story is also a local-revenue, state-aid, grant, tax-base, or fund-balance story. | Funding mix is not a tax bill, adequacy judgment, or proof of what the district buys. |
| In playCategory or slice | preschool moved +$4.6 million after CPI-U from 2019-20 to 2025-26; +26 pts versus the Cape May County average; operating-budget-scale share moved +22 pts from 2019-20 to 2025-26. Source-family rows can be nested, contextual, or outside recurring operating basis. | Budget-family scan combines latest operating-equivalent scale, local peer gap, CPI-adjusted movement, proposal movement, and largest source-row clues. Student load | Report the named row or family before saying total spending is the story. | Budget families and source rows can be nested or contextual, so this is not an additive schedule or causal model. |
| Trend testInflation and denominator | After CPI-U adjustment, operating budget per UFB on-roll moved -$3,297 from 2019-20 to 2025-26; UFB on-roll moved -152. | $21,657 to $18,361 in 2025 dollars per UFB on-roll. Inflation trends | Separate real per-student movement from nominal budget growth and from the latest proposal column. | This is not a current-year cut list, audited actual spending, or proof that services changed. |
| In playStudents and services | UFB planning on-roll is 1,481, versus 1,350 fall-enrolled students; special-education planning rows are 234 (16% of UFB on-roll); administrative costs per pupil is $1,144 below the Cape May County average. | denominator gap +131; special-education planning rows: 234; Administrative costs per pupil: rank 16 of 16. Students and costs | Ask whether per-pupil differences are a denominator, placement, service-load, or cost-row story. | Planning rows are not fall enrollment, service quality, compliance evidence, or student-need proof by themselves. |
| Live decisionProposal timing | operating budget moves +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed; 1% latest-file change; top named proposal row is Total General Current Expense. | +$402K; +$942,690 in nominal latest-file dollars. Proposal changes | Ask whether the current proposal continues, offsets, or departs from the longer CPI-adjusted trend. | Proposal-column movement is not audited actual spending, long-run inflation movement, or a confirmed cut/addition list. |
| In playOne-time support | fund-balance, reserve, and carryover source rows total $2.8 million; largest is budgeted fund balance at $2.5 million; projected close-year recap balances total $2.2 million. | 10% of operating-budget scale; recap balance side file. Reserves and balances | Ask which support is recurring, restricted, already committed, or a one-year budget bridge. | Balance and reserve rows are planned-source or projected-balance context, not audited cash or structural-deficit proof. |
| CheckOutside operating and side files | all-funds net spending is $33.7 million, $6.5 million above the operating budget; unusual-item file has 15 positive rows totaling $658,100; shared-service file lists 9 arrangements. | largest outside-operating row: special revenue funds at $5.2 million; selected administrative salary side file lists 8 rows. Budget anatomy | Ask whether grants, debt, capital, preschool, unusual items, shared services, or salary side files change the operating story. | Outside-operating and side-file rows are context; they are not recurring General Fund operating spending or audited savings. |
Mechanisms are generated from UFB summary, revenue, appropriation, pupil-cost, budget-enrollment, tax, reserve, and side-file rows. Money trends use 2025 CPI-U dollars where labeled; proposal rows remain nominal latest-file movement.
Cost-position clues
NJDOE comparative cost puts this district below the Cape May County average. These clues name the concrete UFB measures, funding and tax signals, named rows, current-proposal movement, denominator checks, and budget-year context that can explain or complicate that position before the report moves into full evidence.
| Clue | Evidence | How to read it | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline metricNJDOE comparative cost | $19,138; -$11,435 vs Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16 | This is the published cost-position metric. The rows below are the visible UFB clues to test before treating the rank as a story by itself. | Peer evidence |
| Scale checkOperating budget per UFB on-roll student | $18,361; -$17,507 vs Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 | This recomputed operating-budget scale check uses UFB on-roll as the denominator; it can confirm or complicate NJDOE’s published comparative-cost line. | Cost basis |
| Tax clueTax levy per UFB on-roll student | $13,748; -$8,712 vs Cape May County average; rank 13 of 16 | Tax levy per UFB on-roll is a burden and tax-base clue to read beside the cost position; it is not a tax-bill estimate. | Tax effort |
| Proposal clueLatest operating proposal | operating budget +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed; 1% latest-file change; largest named proposal move: General current expense at +$942,690 | The proposal clue is the live nominal budget-year decision. It belongs beside the cost position, but it is separate from CPI-adjusted history and audited actual spending. | Proposal changes |
| Peer clueListed admin base salaries per UFB on-roll student | $629; -$978 vs Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16 | A lower-than-peer clue to inspect when explaining the below-average cost position; it is not proof of efficiency or service level. | Costs and students |
| Peer clueAdministrative costs per pupil | $1,449; -$1,144 vs Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 | A lower-than-peer clue to inspect when explaining the below-average cost position; it is not proof of efficiency or service level. | Costs and students |
| Peer clueOperations and maintenance per pupil | $2,626; -$1,854 vs Cape May County average; rank 12 of 16 | A lower-than-peer clue to inspect when explaining the below-average cost position; it is not proof of efficiency or service level. | Costs and students |
| Peer clueSpecial Revenue Funds equivalent | 19%; +11 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 3 of 16 | A higher-than-peer counter-signal that complicates a simple low-cost story. | Categories |
| Peer clueEmployee benefits share | 24%; +5 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 2 of 16 | A higher-than-peer counter-signal that complicates a simple low-cost story. | Categories |
The clues use Cape May County districts with usable latest-year UFB rows unless noted. Proposal rows are nominal revised/current-to-proposed movement; trend rows use 2025 dollars where labeled. These are reporting leads, not a causal model and not a rating of spending quality.
Cost-position judgment
For Lower Township Elementary, the cost-position read is below the Cape May County average. This ledger decides whether the visible UFB signals line up with that read, complicate it, or leave the explanation outside the budget files.
| Judgment | Evidence | Reader take | Next check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost story | Comparative cost per pupil: $19,138 (-$11,435 vs Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16) | Treat the below-average cost position as the question to explain, not as proof of efficiency, adequacy, service level, or cause. | Peer evidence |
| Signals that line up | Operating budget per UFB on-roll student: $18,361 (-$17,507 vs Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16); Administrative costs per pupil: $1,449 (-$1,144 vs Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16); Operations and maintenance per pupil: $2,626 (-$1,854 vs Cape May County average; rank 12 of 16). | These measures move in the same direction as the published cost position. They are clues to inspect, not a causal proof that any one row creates the cost gap. | Category and funding evidence |
| Signals that complicate | Special Revenue Funds equivalent: 19% (+11 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 3 of 16); Employee benefits share: 24% (+5 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 2 of 16). | These measures move against the simple cost read. Keep them visible before writing a one-note high-cost or low-cost story. | Cost and student context |
| Named row to test | Total Special Revenue Funds: 19% of operating scale; +11 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 3 of 17. | A named UFB row can make the story concrete. It still may be nested, contextual, or outside the recurring operating basis, so it needs the source-row proof section. | Source rows |
| Generated story lane | preschool moved +$4.6 million after CPI-U from 2019-20 to 2025-26; +26 pts versus the Cape May County average; operating-budget-scale share moved +22 pts from 2019-20 to 2025-26. Source-family rows can be nested, contextual, or outside recurring operating basis. | This is the strongest generated source-family route. Use it to decide what to report next, not as an accounting total or causal model. | Student load |
| Live decision point | operating budget +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed; 1% latest-file change. | This is a nominal current-proposal decision, not the inflation-adjusted history and not audited actual spending. | Proposal changes |
| Still unresolved | Adopted budget book and UFB narrative. Ask the business administrator which obligations make the peer set fair or unfair. | UFB can rank and compare the signal, but it still does not prove cause, adequacy, intent, quality, or taxpayer impact. NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. | Peer evidence |
The ledger uses Cape May County districts with usable latest-year UFB rows unless the row names another frame. It is a reporting synthesis, not an efficiency rating, adequacy claim, or causal model.
Budget report section
What is the short version, what can UFB prove, which signals deserve the first read, and which simple reads need a second signal?
What explains this budget
Cost position. NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average.
AskDoes the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered?Do not overreadNJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost.Check: Peer evidenceThese are generated reporting leads ranked from the latest UFB row scans, county comparisons, planning-enrollment rows, and real-dollar trend checks. The question and counter-reading keep each lead from becoming a causal claim before the full report evidence is checked.
Budget reading memo
The useful budget read for Lower Township Elementary is not a single spending-up sentence or a lone rank. Test this question first: Does the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered? NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average.
NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average; local rank 14 of 16. After inflation, operating budget per UFB planning student changed -$3,297 from 2019-20 to 2025-26; UFB planning enrollment changed -152. The latest UFB proposal column changes the operating budget +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed. Those facts matter, but they should travel with the cost position question instead of becoming the whole story.
Check: Peer evidenceChoose the fair peers, then check grade span, program obligations, placement load, and audited budget documents before treating the rank as efficiency or inefficiency.
| Context | UFB signal | Why it changes the read | Guardrail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax effortTax context | Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16. | Readers can separate school-budget pressure from taxable-base and municipal-rate context before translating UFB rows into household burden. | Estimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. |
| Pupil-cost linePupil-cost rows | Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average. | Readers can choose which standardized cost category deserves staffing, benefits, facilities, or program follow-up. | Several pupil-cost rows are components of broader totals, not an additive bridge. |
| Named UFB rowSource rows | Preschool Education Aid is 15% of the operating-budget scale, +11 pts versus the peer average; local rank 1 of 17. | Readers can see which line is specific enough to request board backup, account detail, or an agenda item. | Named rows are contextual source-file lines; many are nested, subtotals, or outside-operating signals. |
This memo is generated from ranked UFB signals, local peer context, loaded-year inflation checks, proposal columns, and side-file evidence. It is an editorial route through the evidence, not a causal finding; NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost.
Question-to-reporting path
The first resident question for Lower Township Elementary is Does the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered? This path keeps the strongest UFB clues beside the first fair comparison, the records to pull, and the shortcut to block before writing.
| Reader question | UFB clue | First comparison | Reporting move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost positionDoes the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered? | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average.NJDOE comparative-cost row, latest-year local peer rank, and local peer average gap where usable. | Start with Cape May County districts and the Cape May County average; then test statewide, model, scale, student-service, and outside-operating frames before treating the rank as the story.Check: Peer evidence | Pull or ask
|
| Tax effortHow does local tax effort compare once levy per planning student, estimated rate, and tax base are separated? | Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16.UFB levy rows, estimated tax-rate side file where present, planning-student denominator, and local peer context. | Compare levy per UFB planning student, estimated school-tax rate, and tax-base rows separately before translating the signal into taxpayer burden.Check: Tax context | Pull or ask
|
| Pupil-cost lineWhich NJDOE standardized per-pupil row is furthest from the local peer average? | Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average.NJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows, latest local peer average, and real-dollar history where loaded. | Compare the same NJDOE standardized pupil-cost row with the Cape May County average; use it to locate the cost category, not to rebuild the whole budget.Check: Pupil-cost rows | Pull or ask
|
| Named UFB rowWhich named source row is large enough versus peers to deserve follow-up? | Preschool Education Aid is 15% of the operating-budget scale, +11 pts versus the peer average; local rank 1 of 17.Contextual UFB revenue or appropriation source row, operating-budget-equivalent scale, and same-row peer scan. | Compare the same source row against local peers and then inspect the account detail; the row may be a subtotal, restricted source, pass-through, or one-year item.Check: Source rows | Pull or ask
|
This path is generated from the same ranked UFB signals as the budget memo and claim audit. It is a reporting crosswalk, not a finding that one row caused another.
Public hearing agenda
This turns the budget report into meeting questions: the generated UFB signal, the local record or explanation to ask for, the proof section to open, and the reading that should be blocked before a resident or reporter writes from the numbers.
| Question | UFB signal | Ask for / check | Proof | Block this read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current proposalWhich proposed changes are recurring, which are one-time or restricted, and what local action explains the largest named row? | Operating proposal changes +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed. Top named row: Categorical Special Education Aid +$737,811 (Revenue line 440). | Budget-hearing presentation, revised/current-to-proposed detail, board resolutions, and the contract, grant, tuition, transfer, or staffing memo behind the largest changed row. | Proposal changes | Do not describe nominal proposal-column movement as the CPI-adjusted trend or as an audited spending result. |
| Relative costWhy does the published cost position sit where it does after peer choice, grade span, service load, funding model, and outside-operating rows are named? | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average; local rank 14 of 16. | Adopted budget book, peer roster, grade-span/program notes, placement and transportation schedules, and budget presentations for the named peers. | Peer evidence | Do not turn a high or low rank into efficiency, waste, adequacy, or quality language without outside reporting. |
| Categories and linesWhich category or source family is actually driving the story, and which account, program, restriction, or transfer sits underneath it? | Preschool: $10,776,665; 40% of operating-budget scale; +26 pts versus Cape May County average; +$4,643,699 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26; largest row: Total Preschool Education Aid. | Account detail for the selected family, program or staffing schedules, contract or transfer documents, grant/restriction notes, and board packet explanations for the largest row. | Category evidence | Do not add budget families or lower-level rows together; many are nested, contextual, or outside recurring operating basis. |
| Inflation and denominatorIs the multi-year movement a real spending change, a planning-enrollment denominator change, a category mix change, or a one-year row? | Real operating budget changed -$8,174,061 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. Real operating budget per UFB planning student changed -$3,297. UFB planning on-roll changed -152. | First and latest budget books, enrollment projection memos, budget adoption minutes, account-level change notes, and any one-time grant, reserve, capital, or debt documents. | Trends and inflation | Do not make ordinary nominal growth the story until CPI-U, planning enrollment, peers, and category rows have been checked. |
| Students and servicesWhich enrollment, placement, tuition, preschool, transportation, or service-plan assumption changes the per-student read? | Budgeted out-of-district placements share is 1%, 15 pts below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 14. | Enrollment projection worksheet, fall-enrollment comparison, placement and tuition schedules, transportation contracts, preschool/service-plan notes, and receiving/sending district records. | Costs and students | Do not treat UFB planning rows as fall enrollment, direct student need, compliance, or service quality proof. |
| Reserves and side filesWhich balance, reserve, one-time, shared-service, unusual, grant, capital, or debt rows belong in the story, and which are outside recurring operating? | Fund-balance/reserve sources total $2.8 million; largest is budgeted fund balance at $2.5 million. All-funds net spending is $33.7 million, $6.5 million above proposed operating budget. Largest projected balance row: Restricted-General Operating Budget: Capital Reserve at $646,432. Positive unusual-item explanations total $658,100. Shared-service file has 9 rows. | Audit or ACFR fund-balance note, reserve-transfer approvals, unusual-item explanations, shared-service agreements, grant award letters, capital project schedules, and debt-service documents. | Side files | Do not treat planned balance or reserve rows as audited cash, recurring revenue, or a structural-deficit finding; do not sum side files into operating spending. |
This is generated from the same UFB rows as the report, but the records named here are outside the UFB release. The table is a civic checklist, not a claim that the outside records already prove the explanation.
Budget news judgment
This filter labels what is background, what the UFB rows can support now, what needs a second signal, and what still requires outside reporting before the budget story is written.
| Judgment | Evidence | Next step | Do not write |
|---|---|---|---|
| BackgroundNominal budget growth or a plain spending-up sentence. | Nominal operating budget moved -$892,347 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. The report tests that against CPI-U, UFB planning enrollment, and peer evidence: real operating budget per UFB planning student moved -$3,297. | Move to real dollars, fair peer/slice comparisons, category/source-family evidence, proposal columns, or side-file context before making it the story.Trends and inflation | Do not publish a generic 'spending went up' read as the budget story unless the second signal explains why it matters. |
| UFB-ready factThe latest proposal column changed. | Proposed operating budget changed +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed in the latest UFB file. | Report it as nominal current-proposal movement, then inspect named revenue and appropriation rows.Proposal changes | Do not mix this latest-file movement with the CPI-adjusted multi-year trend. |
| Reportable UFB signalDoes the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered? | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average. Evidence basis: NJDOE comparative-cost row, latest-year local peer rank, and local peer average gap where usable. | Use this as the first local budget question, then check the linked proof section.Peer evidence | NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. |
| Second-signal checkHow does local tax effort compare once levy per planning student, estimated rate, and tax base are separated? | Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16. Evidence basis: UFB levy rows, estimated tax-rate side file where present, planning-student denominator, and local peer context. | Carry this beside the lead so the first read is tested against another denominator, file, or comparison frame.Tax context | Estimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. |
| Needs reportingTurn the cost position signal into a local explanation. | Adopted budget book and UFB narrative. Audit or ACFR schedules, staffing pages, and program descriptions. Ask the business administrator which obligations make the peer set fair or unfair. | Choose the fair peers, then check grade span, program obligations, placement load, and audited budget documents before treating the rank as efficiency or inefficiency.Peer evidence | A high or low cost rank can reflect service load, district size, aid structure, fixed costs, or pass-through rows; UFB alone does not prove waste or adequacy. |
| Blocked shortcutCause, waste, adequacy, efficiency, intent, quality, or blame. | UFB rows can flag a reportable budget signal; they do not prove why it happened or whether it is good policy. | Use board documents, contracts, tax records, staffing/program records, audits, and interviews before writing causal language.Source rows | Do not turn cost position into a causal or quality claim from UFB alone. |
The filter is generated from the same ranked UFB evidence as the reading memo, claim audit, and reporting notebook. It is a news judgment screen, not a causal model or a quality rating.
Budget diagnosis
For Lower Township Elementary, the strongest generated read is cost position. The table ranks the explanatory lanes before the report opens the long evidence sections, so the budget is not reduced to ordinary per-pupil growth or a single cost rank.
| Lane | Evidence | What it explains | What it cannot prove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dominant first readCost positionPeer evidence | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts; operating budget per UFB on-roll is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average; statewide comparative-cost rank is 477 of 566. | Whether the district is actually unusual after the local peer frame and operating denominator are named. | Quality, efficiency, adequacy, waste, or the cause of the rank. |
| Strong supporting readTax effortTax basis | tax levy per UFB on-roll is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; rank 13 of 16 among Cape May County districts; highest estimated total school-tax rate shown is 0.2793 per $100 of valuation. | Whether the budget story is partly a local-burden story after levy, planning enrollment, estimated rate rows, and tax-base context are separated. | A household tax bill, audited property-tax burden, or proof that school spending alone caused the rate. |
| Strong supporting readWhat money buysCategories and lines | general current expense is the largest high-level use at 98% of operating budget; administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average; named row Total Special Revenue Funds is +11 pts versus local peers. | Which spending category, pupil-cost row, or named source row turns the broad cost number into a concrete budget story. | A program audit, a complete causal bridge, or an additive sum of nested UFB rows. |
| Context to carryStudents and service loadCosts and students | UFB planning on-roll is 1,481, versus 1,350 fall-enrolled students in the profile; budgeted out-of-district placements are 1% of UFB on-roll, 15 pts below the Cape May County average; special-education planning share is 16%, 5 pts below the Cape May County average. | Whether the per-student read is really about the denominator, placements, special education, or student-flow rows. | Fall enrollment, service severity, staffing need, service quality, or compliance. |
| Context to carryTrend and denominatorTrends and inflation | operating scale changed -$8,174,061 in 2025 dollars from 2019-20 to 2025-26; comparative cost changed -$1,678 after inflation; UFB planning on-roll changed -152. | Whether the background movement is real operating scale, published comparative cost, enrollment arithmetic, or a mix. | A current-year decision, or proof that inflation, enrollment, labor, or programs caused the movement. |
| Context to carryWho paysRevenue families | local sources supply 75% of General Fund operating revenue; that source share is 1 pt below the Cape May County average; tax levy per UFB on-roll is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; fund-balance, reserve, and carryover source rows total $2.8 million. | Why the same cost figure can mean different things in a state-funded, locally funded, federally supported, or balance-supported district. | A tax bill, a sustainability finding, or proof that source shares explain spending quality. |
| Context to carryCurrent proposalProposal changes | operating budget changes +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed; largest named proposal movement is General current expense at +$942,690. | What the latest UFB file says is changing now, in nominal revised/current-to-proposed dollars. | The long-run inflation-adjusted trend, or the board/contract/formula reason the proposal changed. |
The diagnosis is generated from published UFB summary, source rows, local peer comparisons, side files, and loaded-year movement. It ranks evidence for reporting priority; it is not a causal model, quality rating, or accounting equation.
Comparison brief
This table puts the published cost line into the comparison frames that matter first: named local peers, all NJ districts, funding model, district scale, cost band, and any high-signal service or category slice. It is a triage layer before the detailed peer strips, slice panels, and source rows.
Comparison verdictFrame-sensitive cost read. The comparative cost per pupil is above in 1 frame and below in 4 frames across the 5 front comparison frames shown.
Frame to checkLower-quarter comparative-cost districts: +$627 vs slice average; rank 53 of 142.
Reporting useDo not write from one rank; explain why this slice changes the read. Open proof
Read across comparison frames before treating one rank as the story. These rows use NJDOE comparative cost when available, then operating cost per UFB on-roll as the fallback.
| Frame | District | Comparison | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape May County districtsClosest named local benchmark before any statewide ranking.Comparative cost per pupil | $19,13814 of 16 | $30,573Cape May County average | -$11,435 |
| All NJ UFB districtsBroad statewide baseline; useful, but not a fair peer group by itself.Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138477 of 566 | $23,591NJ average | -$4,453 |
| 500-2,499 UFB on-roll districtsScale helps separate large-system budgets from fixed-cost small-district pressure.Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138227 of 268 | $22,956slice average | -$3,818 |
| Mostly locally funded districtsFunding model changes what the same per-pupil cost can mean.Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138313 of 368 | $24,352slice average | -$5,214 |
| Lower-quarter comparative-cost districtsThis asks whether the district is unusual even among districts in the same cost band.Comparative cost per pupil | $19,13853 of 142 | $18,511slice average | +$627 |
| Frame | District | Comparison | Named check | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape May County districtsClosest named local benchmark before any statewide ranking. | $19,13814 of 16 | $30,573Cape May County average; -$11,435 | Next higher: Woodbine Boro $20,522; Next lower: Upper Twp $18,947. | Closest named local benchmark before any statewide ranking.Open proof |
| All NJ UFB districtsBroad statewide baseline; useful, but not a fair peer group by itself. | $19,138477 of 566 | $23,591NJ average; -$4,453 | Next higher: Lyndhurst Twp $19,142; Next lower: Haddon Heights Boro $19,119. | Broad statewide baseline; useful, but not a fair peer group by itself. Secondary clue: Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $20,892 below the NJ average.Open proof |
| 500-2,499 UFB on-roll districtsScale helps separate large-system budgets from fixed-cost small-district pressure. | $19,138227 of 268 | $22,956slice average; -$3,818 | Next higher: Plumsted Twp $19,180; Next lower: Haddon Heights Boro $19,119. | Scale helps separate large-system budgets from fixed-cost small-district pressure. Secondary clue: Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $9,520 below the slice average.Open proof |
| Mostly locally funded districtsFunding model changes what the same per-pupil cost can mean. | $19,138313 of 368 | $24,352slice average; -$5,214 | Next higher: Lyndhurst Twp $19,142; Next lower: Haddon Heights Boro $19,119. | Funding model changes what the same per-pupil cost can mean. Secondary clue: Local operating revenue share is 75%, 9 pts below the slice average.Open proof |
| Lower-quarter comparative-cost districtsThis asks whether the district is unusual even among districts in the same cost band. | $19,13853 of 142 | $18,511slice average; +$627 | Next higher: Lyndhurst Twp $19,142; Next lower: Haddon Heights Boro $19,119. | This asks whether the district is unusual even among districts in the same cost band. Secondary clue: Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $3,826 below the slice average.Open proof |
Frames overlap and keep their own denominators. "Next higher" and "next lower" are numeric positions on the selected measure, not judgments about efficiency, adequacy, or quality.
Budget story spine
This scan-first table turns the strongest generated signals into a proof path. It keeps the claim, UFB evidence, fair comparison, outside reporting need, and counter-reading in one row before the report opens the longer evidence sections.
| Story path | UFB proof | Comparison / proof | Outside reporting | Do not overread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost positionDoes the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered? | $19,138NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average. | Peer evidenceCape May County average where local peer rows are usable; statewide and slice frames where the local peer set is incomplete. | Choose the fair peers, then check grade span, program obligations, placement load, and audited budget documents before treating the rank as efficiency or inefficiency. | NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. |
| Tax effortHow does local tax effort compare once levy per planning student, estimated rate, and tax base are separated? | $13,748Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16. | Tax contextCape May County average where local peer rows are usable; statewide and slice frames where the local peer set is incomplete. | Use municipal tax-bill, equalized-value, and rate documents to translate UFB levy/rate context into what local taxpayers actually experience. | Estimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. |
| Pupil-cost lineWhich NJDOE standardized per-pupil row is furthest from the local peer average? | $1,449Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average. | Pupil-cost rowsCape May County average where local peer rows are usable; statewide and slice frames where the local peer set is incomplete. | Read staffing, benefits, facilities, and program documents for the cost row; standardized pupil-cost categories are summaries, not explanations. | Several pupil-cost rows are components of broader totals, not an additive bridge. |
| Named UFB rowWhich named source row is large enough versus peers to deserve follow-up? | +11 ptsPreschool Education Aid is 15% of the operating-budget scale, +11 pts versus the peer average; local rank 1 of 17. | Source rowsCape May County average where local peer rows are usable; statewide and slice frames where the local peer set is incomplete. | Pull the budget-book narrative, account detail, and board agenda items behind the named row; UFB confirms scale, not the operational reason. | Named rows are contextual source-file lines; many are nested, subtotals, or outside-operating signals. |
| Line movementWhich named source row moved most after inflation across loaded UFB years? | -$6,551,135Largest inflation-adjusted named-line movement: Equalization Aid, -$6,551,135 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | Line historyCape May County average where local peer rows are usable; statewide and slice frames where the local peer set is incomplete. | Find the formula, grant, transfer, contract, staffing, or accounting event behind the named row movement. | The selected row is a reporting lead, not a complete explanation of the operating budget change. |
| Real-dollar changeAfter inflation, is the long-run movement about operating scale, denominator movement, or both? | -$8,174,061After inflation, the operating budget changed -$8,174,061 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | Inflation trendsCape May County average where local peer rows are usable; statewide and slice frames where the local peer set is incomplete. | Pin the movement to the actual, revised, and proposed columns plus outside events before calling it a policy change. | Real-dollar movement is long-run context; it is separate from the latest proposal-column decision. |
The spine is generated from latest-year peer gaps, named UFB rows, planning-enrollment evidence, side files, and real-dollar trend checks. It ranks reportable evidence paths, not spending quality or causal certainty.
Budget storylines to test
These are not finished articles. They are generated story packages that turn the strongest UFB signals into a responsible reporting route: the working nut graf, why the claim matters to readers, the proof inside UFB, the outside record to pull next, and the sentence not to write yet.
Working nut graf. For Lower Township Elementary, the UFB-supported story to test is this: NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average. The reporting question is: Does the cost rank still make sense after funding model, scale, placements, and outside-operating rows are considered?
Why readers careReaders can decide whether the fair next question is a local peer comparison, a statewide slice comparison, or a denominator/service-load check.Proof in UFBNJDOE comparative-cost row, latest-year local peer rank, and local peer average gap where usable. Peer evidenceReport nextChoose the fair peers, then check grade span, program obligations, placement load, and audited budget documents before treating the rank as efficiency or inefficiency.Do not write yetA high or low cost rank can reflect service load, district size, aid structure, fixed costs, or pass-through rows; UFB alone does not prove waste or adequacy.Working nut graf. For Lower Township Elementary, the UFB-supported story to test is this: Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16. The reporting question is: How does local tax effort compare once levy per planning student, estimated rate, and tax base are separated?
Why readers careReaders can separate school-budget pressure from taxable-base and municipal-rate context before translating UFB rows into household burden.Proof in UFBUFB levy rows, estimated tax-rate side file where present, planning-student denominator, and local peer context. Tax contextReport nextUse municipal tax-bill, equalized-value, and rate documents to translate UFB levy/rate context into what local taxpayers actually experience.Do not write yetLow levy per UFB on-roll does not automatically mean low household tax burden; high estimated rates do not by themselves prove school spending is the driver.Working nut graf. For Lower Township Elementary, the UFB-supported story to test is this: Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average. The reporting question is: Which NJDOE standardized per-pupil row is furthest from the local peer average?
Why readers careReaders can choose which standardized cost category deserves staffing, benefits, facilities, or program follow-up.Proof in UFBNJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows, latest local peer average, and real-dollar history where loaded. Pupil-cost rowsReport nextRead staffing, benefits, facilities, and program documents for the cost row; standardized pupil-cost categories are summaries, not explanations.Do not write yetPer-pupil cost rows are standardized comparison rows; they are not a complete staffing, contract, or program ledger.Working nut graf. For Lower Township Elementary, the UFB-supported story to test is this: Preschool Education Aid is 15% of the operating-budget scale, +11 pts versus the peer average; local rank 1 of 17. The reporting question is: Which named source row is large enough versus peers to deserve follow-up?
Why readers careReaders can see which line is specific enough to request board backup, account detail, or an agenda item.Proof in UFBContextual UFB revenue or appropriation source row, operating-budget-equivalent scale, and same-row peer scan. Source rowsReport nextPull the budget-book narrative, account detail, and board agenda items behind the named row; UFB confirms scale, not the operational reason.Do not write yetA large named row can be a subtotal, nested line, restricted source, transfer, or one-year accounting change.Storylines are ranked from local peer gaps, source-row scale, planning-enrollment rows, side-file signals, proposal movement, and CPI-adjusted loaded-year checks. Money bases, fund scope, and denominators stay attached to each route; comparative cost remains NJDOE’s published metric.
Budget claim audit
This audit turns the report’s strongest signals into sentence-level budget claims. It separates what the UFB rows support from what still requires board materials, contracts, audits, tax records, staffing context, program records, or interviews.
| Claim status | Safe wording | Evidence basis | Still not proven | Proof / next check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UFB-supported fact | The latest UFB file shows the proposed operating budget changes +$401,510 from the revised/current column to the proposed column. | Latest-year UFB revised/current and proposed operating-budget columns; nominal dollars. | This is the live proposal move, not the inflation-adjusted long-run trend or the reason the proposal changed. | Proposal changes |
| UFB-supported fact | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts, $11,435 below the Cape May County average. | NJDOE comparative-cost row, latest-year local peer rank, and local peer average gap where usable. | NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. | Peer evidence |
| UFB-supported fact | Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; local rank 13 of 16. | UFB levy rows, estimated tax-rate side file where present, planning-student denominator, and local peer context. | Estimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. | Tax context |
| UFB-supported fact | Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average. | NJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows, latest local peer average, and real-dollar history where loaded. | Several pupil-cost rows are components of broader totals, not an additive bridge. | Pupil-cost rows |
| UFB-supported fact | Preschool Education Aid is 15% of the operating-budget scale, +11 pts versus the peer average; local rank 1 of 17. | Contextual UFB revenue or appropriation source row, operating-budget-equivalent scale, and same-row peer scan. | Named rows are contextual source-file lines; many are nested, subtotals, or outside-operating signals. | Source rows |
| UFB-supported fact | Largest inflation-adjusted named-line movement: Equalization Aid, -$6,551,135 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | Selected UFB revenue or appropriation row history converted to 2025 dollars. | The selected row is a reporting lead, not a complete explanation of the operating budget change. | Line history |
| Needs outside reporting | Choose the fair peers, then check grade span, program obligations, placement load, and audited budget documents before treating the rank as efficiency or inefficiency. | Board materials, audits, contracts, tax records, staffing context, program records, or interviews outside the UFB files. | NJDOE comparative cost is the publisher’s metric; this is a comparison lead, not a judgment or a recomputed cost. | Peer evidence |
| Needs outside reporting | Use municipal tax-bill, equalized-value, and rate documents to translate UFB levy/rate context into what local taxpayers actually experience. | Board materials, audits, contracts, tax records, staffing context, program records, or interviews outside the UFB files. | Estimated tax-rate side-file rows are context; they are not audited property-tax bills. | Tax context |
| Unsupported shortcut | Do not turn the cost position signal into a claim about waste, adequacy, intent, quality, or cause without the outside reporting step. | Not established by UFB rows alone. | A high or low cost rank can reflect service load, district size, aid structure, fixed costs, or pass-through rows; UFB alone does not prove waste or adequacy. | Peer evidence |
Rows are generated from latest-year peer gaps, named UFB rows, planning-enrollment evidence, side files, latest-file proposal columns, and inflation-adjusted trend checks. Safe wording is the strongest UFB-supported sentence before outside reporting, not a finished story.
Comparison movement brief
This table separates the generic spending-up-over-time story from the district-specific comparison story. It asks whether selected cost, funding, tax, category, and service-load measures moved toward or away from the Cape May County average from 2019-20 to 2025-26.
| Measure | First gap | Latest gap | Read the movement | Check next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comparative cost per pupil2019-20 to 2025-26 | -$9,0872019-20 vs local peer average | -$11,4352025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$2,348. | Peer trend proof |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll student2019-20 to 2025-26 | -$13,8262019-20 vs local peer average | -$17,5072025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$3,681. | Peer trend proof |
| Administrative costs per pupil2019-20 to 2025-26 | -$1,2172019-20 vs local peer average | -$1,1442025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved closer to the Cape May County average; the gap moved +$74. | Cost and labor context |
| Operations and maintenance per pupil2019-20 to 2025-26 | -$1,4132019-20 vs local peer average | -$1,8542025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$441. | Cost and labor context |
| Classroom instruction per pupil2019-20 to 2025-26 | -$4,6762019-20 vs local peer average | -$6,1192025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$1,443. | Cost and labor context |
| Support services per pupil2019-20 to 2025-26 | -$1,3312019-20 vs local peer average | -$1,8422025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$512. | Cost and labor context |
| Budgeted out-of-district placements share2019-20 to 2025-26 | -10 pts2019-20 vs local peer average | -15 pts2025-26 vs local peer average | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -5 pts. | Student and service load |
Money measures are converted to 2025 dollars before peer gaps are compared. This is a direction-of-comparison brief, not a causal test; a widening or narrowing gap still needs category, denominator, tax, service-load, and source-row evidence.
Comparison-frame movement
This panel takes the latest-year comparison frames from the relative-cost ladder and asks whether this district's published comparative cost moved closer to or farther from each frame from 2019-20 to 2025-26, after CPI-U adjustment.
Latest readFrame-sensitive over time. The latest real comparative cost is above in 1 frame and below in 4 frames.
Largest movementLocal peer set moved -$2,348 versus its frame.
Reporting useOne comparison frame cannot carry the story; name which frame changes the read.
| Frame | First gap | Latest gap | Movement | Read the movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape May County districtsClosest named local comparison set. | -$9,0872019-20 vs Cape May County average | -$11,4352025-26 vs Cape May County average | -$2,3482019-20 to 2025-26 | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$2,348. |
| All NJ UFB districtsBroad statewide baseline; useful, but not a fair peer group by itself. | -$2,4592019-20 vs NJ average | -$4,4532025-26 vs NJ average | -$1,9932019-20 to 2025-26 | The measure moved farther below the NJ average; the gap moved -$1,993. |
| Mostly locally funded districtsLatest-year funding model held constant across loaded years. | -$3,8062019-20 vs slice average | -$5,2142025-26 vs slice average | -$1,4072019-20 to 2025-26 | The measure moved farther below the slice average; the gap moved -$1,407. |
| 500-2,499 UFB on-roll districtsLatest-year UFB on-roll scale group held constant across loaded years. | -$2,0832019-20 vs slice average | -$3,8182025-26 vs slice average | -$1,7352019-20 to 2025-26 | The measure moved farther below the slice average; the gap moved -$1,735. |
| Lower-quarter comparative-cost districtsLatest-year comparative-cost band held constant across loaded years. | +$1,4832019-20 vs slice average | +$6272025-26 vs slice average | -$8562019-20 to 2025-26 | The measure moved closer to the slice average; the gap moved -$856. |
Money values are converted to 2025 dollars before gaps are compared. Frame membership uses the latest UFB year and is held constant when looking backward, so this is a fair-comparison trend check, not a cohort study, efficiency rating, adequacy finding, or causal explanation.
Operating story basis
This table classifies the latest UFB evidence before the report asks what the budget means. It separates recurring operating-budget signals from the live proposal, reserve and carryover sources, side-file context, and outside-operating rows before comparing this district with the Cape May County average or statewide slices.
| Budget basis | What UFB shows | Use it to say | Do not read it as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recurring operating baseRevenue and use categories | proposed operating budget $27,192,333; local sources supply 75% of operating revenue; general current expense is 98% of operating usesScale: $27.2 million | Use for the district’s main current-year operating story: who funds the General Fund operating budget and which high-level uses dominate it. | Do not mix this with all-funds grants, debt, capital, or side-file rows as though everything recurs on the same basis. |
| Current proposal movementProposal changes | General current expense changes +$942,690 from revised/current to proposedScale: 3% of operating budget | Use for what the latest budget proposal changes now, in nominal latest-file dollars. | Do not treat this as the inflation-adjusted long-run trend, and do not add overlapping source rows into one total. |
| Limited or one-time sourcesReserves and balances | Budgeted fund balance is the largest named row inside $2,811,390 of fund-balance, reserve, and carryover sourcesScale: 10% of operating budget | Use as a flag that part of the budget basis may rely on prior balance, reserve withdrawals, or restricted carryover. | Do not call these recurring revenue, audited cash on hand, or proof of a structural deficit without board and audit records. |
| Side-file contextSide files | projected close-year recap balances $2,205,917; unusual-item explanations $658,100; 9 shared-service rowsScale: 8% | Use to explain tax basis, projected balances, district-entered unusual explanations, and shared-service context beside the operating story. | Do not read side-file rows as audited operating totals, complete payroll, audited savings, or tax-bill advice. |
| Outside-operating scaleBudget anatomy | all-funds net above operating is the largest outside-operating row, $6,490,932Scale: 24% of operating budget | Use as scale context for grants, debt, capital, preschool, and other fund sections that can make all-funds totals diverge from the operating story. | Do not add these rows to General Fund operating uses or treat the operating-equivalent share as a spending mix. |
The recurring row uses the proposed General Fund operating budget as the common basis. Proposal movement is nominal revised/current-to-proposed evidence; trend panels convert dollars to 2025 only where labeled. Reserve, recap, unusual-item, shared-service, tax, and outside-operating rows are kept separate because they answer different journalism questions.
Structural squeeze test
The squeeze test asks whether Lower Township Elementary has the pattern a budget story usually needs: main operating sources, operating-use families, one-time support, denominator or service-load rows, and peer context pointing toward recurring pressure. It also marks what UFB cannot prove.
| Test | UFB evidence | Safe read | Outside reporting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recurring-source testTrends and inflation | Local, state, and federal operating-source summaries moved -$9,476,932 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26; those summaries equal 93% of the latest proposed operating budget; operating-budget scale moved -$8,174,061, $1,302,871 more than that source movement. | Use this to test whether the main recurring operating sources kept pace with operating scale after CPI-U. It is not a tax-cap or adequacy finding by itself. | Pull the levy-cap worksheet, state-aid notice, cap-bank/waiver rows, budget book, and board presentation before writing a cap-limited or underfunded-budget claim. |
| Operating-use testCategories and lines | Preschool moved +$2,751,289 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26; latest scale is 24% of proposed operating budget; 15 pts above the Cape May County average; largest latest source row: Total Preschool Education Aid. | Use this as the first appropriation/use family to inspect. Rows can still be nested, so this does not prove a single driver or an additive subtotal. | Pull staffing rosters, contracts, placement details, program schedules, and budget-book narratives before assigning cause or judging service quality. |
| One-time support testReserves and balances | Budgeted fund balance is the largest latest named limited-source row inside $2,811,390 of fund-balance, reserve, and carryover sources; total limited-source support moved +$1,163,748 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | Use this to test whether the operating story depends partly on balance, reserve, or carryover rows rather than recurring operating sources. | Pull the audit, reserve schedules, fund-balance policy, appropriation-of-surplus resolution, and board packet before calling this cash stress or a structural deficit. |
| Denominator and service-load testCosts and students | UFB planning on-roll moved -152; special-education on-roll is 234 (16% of UFB on-roll); sent placements are 19 (1% of UFB on-roll). | Use this to keep per-pupil cost and category movement tied to the planning denominator and visible service-load rows. | Pull fall enrollment, special-education placement records, IEP/service obligations, tuition contracts, and staffing schedules before explaining why the load changed. |
| Peer-frame testPeer evidence | Comparative cost per pupil is $19,138, -$11,435 vs Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts; Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, -$17,507 vs Cape May County average; Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, -$8,712 vs Cape May County average. | Use the peer frame to decide whether the squeeze signal is district-specific, common among local peers, or mainly a funding-model comparison. | Pull comparable districts' budget books, staffing/service context, and tax-base records before treating a rank as efficiency, adequacy, or resident impact. |
| Outside-record gapStory checks | UFB rows can show loaded-year source movement, operating-use movement, limited-source rows, service-load denominators, and peer position through 2025-26. | Use UFB to form a recurring-pressure hypothesis and to say which signals point the same direction. Do not write future deficit, statutory cap exhaustion, layoffs, service cuts, or intent from UFB alone. | Pull the board budget book, public-hearing deck, tax levy cap calculation, state aid notice, collective-bargaining and staffing records, audit, and any projected-gap or cut-list documents. |
Dollar movement uses 2025 CPI-U dollars where the row says after inflation. The test is a reporting checklist, not a structural-deficit finding, tax-bill estimate, service-quality rating, or levy-cap calculation.
Budget flow bridge
This table keeps the budget report from reading as disconnected panels. It puts the relative cost frame, money in, money out, proposal movement, outside-operating rows, side files, and student denominator in one scan before the report compares this district with the Cape May County average and the statewide slices below.
| Budget path | District scale | Use it to read | Compare / prove | Do not overread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Relative cost framePeer evidence | NJDOE comparative cost $19,138; operating budget per UFB on-roll $18,361 | Start with whether the published cost position still looks unusual after the operating denominator and peer frame are named. | comparative cost -$11,435 vs Cape May County average; operating per UFB on-roll -$17,507 vs Cape May County average; statewide rank 477 of 566 | Do not turn a high or low cost position into quality, efficiency, or causality without the category, denominator, tax, and side-file checks below. |
| Money inRevenue families | Local sources: $20.4 million (75%); State sources: $4.0 million (15%); Fund balance / other: $2.8 million (10%) | Use this as the recurring General Fund operating-revenue basis: who funds the operating budget before all-funds, tax-rate, and reserve rows enter. | -1 pt vs Cape May County average; rank 13 of 17 | Do not call this all-funds revenue or a household tax bill; grants, debt, capital, and tax side files sit on different bases. |
| Money outCategories | General current expense: $26.7 million (98%); Capital outlay: $486,446 (2%) | Use this as the high-level operating-use basis before reading nested line rows or standardized pupil-cost rows. | +2 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 6 of 17 | Do not add high-level rows, lower-level detail rows, and pupil-cost rows into one spending decomposition; they overlap. |
| Live proposal movementProposal changes | operating budget +$401,510; General current expense +$942,690 | Use this for what the latest UFB file says is changing from revised/current to proposed, in nominal latest-file dollars. | +3 pts of operating scale; same-row peer context appears in the proposal-driver table. | Do not treat proposal movement as the long-run trend; trend panels convert dollars to 2025 only where labeled. |
| Outside operatingBudget anatomy | All-funds net above operating: $6.5 million (24%); Special Revenue Funds: $5.2 million (19%); Preschool Education Aid: $4.3 million (16%) | Use this to explain why all-funds totals, grants, debt, capital, preschool, or project rows can make the budget look different from the operating story. | +11 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 3 of 16 | Do not fold outside-operating rows into the General Fund operating mix or assume the operating-equivalent share recurs each year. |
| Context filesSide files | Budgeted fund balance $2.5 million; one-time source rows $2.8 million; projected recap balances $2.2 million | Use these side files to decide whether reserve use, projected balances, unusual explanations, shared services, or tax basis should travel with the operating story. | Peer and history checks live in the side-file and reserve sections; they are separate from operating-revenue mix. | Do not read side files as recurring revenue, audited cash, complete payroll, audited savings, or tax-bill advice. |
| Student basisCosts and students | UFB planning on-roll 1,481; fall enrollment 1,350; sent placements 1% of UFB on-roll; special-education planning rows 16% of UFB on-roll | Use this before making per-student claims: the UFB planning denominator, fall enrollment, and service-load rows can point to different stories. | -15 pts vs Cape May County average; rank 13 of 14 | Do not replace NJDOE comparative cost with a homemade denominator or treat planning rows as direct proof of student need. |
The bridge is a reporting map, not an accounting equation. It uses the proposed General Fund operating budget as a common scale only where labeled; proposal rows are nominal latest-file movement, and inflation-adjusted trend evidence appears later in 2025 dollars.
Budget pressure map
This table turns the report into a first-read checklist. It ranks the budget pressures that UFB evidence can surface for this district, then separates what each pressure can explain from what still needs reporting outside the UFB files.
| Pressure to test | Evidence in this report | What it can explain | What it cannot prove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Relative cost pressurePeer evidence | Comparative cost per pupil is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average; local rank 14 of 16; Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average; statewide comparative-cost rank 477 of 566. | Whether the district looks high, low, or ordinary before a reader turns to categories, taxes, and service load. | Spending quality, efficiency, or the reason the district sits where it does. |
| Operating funding and tax-burden pressureRevenue families | local sources supply 75% of General Fund operating revenue; that source share is 1 pt below the Cape May County average; tax levy per UFB on-roll is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; fund-balance, reserve, and carryover sources total $2.8 million. | Who pays for the operating budget and whether a cost position also creates local levy, aid, or balance-source pressure. | A property-tax bill, audited all-funds revenue, or proof that the funding model is sustainable. |
| Spending mix pressureCategories and lines | general current expense is the largest high-level use at 98% of operating budget; administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average; named row Total Special Revenue Funds is +11 pts versus local peers. | Which use categories, cost rows, or named source rows deserve the first follow-up instead of quoting total spending. | A complete program budget or an additive accounting bridge; UFB rows can be nested, repeated, or contextual. |
| Current proposal pressureProposal changes | operating budget changes +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed; largest named proposal movement is General current expense at +$942,690. | What the latest UFB file says the board is changing now, in nominal revised/current-to-proposed dollars. | The long-run inflation-adjusted trend, or a causal explanation for why the proposal changed. |
| Student and service-load pressureCosts and students | UFB planning on-roll is 1,481, versus 1,350 fall-enrolled students in the profile; budgeted out-of-district placements are 1% of UFB on-roll, 15 pts below the Cape May County average; special-education planning share is 16%, 5 pts below the Cape May County average. | Whether a per-student read is really about the denominator, placements, special education, or student-flow rows. | Fall enrollment, program severity, service quality, or audited staffing need. |
| Inflation and denominator pressureTrends and inflation | operating scale changed -$8,174,061 in 2025 dollars from 2019-20 to 2025-26; comparative cost changed -$1,678 after inflation; UFB planning on-roll changed -152. | Whether the background movement is real operating scale, published comparative cost, denominator movement, or a mix. | The current proposal decision, or proof that prices, enrollment, labor, or programs caused the change. |
| Reserve and side-file pressureSide files | fund-balance, reserve, and carryover source rows total $2.8 million; projected close-year recap balances total $2.2 million; positive unusual-item explanations total $658,100; 9 shared-service rows. | Whether reserve use, projected balances, unusual explanations, or shared-service entries should travel with the operating story. | Recurring revenue, audited cash, complete savings, or a structural-deficit finding without board and audit records. |
| Outside-operating pressureBudget anatomy | All-funds net above operating is $6.5 million, 24% of operating budget; 7 material outside-operating rows clear the scale threshold. | Why all-funds, grants, debt, capital, preschool, or project rows may change the budget-year context. | A General Fund operating spending mix, or evidence that outside-operating rows recur on the same basis. |
Pressure rows are generated from the latest UFB summary, source rows, local peer comparisons where enough peers have data, and loaded-year trend rows. Money movement is inflation-adjusted only where this table says 2025 dollars or after inflation; proposal rows are nominal latest-file changes.
Budget tension checks
These checks pair signals that are easy to overread alone: current cost position, inflation-adjusted movement, proposal-column changes, tax burden, funding model, category slices, service load, reserves, and outside-operating rows.
| Tension to test | Signal pair | How it changes the read | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost position vs real trend | Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 among Cape May County districts.Operating budget per UFB on-roll student changed -$3,297 after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | Use the current peer position as the comparison frame and the real-dollar movement as background, not as the same claim. | Peer evidence Trends |
| Cost position vs local tax burden | Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 among Cape May County districts.Tax levy per UFB on-roll student is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; rank 13 of 16 among Cape May County districts. | Cost and tax burden are separate comparison axes; a low-cost read does not automatically mean low local effort. | Peer evidence Tax basis |
| Current proposal vs loaded-year trend | Operating budget changes +$401,510 from revised/current to proposed in the latest UFB file.Operating scale changed -$8,174,061 in 2025 dollars from 2019-20 to 2025-26. | The latest nominal proposal moves against the loaded-year real trend, so a current budget vote or hearing story should not be written as a simple continuation. | Proposal Trends |
| Cost position vs spending slice | Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 among Cape May County districts.Administrative costs per pupil is $1,449, $1,144 below the Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 among Cape May County districts. | The category row helps turn the cost comparison into a concrete budget question, but it should not be treated as a complete program audit. | Categories Peer evidence |
| Per-pupil cost vs service load | Operating budget per UFB on-roll student is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average; rank 16 of 16 among Cape May County districts.UFB planning on-roll is 1,481, versus 1,350 fall-enrolled students in the profile; budgeted out-of-district placements are 1%, 15 pts below the Cape May County average; special-education planning share is 16%, 5 pts below the Cape May County average. | Before treating the per-pupil number as a pure spending comparison, check whether placements, special education, or the UFB denominator explain part of the position. | Students Peer evidence |
| Balance source vs reserve position | fund-balance, reserve, and carryover operating-source rows total $2.8 million.projected close-year recap balances total $2.2 million. | A balance source can help explain the budget year, but it is not the same as recurring revenue or a full audit of cash position. | Side files Revenue families |
Tension checks are generated from the same UFB rows used elsewhere in the report. They are not causal findings. Money trend claims are inflation-adjusted only where labeled as 2025 dollars or after inflation; proposal movement is nominal revised/current-to-proposed movement.
Category story map
Local taxes and local sources is the largest selected source-row family at 77% of operating-budget scale. Preschool has the widest selected local peer gap, 26 pts above the Cape May County average. State aid moved the most after inflation, -$5,465,929 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. This map puts the category question in one place: current scale, local comparison, inflation-adjusted movement, and the latest proposal-column move.
| Budget family | Question to test | Category evidence | Source row and proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local taxes and local sourceslarge current scale / local peer gap / inflation-adjusted movement | How much of the budget story is local levy, tuition, fees, or miscellaneous local revenue? | Latest scale $20,979,594 (77% op. equiv.)+7 pts versus the Cape May County average-$1,637,996 real movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26+$410,384 latest proposal movement; +2 pts of operating scale | Total Tax Levy (Revenue line 100/114, $20,360,489)Total Tax Levy (+$529,487 latest-file move)Categories Proposal Trend |
| Preschoollarge current scale / local peer gap / inflation-adjusted movement | Is preschool aid, carryover, instruction, or support service scale material? | Latest scale $10,776,665 (40% op. equiv.)+26 pts versus the Cape May County average+$4,643,699 real movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26+$822,154 latest proposal movement; +3 pts of operating scale | Total Preschool Education Aid (Appropriation line 87100, $4,339,160)Preschool Education Aid (+$387,244 latest-file move)Categories Proposal Trend |
| State aidlarge current scale / local peer gap / inflation-adjusted movement | Which aid lines explain dependence on state funding or first-to-latest movement? | Latest scale $8,311,233 (31% op. equiv.)+10 pts versus the Cape May County average-$5,465,929 real movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26-$637,101 latest proposal movement; -2 pts of operating scale | Total State Projects (Appropriation line 88200, $4,339,160)Categorical Special Education Aid (+$737,811 latest-file move)Categories Proposal Trend |
| Capital, facilities, and debtlarge current scale / local peer gap / inflation-adjusted movement | Are capital projects, facilities acquisition, reserve withdrawals, or debt-service rows distorting all-funds comparisons? | Latest scale $4,148,550 (15% op. equiv.)+7 pts versus the Cape May County average+$2,758,279 real movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26-$1,355,772 latest proposal movement; -5 pts of operating scale | Total Debt Service Funds (Appropriation line 89980, $1,483,230)Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services (-$785,827 latest-file move)Categories Proposal Trend Side files |
| Special revenue fundslarge current scale / local peer gap / inflation-adjusted movement | How large are grant-funded or otherwise outside-operating programs relative to operating budgets? | Latest scale $10,411,358 (38% op. equiv.)+23 pts versus the Cape May County average+$3,479,426 real movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26-$1,118,158 latest proposal movement; -4 pts of operating scale | Total Special Revenue Funds (Appropriation line 88760, $5,205,679)Total Special Revenue Funds (-$559,079 latest-file move)Categories Proposal Trend Side files |
| Instruction programslarge current scale / inflation-adjusted movement | Which classroom or instructional program rows define the core spending structure? | Latest scale $8,257,044 (30% op. equiv.)+1 pt versus the Cape May County average-$4,376,245 real movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26-$49,666 latest proposal movement; 0 pts of operating scale | Total Regular Programs-Instruction (Appropriation line 3200, $7,404,789)Total Regular Programs-Instruction (-$34,129 latest-file move)Categories Trend |
Budget families are generated from contextual UFB revenue and appropriation source rows. Latest scale and peer gap use proposed operating budget as a common denominator; real movement is converted to 2025 dollars; proposal movement is nominal revised/current-to-proposed movement in the latest UFB file. Families can be nested, outside-operating, or repeated across files, so this is a reporting map rather than an additive budget schedule.
Proposal versus trend
The latest proposal and the loaded-year category trend do not answer the same question. For General current expense, the proposal is a counter-move: +$942,690 in nominal latest-file movement versus -$8,105,360 across loaded years after inflation. Across material family rows, this scan finds 8 continuing trends, 8 counter-moves, and 0 current-only moves.
| Relationship | Loaded-year trend | Current proposal | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counter-moveGeneral current expense | -$8,105,3602019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars; share moved 0 pts. | +$942,690+3 pts of proposed operating-budget scale.Total General Current Expense (Appropriation, line 72260, +$942,690) | The latest proposal points opposite the loaded-year real movement, so this is the first place to check whether the budget is pivoting.Proposal Trend Categories Peers |
| Continues trendPreschool | +$4,643,6992019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars; share moved +22 pts. | +$822,154+3 pts of proposed operating-budget scale.Preschool Education Aid (Revenue, line 760, +$387,244) | The latest proposal points in the same direction as the inflation-adjusted movement across loaded UFB years.Proposal Trend Categories Peers |
| Counter-moveCapital, facilities, and debt | +$2,758,2792019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars; share moved +11 pts. | -$1,355,772-5 pts of proposed operating-budget scale.Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services (Appropriation, line 76260, -$785,827) | The latest proposal points opposite the loaded-year real movement, so this is the first place to check whether the budget is pivoting.Proposal Trend Categories Peers |
| Counter-moveSpecial revenue funds | +$3,479,4262019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars; share moved +19 pts. | -$1,118,158-4 pts of proposed operating-budget scale.Total Special Revenue Funds (Appropriation, line 88760, -$559,079) | The latest proposal points opposite the loaded-year real movement, so this is the first place to check whether the budget is pivoting.Proposal Trend Categories Peers |
| Continues trendState aid | -$5,465,9292019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars; share moved -8 pts. | -$637,101-2 pts of proposed operating-budget scale.Categorical Special Education Aid (Revenue, line 440, +$737,811) | The latest proposal points in the same direction as the inflation-adjusted movement across loaded UFB years.Proposal Trend Categories Peers |
| Counter-moveTransfers and tuition | -$481,2062019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars; share moved -1 pt. | +$179,827+1 pt of proposed operating-budget scale.Total Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition) (Appropriation, line 29180, +$179,827) | The latest proposal points opposite the loaded-year real movement, so this is the first place to check whether the budget is pivoting.Proposal Trend Categories Peers |
This bridge keeps timing bases separate. Loaded-year trend values are inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars and compare the first and latest loaded UFB years; proposal values are nominal revised/current-to-proposed movement in the latest UFB file. A counter-move is a reporting prompt, not proof of a policy reversal or cause.
Budget reporting lead sheet
This lead sheet turns the generated budget signals into a reporting agenda: what looks most explainable, what question a resident should ask, and which caveat keeps the evidence from becoming an overclaim.
Lead order comes from local peer gaps, UFB row scale, planning-enrollment rows, and inflation-adjusted movement. It ranks reportability, not importance to students or proof that a district should spend differently.
Editorial frame
For Lower Township Elementary, the useful budget question is how to read comparative cost is $11,435 below the Cape May County average, local sources supply 75% of operating revenue, largest use is general current expense at 98%, and real operating scale changed -$8,174,061 since 2019-20. UFB can establish the money basis, peer position, row scale, and loaded-year movement; it cannot by itself prove whether the pattern reflects policy choices, student need, contracts, facilities, tax capacity, or one-time accounting.
This frame is generated from the same UFB signals as the lead sheet. It is designed to prevent the report from turning row evidence into unsupported causality.
Budget model synthesis
Read this budget as lower local cost position, mostly locally funded, general-current centered, and real operating decline. The table below connects the strongest structural signals so the report is not just a list of panels.
| Structural question | UFB evidence | Working read and proof section |
|---|---|---|
| Is this mainly a cost position or a scale story? | NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average; rank 14 of 16 locally; statewide rank 477 of 566; operating budget per UFB on-roll is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average | Can explainTreat cost rank as a starting signal, then test it against funding model, student/service load, denominator choices, and outside-operating rows before calling it efficiency, waste, or adequacy.Cannot proveA high or low rank does not prove value, waste, staffing quality, student need, or tax fairness by itself.Check: Peer evidence |
| Who pays, and is the tax-burden basis unusual? | local sources supply 75% of operating revenue, 1 pt below the Cape May County average; tax levy per UFB on-roll is $13,748, $8,712 below the Cape May County average; fund-balance/reserve sources equal $2.8 million | Can explainThe same per-pupil cost can mean different things in a locally funded, state-funded, or balance-supported budget. Operating revenue is not all-funds revenue, and UFB tax rows are context rather than a household tax bill.Cannot proveFunding share is not a full taxpayer-burden claim, and balance/reserve sources should not be read as recurring aid.Check: Operating funding and tax-burden basis |
| What does the operating budget buy differently? | largest high-level use is general current expense, 98% of operating budget; strongest peer mix gap is special revenue funds equivalent at 19%, 11 pts above the Cape May County average; named-row standout: Total Special Revenue Funds is +11 pts versus peers | Can explainUse shares and named rows are reporting leads. They can reflect pass-throughs, accounting structure, program obligations, staffing, contracts, facilities, or policy choices, so the category label is not the cause.Cannot proveUFB rows can be nested, repeated, or outside the operating fund, so category differences are not an additive causal bridge.Check: Categories and lines |
| Does the student/service load change the cost reading? | budgeted out-of-district placements are 19, 1% of UFB on-roll; special-education planning share is 16%, 5 pts below the Cape May County average; free/reduced-price lunch is 56%, +12 pts versus county fall-enrollment context | Can explainPer-student comparisons move when the denominator, sent/received flows, special-education planning rows, or student-need context differ. These rows are context, not a quality or compliance finding by themselves.Cannot provePlanning-enrollment and placement rows do not replace fall enrollment, individual service plans, or audited program costs.Check: Costs and students |
| What is the live decision versus the real long-run movement? | latest proposal changes operating budget +$401,510; real operating scale changed -$8,174,061 from 2019-20 to 2025-26; UFB on-roll changed -152; operating per UFB on-roll changed -$3,297 after inflation | Can explainCurrent proposal changes are nominal latest-file decisions. Trend claims convert loaded years to real dollars, and per-student movement must separate the budget numerator from the UFB planning-enrollment denominator.Cannot proveA real-dollar movement does not identify the board decision, contract, aid formula, or accounting change that produced it.Check: Proposal and inflation trend |
| Which context rows may explain the budget year without being recurring operating spending? | fund-balance/reserve source rows total $2.8 million; largest is budgeted fund balance; projected close-year recap balances total $2.2 million; unusual-item file has 15 positive rows; largest is MAINTENANCE RESERVE at $175,000; shared-service file lists 9 arrangements | Can explainReserve, balance, unusual-item, shared-service, school-resource, tax-rate, and salary rows can explain a budget year, but they are mixed side files and should not be summed into operating spending.Cannot proveSide-file amounts are not audited recurring operating totals and may be explanations, balances, estimates, or staffing snapshots.Check: Side files |
This is a generated synthesis of published UFB rows, local peer context, and loaded-year movement. It is a reporting frame, not a causal finding or a claim that unlike denominators can be added together.
Cost gap ledger
This ledger translates the cost comparison into the largest visible gaps against the Cape May County average. Dollar rows are shown per UFB planning student where the source row is not already a per-pupil measure, so a reader can see whether the story is broad operating scale, who pays, a use category, a pupil-cost row, or a service-load denominator.
| Budget basis | This district | Gap vs average | How to read it | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published costNJDOE comparative cost | $19,138Cape May County average: $30,573 | -$11,435Rank 14 of 16 | This is the official comparison line. Use the rest of the ledger to see which budget bases point in the same or opposite direction. | Peer evidence |
| Cost basisOperating budget per UFB on-roll | $18,361Cape May County average: $35,868 | -$17,507Rank 16 of 16 | A scale check using the UFB planning denominator. It can confirm or complicate the published comparative-cost position. | Cost basis |
| Source per UFB on-rollLocal sources | $13,782Cape May County average: $27,918 | -$14,136Rank 14 of 16 | Funding rows show who pays for the budget. They explain pressure on the model, not what the district buys. | Revenue families |
| Use per UFB on-rollDebt Service Funds | $1,002Cape May County average: $406 | +$595Rank 4 of 16 | Use rows show where dollars sit per planning student. They are clues, not an additive bridge, because UFB rows can be nested or outside operating funds. | Budget anatomy |
| Pupil-cost rowClassroom instruction | $10,698Cape May County average: $16,817 | -$6,119Rank 15 of 16 | NJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows are already per-pupil measures. Use them to locate the cost category, not to rebuild the total. | Pupil-cost rows |
| Service-load denominatorBudgeted out-of-district placements share | 1%Cape May County average: 16% | -15 ptsRank 13 of 14 | Service-load rows can change the fairness of a per-student comparison. They are planning counts, not direct need or quality measures. | Service load |
| Use per UFB on-rollGeneral current expense | $18,032Cape May County average: $34,475 | -$16,443Rank 16 of 16 | Use rows show where dollars sit per planning student. They are clues, not an additive bridge, because UFB rows can be nested or outside operating funds. | Categories |
| Source per UFB on-rollTotal tax levy | $13,748Cape May County average: $22,460 | -$8,712Rank 13 of 16 | Funding rows show who pays for the budget. They explain pressure on the model, not what the district buys. | Revenue families |
| Pupil-cost rowClassroom salaries and benefits | $10,228Cape May County average: $15,335 | -$5,107Rank 15 of 16 | NJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows are already per-pupil measures. Use them to locate the cost category, not to rebuild the total. | Pupil-cost rows |
| Pupil-cost rowExtracurricular costs | $0Cape May County average: $571 | -$571Rank 15 of 16 | NJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows are already per-pupil measures. Use them to locate the cost category, not to rebuild the total. | Pupil-cost rows |
Rows use the Cape May County average with usable latest-year UFB data. The ledger is not an additive decomposition: revenue rows, lower-level appropriation rows, outside-operating rows, and pupil-cost rows answer different questions and must be checked in their proof sections.
UFB source coverage
The latest matched UFB row for 2025-26 exposes 10 usable source families for this report. This inventory shows what each file can establish before the report turns those rows into peer comparisons, trend checks, and source tables.
| Source family | Latest coverage | What it can establish | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summary | $27.2 million proposed operating budget; 7 loaded UFB years: 2019-20 to 2025-26. | Published comparative cost, operating budget, summary revenue shares, tax levy, and UFB on-roll planning enrollment. | peer evidence · anatomySummary rows are the profile-facing spine, but they do not replace detailed source files. |
| Revenue file | 41 positive rows; 35 contextual rows in the appendix; largest: Total Revenues from Local Sources at $20.4 million. | Named aid, levy, fund-balance, reserve, tuition, grant, and other source rows behind the operating mix. | families · source rowsRevenue rows can include subtotals or non-operating sources; do not add the contextual rows into one revenue total. |
| Appropriation file | 47 positive rows; 42 contextual rows in the appendix; largest: Total General Current Expense at $26.7 million. | High-level operating uses, fund totals, transfers, lower-level cost rows, capital, debt, and special-revenue scale. | categories · source rowsMany appropriation rows are nested; operating-equivalent shares are a scale reference, not an additive bridge. |
| Pupil-cost file | 16 published per-pupil rows with latest proposed-year values. | NJDOE standardized per-pupil cost categories such as classroom, support, operations, administration, and benefits. | costs and studentsThese are NJDOE-published cost rows; the report does not recompute them from appropriations or enrollment. |
| Budget-enrollment file | 7 planning rows; on-roll 1,481, special ed 234, sent 19. | UFB planning enrollment, special-education on-roll, sent/received placement rows, contract preschool, and denominator context. | students and service loadThese are planning rows, not fall enrollment, and counts should not be added to dollar rows. |
| Recap / balances | 14 balance rows; Restricted-General Operating Budget: Capital Reserve at $646,432. | Projected close-year balances, reserves, restricted balances, and fund-balance context. | side filesRecap balances are not current operating appropriations or spendable-cash claims. |
| Estimated tax file | 1 municipal/regional slice; highest rate 0.2793. | Estimated school-tax rates, levy slices, equalized values, taxable values, and regional spread context. | tax effort · raw tax rowsTax-file rows are estimated UFB context, not tax-bill advice or audited property-tax data. |
| Unusual-item file | 15 positive explanation rows; $658,100 total flagged amount. | District-reported unusual revenue or appropriation explanations that may change the current-year story. | side-file explanationsUnusual rows can duplicate named revenue or appropriation rows and should not be added as a separate spending total. |
| Shared-services file | 9 arrangement rows. | District-reported shared-service arrangements and optional savings fields. | shared-service profileReported savings are context rows, not audited offsets against the operating budget. |
| School-resource file | 0 resource rows. | Published school-based resource statement rows where the district provides the side file. | school-resource rowsThese rows appear only for districts that publish the statement and can overlap with other operating rows. |
| Admin-salary file | 8 listed salary rows; listed base salary total $932,007. | Selected administrative salary rows, FTE, shared-service flags, contract fields, and comments where published. | listed admin salariesThis is selected listed administration, not complete payroll or total compensation. |
Presence in this inventory means the matched NJDOE User-Friendly Budget file includes usable rows for the latest budget year. Missing side-file rows may mean not published, not applicable, or no positive material entry; file coverage is evidence routing, not a fiscal total.
Statewide budget model
This district matches 1 generated statewide comparison frame. Those frames point to the fairest next comparison before reading every UFB source row.
Model thresholds mirror the statewide budget explorer where possible: funding shares, transfer pressure, school-based budgeting, small UFB on-roll, placement load, outside-operating scale, high tax effort, and real-dollar movement. Frames can overlap.
Statewide slice comparisons
These latest-year slices compare the district with statewide groups that share its funding model, UFB on-roll scale, cost position, or category signals. Published comparative cost is $19,138. UFB on-roll here is 1,481.
| Comparison frame | Measure | District | Comparison avg | Gap | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape May CountyThis is the closest local comparison frame before statewide slices. | Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $30,573 | -$11,435 | 14 of 16 |
| All NJ UFB districtsThis is the statewide baseline before narrowing to a more comparable slice. | Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $23,591 | -$4,453 | 477 of 566 |
| 500-2,499 UFB on-roll districtsUFB on-roll scale helps separate fixed-cost pressure from large-system operating scale. | Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $22,956 | -$3,818 | 227 of 268 |
| Mostly locally funded districtsFunding model changes what a cost comparison means, because local levy, state aid, and other sources carry different reader questions. | Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $24,352 | -$5,214 | 313 of 368 |
| Large outside-operating scale districtsSpecial-revenue and debt-service scale can make the all-funds story differ from the operating-budget story. | Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $22,763 | -$3,625 | 73 of 96 |
| Lower-quarter comparative-cost districtsThis compares the district with others already in a similar published comparative-cost band. | Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $18,511 | +$627 | 53 of 142 |
Read down the ladder before treating one rank as the story: local peers, all NJ, and overlapping statewide slices can point in different directions.
Slices are comparison frames, not causal peer cohorts. Districts can appear in several slices, and dollar figures in this panel are latest-year UFB dollars unless another section says it converts to real dollars.
Named similar-budget-model comps
The closest statewide comparison question is not only local geography. This screen names districts whose latest UFB profile is nearest on mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible, lower-quarter comparative cost, then keeps cost, funding, use, service, and tax clues in the same row.
| Named comp | Why similar | Cost basis | Funding and use | Service/tax clue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley TwpOcean County · 2,439 UFB on-roll | mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible | comparative $18,594; operating/UFB on-roll $18,184 | mostly locally funded; outside-operating scale visible (local 82%, state 10%) | sent placements <1% of UFB on-roll; special-ed planning 19% |
| Upper Freehold RegionalMonmouth County · 2,063 UFB on-roll | mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible | comparative $19,541; operating/UFB on-roll $21,388 | mostly locally funded; outside-operating scale visible (local 84%, state 11%) | sent placements 2% of UFB on-roll; special-ed planning 16% |
| Haddon TwpCamden County · 2,172 UFB on-roll | mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible | comparative $16,884; operating/UFB on-roll $18,878 | mostly locally funded; outside-operating scale visible (local 76%, state 24%) | sent placements 1% of UFB on-roll; special-ed planning 16% |
| Mantua TwpGloucester County · 1,341 UFB on-roll | mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible | comparative $18,183; operating/UFB on-roll $16,528 | mostly locally funded; outside-operating scale visible (local 73%, state 21%) | sent placements <1% of UFB on-roll; special-ed planning 12% |
| Woodland ParkPassaic County · 1,244 UFB on-roll | mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible | comparative $19,902; operating/UFB on-roll $18,761 | mostly locally funded; outside-operating scale visible (local 84%, state 15%) | sent placements 1% of UFB on-roll; special-ed planning 13% |
| Tabernacle TwpBurlington County · 781 UFB on-roll | mostly locally funded, 500-2,499 UFB on-roll, outside-operating scale visible | comparative $17,504; operating/UFB on-roll $16,560 | mostly locally funded; outside-operating scale visible (local 79%, state 19%) | sent placements <1% of UFB on-roll; special-ed planning 12% |
These are algorithmic nearest neighbors across published latest-year UFB measures, not causal peers, targets, or quality ratings. The screen is meant to make statewide slice comparisons concrete before the report moves into local peer ranks and raw source rows.
What changed, and what drove it
This panel turns the first-to-latest UFB history into reporting leads: inflation-adjusted operating scale, denominator movement, peer-position change, source shifts, use shifts, and named rows.
This is not an additive budget bridge. UFB rows are contextual and sometimes nested, and loaded UFB year columns mix actual-cost, revised/original-budget, and proposed-budget bases.
Budget report section
What should a resident ask before reading the row-level tables?
Budget walkthrough
Read the budget in five passes: money in, money out, costs and students, what changed, and which UFB side files deserve attention.
Local sources supplied 75% of the proposed operating budget, 1 pt below the Cape May County average.
The largest high-level use is general current expense, $26.7 million or 98% of the operating budget.
NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138 per pupil, $11,435 below the Cape May County average (14 of 16 locally).
This walkthrough uses the same generated measures as the tables below. It is an orientation layer, not a substitute for the UFB source rows.
Budget diagnostic
These generated checks turn the UFB source files into reader questions: cost position, funding model, spending mix, student-service load, inflation-adjusted movement, and side-file context.
The diagnostics compare measures only where enough local peers have usable UFB values. Ranks and gaps are flags for reporting, not judgments about whether the spending is good or bad.
Budget report section
What changed from revised/current to proposed, and which named rows explain the movement?
Current proposal changes
This section compares the latest UFB revised/current-budget column with the proposed-budget column. It answers what the proposal changes now, before the report turns to long-run inflation-adjusted trends.
| UFB row | Revised/current | Proposed | Change | Op. equiv. | Peer avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special education aidUFB line 440 | $912,905 | $1,650,716 | +$737,811 | 3% | 1% |
| Local sourcesUFB line 370 | $19,881,302 | $20,410,789 | +$529,487 | 2% | 3% |
| Total tax levyUFB line 114 | $19,831,002 | $20,360,489 | +$529,487 | 2% | 2% |
| Operating budgetUFB line 720 | $26,790,823 | $27,192,333 | +$401,510 | 1% | <1% |
| Preschool Education AidUFB line 760 | $3,749,520 | $4,136,764 | +$387,244 | 1% | <1% |
| Federal sourcesUFB line 830 | $1,154,678 | $821,519 | -$333,159 | -1% | -1% |
| Transportation aidUFB line 420 | $836,392 | $533,878 | -$302,514 | -1% | >-1% |
| UFB row | Revised/current | Proposed | Change | Op. equiv. | Peer avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General current expenseUFB line 72260 | $25,763,197 | $26,705,887 | +$942,690 | 3% | 3% |
| Special Revenue FundsUFB line 88760 | $5,764,758 | $5,205,679 | -$559,079 | -2% | -2% |
| Capital outlayUFB line 76400 | $1,027,626 | $486,446 | -$541,180 | -2% | -3% |
| Preschool Education AidUFB line 87100 | $3,970,080 | $4,339,160 | +$369,080 | 1% | >-1% |
| Special education instructionUFB line 10300 | $1,749,926 | $2,001,911 | +$251,985 | <1% | >-1% |
| Student transportationUFB line 52480 | $1,246,138 | $1,465,913 | +$219,775 | <1% | <1% |
| Instruction tuitionUFB line 29180 | $822,734 | $1,002,561 | +$179,827 | <1% | 1% |
| UFB row | Revised/current | Proposed | Change | Peer avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comparative cost | $19,645 | $19,138 | -$507 | +$419 |
| On-roll, full | 1,163 | 1,247 | +84 | 3% |
| Special education on-roll, full | 234 | 234 | 0 | -6% |
| Classroom salaries and benefits | $10,769 | $10,228 | -$541 | +$427 |
| Classroom instruction | $11,203 | $10,698 | -$505 | +$305 |
| Support services | $3,851 | $4,101 | +$250 | +$183 |
| Administrative costs | $1,642 | $1,449 | -$193 | -$92 |
| Equipment costs | $61 | $246 | +$185 | -$119 |
| Operations and maintenance | $2,703 | $2,626 | -$77 | -$37 |
Dollar rows are nominal latest-file dollars, not inflation-adjusted trend dollars. "Op. equiv." is the row change as a share of this district’s proposed operating budget; the peer average uses Cape May County districts with usable rows, so it is a scale comparison rather than an additive accounting bridge. Pupil-cost rows use NJDOE-published per-pupil lines, and enrollment rows are UFB planning enrollment, not fall enrollment.
Proposal package
The material named-row proposal scan has a net reduction of -$951,821. The largest family in the package is Other named rows, with $1,986,681 of increases and $2,270,879 of reductions. Reductions in the same scan total $7,541,304 against $6,589,483 of increases.
| Budget family | Increases | Reductions | Net scan | Peer net | Largest rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other named rows14 material named rows | $1,986,6817% of op. scale | $2,270,8798% of op. scale | -$284,198-1 pt of op. scale | +1 ptCape May County average | Total Undistributed Expenditures (Appropriation, line 72140, +$722,646)Sda Emergent Needs and Capital Maintenance In School Districts (Appropriation, line 88136, -$600,000) |
| State aid9 material named rows | $886,6633% of op. scale | $1,523,7646% of op. scale | -$637,101-2 pts of op. scale | -1 ptCape May County average | Categorical Special Education Aid (Revenue, line 440, +$737,811)Total Other State Projects (Appropriation, line 88180, -$600,000) |
| Capital, facilities, and debt2 material named rows | $00% of op. scale | $1,327,0075% of op. scale | -$1,327,007-5 pts of op. scale | -6 ptsCape May County average | No material increase in this family.Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services (Appropriation, line 76260, -$785,827) |
| Special revenue funds2 material named rows | $00% of op. scale | $1,118,1584% of op. scale | -$1,118,158-4 pts of op. scale | -4 ptsCape May County average | No material increase in this family.Total Special Revenue Funds (Appropriation, line 88760, -$559,079) |
| General current expense1 material named row | $942,6903% of op. scale | $00% of op. scale | +$942,690+3 pts of op. scale | +3 ptsCape May County average | Total General Current Expense (Appropriation, line 72260, +$942,690)No material reduction in this family. |
| Preschool3 material named rows | $840,3183% of op. scale | $00% of op. scale | +$840,318+3 pts of op. scale | 0 ptsCape May County average | Preschool Education Aid (Revenue, line 760, +$387,244)No material reduction in this family. |
| Federal grants5 material named rows | $00% of op. scale | $834,5573% of op. scale | -$834,557-3 pts of op. scale | -3 ptsCape May County average | No material increase in this family.Total Federal Projects (Appropriation, line 88740, -$333,159) |
| Special education and student supports3 material named rows | $626,3272% of op. scale | $00% of op. scale | +$626,327+2 pts of op. scale | +1 ptCape May County average | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Child Study Teams (Appropriation, line 42200, +$316,533)No material reduction in this family. |
This panel groups material named UFB proposal-row movement between the revised/current and proposed columns. Dollar changes are nominal latest-file dollars. Increases, reductions, and net scan values are a reporting summary of contextual source rows, not a balanced accounting bridge, because UFB rows can be nested, repeated, subtotals, or outside the operating fund. Peer net is the average same-family net movement as a share of proposed operating budget among Cape May County districts with usable rows.
Named-line proposal drivers
This table scans the latest UFB revenue and appropriation files for named rows that changed between the revised/current-budget and proposed-budget columns. It gives the proposal story row names after the standardized summary rows above.
The largest named increase in this all-line scan is Total General Current Expense, up $942,690 in the appropriation file. The largest named reduction is Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services, down $785,827 in the appropriation file.
| UFB row | Revised/current | Proposed | Change | Op. equiv. | Peer avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total General Current ExpenseUse | Subtotal | UFB line 72260 | Acct. ' | $25,763,197 | $26,705,887 | +$942,690 | 3% | 3%n=17 |
| Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction ServicesUse | Subtotal | UFB line 76260 | Acct. '12-000-400-XX | $942,173 | $156,346 | -$785,827 | -3% | -4%n=15 |
| Categorical Special Education AidRevenue | Account row | UFB line 440 | Acct. '10-3132 | $912,905 | $1,650,716 | +$737,811 | 3% | 1%n=16 |
| Total Undistributed ExpendituresUse | Subtotal | UFB line 72140 | Acct. ' | $16,334,271 | $17,056,917 | +$722,646 | 3% | 3%n=17 |
| Sda Emergent Needs and Capital Maintenance In School Districts (88136)Use | Account row | UFB line 88136 | Acct. '20-492-XXX-XX | $600,000 | $0 | -$600,000 | -2% | n/a |
| Total Other State ProjectsUse | Subtotal | UFB line 88180 | Acct. ' | $600,000 | $0 | -$600,000 | -2% | >-1%n=6 |
| Sda Emergent Needs and Capital Maintenance In School Districts (761)Revenue | Account row | UFB line 761 | Acct. '20-3257 | $600,000 | $0 | -$600,000 | -2% | n/a |
| Total Special Revenue FundsUse | Subtotal | UFB line 88760 | Acct. ' | $5,764,758 | $5,205,679 | -$559,079 | -2% | -2%n=15 |
| Total Grants and EntitlementsRevenue | Subtotal | UFB line 840 | Acct. ' | $5,764,758 | $5,205,679 | -$559,079 | -2% | -2%n=15 |
| Total Capital OutlayUse | Subtotal | UFB line 76400 | Acct. ' | $1,027,626 | $486,446 | -$541,180 | -2% | -3%n=15 |
| Total Revenues from Local SourcesRevenue | Subtotal | UFB line 370 | Acct. ' | $19,881,302 | $20,410,789 | +$529,487 | 2% | 3%n=16 |
| Total Tax LevyRevenue | Subtotal | UFB line 100/114 | Acct. '10-1210 | $19,831,002 | $20,360,489 | +$529,487 | 2% | 3%n=14 |
| Preschool Education AidRevenue | Account row | UFB line 760 | Acct. '20-3218 | $3,749,520 | $4,136,764 | +$387,244 | 1% | <1%n=11 |
| Total Preschool Education AidUse | Subtotal | UFB line 87100 | Acct. '20-218-XXX-XX | $3,970,080 | $4,339,160 | +$369,080 | 1% | >-1%n=11 |
Dollar changes are nominal latest-file dollars. "Op. equiv." is the row change as a share of this district's proposed operating budget. The peer average is the same source row among Cape May County districts with usable changed rows, not a target. Subtotal rows and detail rows can overlap, rows can move because a grant or fund section is being closed out, and these rows are evidence for reporting questions rather than an additive accounting bridge.
Budget report section
Where does this district sit among local peers, named neighbors, and peer trends?
Local peer evidence
Each strip shows one generated budget measure across Cape May County districts. Gray dots are peer districts, the accent dot is this district, and the dashed mark is the Cape May County average. Each row uses its own scale so the reader can see the local distribution behind the rank and gap; higher values are not automatically better or worse.
Named peer context
These markers name the Cape May County districts around this district, so a rank or average can be checked against specific local districts rather than anonymous dots alone.
$19,138Rank 14 of 16; -$11,435 vs Cape May County average.
$18,361Rank 16 of 16; -$17,507 vs Cape May County average.
$629Rank 14 of 16; -$978 vs Cape May County average.
$1,449Rank 16 of 16; -$1,144 vs Cape May County average.
$2,626Rank 12 of 16; -$1,854 vs Cape May County average.
Each measure keeps its own unit and denominator. "Next higher" and "next lower" mean numerically higher or lower on that measure, not better or worse; links open the named district budget report when available.
Local comparison roster
This roster names 17 rows in the local peer set behind averages and ranks for Cape May County districts. 16 have a usable NJDOE comparative-cost value; this district is 14 of 16 on that published cost line at $19,138.
| District | Comparative cost | Cost rank | UFB on-roll | Operating budget | Funding model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape May Co Special ServPeer district | $62,303 | 1 of 16 | 244 | $15.7 million | Mostly locally funded93% local / n/a state |
| North Wildwood CityPeer district | $55,374 | 2 of 16 | 153 | $9.7 million | Mostly locally funded84% local / 3% state |
| Wildwood Crest BoroPeer district | $46,959 | 3 of 16 | 196 | $11.4 million | Mostly locally funded81% local / 6% state |
| Avalon BoroPeer district | $34,071 | 4 of 16 | 100 | $4.2 million | Mostly locally funded91% local / 2% state |
| Cape May CityPeer district | $32,053 | 5 of 16 | 167 | $5.4 million | Mixed-source37% local / 22% state |
| Stone Harbor BoroPeer district | $30,872 | 6 of 16 | 89 | $3.4 million | Mostly locally funded96% local / 2% state |
| West Cape May BoroPeer district | $28,780 | 7 of 16 | 76 | $2.5 million | Mixed-source56% local / 33% state |
| Ocean CityPeer district | $26,993 | 8 of 16 | 1,684 | $50.9 million | Mostly locally funded76% local / 10% state |
| Wildwood CityPeer district | $25,760 | 9 of 16 | 745 | $20.9 million | Mostly locally funded83% local / 6% state |
| Cape May Co VocationalPeer district | $25,072 | 10 of 16 | 593 | $19.1 million | Mostly locally funded89% local / 7% state |
| Lower Cape May RegionalPeer district | $24,214 | 11 of 16 | 1,110 | $33.0 million | Mostly locally funded78% local / 13% state |
| Dennis TwpPeer district | $20,809 | 12 of 16 | 631 | $17.2 million | Mostly locally funded86% local / 10% state |
| Woodbine BoroPeer district | $20,522 | 13 of 16 | 273 | $7.1 million | Mostly state-funded30% local / 67% state |
| Lower TwpThis district | $19,138 | 14 of 16 | 1,481 | $27.2 million | Mostly locally funded75% local / 15% state |
| Upper TwpPeer district | $18,947 | 15 of 16 | 1,376 | $42.6 million | Mostly locally funded77% local / 10% state |
| Middle TwpPeer district | $17,300 | 16 of 16 | 2,531 | $50.2 million | Mostly locally funded72% local / 26% state |
| Sea Isle CityPeer district | n/a | n/a | n/a | $2.9 million | Mostly locally funded82% local / 5% state |
This is the local comparison universe used elsewhere in this report when the Cape May County average is available. Comparative cost is NJDOE's published per-pupil line, not operating budget divided by enrollment. UFB on-roll is the planning-enrollment denominator, and operating budget is proposed General Fund operating scale; the funding-model column uses proposed General Fund operating revenue shares, not all-funds revenue.
Current operating mix versus peers
These stacked bars put the latest operating-budget composition beside the Cape May County average before the report moves into row-level trends. They answer a narrower question than the cost trend: whether this district funds or uses its operating budget differently from local peers.
Fund balance / other: 10% here versus 0% for the county avg, a +10 pts gap.
General Fund operating revenue sources, not all-funds revenue or tax bills. Peer bar is the unweighted average among 17 local peer rows with usable latest-year mix data.
General current expense: 98% here versus 96% for the county avg, a +2 pts gap.
High-level General Fund appropriation rows; lower-level rows can be nested. Peer bar is the unweighted average among 17 local peer rows with usable latest-year mix data.
All shares use the latest proposed General Fund operating budget as the denominator. The comparison is a local peer benchmark, not a target, adequacy finding, accounting bridge, or proof that any category is discretionary.
Position over time
| Measure | First peer gap | Latest peer gap | Gap movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comparative cost per pupil | 2019-20: -$9,087 | 2025-26: -$11,435 | -$2,348 |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll student | 2019-20: -$13,826 | 2025-26: -$17,507 | -$3,681 |
| Administrative costs per pupil | 2019-20: -$1,217 | 2025-26: -$1,144 | +$74 |
| Operations and maintenance per pupil | 2019-20: -$1,413 | 2025-26: -$1,854 | -$441 |
| Classroom instruction per pupil | 2019-20: -$4,676 | 2025-26: -$6,119 | -$1,443 |
Each row tracks this district against the Cape May County average for a selected UFB measure. Money measures are converted to 2025 dollars; percentage measures keep their stated UFB denominators. Rows use independent zoomed axes, so compare the labeled gaps and the table rather than comparing vertical distance across different measures.
Current operating revenue mix
This bar shows proposed General Fund operating revenue sources for the latest UFB year. It is not an all-funds revenue mix.
Budget report section
After inflation, what changed in scale, per-student cost, funding mix, and named lines?
Budget turning points
The largest surfaced annual turn is the source-family turn in 2019-20 to 2020-21. This table looks at consecutive loaded UFB years, so the question is when a budget signal changed after inflation, versus peers, or against its denominator; ordinary nominal growth stays background.
| Turn | Signal | How to read it | Check next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real per-student cost turn2021-22 to 2022-23 | -$2,467Operating budget per UFB on-roll student moved -$2,467 in 2025 dollars. UFB planning on-roll moved +9 students in the same window. | This names the annual period where real operating scale per planning student moved most; it does not prove service quality, efficiency, or program cause. | Trend evidence |
| Comparative-cost peer turn2023-24 to 2024-25 | -$2,140Comparative cost per pupil gap versus the Cape May County average moved -$2,140; the gap went from -$9,477 to -$11,617. | The measure moved farther below the Cape May County average; the gap moved -$2,140. | Peer evidence |
| Payer-mix turn2020-21 to 2021-22 | -5 ptsState operating revenue share moved -5 pts of proposed operating-budget share. | This is a General Fund operating-revenue mix signal, not an all-funds revenue statement or a household tax-bill calculation. | Category evidence |
| Source-family turn2019-20 to 2020-21 | +$4,122,597Preschool moved +$4,122,597 after inflation (+12 pts of operating scale). Largest latest row: Total Preschool Education Aid. | This groups selected UFB revenue and appropriation rows into a reporting family. Rows can be nested, so use it as a route to proof, not an additive accounting bridge. | Category evidence |
| Named-row turn2020-21 to 2021-22 | -$2,224,495Equalization Aid moved -$2,224,495 after inflation (-6 pts of operating scale); Revenue line 460. | This is the strongest annual source-row movement, but UFB rows are selected and often nested. Check the source row before turning it into a cause. | Source rows |
| Student/service-load turn2024-25 to 2025-26 | -147UFB planning on-roll moved -147 students. | This is a denominator and service-load signal. It can change the per-student read, but it is not by itself proof of service expansion, contraction, or need. | Cost/student evidence |
Annual turns compare adjacent loaded User-Friendly Budget years. Money movements are converted to 2025 dollars with BLS CPI-U annual averages; peer gaps use the same local peer trend basis as the position-over-time panel. Mixed units are intentionally kept in a table so source families, named rows, peer gaps, payer mix, and student-load signals are not read as one additive scale.
Comparative-cost timing basis
The latest 2025-26 file does not carry one clean time series. It carries two actual-cost columns, original and revised/current budget columns for the prior budget year, and the proposed-budget column. Compared with the latest actual-cost column (2023-24), the proposed comparative cost is +$1,312 in 2025 dollars. Compared with the revised/current budget column (2024-25), the proposed column is -$507 in nominal UFB dollars.
| School year | UFB basis | Published comparative cost | 2025 dollars | How to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23Year 1 | Actual cost | $17,544 | $19,300 | First actual-cost column in the latest UFB file. |
| 2023-24Year 2 | Actual cost | $16,871 | $17,826 | Second actual-cost column in the latest UFB file. |
| 2024-25Year 3 | Original budget | $16,787 | $17,229 | Original budget column for the year before the proposed budget. |
| 2024-25Year 4 | Revised/current budget | $19,645 | $20,162 | Revised or current budget column for the year before the proposed budget. |
| 2025-26Year 5 | Proposed budget | $19,138 | $19,138 | Proposed budget column for the latest UFB year. |
These are NJDOE-published comparative-cost rows from the latest UFB file. The 2025-dollar column is an interpretation aid using BLS CPI-U annual averages; it does not turn original, revised/current, and proposed budget columns into audited actual spending, and it should not be mixed with the nominal revised/current-to-proposed proposal tables.
Per-student cost change anatomy
Real operating budget per UFB on-roll fell $3,297 after inflation. The table separates how much came from operating-budget scale versus the planning-enrollment denominator.
Local peer gap. Operating per UFB on-roll was -$17,507 versus the Cape May County average in 2025-26; the gap moved -$3,681 since 2019-20.
| Step | Per-student value | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point, 2019-20 | $21,657 | Real operating budget divided by first-year UFB on-roll. |
| Budget numerator effect | -$5,006 | Move to 2025-26 real operating dollars while holding 2019-20 UFB on-roll constant. |
| Enrollment denominator effect | +$1,709 | Then move from 1,633 to 1,481 UFB on-roll students. |
| Ending point, 2025-26 | $18,361 | The district’s latest real operating budget per UFB on-roll student. |
| Measure | 2019-20 | 2025-26 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating budget | $35,366,394 | $27,192,333 | -$8,174,061 -23% |
| UFB on-roll planning enrollment | 1,633 | 1,481 | -152 -9% |
| Operating per UFB on-roll | $21,657 | $18,361 | -$3,297 |
| Cape May County average op. per UFB on-roll | $35,483 | $35,868 | +$385 |
| NJDOE comparative cost per pupil | $20,816 | $19,138 | -$1,678 |
The numerator effect is a net scale check. These are the largest inflation-adjusted named UFB row movements to inspect against it; rows can be contextual or nested.
| UFB row | 2019-20 | 2025-26 | Real change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equalization AidRevenue | $6,551,135 | $0 | -$6,551,135 |
| Total Regular Programs-InstructionAppropriation | $11,341,566 | $7,404,789 | -$3,936,777 |
| Total Preschool Education AidAppropriation | $2,446,750 | $4,339,160 | +$1,892,410 |
| Total State ProjectsAppropriation | $2,446,750 | $4,339,160 | +$1,892,410 |
This is arithmetic decomposition, not causal modeling. It uses proposed operating budget converted to 2025 dollars and UFB on-roll planning enrollment. Operating budget per UFB on-roll is a scale check; it does not replace NJDOE’s published comparative-cost line, and UFB planning enrollment can differ from fall enrollment.
Operating funding shift
Local share rose as state share fell. State sources moved from 32% to 15% of proposed operating funding, -17 pts from 2019-20 to 2025-26. In the latest file, the biggest local peer gap was fund balance / other, +10 pts versus the Cape May County average.
| Operating source | 2019-20 share | 2025-26 share | Share move | Real source move | Cape May County average | Latest peer gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State sources | 32% | 15% | -17 pts | -$7,301,685 | 14% | +1 pt |
| Local sources | 63% | 75% | +12 pts | -$1,977,551 | 76% | -1 pt |
| Fund balance / other | 5% | 10% | +6 pts | +$1,159,329 | <1% | +10 pts |
| Federal sources | <1% | <1% | 0 pts | -$54,155 | 2% | -2 pts |
Operating revenue here means General Fund operating revenue in the UFB summary, not all-funds revenue. Shares use each UFB year's proposed operating budget as the denominator; real-dollar movement converts source dollars to 2025 dollars with CPI-U. The fund balance / other bucket is a funding-model signal, while named fund-balance, reserve, and carryover source rows are separated in the source-history panel below.
Loaded-year budget ledger
From 2019-20 to 2025-26, operating budget -$8,174,061; operating per on-roll -$3,297 in 2025 dollars.
| Year | Operating budget | UFB on-roll | Op./on-roll | Peer op./on-roll | Comparative cost | Peer comp. cost | Funding mix | Largest use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | $35,366,394 | 1,633 | $21,657 | $35,483 | $20,816 | $29,903 | local 63% / state 32% | General current expense 98% |
| 2020-21 | $34,453,665 | 1,650 | $20,881 | $36,587 | $20,843 | $30,565 | local 65% / state 28% | General current expense 99% |
| 2021-22 | $32,035,377 | 1,522 | $21,048 | $36,355 | $20,824 | $30,585 | local 68% / state 23% | General current expense 97% |
| 2022-23 | $28,447,711 | 1,531 | $18,581 | $34,520 | $19,069 | $28,539 | local 72% / state 18% | General current expense 99% |
| 2023-24 | $28,486,387 | 1,529 | $18,631 | $34,258 | $19,053 | $28,530 | local 72% / state 14% | General current expense 97% |
| 2024-25 | $27,157,075 | 1,628 | $16,681 | $34,206 | $17,229 | $28,845 | local 75% / state 14% | General current expense 96% |
| 2025-26 | $27,192,333 | 1,481 | $18,361 | $35,868 | $19,138 | $30,573 | local 75% / state 15% | General current expense 98% |
Money columns are converted to 2025 dollars using BLS CPI-U annual averages. Peer columns use the Cape May County average when at least six local peer districts have usable UFB rows for that year. On-roll is UFB planning enrollment, not fall enrollment; UFB year columns mix actual-cost, revised/original-budget, and proposed-budget bases.
Fund balance and reserve source history
Latest named source rows total $2,811,390, 10% of operating-budget scale. For scale, local, state, and federal operating-revenue summaries excluding the other/fund-balance bucket equal 90% of operating-budget scale. The named-source-row scale is +1 pt versus the Cape May County average. After inflation, the named-source-row total changed +$1,163,748 from 2019-20 to 2025-26 (+6 pts of operating scale). Largest latest row: Budgeted fund balance, $2,481,971. Largest proposal-column movement: Capital reserve, local share, +$150,000.
Budgeted fund balance is a planned source row. It is not, by itself, proof of a structural deficit or a cash-balance claim.
Capital-reserve rows often relate to capital projects or local share; keep them separate from recurring classroom operations.
Maintenance reserve rows are restricted-source context and should be read with facilities and capital rows.
Rows are named UFB revenue-source rows for fund balance, reserve withdrawals, and carryover. They are contextual source rows, not audited cash, recurring revenue, an additive funding bridge, or proof of structural imbalance. Latest source and peer average are scaled to each district's proposed operating budget. Proposal movement uses the latest UFB current/revised and proposed columns. Real movement compares 2019-20 with 2025-26 in 2025 dollars, with operating-equivalent shares using each year's proposed operating budget. Peer avg is the Cape May County average where at least six local peer districts have usable revenue rows.
Named-line history evidence
Rows are selected from the strongest contextual named-line movers in this district report. Amounts are converted to 2025 dollars; the smaller note in each year is the row as a share of that year's proposed operating budget. A $0 cell means the source row had no positive proposed amount in that loaded UFB year. Rows are source-file evidence and can be nested, so they should not be added together.
Operating revenue mix over time
Each stacked bar shows operating revenue sources as a share of that UFB year’s proposed operating budget. The categories are operating-fund sources, not all-funds revenue. UFB year columns mix actual-cost, revised/original-budget, and proposed-budget bases, so use the bars as a structural trend, not an audited year-over-year bridge.
Operating use mix over time
Each stacked bar shows high-level General Fund appropriation rows as shares of that UFB year’s proposed operating budget. The chart uses only rows that can be treated as high-level operating uses; detailed rows below are nested and non-additive. UFB year columns mix actual-cost, revised/original-budget, and proposed-budget bases, so use the bars as a structural trend, not an audited year-over-year bridge.
Budget report section
Which spending categories, budget families, and source rows are large or unusual?
Budget family context matrix
Largest current family signal: General current expense, $26,705,887 or 98% of operating-budget scale. Largest real movement: General current expense, -$8,105,360 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. Widest peer gap: Preschool, 26 pts above the Cape May County average.
| Family and source row | Latest scale | Peer gap | Real movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| General current expense1 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal General Current ExpenseAppropriation line 72260 · $26,705,887 | 98%$26,705,887 | +2 ptspeer avg 96% | -$8,105,3600 pts op. shift |
| Preschool5 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Preschool Education AidAppropriation line 87100 · $4,339,160 | 40%$10,776,665 | +26 ptspeer avg 14% | +$4,643,699+22 pts op. shift |
| Local taxes and local sources3 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Tax LevyRevenue line 100/114 · $20,360,489 | 77%$20,979,594 | +7 ptspeer avg 70% | -$1,637,996+13 pts op. shift |
| Special revenue funds2 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Special Revenue FundsAppropriation line 88760 · $5,205,679 | 38%$10,411,358 | +23 ptspeer avg 16% | +$3,479,426+19 pts op. shift |
| State aid7 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal State ProjectsAppropriation line 88200 · $4,339,160 | 31%$8,311,233 | +10 ptspeer avg 20% | -$5,465,929-8 pts op. shift |
| Instruction programs5 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Regular Programs-InstructionAppropriation line 3200 · $7,404,789 | 30%$8,257,044 | +1 ptpeer avg 29% | -$4,376,245-5 pts op. shift |
| Capital, facilities, and debt6 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Debt Service FundsAppropriation line 89980 · $1,483,230 | 15%$4,148,550 | +7 ptspeer avg 8% | +$2,758,279+11 pts op. shift |
| Employee benefits1 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Personal Services-Employee BenefitsAppropriation line 71260 · $6,525,226 | 24%$6,525,226 | +7 ptspeer avg 17% | -$1,624,186+1 pt op. shift |
| Transfers and tuition1 latest rowsLargest latest rowTotal Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition)Appropriation line 29180 · $1,002,561 | 4%$1,002,561 | -21 ptspeer avg 25% | -$481,206-1 pt op. shift |
| Fund balance and reserves8 latest rowsLargest latest rowBudgeted Fund Balance-Operating BudgetRevenue line 580 · $2,481,971 | 12%$3,217,198 | +1 ptpeer avg 10% | +$1,561,723+7 pts op. shift |
This matrix ranks the highest-signal UFB families for this district. Latest scale is 2025-26 source-row dollars divided by proposed operating budget; peer gap uses the same denominator against the Cape May County average; real movement compares 2019-20 with 2025-26 in 2025 dollars. Bars are scaled separately within each metric column. Families are contextual, nested source-row groups, not an additive accounting schedule.
Named family peer context
This names the local districts nearest this district on selected source-family shares, so category claims can be checked against specific peers rather than only the Cape May County average.
| Family and source row | This district | Named local checks | Local range |
|---|---|---|---|
| PreschoolIs preschool aid, carryover, instruction, or support service scale material?Total Preschool Education AidAppropriation line 87100; $4,339,160 | 40%$10,776,665; rank 2 of 17+26 pts vs Cape May County average (14%) | Next higherCape May City 44%Next lowerWoodbine Boro 36% | Cape May City 44% to Avalon Boro 0%Preschool rows can appear in revenue and appropriation files and can be outside ordinary K-12 comparisons. |
| Special revenue fundsHow large are grant-funded or otherwise outside-operating programs relative to operating budgets?Total Special Revenue FundsAppropriation line 88760; $5,205,679 | 38%$10,411,358; rank 3 of 17+23 pts vs Cape May County average (16%) | Next higherWoodbine Boro 38%Next lowerWildwood City 28% | Cape May City 38% to Sea Isle City 0%Special-revenue totals are outside-operating scale signals and should not be added to General Fund operating rows. |
| Local taxes and local sourcesHow much of the budget story is local levy, tuition, fees, or miscellaneous local revenue?Total Tax LevyRevenue line 100/114; $20,360,489 | 77%$20,979,594; rank 8 of 17+7 pts vs Cape May County average (70%) | Next higherStone Harbor Boro 79%Next lowerAvalon Boro 76% | Cape May Co Vocational 99% to Woodbine Boro 32%Mostly revenue-file rows. Tax levy is merged across label variants where the source changed names. |
| State aidWhich aid lines explain dependence on state funding or first-to-latest movement?Total State ProjectsAppropriation line 88200; $4,339,160 | 31%$8,311,233; rank 5 of 17+10 pts vs Cape May County average (20%) | Next higherMiddle Twp 34%Next lowerDennis Twp 21% | Woodbine Boro 81% to Cape May Co Special Serv 0%Includes aid rows other than preschool-specific rows, which are separated because they often move as a program block. |
| Transfers and tuitionDo charter/Renaissance transfers, tuition, or purchased placements change the budget story?Total Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition)Appropriation line 29180; $1,002,561 | 4%$1,002,561; rank 17 of 17-21 pts vs Cape May County average (25%) | Next higherWest Cape May Boro 5%Next lowerNo local peer lower | Sea Isle City 63% to Lower Twp 4%Transfer and tuition rows often identify the districts where money leaves the district-run setting. |
Shares use 2025-26 source-family dollars divided by each district’s proposed operating budget. "Next higher" and "next lower" are numerically higher or lower on that same share, not better or worse. Families are contextual, nested UFB source-row groups, so read named peers as reporting checks rather than an additive accounting schedule.
Category history and peer scale
Special Revenue Funds sits 11 pts above the Cape May County average. General current expense changed -$8,105,360 in real dollars from 2019-20 to 2025-26.
| Budget category | Layer | Latest amount | Latest op. equiv. | Peer avg | Share change | Real $ change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General current expense | High-level operating use | $26,705,887 | 98% | 96% | 0 pts | -$8,105,360 |
| Capital outlay | High-level operating use | $486,446 | 2% | 3% | 0 pts | -$68,701 |
| Core instruction rows | Nested cost row | $9,557,770 | 35% | 31% | -3 pts | -$3,908,763 |
| Student supports and services | Nested cost row | $2,485,984 | 9% | 7% | +1 pt | -$380,452 |
| Instruction tuition | Nested cost row | $1,002,561 | 4% | 14% | -1 pt | -$481,206 |
| Administration and central services | Nested cost row | $1,645,927 | 6% | 6% | +1 pt | -$315,649 |
| Operations and maintenance | Nested cost row | $3,129,921 | 12% | 10% | +1 pt | -$642,853 |
| Student transportation | Nested cost row | $1,465,913 | 5% | 5% | 0 pts | -$314,894 |
| Employee benefits | Nested cost row | $6,525,226 | 24% | 17% | +1 pt | -$1,624,186 |
| Special Revenue Funds | Outside-operating scale | $5,205,679 | 19% | 8% | +9 pts | +$1,739,713 |
| Debt Service Funds | Outside-operating scale | $1,483,230 | 5% | 1% | +4 pts | +$1,129,751 |
Rows mix high-level operating uses, nested lower-level cost rows, and outside-operating scale rows, so do not add them. Latest op. equiv., peer avg, and share change use proposed operating budget as the denominator. Real-dollar change is from 2019-20 to 2025-26 in 2025 dollars. Peer avg is the Cape May County average where at least six local peer districts have usable UFB rows.
Budget family lens
Largest family-level source-row signal: General current expense, $26,705,887 or 98% of operating-budget scale. Largest first-to-latest real movement: General current expense, -$8,105,360 in 2025 dollars. Widest local peer gap: Preschool, 26 pts above the Cape May County average on the same operating-scale basis.
General current expense is a high-level operating row; lower-level rows inside it can overlap and should not be added back to it.
Preschool rows can appear in revenue and appropriation files and can be outside ordinary K-12 comparisons.
Mostly revenue-file rows. Tax levy is merged across label variants where the source changed names.
Special-revenue totals are outside-operating scale signals and should not be added to General Fund operating rows.
Includes aid rows other than preschool-specific rows, which are separated because they often move as a program block.
Instruction rows can be nested inside broader General Fund current-expense totals.
Capital and debt rows use operating budget only as a common scale reference.
Benefit rows are named appropriation rows that can overlap with salary-bearing functions.
Transfer and tuition rows often identify the districts where money leaves the district-run setting.
Reserve and fund-balance rows are context signals, not recurring operating revenue.
Rows can mix instruction, support services, and placement-related services.
Operations rows are lower-level appropriation rows and should not be added to high-level totals.
Federal rows are source-file grant lines and can sit outside the operating-budget story.
This is source-row context, not a full administrative payroll analysis.
Transportation appears in both aid/revenue and appropriation rows; read the file label.
A catch-all for contextual rows that do not fit the named families above.
This groups contextual UFB revenue and appropriation rows into the same reader-facing families used by the statewide budget explorer. Latest scale uses 2025-26 proposed source-row dollars divided by proposed operating budget; real movement compares 2019-20 with 2025-26 in 2025 dollars. Peer avg is the Cape May County average where at least six local peer districts have usable UFB rows. Families are reporting lenses over nested source rows, not additive accounting schedules.
Budget lines that moved
| UFB row | Type | 2019-20 | 2025-26 | Real change | Op. share change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Revenues from State Sources | Revenue | $11,266,692 | $3,965,007 | -$7,301,685 | -17 pts |
| Equalization Aid | Revenue | $6,551,135 | $0 | -$6,551,135 | -19 pts |
| Total General Current Expense | Appropriation | $34,811,247 | $26,705,887 | -$8,105,360 | 0 pts |
| Total Regular Programs-Instruction | Appropriation | $11,341,566 | $7,404,789 | -$3,936,777 | -5 pts |
| Total Revenues from Local Sources | Revenue | $22,388,340 | $20,410,789 | -$1,977,551 | +12 pts |
| Total Tax Levy | Revenue | $22,233,449 | $20,360,489 | -$1,872,960 | +12 pts |
| Total Undistributed Expenditures | Appropriation | $21,208,082 | $17,056,917 | -$4,151,165 | +3 pts |
| Total Preschool Education Aid | Appropriation | $2,446,750 | $4,339,160 | +$1,892,410 | +9 pts |
| Total State Projects | Appropriation | $2,446,750 | $4,339,160 | +$1,892,410 | +9 pts |
| Total Special Revenue Funds | Appropriation | $3,465,966 | $5,205,679 | +$1,739,713 | +9 pts |
Ranked contextual UFB revenue and appropriation rows by movement from 2019-20 to 2025-26. Amounts are inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars using BLS CPI-U annual averages. Rows are selected and often nested, so they do not add to a complete budget; the UFB year columns also mix actual-cost, revised/original-budget, and proposed-budget bases.
Budget report section
Which denominator, service-load, need, labor, and pupil-cost rows change the per-student read?
Cost basis reconciliation
The main per-student cost bases point the same way: NJDOE comparative cost is $19,138, $11,435 below the Cape May County average, and operating budget per UFB on-roll is $18,361, $17,507 below the Cape May County average. The table still keeps the published cost line, operating scale checks, all-funds context, and tax-levy pressure separate.
| Per-student basis | This district | Local peer read | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| NJDOE comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $11,435 below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: $30,573; rank 14 of 16. | Published NJDOE comparative-cost line. The report does not recompute it from operating dollars or enrollment. |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll | $18,361 | $17,507 below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: $35,868; rank 16 of 16. | Proposed General Fund operating budget divided by UFB planning on-roll. This is a scale check, not the NJDOE comparative-cost line. |
| Operating budget per fall-enrolled student | $20,142 | $8,707 below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: $28,850; rank 16 of 17. | Proposed operating budget divided by NJDOE fall enrollment on the district profile. The local average is aggregate-weighted so tiny fall denominators do not dominate; this does not replace NJDOE’s cost metric. |
| All-funds net spending per UFB on-roll | $22,744 | $15,905 below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: $38,648; rank 15 of 16. | All-funds net spending divided by UFB planning on-roll. Includes outside-operating rows such as grants, debt, or capital and should not be read as recurring operating cost. |
| Tax levy per UFB on-roll | $13,748 | $8,712 below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: $22,460; rank 13 of 16. | Local funding pressure per planning student. This is not a spending-cost metric and is not tax-bill advice. |
Use this panel before comparing per-pupil figures: the same district can look high, low, or ordinary depending on whether the report is using NJDOE comparative cost, operating budget, fall enrollment, all-funds totals, or tax levy.
Student flow and money path
The budget route map puts the cost question into reader terms: special-education planning load is 16% of UFB on-roll. Dollar rows use operating-budget shares; student-flow rows use UFB planning-enrollment shares, so the table keeps the evidence separate instead of adding it together.
| Path | Latest scale | Local peer read | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|
| General current expense | $26.7 million (98% of operating) | 2 pts above the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: 96%; rank 6 of 17. | The broad district-run operating base. Lower-level instructional, support, benefits, operations, and administrative rows can sit inside or beside this accounting path. |
| School-based budgeting | no positive latest row | near the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: 0%; rank 1 of 17. | A published school-resource allocation path, where present. It is not an added cost on top of the same operating budget without reading the source rows. |
| Charter / Renaissance transfers | no positive latest row | near the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: <1%; rank 6 of 17. | Operating dollars routed to charter or Renaissance rows. Read beside resident enrollment, district-run enrollment, and charter/Renaissance context before making a classroom-spending claim. |
| Special-education planning load | 234 (16% of UFB on-roll) | 5 pts below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: 21%; rank 8 of 15. | A UFB planning-enrollment load, not a fall-enrollment count. Use with pupil-cost rows, tuition, transportation, staffing, and services before assigning a cost gap to one cause. |
| Sent placements | 19 (1% of UFB on-roll) | 15 pts below the Cape May County average; Cape May County average: 16%; rank 13 of 14. | A count path for students budgeted outside the district-run on-roll setting. Follow the tuition, transportation, special-services, and placement rows; do not add this count to dollars. |
This panel is a reporting map for Cape May County districts comparisons: dollar paths use proposed General Fund operating-budget scale, while service paths use UFB planning-enrollment rows. It does not claim that these rows add to one total.
Fall enrollment and student need
This section keeps the student denominator beside the budget rows: UFB planning enrollment, fall enrollment, per-student scale checks, and latest fall-enrollment need rows for the same local peer frame.
| Measure | This district | Local context | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall enrollment | 1,350 | 12% of peer fall enrollment | NJDOE fall enrollment count used on the district profile. |
| UFB planning on-roll | 1,481 | 110% of fall enrollment | +131 versus fall |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll | $18,361 | $35,868 | $17,507 below the Cape May County average |
| Operating budget per fall-enrolled student | $20,142 | $28,850 | $8,707 below the Cape May County average |
| Fall row | Count | Share | Local avg / rank | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free/reduced-price lunch | 753 | 56% | 44% · rank 4 of 16 | +12 pts |
| Multilingual learners | 49 | 4% | 5% · rank 6 of 16 | -2 pts |
| Students experiencing homelessness | 14 | 1% | 2% · rank 5 of 16 | -1 pt |
Fall rows come from NJDOE Fall Enrollment; UFB on-roll rows come from the NJDOE User-Friendly Budget enrollment file. Operating budget per fall-enrolled student is a scale check for interpretation, not a replacement for NJDOE's published comparative-cost measure.
Service-load and denominator history
Latest UFB planning on-roll is 1,481. From 2019-20 to 2025-26, that denominator changed -152 (-9.3%). Latest planning-load shares: special education 16%, sent placements 1% of UFB on-roll. Largest latest service-load category: Special-education on-roll, 16% of on-roll. Largest count movement: Special-education on-roll, -47.
This is a planning-enrollment row, not a fall enrollment special-education count.
Combines private school, contract preschool, sent-to-other-district, and state-facility planning rows.
Receiving rows can make resident-based cost comparisons misleading without tuition and service context.
Combines regular and special-education sent-to-other-district UFB planning rows.
Received-from-other-district minus sent-to-other-district rows; private and preschool placements are separate.
Contract preschool rows can move sharply between current and proposed UFB columns.
Rows use the UFB budget-enrollment planning file across loaded years, not NJDOE fall enrollment. Latest load and peer average are scaled to each district's UFB planning on-roll. Count movement compares 2019-20 with 2025-26. Peer avg is the Cape May County average where at least six local peer districts have usable planning rows. These rows explain the cost denominator and service-load context; they do not replace NJDOE's published comparative-cost measure.
Labor, benefits, and listed salaries
This section pulls together salary-bearing pupil-cost rows, the employee-benefits appropriation row, and the selected administrative salary side file so labor-cost signals can be read before the raw source tables.
| NJDOE pupil-cost row | This district | Peer avg | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classroom salaries and benefits | $10,228 | $15,335 | -$5,107 |
| Support services salaries and benefits | $3,685 | $4,485 | -$800 |
| Operations and maintenance salaries and benefits | $1,807 | $1,918 | -$111 |
| Administration salaries and benefits | $1,190 | $1,803 | -$613 |
| Benefits as % of salaries | 39.58% | 39.93% | 0 pts |
| Measure | This district | Local context | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employee benefits appropriation row | $6.5 million · 24% | 18% peer avg; 5 pts above the Cape May County average | Named UFB appropriation row, scaled to the operating budget. |
| Benefits as a share of salaries | 39.58% | 39.93% peer avg; 0 pts below the Cape May County average | NJDOE pupil-cost row, not an appropriation amount. |
| Listed administrative base salaries | $932,007 · $629 per UFB on-roll | $1,608 peer avg; rank 14 of 16 | 8 selected UFB salary rows. |
| Highest listed administrative base salary | $161,518 | $156,991 peer avg; rank 5 of 16 | Superintendent |
Salary and benefits rows can overlap with broader NJDOE pupil-cost totals and nested UFB appropriation rows. Administrative salary rows are selected UFB-listed roles with district-reported FTE/shared-service fields; they are not full payroll and should not be added to pupil-cost salary rows. Peer averages use Cape May County districts with usable latest-year UFB rows.
Pupil-cost category movement
NJDOE comparative cost moved -$1,678 per pupil after inflation from 2019-20 to 2025-26. The largest CPI-adjusted standardized pupil-cost row movement was classroom instruction, -$1,554 per pupil from 2019-20 to 2025-26. In the latest file, the largest local peer gap among these rows was classroom instruction, -$6,119 versus the Cape May County average.
| NJDOE pupil-cost row | 2019-20 real | 2025-26 real | Real movement | Cape May County average | Latest gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classroom instruction | $12,252 | $10,698 | -$1,554 | $16,817 | -$6,119 |
| Classroom salaries and benefits | $11,667 | $10,228 | -$1,439 | $15,335 | -$5,107 |
| Operations and maintenance | $2,818 | $2,626 | -$192 | $4,480 | -$1,854 |
| Support services | $3,930 | $4,101 | +$171 | $5,943 | -$1,842 |
| Administrative costs | $1,559 | $1,449 | -$110 | $2,593 | -$1,144 |
| Equipment costs | $334 | $246 | -$88 | $332 | -$86 |
| Classroom purchased services | $164 | $87 | -$77 | $652 | -$565 |
| Classroom supplies and textbooks | $422 | $384 | -$38 | $830 | -$446 |
| Legal costs | $23 | $34 | +$11 | $70 | -$36 |
First-to-latest movement uses NJDOE standardized pupil-cost rows converted to 2025 dollars with CPI-U. The Cape May County average and latest gap columns use latest-year UFB per-pupil values for the same rows. Several rows are subcomponents of broader totals, so this is a category-movement screen, not an additive budget bridge.
NJDOE pupil-cost breakdown
| Pupil-cost line | This district | Cape May County average | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classroom instruction | $10,698 | $16,817 | -$6,119 |
| Classroom salaries and benefits | $10,228 | $15,335 | -$5,107 |
| Support services | $4,101 | $5,943 | -$1,842 |
| Operations and maintenance | $2,626 | $4,480 | -$1,854 |
| Administrative costs | $1,449 | $2,593 | -$1,144 |
| Classroom purchased services | $87 | $652 | -$565 |
| Classroom supplies and textbooks | $384 | $830 | -$446 |
| Equipment costs | $246 | $332 | -$86 |
| Legal costs | $34 | $70 | -$36 |
Pupil-cost rows are NJDOE-published per-pupil figures for the proposed budget year, not amounts divided by enrollment on this page.
Budget enrollment and placements
| UFB enrollment row | Count | Share of on-roll |
|---|---|---|
| On-roll, full | 1,247 | 84% |
| Special education on-roll, full | 234 | 16% |
| Sent to private school | 1 | <1% |
| Sent to other districts, regular | 1 | <1% |
| Sent to other districts, special education | 16 | 1% |
| State facilities | 1 | <1% |
These are UFB budget-enrollment planning rows, not the fall enrollment counts used elsewhere on the profile.
Budget report section
Which tax basis, tax effort, averages, ranks, and gaps shape the comparison?
Tax basis reconciliation
The UFB summary tax levy is $20,360,489, while the esttax total-school levy sums to $20,724,403 (+$363,914 difference). The esttax file has one districtwide tax-rate slice. Those bases are kept separate below before any local-burden comparison.
| Basis | Value | Rate | Denominator / date | Reader use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UFB summary operating tax levy | $20,360,489 | n/a | $13,748 per UFB on-roll | Profile-facing UFB summary row; this is the basis for levy-per-student comparisons. |
| esttax General Fund levy | $20,095,746 | 0.5379 per $100 | Taxable assessed value; Oct. 1, 2024. | Taxable assessed-value rate basis; -$264,743 vs summary levy. |
| esttax total-school levy | $20,724,403 | 0.5547 per $100 | Taxable assessed value; Oct. 1, 2024. | Taxable assessed-value rate basis; +$363,914 vs summary levy. |
| Equalized total-school levy | $20,724,403 | 0.2793 per $100 | Equalized value; Oct. 1, 2024. | Equalized-value rate basis for cross-municipality comparison. |
| Taxable assessed value | $3.7 billion | n/a | Oct. 1, 2024 | Assessed valuation denominator for source tax-rate rows. |
| Equalized value | $7.4 billion | n/a | Oct. 1, 2024 | Equalized valuation denominator used to compare tax bases across municipalities. |
This panel reconciles the UFB summary tax levy with the esttax side-file levy, rate, and valuation bases. Rates are estimates per $100 of valuation. Taxable assessed value is the local assessed-value denominator; equalized value is the state-adjusted valuation used for cross-municipality comparison. Valuation dates travel with the source rows. The table is local-burden context for reporting, not tax-bill advice or audited property-tax data.
Tax effort and tax base
Mixed tax context. Tax levy per UFB on-roll was $13,748, -$8,712 versus the Cape May County average. The estimated school-tax rate was 0.2793 per $100, -0.0943 versus the Cape May County average. Equalized value per UFB on-roll was -$25,164,395 versus the Cape May County average.
| Measure | This district | Cape May County average | Gap | Local rank | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tax levy per UFB on-roll | $13,748 | $22,460 | -$8,712 | 13 of 16 | UFB summary tax levy divided by UFB on-roll planning enrollment. |
| Tax levy / operating budget | 75% | 64% | +11 pts | 8 of 17 | UFB summary tax levy divided by proposed operating budget. |
| Estimated school-tax rate | 0.2793 | 0.3736 | -0.0943 | 6 of 15 | UFB esttax side-file rows; equalized value weighted. |
| Equalized value per UFB on-roll | $5,010,890 | $30,175,285 | -$25,164,395 | 9 of 14 | Total equalized value from plausible UFB esttax rows divided by UFB on-roll. |
| Municipal rate spread | 0 | 0.0037 | -0.0037 | 2 of 17 | Highest minus lowest plausible estimated rate across municipal/regional slices. |
| Slice | Displayed rate | Equalized rate | Total levy | Equalized value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Twp | 0.2793 | 0.2793 | $20.7 million | $7.4 billion |
Tax levy per UFB on-roll comes from the UFB summary tax levy and planning enrollment. Estimated tax rates and equalized values come from the UFB esttax side file, use plausible rate rows only, and are shown per $100 of valuation. This is tax-base context for budget reporting, not tax-bill advice or audited property-tax data.
Budget measures that stand out locally
| Measure | This district | Peer avg | Gap | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed admin base salaries per UFB on-roll student | $629 | $1,608 | -$978 | 14 of 16 |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll student | $18,361 | $35,868 | -$17,507 | 16 of 16 |
| Administrative costs per pupil | $1,449 | $2,593 | -$1,144 | 16 of 16 |
| Operations and maintenance per pupil | $2,626 | $4,480 | -$1,854 | 12 of 16 |
| Tax levy per UFB on-roll student | $13,748 | $22,460 | -$8,712 | 13 of 16 |
| Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $30,573 | -$11,435 | 14 of 16 |
| Classroom instruction per pupil | $10,698 | $16,817 | -$6,119 | 15 of 16 |
| Support services per pupil | $4,101 | $5,943 | -$1,842 | 9 of 16 |
Peer averages and ranks compare against Cape May County districts with usable values for the same 2025-26 UFB measure. Rank is ordered from highest value to lowest value; higher is not automatically better or worse.
UFB lines unlike local peers
Largest line-item differences: Total Special Revenue Funds is 19%, +11 pts versus the peer average; Total Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition) is 4%, -11 pts versus the peer average.
| UFB row | File | Amount | Op. equiv. | Peer avg | Gap | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Special Revenue Funds | Appropriation | $5,205,679 | 19% | 8% | +11 pts | 3 of 17 |
| Total Grants and Entitlements | Revenue | $5,205,679 | 19% | 8% | +11 pts | 3 of 17 |
| Preschool Education Aid | Revenue | $4,136,764 | 15% | 4% | +11 pts | 1 of 17 |
| Total Tax Levy | Revenue | $20,360,489 | 75% | 64% | +11 pts | 8 of 17 |
| Total Preschool Education Aid | Appropriation | $4,339,160 | 16% | 5% | +11 pts | 2 of 17 |
| Total Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition) | Appropriation | $1,002,561 | 4% | 14% | -11 pts | 14 of 17 |
| Total State Projects | Appropriation | $4,339,160 | 16% | 6% | +10 pts | 2 of 17 |
| Total Revenues from State Sources | Revenue | $4,141,183 | 15% | 5% | +10 pts | 1 of 17 |
| Total Personal Services-Employee Benefits | Appropriation | $6,525,226 | 24% | 17% | +7 pts | 2 of 17 |
| Total Support Services | Appropriation | $2,205,815 | 8% | 2% | +6 pts | 1 of 17 |
| Total Regular Programs-Instruction | Appropriation | $7,404,789 | 27% | 22% | +6 pts | 5 of 17 |
| Total Preschool Education Aid Instruction | Appropriation | $2,098,345 | 8% | 3% | +5 pts | 3 of 17 |
This scans contextual revenue and appropriation rows against Cape May County districts with usable 2025-26 UFB data. The operating-equivalent columns use each district’s proposed operating budget as a scale reference; peer-common rows missing from this district are treated as $0 so absences can surface. Rows remain nested and non-additive.
Budget comparison matrix
| Measure | This district | Cape May County average | Local rank | NJ avg | NJ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comparative cost per pupil | $19,138 | $30,573 | 14 of 16 | $23,591 | 477 of 566 |
| Operating budget per UFB on-roll student | $18,361 | $35,868 | 16 of 16 | $39,253 | 563 of 578 |
| Tax levy per UFB on-roll student | $13,748 | $22,460 | 13 of 16 | $17,835 | 377 of 566 |
| Local operating revenue share | 75% | 76% | 13 of 17 | 69% | 332 of 595 |
| State operating revenue share | 15% | 15% | 5 of 16 | 25% | 275 of 574 |
| Federal operating revenue share | <1% | 1% | 3 of 11 | <1% | 60 of 386 |
| Fund balance / other operating revenue share | 10% | 10% | 9 of 17 | 7% | 129 of 595 |
| Employee benefits share | 24% | 18% | 2 of 16 | 17% | 33 of 586 |
| Operations and maintenance share | 12% | 11% | 7 of 16 | 9% | 61 of 587 |
| Student transportation share | 5% | 6% | 6 of 16 | 6% | 297 of 592 |
| Special Revenue Funds equivalent | 19% | 8% | 3 of 16 | 7% | 19 of 585 |
| Debt Service Funds equivalent | 5% | n/a | n/a | 4% | 102 of 406 |
| Budgeted out-of-district placements share | 1% | 16% | 13 of 14 | 10% | 376 of 526 |
| Special-education on-roll planning share | 16% | 21% | 8 of 15 | 18% | 270 of 576 |
| Classroom instruction per pupil | $10,698 | $16,817 | 15 of 16 | $13,434 | 506 of 569 |
| Support services per pupil | $4,101 | $5,943 | 9 of 16 | $4,329 | 260 of 569 |
| Operations and maintenance per pupil | $2,626 | $4,480 | 12 of 16 | $2,879 | 288 of 569 |
| Administrative costs per pupil | $1,449 | $2,593 | 16 of 16 | $2,270 | 545 of 569 |
| Listed admin base salaries per UFB on-roll student | $629 | $1,608 | 14 of 16 | $1,366 | 326 of 575 |
| Highest listed admin base salary | $161,518 | $156,991 | 5 of 16 | $199,341 | 475 of 580 |
Averages and ranks use districts with usable values for the same latest UFB year. Ranks run from highest value to lowest value, so rank 1 is not automatically better or worse.
Budget report section
How do operating sources, operating uses, all-funds totals, grants, and debt fit together?
Budget anatomy
| Row | Amount | Op. share |
|---|---|---|
| Local sources | $20.4 million | 75% |
| State sources | $4.0 million | 15% |
| Fund balance / other | $2.8 million | 10% |
| Federal sources | $9,566 | <1% |
| Row | Amount | Op. share |
|---|---|---|
| General current expense | $26.7 million | 98% |
| Capital outlay | $486,446 | 2% |
| Row | Amount | Op. equiv. |
|---|---|---|
| All-funds net above operating | $6.5 million | 24% |
| Special Revenue Funds | $5.2 million | 19% |
| Preschool Education Aid | $4.3 million | 16% |
| State projects | $4.3 million | 16% |
| Debt Service Funds | $1.5 million | 5% |
| Federal projects | $821,519 | 3% |
This anatomy starts with the proposed operating budget as the common denominator. The outside-operating column uses the same denominator only as a scale reference; those rows can include grants, debt service, capital, and nested fund sections. The dynamic tables below scan 41 positive revenue rows and 47 positive appropriation rows; 41 changed revenue rows and 47 changed appropriation rows from the latest UFB files.
Budget report section
Which tax, balance, reserve, unusual-item, shared-service, school-resource, or salary rows matter?
Side-file history
| UFB year | Tax file | Balances / reserves | Notes / shared services | Resource / salary files |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | tax-file levy $17.4 million; rate 0.4353 | Restricted--General Operating Budget: Capit... $901,500; reserve/fund-balance sources $1.3 million | 3 unusual rows · $387,136; 11 shared-service rows | 8 admin salary rows · $870,985 |
| 2020-21 | tax-file levy $17.8 million; rate 0.4306 | Restricted--General Operating Budget: Capit... $1.3 million; reserve/fund-balance sources $1.9 million | 8 shared-service rows | 9 admin salary rows · $973,768 |
| 2021-22 | tax-file levy $18.2 million; rate 0.4261 | Restricted--General Operating Budget: Capit... $1.1 million; reserve/fund-balance sources $2.4 million | 8 shared-service rows | 11 admin salary rows · $1.2 million |
| 2022-23 | tax-file levy $18.6 million; rate 0.3994 | Restricted-General Operating Budget: Capita... $1.7 million; reserve/fund-balance sources $2.4 million | 36 unusual rows · $86.1 million; 10 shared-service rows | 10 admin salary rows · $1.1 million |
| 2023-24 | tax-file levy $19.0 million; rate 0.3483 | Restricted-General Operating Budget: Mainte... $710,319; reserve/fund-balance sources $3.9 million | 11 shared-service rows | 10 admin salary rows · $1.0 million |
| 2024-25 | tax-file levy $19.5 million; rate 0.316 | Unrestricted-General Operating Budget $539,520; reserve/fund-balance sources $2.9 million | 10 unusual rows · $1.0 million; 10 shared-service rows | 8 admin salary rows · $903,949 |
| 2025-26 | levy $20.4 million; rate 0.2793 | Restricted-General Operating Budget: Capita... $646,432; reserve/fund-balance sources $2.8 million | 15 unusual rows · $658,100; 9 shared-service rows | 8 admin salary rows · $932,007 |
This table summarizes UFB side files across loaded years so latest-year tax, balance, unusual-item, shared-service, school-resource, and salary rows can be read in context. Recap rows, shared-service savings, and salary files are district-reported context rows, not audited operating totals.
Balance and reserve history
Latest projected close-year balances total $2,205,917, 8% of operating-budget scale. After inflation, total projected balance changed -$533,919 from 2019-20 to 2025-26. Restricted or named-reserve rows account for 76% of the latest projected balance. Largest latest category: Capital reserve, $646,432. Largest real movement: Capital reserve, -$488,806.
Capital reserve balances can make a district look cash-rich without changing current operating service levels.
Estimated close-year balance from the UFB recap file; not an operating appropriation.
Maintenance reserve is a balance row; compare with facilities and capital lines before treating it as spending.
A restricted balance row, not a recurring operating cost line.
Legal reserve balances are often concentrated in a small number of districts.
Emergency reserve rows are close-year balances and should not be stacked with operating uses.
Impact-aid reserve rows are restricted and may be sparse.
Special-revenue balances are context rows, not General Fund operating cushion.
Recap rows are UFB projected balances at the close of the budget year, not operating appropriations or a spendable-cash claim. Tiny placeholder rows below $1,000 are suppressed. Money movement compares 2019-20 with 2025-26 in 2025 dollars, and operating-equivalent shares use each year's proposed operating budget. Peer avg is the Cape May County average where at least six local peer districts have usable recap rows.
Taxes, reserves, and balances
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| General Fund levy | $20,095,746 |
| General Fund school-tax rate | 0.5379 |
| Total school levy | $20,724,403 |
| Total school-tax rate | 0.5547 |
| Equalized total school-tax rate | 0.2793 |
| Estimated taxable valuation | $3.7 billion |
| Recap category | Projected | Vs prior audited |
|---|---|---|
| Restricted-General Operating Budget: Capital Reserve | $646,432 | -$149,800 |
| Unrestricted-General Operating Budget | $530,491 | -$925,183 |
| Restricted-General Operating Budget: Maintenance Reserve | $523,887 | -$499,800 |
| Restricted-General Operating Budget: Unemployment Fund | $261,158 | $0 |
| Restricted-General Operating Budget: Current Expense Emergency Reserve | $150,200 | +$200 |
| Restricted-Special Revenue Fund: Scholarship Fund | $93,749 | $0 |
| Revenue row | Amount |
|---|---|
| Budgeted fund balance | $2.5 million |
| Maintenance reserve withdrawal | $175,000 |
| Capital reserve, local share | $150,000 |
| Preschool aid carryover | $4,419 |
Tax rates are NJDOE estimated school-tax-rate rows per $100 of valuation. Balance rows come from the UFB recapitulation file; the projected column is the estimated balance at the close of the budget year, not a spendable operating line.
Unusual items and shared-service profile
The latest unusual-item file lists 15 positive rows totaling $658,100, 2% of operating-budget scale, -2 pts versus the Cape May County average. Largest unusual category: capital, facilities, and debt, $300,100. The shared-service file lists 9 arrangements with no dollar savings reported, 0 pts versus the Cape May County average; peer average 9.7 rows. Most visible shared-service category: insurance and benefits.
| Category | Latest amount | Largest source row |
|---|---|---|
| Capital, facilities, and debtIs the unusual item an all-funds, capital, facilities, bond, or debt-service story? | $300,1001% op. equiv.; 3 rows | CAPITAL RESERVE$150,000; preschool expansion project |
| Transportation and operationsDo transportation, utilities, facilities operations, or maintenance explain the unusual row? | $175,000<1% op. equiv.; 1 rows | MAINTENANCE RESERVE$175,000; maintenance reserve |
| Other unusual explanationsWhich remaining one-off explanations need district-report follow-up? | $133,000<1% op. equiv.; 10 rows | IBANK ACCOUNTD/MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES$50,000; interest income/refunds/sale of assets |
| Legal, settlement, and judgment rowsDoes a legal or settlement explanation account for a visible budget row? | $50,000<1% op. equiv.; 1 rows | OPERATING ACCOUNT$50,000; required legal services |
| Category | Rows / savings | Example arrangement |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance and benefitsAre insurance, benefit, or coverage arrangements reported as shared services? | 2 rowsno savings reported | Insurance Coverages and BenefitsMEMBER OF THE ACCASBO JOINT INSURANCE FUND |
| Purchasing and procurementDoes the district report purchasing cooperation rather than a direct service consolidation? | 2 rowsno savings reported | PurchasingPURCHASING CO-OP WITH CAPE MAY COUNTY |
| Transportation shared servicesAre transportation arrangements part of the cost story? | 1 rowno savings reported | Transportation Services, including FuelFUEL SUPPLIED TO LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT |
| Technology servicesAre technology services shared rather than separately staffed or contracted? | 1 rowno savings reported | Technology ServicesWEBSITE DESIGN SHARED WITH LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT |
| Other staffingAre non-leadership staffing arrangements listed as shared services? | 1 rowno savings reported | Staffing - OtherSECURITY SUPERVISOR IS SHARED WITH LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT |
| Municipal and public worksDoes the district rely on municipal or public-works arrangements? | 1 rowno savings reported | Municipal/Public WorksTRASH & RECYCLING SERVICES WITH LOWER TOWNSHIP PUBLIC WORKS |
| Food, nursing, and student servicesAre food, nursing, social-worker, psychologist, or student services shared? | 1 rowno savings reported | Food ServicesFOOD SERVICE SUPERVISOR IS SHARED WITH LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT |
This panel classifies the latest UFB unusual-item and shared-service side files using the same reporting categories as the statewide budget explorer. Positive unusual-item dollars can duplicate named revenue or appropriation rows elsewhere in the budget. Shared-service savings are optional district-entered context, not audited offsets to current spending. Peer comparisons use Cape May County districts where enough peers have usable side-file rows.
Budget notes and shared services
| Source / reason | Amount | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| MAINTENANCE RESERVE | $175,000 | maintenance reserve |
| CAPITAL RESERVE | $150,000 | preschool expansion project |
| CAPITAL RESERVE FUNDS | $150,000 | preschool expansion project |
| IBANK ACCOUNTD/MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES | $50,000 | interest income/refunds/sale of assets |
| OPERATING ACCOUNT | $50,000 | required legal services |
| STUDENT ACTIVITY ACCOUNT | $45,000 | student activity fundraisers and bank interest |
Showing 6 of 15 unusual rows.
| Category | Description | Savings |
|---|---|---|
| Food Services | FOOD SERVICE SUPERVISOR IS SHARED WITH LOWER CAPE MAY REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | not reported |
| Insurance Coverages and Benefits | MEMBER OF THE ACCASBO JOINT INSURANCE FUND | not reported |
| Insurance Coverages and Benefits | MEMBER OF THE SOUTHERN COASTAL HEALTH INSURANCE FUND (MEDICAL/PRESCRIPTION COVERAGE) | not reported |
| Municipal/Public Works | TRASH & RECYCLING SERVICES WITH LOWER TOWNSHIP PUBLIC WORKS | not reported |
| Purchasing | PURCHASING CO-OP WITH CAPE MAY COUNTY | not reported |
| Purchasing | PURCHASING CONSORTIUM WITH Hunterdon County Educational Services Commission | not reported |
Showing 6 of 9 shared-service rows.
Unusual items and shared services are district-reported UFB explanation rows. Shared-service savings are optional, so a listed arrangement can show no dollar amount.
Listed administrative salary history
The UFB employees side file lists selected administrative salary rows for 7 loaded budget years. Listed base salary moved from $1.1 million in 2019-20 to $932,007 in 2025-26 in 2025 dollars (down $164,804). The selected-row count stayed at 8.
| UFB year | Listed base | Rows / FTE | Highest listed role | Add-ons / terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | $1.1 million | 8 rows; FTE 8no shared rows | $172,024JEFF SAMANIEGO · Superintendent: N/A | $417,824 add-on dollar fields24 text-term field entries |
| 2020-21 | $1.2 million | 9 rows; FTE 9no shared rows | $174,072JEFF SAMANIEGO · Superintendent: N/A | $403,672 add-on dollar fields27 text-term field entries |
| 2021-22 | $1.4 million | 11 rows; FTE 11no shared rows | $170,999Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent: N/A | $443,931 add-on dollar fields33 text-term field entries |
| 2022-23 | $1.2 million | 10 rows; FTE 10no shared rows | $162,841Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent: N/A | $250,902 add-on dollar fields30 text-term field entries |
| 2023-24 | $1.1 million | 10 rows; FTE 9.4no shared rows | $160,861Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent: N/A | $285,341 add-on dollar fields30 text-term field entries |
| 2024-25 | $927,734 | 8 rows; FTE 81 shared | $160,939Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent | $179,037 add-on dollar fields24 text-term field entries |
| 2025-26 | $932,007 | 8 rows; FTE 81 shared | $161,518Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent | $203,194 add-on dollar fields24 text-term field entries |
| Measure | This district | Cape May County average | Gap | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed base per UFB on-roll | $629 | $1,608 | -$978 | Selected admin base salaries divided by UFB planning on-roll.Local rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts with usable salary rows. |
| Listed rows per 1,000 UFB on-roll | 5.4 | 14.4 | -9 | Selected listed administrative rows scaled to enrollment.Local rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts with usable salary rows. |
| Listed FTE per 1,000 UFB on-roll | 5.4 | 12.9 | -7.5 | FTE field total scaled to enrollment; not district staffing headcount.Local rank 14 of 16 among Cape May County districts with usable salary rows. |
| Shared-service row share | 12% | 30% | -18 pts | Share of selected salary rows marked shared in the side file.Local rank 8 of 16 among Cape May County districts with usable salary rows. |
Dollar columns in the history table are converted to 2025 dollars with CPI-U. The UFB employees side file lists selected administrative salary rows, FTE/shared flags, add-on compensation fields, work/leave terms, and comments; it is not full payroll, a staffing census, total compensation, or an operating-budget category. Peer checks use the latest matched year only and rank higher numeric values first.
Listed administrative salaries
The UFB salary side file lists 8 selected administrative rows totaling $932,007 in base salaries. It also includes district-reported add-on compensation fields, work and leave-day terms, and payout or buyback text where those fields are filled.
| Field | Reported total | Count | Largest listed row | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $932,007 | 8 | $161,518 · Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent | Selected listed administrative base salaries. |
| Post-employment benefits | $195,207 | 8 | $39,849 · Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent | District-reported post-employment benefit field. |
| Allowances | $7,987 | 6 | $2,100 · Jeff Samaniego · Superintendent | District-reported allowance field. |
| Field | Median | Range | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work days | 260 | 206 to 260 | 8 |
| Vacation days | 20 | 5 to 20 | 8 |
| Sick days | 15 | 13 to 15 | 8 |
| Personal days | 3 | 3 to 3 | 8 |
| Field group | Count | Distinct terms | Common text examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal-day payout | 8 | 1 | INELIGIBLE (8 rows) |
| Sick-day payout | 8 | 6 | CAPPED AT $15000 (3 rows); 105.5 SICK DAYS AT $90 PER DIEM - NOT CAPPED; 193 SICK DAYS AT $100 PER DIEM - CAPPED AT $15000 |
| Vacation-day payout | 8 | 6 | 20 VACATION DAYS AT PER DIEM RATE (3 rows); 10 VACATION DAYS AT PER DIEM RATE; 16 VACATION DAYS AT PER DIEM RATE |
| Listed employee | Role | Base salary | FTE/shared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Samaniego | Superintendent | $161,518 | 1 |
| Sarah Bowman | Coordinator/Director/Manager/Supervisor: SUPER OF CURR & INTRUCT | $130,937 | 1 |
| Debra Keeler | Coordinator/Director/Manager/Supervisor: SUPER OF CHILD STUDY | $128,788 | 1 |
| Kurt Himstedt | Coordinator/Director/Manager/Supervisor: FOOD SERVICE DIRECTOR | $112,653 | 1 / shared |
| Patricia Ryan | Business Administrator: BUS ADMIN/BOARD SECRE | $112,543 | 1 |
| Christina Granero | Coordinator/Director/Manager/Supervisor: SUPER OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVE | $110,833 | 1 |
| Gary O’shea | Coordinator/Director/Manager/Supervisor: SUPER OF BUILDINGS & GRO | $87,757 | 1 |
| Patricia Jacob | Secretary | $86,978 | 1 |
Administrative salary rows are selected listed roles from the UFB employees side file, not complete payroll, a contract audit, or an operating-budget total. Component fields are shown separately because allowances, benefits, remuneration, leave days, payouts, and comments are mixed units and can overlap in meaning. Dollar fields are nominal latest-file values.
Budget report section
Which visible UFB revenue and appropriation rows support the report?
UFB source-file ledger
These are the exact NJDOE User-Friendly Budget CSV files behind this report. Links open the statewide source files for 2025-26, while the row counts show how much of each file matched this district in the local warehouse.
| File | Latest source file | Rows from this district | Use and limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | rev26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 41 positive rows | Named levy, aid, grant, tuition, fund-balance, reserve, and other source rows behind the operating-revenue mix.Includes subtotals and non-operating context rows; it is not one additive revenue schedule. |
| Appropriation file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | approp26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 47 positive rows | High-level operating uses, transfers, fund totals, lower-level program rows, capital, debt, and special-revenue scale.Many rows are nested; operating-equivalent shares are scale references, not additive totals. |
| Pupil-cost file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | pupcst26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 16 published rows | NJDOE standardized per-pupil cost rows used for classroom, support, operations, administration, and benefits comparisons.These are published NJDOE rows; the report does not recompute them from appropriations or enrollment. |
| Budget-enrollment file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | enroll26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 7 planning rows | UFB on-roll, special-education on-roll, sent/received placements, contract preschool, and denominator context.Planning enrollment is not the same as fall enrollment and should not be added to dollar rows. |
| Recap / balance file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | recap26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 14 balance rows | Projected close-year balances, reserves, restricted balances, and fund-balance context.Balance rows are not current operating appropriations or spendable-cash claims. |
| Estimated tax file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | esttax26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 1 slice | Estimated school-tax rates, levy slices, taxable values, equalized values, and municipal/regional spread context.Estimated tax rows are UFB context, not tax-bill advice or audited property-tax data. |
| Unusual-item file2019-20 to 2025-26 (4 files) | unusual26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 15 rows | District-reported unusual revenue or appropriation explanations that may change the current-year story.Rows can duplicate named revenue or appropriation rows and should not be stacked as separate spending. |
| Shared-services file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | shared26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 9 arrangements | District-reported shared-service arrangements and optional savings fields.Reported savings are context rows, not audited offsets against the operating budget. |
| Admin-salary file2019-20 to 2025-26 (7 files) | employees26.csv2025-26 NJDOE UFB statewide CSV | 8 listed salary rows | Selected administrative salary rows, FTE, shared-service flags, contract fields, and comments where published.Selected listed administration is not complete payroll or total compensation. |
The links are source-file provenance, not district-specific extracts. Each CSV covers all districts published in that UFB file; the generated report filters those rows to this district and keeps source-family caveats attached before making comparisons.
Largest current UFB lines
| UFB row | File | Amount | Operating equiv. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total General Current Expense | Appropriation | $26,705,887 | 98% |
| Total Revenues from Local Sources | Revenue | $20,410,789 | 75% |
| Total Tax Levy | Revenue | $20,360,489 | 75% |
| Total Undistributed Expenditures | Appropriation | $17,056,917 | 63% |
| Total Regular Programs-Instruction | Appropriation | $7,404,789 | 27% |
| Total Personal Services-Employee Benefits | Appropriation | $6,525,226 | 24% |
| Total Special Revenue Funds | Appropriation | $5,205,679 | 19% |
| Total Grants and Entitlements | Revenue | $5,205,679 | 19% |
| Total Preschool Education Aid | Appropriation | $4,339,160 | 16% |
| Total State Projects | Appropriation | $4,339,160 | 16% |
| Total Revenues from State Sources (770) | Revenue | $4,141,183 | 15% |
| Preschool Education Aid | Revenue | $4,136,764 | 15% |
| Total Revenues from State Sources (520) | Revenue | $3,965,007 | 15% |
| Total Undistributed Expenditures-Operation and Maintenance of Plant Services | Appropriation | $3,129,921 | 12% |
| Budgeted Fund Balance-Operating Budget | Revenue | $2,481,971 | 9% |
| Total Support Services | Appropriation | $2,205,815 | 8% |
Selected dynamically from every positive revenue and appropriation row in the latest UFB files after dropping outer totals. Rows come from different files and fund sections, so the operating-equivalent column is only a scale reference.
Main funds and transfers
| UFB appropriation row | Amount | Operating equiv. |
|---|---|---|
| Total expenditures net of transfers | $33,683,265 | 124% |
| General Fund grand total | $27,192,333 | 100% |
| General current expense | $26,705,887 | 98% |
| Special Revenue Funds | $5,205,679 | 19% |
| State projects | $4,339,160 | 16% |
| Preschool Education Aid | $4,339,160 | 16% |
| Federal projects | $821,519 | 3% |
| Capital outlay | $486,446 | 2% |
| Facilities acquisition and construction | $156,346 | <1% |
| Debt Service Funds | $1,483,230 | 5% |
Rows mix all-funds totals, General Fund rows, transfers, capital, special-revenue, and debt-service lines. The operating-equivalent column is a scale reference, not a claim that these rows add to the operating budget.
Selected operating cost lines
| UFB line | Amount | Op. share | Peer avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular programs instruction | $7,404,789 | 27% | 22% |
| Employee benefits | $6,525,226 | 24% | 17% |
| Operations and maintenance | $3,129,921 | 12% | 10% |
| Special education instruction | $2,001,911 | 7% | 6% |
| Student transportation | $1,465,913 | 5% | 5% |
| Child study teams | $1,433,901 | 5% | 3% |
| Instruction tuition | $1,002,561 | 4% | 14% |
| School administration | $748,629 | 3% | 2% |
| General administration | $533,316 | 2% | 2% |
| Library / media services | $507,373 | 2% | 1% |
Not additive: these lower-level appropriation rows add texture, but they are nested inside broader fund categories and should not be added together as a complete budget mix.
Selected revenue lines
| UFB revenue row | Amount | Op. share | Peer avg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total tax levy | $20,360,489 | 75% | 64% |
| Preschool Education Aid | $4,136,764 | 15% | 4% |
| Budgeted fund balance | $2,481,971 | 9% | 7% |
| Special education aid | $1,650,716 | 6% | 3% |
| Transportation aid | $533,878 | 2% | 1% |
| Debt Service Aid Type II | $504,298 | 2% | <1% |
| Security aid | $387,042 | 1% | <1% |
| IDEA Part B | $376,753 | 1% | <1% |
| Title I | $375,347 | 1% | <1% |
| Maintenance reserve withdrawal | $175,000 | <1% | <1% |
| Unrestricted miscellaneous revenue | $50,000 | <1% | <1% |
| Medicaid reimbursement | $9,566 | <1% | <1% |
These are selected source rows from operating, special-revenue, debt-service, and reserve sections. They are not additive because several are subtotals or belong to different funds.
Current UFB line appendix
| Line | Account | UFB row | Amount | Op. equiv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100/114 | 10-1210 | Total Tax Levy | $20,360,489 | 75% |
| 300 | 10-1XXX | Unrestricted Miscellaneous Revenues | $50,000 | <1% |
| 320 | 10-1XXX | Interest Earned On Current Expense Emergency Reserve | $100 | <1% |
| 330 | 10-1XXX | Interest Earned on Maintenance Reserve (330) | $100 | <1% |
| 340 | 10-1XXX | Interest Earned on Capital Reserve Funds | $100 | <1% |
| 370 | n/a | Total Revenues from Local Sources (370) | $20,410,789 | 75% |
| 410 | 10-3116 | School Choice Aid | $1,384,228 | 5% |
| 420 | 10-3121 | Categorical Transportation Aid | $533,878 | 2% |
| 440 | 10-3132 | Categorical Special Education Aid | $1,650,716 | 6% |
| 470 | 10-3177 | Categorical Security Aid | $387,042 | 1% |
| 500 | 10-3XXX | Other State Aids | $6,643 | <1% |
| 506 | 10-3301 | State Reimbursement for Menstrual Products | $2,500 | <1% |
| 520 | n/a | Total Revenues from State Sources (520) | $3,965,007 | 15% |
| 540 | 10-4200 | Medicaid Reimbursement | $9,566 | <1% |
| 570 | n/a | Total Revenues from Federal Sources (570) | $9,566 | <1% |
| 580 | 10-303 | Budgeted Fund Balance-Operating Budget | $2,481,971 | 9% |
| 600 | 10-307 | Withdrawal from Capital Reserve for Local Share | $150,000 | <1% |
| 630 | 10-310 | Withdrawal from Maintenance Reserve | $175,000 | <1% |
| 737 | 20-1760 | Student Activity Fund Revenue | $45,000 | <1% |
| 745 | 20-1XXX | Total Revenues from Local Sources (745) | $45,000 | <1% |
| 755 | 20-3218 | Preschool Education Aid-Prior Year Carryover | $4,419 | <1% |
| 760 | 20-3218 | Preschool Education Aid | $4,136,764 | 15% |
| 770 | n/a | Total Revenues from State Sources (770) | $4,141,183 | 15% |
| 775 | 20-4411-4416 | Title I (775) | $375,347 | 1% |
| 780 | 20-4451-4455 | Title II (780) | $57,258 | <1% |
| 785 | 20-4491-4494 | Title III (785) | $12,161 | <1% |
| 805 | 20-4420-4429 | I.D.E.A. Part B (Handicapped) (805) | $376,753 | 1% |
| 830 | n/a | Total Revenues from Federal Sources (830) | $821,519 | 3% |
| 836 | 20-5200 | Transfers from Operating Budget-Pre-Kindergartenindergartenindergartenindergartenindergartenindergar | $197,977 | <1% |
| 840 | n/a | Total Grants and Entitlements | $5,205,679 | 19% |
| 860 | 40-1210 | Local Tax Levy | $569,105 | 2% |
| 885 | n/a | Total Revenues from Local Sources (885) | $569,105 | 2% |
| 890 | 40-3160 | Debt Service Aid Type II | $504,298 | 2% |
| 892 | 40-303 | Budgeted Fund Balance | $409,827 | 2% |
| 935 | n/a | Total Repayment of Debt | $1,483,230 | 5% |
| Line | Account | UFB row | Amount | Op. equiv. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3200 | 11-1XX-100-XX | Total Regular Programs-Instruction | $7,404,789 | 27% |
| 10300 | 11-2XX-100-XX | Total Special Education-Instruction | $2,001,911 | 7% |
| 12160 | 11-240-100-XX | Total Bilingual Education-Instruction | $151,070 | <1% |
| 19620 | 11-421-XXX-XX | Total Before/After School Programs | $75,000 | <1% |
| 22620 | 11-424-XXX-XX | Total Other Supplemental/At-Risk Programs | $16,000 | <1% |
| 29180 | 11-000-100-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Instruction (Tuition) | $1,002,561 | 4% |
| 29680 | 11-000-211-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Attendance and Social Work | $100,200 | <1% |
| 30620 | 11-000-213-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Health Services | $358,289 | 1% |
| 40580 | 11-000-216-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Speech, OT, PT and Related Services | $374,547 | 1% |
| 41660 | 11-000-218-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Guidance | $319,247 | 1% |
| 42200 | 11-000-219-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Child Study Teams | $1,433,901 | 5% |
| 43200 | 11-000-221-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Improvement of Instruction Services | $79,024 | <1% |
| 43620 | 11-000-222-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Education Media Services/Library | $507,373 | 2% |
| 44180 | 11-000-223-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Instructional Staff Training Services | $114,788 | <1% |
| 45300 | 11-000-230-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Support Services-General Administration | $533,316 | 2% |
| 46160 | 11-000-240-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Support Services-School Administration | $748,629 | 3% |
| 47200 | 11-000-251-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Central Services | $355,482 | 1% |
| 47620 | 11-000-252-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Administrative Informationtechnology | $8,500 | <1% |
| 51120 | 11-000-26X-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Operation and Maintenance of Plant Services | $3,129,921 | 12% |
| 52480 | 11-000-270-XX | Total Undistributed Expenditures-Student Transportation Services | $1,465,913 | 5% |
| 71260 | 11-XXX-XXX-2X | Total Personal Services-Employee Benefits | $6,525,226 | 24% |
| 72140 | n/a | Total Undistributed Expenditures | $17,056,917 | 63% |
| 72180 | 10-606 | Interest Earned on Maintenance Reserve (72180) | $100 | <1% |
| 72240 | 10-607 | Interest Earned on Current Expense Emergency Res | $100 | <1% |
| 72260 | n/a | Total General Current Expense | $26,705,887 | 98% |
| 75880 | 12-XXX-XXX-73 | Total Equipment | $330,000 | 1% |
| 76260 | 12-000-400-XX | Total Facilities Acquisition and Construction Services | $156,346 | <1% |
| 76380 | 10-604 | Interest Deposit to Capital Reserve | $100 | <1% |
| 76400 | n/a | Total Capital Outlay | $486,446 | 2% |
| 84200 | 20-475-XXX-XX | Student Activity Fund | $45,000 | <1% |
| 85120 | 20-218-100-XX | Total Preschool Education Aid Instruction | $2,098,345 | 8% |
| 86380 | 20-218-200-XX | Total Support Services | $2,205,815 | 8% |
| 87040 | 20-218-400-XX | Total Facility Acquisition and Construction Services | $35,000 | <1% |
| 87100 | 20-218-XXX-XX | Total Preschool Education Aid | $4,339,160 | 16% |
| 88200 | 20-XXX-XXX-XX | Total State Projects | $4,339,160 | 16% |
| 88500 | 20-XXX-XXX-XX | Title I (88500) | $375,347 | 1% |
| 88520 | 20-XXX-XXX-XX | Title II (88520) | $57,258 | <1% |
| 88540 | 20-XXX-XXX-XX | Title III (88540) | $12,161 | <1% |
| 88620 | 20-XXX-XXX-XX | I.D.E.A. Part B (Handicapped) (88620) | $376,753 | 1% |
| 88740 | 20-XXX-XXX-XX | Total Federal Projects | $821,519 | 3% |
| 88760 | n/a | Total Special Revenue Funds | $5,205,679 | 19% |
| 89980 | n/a | Total Debt Service Funds | $1,483,230 | 5% |
This appendix lists all 77 contextual positive latest-year UFB revenue and appropriation rows after dropping outer totals, deduct rows, and known duplicate tax-levy label variants. Rows are still source-file rows, not one additive schedule; the operating-equivalent column uses the proposed operating budget only as a common scale reference.
The budget answer sheet turns the current proposal, peer and slice position, revenue model, use categories, student/service load, inflation-adjusted movement, and reserve/side-file context into direct reader questions in the first-read path. The budget front brief replaces the dense opening paragraph with a lead sentence, anchored takeaways, and a short synthesis paragraph so each load-bearing number has a comparison, time basis, fund scope, or denominator before the detailed report opens. The budget essentials panel answers the main resident questions before the long evidence stack: first read, peer cost, proposal movement, payer mix, category/source-family signal, inflation-adjusted trend, student denominator, and side-file context. The budget machine panel now appears immediately after the thesis and reporting notebook, preserving the same operating-squeeze route as the front brief when recurring pressure is the selected first read, then extracting the resident-facing mechanism across cost position, funding model, recurring cost engine, inflation and denominator movement, and proposal/reserve timing before the long evidence sections. The budget squeeze explainer now appears in the first-read path, connecting recurring operating sources, recurring cost families, CPI-adjusted per-student movement, service-load denominators, current proposal rows, one-time support, and local record checks before the long evidence sections. The budget evidence board now appears in the first-read path, putting peer and slice comparison frames, category-family movers, inflation/denominator checks, and nominal proposal rows side by side before the answer sheet and detailed proof sections. The budget operating model turns the first-read evidence into six compact resident reads: operating scale, payer mix, source-family uses, CPI-adjusted movement, latest proposal movement, and one-time, tax, or service-load checks that can change the interpretation. The comparison brief puts the published cost line into named local peer, statewide, funding-model, scale, cost-band, and high-signal category or service-load frames before the long report begins. The budget diagnosis ranks the strongest generated explanatory lanes before the long evidence sections, separating what each lane can explain from what it cannot prove. The peer position snapshot now follows the front brief so the opening cost, funding, and category or service-load comparisons are visible as local peer distributions before the report map, language key, and long evidence sections. The budget explanation brief now appears in the top report path after the answer sheet, separating largest current source-row family, widest local peer gap, largest inflation-adjusted family movement, and latest proposal-column movement before the map and detailed proof sections. The budget story package now appears in the top report path after the explanation brief, keeping the UFB-supported claim, fair comparison, inflation/category/proposal checks, next reporting move, and blocked overread on the same row before the peer snapshot and map. The budget mechanism read now appears in the top report path before the map, separating relative-cost, funding, category/slice, inflation/denominator, student/service-load, proposal-timing, one-time-support, and outside-operating explanations into proof, next-reporting, and blocked-overread columns. The budget thesis and reporting-order panel now appears directly after the front brief, turning the first-read evidence into an editor-style route: compare peers and slices first, then read categories/source rows, use CPI-adjusted movement and denominator checks as guardrails, and hand causal claims to outside reporting. The opening budget-story panel ranks the strongest generated reporting leads from latest-year peer comparisons, row-level scans, planning-enrollment rows, and inflation-adjusted movement. The budget story spine keeps each reportable signal beside its UFB proof, fair comparison, outside-reporting need, and overread caveat before the report opens the longer evidence sections. The budget storylines panel packages the strongest UFB signals as article routes with a working nut graf, reader value, proof basis, outside-reporting gap, and sentence to avoid before writing. The budget reading memo turns the strongest UFB signals into an opening editorial route: the lead angle to test, why the simple read is weak, which context changes the read, and what records or checks should come next. The question-to-reporting path turns the strongest district-specific UFB signals into resident questions, first comparison frames, records to pull, and unsupported shortcuts to block before writing. The public-hearing agenda converts the proposal, relative-cost, category, inflation, student/service, and side-file signals into concrete meeting questions, record requests, proof links, and unsupported readings to block. The budget news judgment filter labels ordinary nominal growth as background, separates UFB-ready facts from leads that need a second signal or outside records, and blocks causal or quality claims from UFB alone. The budget claim audit turns the strongest UFB-supported signals into sentence-level claims, then labels what still needs outside reporting and which unsupported shortcuts to block before writing. The comparison movement brief pulls selected peer-position trend measures into the opening story so readers can see whether the district moved toward or away from the local average on cost, funding, tax, category, and service-load signals. The comparison-frame movement panel takes the latest-year local, statewide, funding-model, scale, and cost-band frames from the relative-cost ladder and checks whether published comparative cost moved closer to or farther from each frame after inflation. The operating story basis panel separates recurring General Fund operating evidence from live proposal movement, fund-balance/reserve sources, side-file context, and outside-operating rows before readers interpret the budget story. The structural squeeze test checks whether main operating-source movement, appropriation/use-family movement, limited support, service-load denominators, and peer position support a recurring-pressure hypothesis, while naming the outside records needed before writing a deficit, levy-cap, cut, or causal claim. The budget flow bridge keeps the relative cost frame, money in, money out, proposal movement, outside-operating rows, side files, and student denominator in one scan before readers enter the detailed evidence sections. The budget pressure map ranks the cost, funding, category, proposal, student/service-load, inflation, reserve/side-file, and outside-operating pressures a reader should test first, while separating what each pressure can explain from what it cannot prove. The budget tension checks pair current cost position, inflation-adjusted movement, proposal movement, tax burden, funding model, category slices, service load, reserves, and outside-operating rows so a reader can see which simple budget reads need a second signal. The category story map pulls current source-row scale, local peer gaps, inflation-adjusted movement, and latest proposal movement into one first-read map before the detailed category, trend, and proposal tables. The proposal-versus-trend bridge checks whether latest proposal-column movement continues, counters, or sits apart from loaded-year inflation-adjusted category movement. The budget reporting lead sheet turns the strongest generated signals into a ranked reporting agenda with evidence, reader questions, caveats, and links to the proof sections. The budget reporting notebook now appears directly after the thesis, translating the ranked UFB leads into outside records, interview checks, proof links, and unsupported readings to block before the longer report path opens. The editorial frame separates what UFB can establish from what still requires board documents, tax records, contracts, staffing context, or other outside reporting before causal claims are made. The budget model synthesis connects cost position, funding model, spending structure, service load, live proposal movement, inflation-adjusted trend, and side-file context into one reporting frame before the detailed evidence sections. The cost gap ledger translates the comparison into per-UFB-on-roll dollar gaps for operating scale, funding sources, use categories, pupil-cost rows, and service-load denominators before the detailed evidence sections. The cost-position clues panel now appears in the first-read path, naming the concrete UFB measures, funding and tax signals, named rows, proposal movement, denominator checks, and budget-year context that can explain or complicate the district’s comparative-cost position without claiming causality. The cost-position judgment panel now follows the clue scan in the first-read path, deciding whether the visible UFB signals line up with the published comparative-cost position, complicate it, or leave the explanation to outside reporting. The UFB source-coverage panel inventories the latest matched summary, revenue, appropriation, pupil-cost, planning-enrollment, tax, balance, unusual-item, shared-service, school-resource, and salary source families before the report routes them into evidence sections. The UFB source-file ledger links the exact latest NJDOE CSV files behind the district report and names the row count, use, and limit for each loaded budget file. The statewide budget-model panel names the broader comparison frames this district belongs to before the report moves into local peer evidence and source rows. The statewide slice-comparison panel opens with a relative-cost ladder across local peers, all NJ UFB districts, and matching latest-year groups for funding model, UFB on-roll scale, comparative-cost band, and generated category signals. The named similar-budget-model comps panel turns statewide slice logic into concrete district examples by naming districts with nearby latest-year UFB funding, scale, use, service-load, tax, and cost profiles. The change-driver panel summarizes first-to-latest UFB movement across real operating scale, planning-enrollment denominator shifts, peer-position changes, source shares, use shares, and named line rows. The comparative-cost timing-basis panel maps the latest UFB file’s actual-cost, original-budget, revised/current-budget, and proposed-budget columns before readers interpret trend or proposal claims. The per-student cost-change anatomy panel decomposes real operating budget per UFB on-roll into a budget-numerator effect and a planning-enrollment denominator effect, while keeping NJDOE comparative cost distinct. The operating funding-shift panel shows who paid differently across loaded UFB years by separating local, state, federal, and fund-balance/other operating-source shares, real-dollar movement, and latest local peer mix. The pupil-cost category movement panel shows which NJDOE standardized per-pupil cost rows moved after inflation and how the latest row values compare with the local peer average. The current-proposal panel compares the latest UFB revised/current-budget column with the proposed-budget column for operating revenue, high-level uses, NJDOE pupil-cost rows, and UFB planning enrollment. The proposal package panel groups material named revised/current-to-proposed UFB row movement into budget families, separating increases, reductions, net movement, largest rows, and local peer scale before the named-line driver table. The named-line proposal-driver panel scans every latest-year UFB revenue and appropriation row with revised/current and proposed amounts, then surfaces material nominal row changes with operating-budget-equivalent scale and same-row local peer context. The cost-basis reconciliation panel separates NJDOE comparative cost, operating-budget-per-student scale checks, all-funds context, and tax-levy pressure so per-student ranks are read with their numerator and denominator. The student-flow and money-path panel separates operating-dollar routes from UFB planning-enrollment routes so transfer rows, school-based budgeting, special-education load, sent placements, and received-student rows are read as distinct evidence. The dot strip compares 2025-26 comparative cost per pupil across Cape May County districts; each dot is one district, shown in 2025 dollars. The local-standout table ranks funding, spending, placement, and pupil-cost measures against the same peer set; rank 1 means the highest value, not the best value. The local peer evidence strips show the strongest generated budget measures as peer distributions, so the rank and gap can be checked visually. The named peer context panel identifies the local districts immediately above and below this district on selected measures, plus the local range behind the average. The local comparison roster names every district in the local peer set behind the averages and ranks, with comparative cost, UFB planning enrollment, operating scale, and funding-model context. The current operating mix comparison uses paired stacked bars to compare this district with the local peer average for General Fund operating revenue sources and high-level operating uses, keeping the operating-budget denominator and non-additive category caveat visible. The position-over-time panel tracks selected budget measures against the local peer average across loaded UFB years, with money values converted to real dollars. The fall-enrollment and student-need panel puts UFB planning enrollment beside fall enrollment, per-student scale checks, free/reduced-price lunch, multilingual learners, and homelessness for the same local peer frame. The service-load history panel tracks UFB planning-enrollment rows across loaded years so denominator movement, special-education on-roll, sent placements, contract preschool, and receiving rows are visible before per-pupil cost comparisons. The labor-cost context panel puts salary-bearing pupil-cost rows, employee benefits, and selected administrative salary side-file rows in the local peer frame without treating those rows as complete payroll. The loaded-year ledger gives the annual operating-budget, UFB on-roll, real per-student cost, peer-average, funding-mix, and largest-use context behind the trend panels. The named-line history panel shows the selected UFB revenue and appropriation row movers year by year in real dollars and operating-budget-equivalent scale. The fund-balance and reserve source-history panel separates named balance, reserve, and carryover source rows from local, state, and federal operating-source summaries, then shows latest scale, local peer scale, proposal-column movement, and first-to-latest real movement. The category history table compares major operating uses, nested cost rows, and outside-operating scale rows by latest amount, peer share, first-to-latest share movement, and inflation-adjusted dollar movement. The budget-family context matrix gives a scan-first category view of which source-row families are largest now, furthest from local peers, or moving most after inflation before the detailed family cards and source rows. The named family peer context names the local districts immediately above and below this district on selected budget-family shares, plus the local range behind the peer average. The budget-family lens groups contextual UFB revenue and appropriation rows into reader-facing families with latest scale, local peer scale, first-to-latest real movement, and largest source-row evidence. The anatomy panel separates operating sources, high-level operating uses, and all-funds or outside-operating rows before the lower-level tables. The budget diagnostic turns the UFB source files into fixed reader questions about cost position, funding model, spending mix, student-service load, inflation-adjusted movement, and side-file context. The walkthrough gives the report a reader-facing path through money in, money out, costs and students, real-dollar changes, and UFB side files before the detailed tables. The comparison matrix extends the same measures to county and statewide averages and ranks where enough districts have usable values. The tax-effort panel separates UFB summary tax levy per planning student, estimated school-tax rates, equalized tax base, and municipal slice spread before the raw tax-rate side-file rows. The tax and balance panel uses NJDOE estimated tax-rate rows and recapitulation-of-balance rows, separating levy/rate context from operating spending. The side-file history table shows whether tax, balance, unusual-item, shared-service, school-resource, and salary context is persistent or latest-year-only. The balance and reserve history panel tracks projected close-year recap balances by category across loaded UFB years, with real-dollar movement, local peer scale, and restriction caveats. The administrative-salary table lists selected UFB administrative salary rows; it is not complete payroll. The listed administrative salary history panel tracks selected UFB employees side-file rows across loaded years in real dollars, then compares latest listed base, row, FTE, and shared-service scale with local peers. The budget-notes panel surfaces district-reported unusual revenue or appropriation explanations and shared-service entries. The unusual/shared-service profile classifies district-reported unusual-item explanations and shared-service arrangements before the raw side-file rows, while blocking additive or audited-savings readings. The spending-category bars use high-level General Fund appropriation rows as shares of the proposed operating budget; the neutral tick is the average among Cape May County districts with usable category data. The stacked trend bars show category shares of each loaded UFB year’s proposed operating budget, so they foreground structure rather than nominal dollar growth. The budget turning-points table compares adjacent loaded UFB years so annual real-dollar, peer-gap, payer-mix, source-family, named-row, and service-load movements surface before the longer trend evidence. The largest-lines table is selected from the positive line rows in the latest UFB revenue and appropriation files, excluding only outer totals. The current UFB line appendix lists every contextual positive latest-year revenue and appropriation row, keeping source-file line numbers and accounts visible. The peer-line table compares contextual UFB revenue and appropriation rows against the local peer set so unusually large, small, or absent named rows surface before the full line appendix. The main-funds table keeps all-funds, General Fund, transfer, special-revenue, capital, and debt-service rows visible without treating them as one additive mix. The selected cost table uses lower-level UFB appropriation rows for reader context; those rows are nested inside broader categories and are not additive. The trend-driver table compares contextual UFB rows from the first loaded budget year to the latest year in 2025 dollars; share changes use the operating budget as a scale reference. The selected revenue table pulls named aid, levy, reserve, and grant lines from the UFB revenue file; some rows are subtotals or come from non-operating funds. The pupil-cost table uses NJDOE-published per-pupil breakdown rows for the proposed budget year. The enrollment/placement table uses UFB budget-enrollment planning rows, which can differ from fall enrollment. The line adjusts NJDOE’s published comparative per-pupil cost for each loaded User-Friendly Budget year to 2025 dollars using BLS CPI-U annual averages. The lighter line shows the Cape May County average across districts with usable comparative-cost values, adjusted on the same basis. The stacked bar shows proposed General Fund operating revenue sources; grants, debt service, and transfers can make all-funds totals differ. Source: NJDOE User-Friendly Budgets, 2025-26; BLS CPI-U.
Budget report built from NJDOE User-Friendly Budget files loaded in the local warehouse, 2019-20 through 2025-26. Cape May County budget brief → · Compare all district budgets → · How this budget data works →
