30 jobs cut to close a $3.3 million gap

What happened

Collingswood cut 30 full-time and part-time posts for 2026-27 across administration, teaching, secretarial, support and facilities staff, to close a gap of about $3.3 million. Administrators first told the board the figure was 33 positions and 25 people, then restored three posts after the teachers' association objected: two kindergarten aides and a social worker. They said one position is worth roughly $62,000 before benefits, and that about 70 posts had gone over four years. The budget's own line notes attribute the cuts to balancing the budget, including $1,437,062 taken out of regular instruction, a 12.7% cut to basic skills, and reductions in library and media, improvement of instruction, school administration, athletics and clubs. Kindergarten teacher salaries fall almost 22% and grade 1 to 5 teacher salaries just over 9%.

Why it matters to families

Cuts on this scale change who is in front of children. The district also lost about $1.6 million a year of outside grant money at the same time, including a $970,000 trauma-informed grant that paid for 2.5 mental health posts and a $250,000 school-based mental health grant. Teachers and parents told the board that four secondary special education teachers were among those cut and that the district had not published a plan for how certified in-class support would be staffed. The district's own long-range analysis warns the recurring shortfall is larger than this year's cuts closed.

The evidence

The 2026-27 board budget presentation lists 30 reductions of full-time and part-time positions and itemises about $4.8 million of cost increases against $1.5 million of new revenue, leaving $3.3 million needed to maintain current staffing and programming, and lists four cancelled or expired grants worth roughly $1.6 million a year. The full district budget file's own explanations name staffing reductions to balance the budget across regular programmes, basic skills, library and media, school administration, athletics and co-curricular activities. The April 21 and April 29, 2026 recordings give the 33 positions and 25 people figure, the three restorations and the roughly $62,000 per position.

The source