District overview
Linden Public School District
A state-funded district that has held local taxes flat for years by spending down a large savings account.
How does Linden hold its school taxes flat?
Linden Public School District teaches about 6,400 children in eleven schools, eight of them numbered elementary schools, plus two middle schools and Linden High School. Nine unpaid board members, elected to staggered three-year terms, adopt the budget and hire the superintendent. The striking fact about Linden's finances is that the local tax levy has been exactly $92,215,916 in every year its budget filings report - no increase at all - while the general-fund budget has grown past $181 million. The difference is made up by state aid, now $74.0 million, and by reserves: the capital reserve has fallen from $58.8 million to a projected $38.5 million in three years and the legal reserve is projected to reach zero by June 2027. The business administrator told the board the district is ten to twelve million dollars below adequacy under the state funding formula.
The local levy has not moved
$92,215,916 in 2024-25 actual, 2025-26 revised and 2026-27 proposed alike, so local school taxes have been flat.
State aid does the growing
State aid rises from $66.7 million in 2024-25 to $69.4 million and then $74.0 million, inside a $181.4 million general-fund budget.
The building-repair reserve is being spent
Capital reserve $58,802,104 audited at June 2024, $56,710,292 at June 2025, projected $38,486,780 at June 2027; the legal reserve reaches zero in the same period.
Attendance is the district's own stated problem
Chronic absenteeism was 24% in February 2026, administrators said in April 2026 that the district is out of compliance with state attendance standards, and 787 children were chronically absent in the first twelve days of 2026-27.
The auditor's opinion on the 2024-25 accounts was unmodified - clean - with no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies and no findings at all, and the auditor's management report carried no recommendations. The district also carries no bonded debt.
Linden's budget, reserves and attendance
Total appropriations across all funds are $197,999,458.
The identical figure in 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 - no increase in any of the years reported.
Up from $69,354,542 revised for 2025-26 and $66,697,425 actual in 2024-25. State aid, not local tax, is what grows here.
New Jersey's standard comparative measure, up from $24,101 revised for 2025-26 and $20,857 actual in 2024-25. Compare only with other New Jersey districts' figures in the same format.
Against 6,339 actual in October 2025 and 6,455 in October 2024. The audit flags growing multilingual-learner numbers.
Down from $58,802,104 audited at June 2024 - about a third gone in three years. The legal reserve reaches zero over the same period.
Down from 25%. Chronic absence in New Jersey means missing at least a tenth of the school year, about eighteen days.
The audit states the district has no outstanding bond issues; its $30,482,186 of long-term obligations are mostly net pension liability.
Major projects
Putting the phone-free school day into effect
Adopted and in forceThe board adopted Policy and Regulation 5516 on first and second reading in the same evening in August 2026, implementing New Jersey's bell-to-bell restriction on personal internet-enabled devices for the 2026-27 school year. Pupils may not use phones, smartwatches or other internet-enabled devices during the school day, with exceptions for children with an individual education plan, a 504 plan or a documented medical need, and the district keeps the lockable pouches already used in the middle and high schools.
- Board begins a run of policy first readings, including state-required updates
- Policy and Regulation 5516 adopted on first and second reading, effective for 2026-27
Funding
Existing district resources; the pouch system was already in place at the middle and high schools
No separate cost for implementation appears in the record.
Building work paid for out of the reserve
Funded from reserve, no borrowingLinden is paying for building work from its capital reserve rather than by issuing bonds - the audit confirms it has no outstanding bond issues. The March 2026 budget presentation put roughly $8 million of summer capital projects on the reserve, and individual items approved during the year include a mini-split heating and cooling installation at School No. 5, an LED wall system and a library and office renovation at School No. 10 costing more than $172,000. The reserve has fallen from $58.8 million to a projected $38.5 million over three years.
- Preliminary budget puts about $8 million of summer capital work on the reserve
- Board approves a School No. 5 heating and cooling installation and an LED wall system
- Board approves the School No. 10 library and office renovation after confirming reserve funding
Funding
District capital reserve, with no bonded debt outstanding
About $8 million of summer projects were attributed to the reserve in the March 2026 presentation; the School No. 10 renovation was confirmed as fully reserve-funded before the board approved it.
Recent news
This overview is built from the district's own official recordings of eighteen board meetings between October 2025 and September 2026, read through their machine-generated captions, together with its audited financial report for the year ended June 30, 2025 and its state-format user-friendly budgets for 2025-26 and 2026-27.
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