District overview
Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District
A two-town regional district that redrew every catchment, changed start times, and raised taxes above the state cap in one year.
Who runs this two-town district, and what just changed?
Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District teaches about 3,900 children in seven schools across two municipalities, Matawan Borough and Aberdeen Township, from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve. Nine unpaid board members, elected at the November general election to staggered three-year terms, adopt the budget and hire the superintendent; a student representative sits with them without a vote. About seven dollars in every ten of the operating budget come from local property tax - the audited accounts put local sources at 68% of revenue - which is why the board's decision to raise the 2026-27 levy 5.9%, above the 2% increase state law normally allows, was contested enough that it first voted five to four to put the budget off. The other change families feel is structural: in March 2026 the board approved new grade configurations, new school boundaries and new start times, all from September 2026.
Local property tax carries about seven-tenths of it
The audited 2024-25 report puts local sources at 68% of revenue and federal, state and other aid at 32%. The 2026-27 plan budgets a $69.0 million general-fund levy against $16.7 million of state aid.
The levy rose above the state's 2% cap
$69,028,276 proposed for 2026-27 against $64,805,698 revised the year before, a 5.9% increase; administrators said that without cost containment it would have exceeded 15%.
Enrolment is expected to grow
On-roll enrolment was 3,863 in October 2025 and the district estimates 4,019 for October 2026, with development nearby expected to add about 120 children in the youngest year groups.
Reserves are being used to hold the budget together
The plan uses $1,000,000 of prior-year money, $1,500,000 from the capital reserve for roofs and a high school auditorium, and $750,000 from the maintenance reserve.
The district's finances are clean on the auditor's own reading: an unmodified opinion on 2024-25, no material weaknesses, no findings anywhere in the federal or state programme reviews, low-risk auditee status, and a general fund balance that rose $5.6 million during the year.
Matawan-Aberdeen's 2026-27 budget and the redistricting
Total appropriations across all funds are $102,629,743, including $2,683,555 of debt service.
Up from $64,805,698, a 5.9% increase above the 2% the state normally allows, with a further $2,357,305 levied for debt service.
Up from $16,046,362 revised for 2025-26 but below the $16,778,675 actually received in 2024-25.
New Jersey's standard comparative measure, up from $20,838 revised for 2025-26. Compare only with other New Jersey districts' figures in the same format.
Up from 3,863 actual in October 2025. The previous year's filing had estimated 4,030 for that date, so its projection ran well above the outturn.
Awarded to Aramark for July 2026 to June 2031, approved nine votes to none.
Taking the general fund balance to $10,663,693, of which $10,268,475 sits in reserves. Total net position rose 20.2%.
The district publishes approved minutes for every meeting on its own site, plus agendas for meetings not yet held - which is why this page can state vote outcomes rather than only what was discussed.
Major projects
New catchments, new grade patterns, new start times
In force from September 2026After engaging the demographer CityGate in October 2025, the district presented a single option in February 2026 - a kindergarten-to-grade-five pattern, with pre-kindergarten to grade five in some buildings, and redrawn boundaries - and the board approved it nine votes to none on March 9, 2026 for the 2026-27 school year. Start times changed with it, later at the high school and earlier at some elementary schools. The April and July meetings then reassigned dozens of teachers and instructional assistants between buildings from the end of August.
- Board authorises the superintendent to work with the demographer on possible redistricting
- Superintendent presents a single scenario for approval and announces changed start times
- Board approves the grade configurations and school boundaries, nine votes to none
- Staff building reassignments for 2026-27 reviewed
- Reassignments finalised in the 2026-27 hiring slate
Funding
Absorbed within the operating budget; the demographer's engagement and the staff reassignments were handled through ordinary personnel and professional-services resolutions
No separate project cost for the redistricting appears in the record.
A facilities bond referendum aimed at November 2027
Target date set, nothing on a ballot yetThe board president's report in October 2025 set November 2027 as the target for a facilities bond referendum, and the board returned to it in April 2026 alongside exploring non-tax income such as leasing the central office building and seeking a film-ready district designation. Nothing has been put to voters. In the meantime the 2026-27 budget takes $1.5 million from the capital reserve for roof replacements and a high school auditorium renovation.
- Board president sets November 2027 as the referendum target
- Referendum discussion continues alongside non-tax revenue options
- 2026-27 budget filing commits $1.5 million of capital reserve to roofs and the auditorium
Funding
Capital and maintenance reserves for current work; a general-obligation bond referendum would be the funding route for the larger programme
$1,500,000 from the capital reserve and $750,000 from the maintenance reserve in 2026-27; no referendum amount has been published.
Custodial and building management moved to a contractor
Contract runs to 2031The board authorised a competitive-contracting process for custodial and management services in December 2025 and awarded the work to Aramark on April 27, 2026 for $17,989,782.89 over five years, from July 2026 to June 2031, nine votes to none.
- Board authorises the competitive-contracting process
- Resolution introduced with vendor and price still to be determined
- Contract awarded to Aramark, nine votes to none
Funding
Operating budget, replacing in-house custodial payroll with a contracted service
$17,989,782.89 over five years, roughly $3.6 million a year.
Recent news
This overview is built from the district's own approved minutes for twenty-two board meetings between October 2025 and July 2026, the agendas it has posted for its August and September 2026 meetings, its adopted 2026-27 meeting schedule, its Policy 5516.02 on smartphones and Policy 2365 on generative artificial intelligence, 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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