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A Somerset County regional school district plans to cut 17 jobs in next school year’s budget to address rising costs.
Bridgewater-Raritan Regional school officials introduced a budget last week with the proposed job cuts. They said escalating costs, including sharp increases in health insurance premiums, are forcing staff reductions.
“There’s no end in sight with the health care cost rising exponentially,” said Bridgewater-Raritan Superintendent Robert Beers, who also noted a rise in gas prices resulting in higher energy costs.
“We’re always going to have those pressures and we’ve got events that are outside of our control,” he said.
Assistant Superintendent Daniel Fonder said 29 positions will be eliminated under the proposed budget. But 12 new positions will be created for full-day kindergarten, resulting in a net loss of 17 positions.
Board officials said the cuts will affect elementary and secondary schools, as well as administrative and support staff, due to consolidation and declining enrollment.
Bridgewater-Raritan currently includes students from Bridgewater and Raritan Borough. The district has 11 schools.
District officials said earlier this month they rejected an offer from an unnamed, nearby school district to consider a merger.
The potential Bridgewater-Raritan merger came as some lawmakers have been pushing the state to consider widespread mergers to help cut down on New Jersey’s more than 600 school districts to save money.
Bridgewater-Raritan has seen a steady decline in enrollment over the past few years, according to Business Administrator Kevin Lomski.
Data presented at the meeting showed there were 584 fewer students in the district over the last five years. In the 2025-26 school year, there were 7,438 students enrolled.
This decline in enrollment will allow the district to strategically plan staffing, including evaluating resignations, retirements and where positions need to be filled.
Rising health insurance costs are the district’s biggest expense driver, Lomski said.
He added that those costs have been “skyrocketing.”
“This is not sustainable,” Beers said. “There is no way we can continue down this road … with 30% increases to health care every year. There’s just no way of getting around it.”
“It’s a world that we live in, and a lot of schools live in, where there are cost pressures well outside of our control that we have to deal with,” Beers added.
The proposed budget is more than $193.9 million, a 3.2% increase over last year’s spending plan.
Bridgewater-Raritan is slated for a slight increase in state funding under the proposed state budget submitted by Gov. Mikie Sherrill earlier this month. The district will get about $15.3 million, a 1.9% increase over last year, under the governor’s plan.
The preliminary budget was submitted to the county superintendent for final review. It will be voted on by the school board at the April 28 meeting, according to Beers.
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