Cherry Hill will cut 70 positions and increase class sizes to fill budget gap, superintendent announces

The Cherry Hill school district plans to eliminate about 70 positions and increase class sizes to help plug a $29 million budget gap, Superintendent Kwame Morton announced Friday.

Morton said the moves are necessary because the school system — the largest in South Jersey — faces “significant financial challenges driven by reductions in state aid and rising, unavoidable costs.”

“These realities require hard decisions that are not taken lightly,” Morton said in a message to the community posted on the district’s website Friday afternoon.

Morton said the district would save about $6.5 million in staffing cuts, with the majority, about 76%, made through attrition. The remaining staffing reductions would be made districtwide, including positions at the central office. He did not provide specifics on which positions would be eliminated.

Waleska Batista-Arias, president of the Cherry Hill Education Association, said the union was advised that 14 teachers and four noninstructional staff members would be laid off. The union represents 1,200 teachers and support staff.

Batista-Arias said layoffs were expected in other bargaining units. The numbers could change depending on additional retirements before the final budget adoption by the board, expected April 28.

“The proposed cuts show exactly what happens when schools are underfunded: students lose opportunities. Cherry Hill students should not pay the price for a broken school funding system. If the state continues to underfund districts like Cherry Hill, students will continue to suffer the consequences,” Batista-Arias said in a statement.

District spokesperson Nina Baratti said the number of potential layoffs “is consistently changing and we would prefer not to mention a number at the present time.” More information may be available in the next two weeks, she said.

The cuts were expected in a preliminary budget approved by the school board last month. The budget would increase property taxes by $420 for a home assessed at the township average of $227,000.

The district said it needed the 7.4% tax increase in addition to slashing millions in spending. It has said the cuts would impact operations across the board.

Morton said class sizes would increase at the district’s elementary schools by two students in first through eighth grades. He said even with that change, class sizes will still be smaller than in neighboring Haddonfield and Moorestown schools. The district said it would also change how core elementary content is taught.

Parent Jennifer Papeika said her children who attend Sharp Elementary told her they were advised by their teachers that Spanish and Computer Science programs would be cut.

“Our children need to experience different languages and cultures,” said Papeika, an ESL teacher in Philadelphia. “I can’t believe this is happening in Cherry Hill.”

Baratti said the district “is restructuring the manner in which Spanish and computer science is being delivered.” The district did not provide additional details.

Batista-Arias said computer science teachers represented by her unit were being reassigned, along with two of five Spanish teachers. The new assignments were not immediately known.

» READ MORE: Cherry Hill schools weighing $14.5 million in cuts and layoffs to close budget gap for 2026-27

Cherry Hill, which has about 11,000 students, has struggled to close a projected budget gap, caused partly by a decline in state aid for the third straight year.

The district also cut $8 million in general expenses including furniture and equipment, technology, and instructional supplies, Morton said.

Other districts in the state, including Collingswood and Haddonfield, have been forced to make similar decisions in a tough budget season.

Districts say cuts are necessary because of a reduction in state aid as well as rising costs for healthcare, transportation, and special education. In some cases, the expenses have outpaced the districts’ ability to raise property taxes, which is capped at 2% annually.

» READ MORE: Cherry Hill school district is considering staff reductions and reconfiguring middle schools due to state funding cuts

Because of a $10 million increase in healthcare costs, Cherry Hill is allowed to exceed the 2% property tax cap to cover some of those expenses.

Districts have urged state lawmakers to consider legislation to provide additional funding to hard-hit districts as the state did several years ago.

Cherry Hill will hold a public hearing on the budget April 28 before a final vote by the school board.