Montclair Schools Project a Small Surplus, but "We're Not Out of the Woods": What the Budget Recovery Means

Montclair Public Schools is projecting a roughly $1 million surplus for the 2026-27 school year, the first positive sign since the district's finances collapsed into a deficit that reached about $20 million. But on September 22, Superintendent Ruth Turner was direct about where things stand: "Are we out of the woods? Absolutely not." The surplus is not yet certified by auditors, deferred problems remain, and the district is still rebuilding trust. Here is what the recovery actually means for families and for anyone weighing a home purchase in Montclair.

School finances do not show up on a listing sheet, but they show up in the school tax line on every property tax bill in town. For buyers comparing Essex County towns, how a district handles a crisis is one of the most telling things you can research.

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How the district got here

The deficit, which swelled to roughly $19.6 million to $20 million, was closed for the 2026-27 year through two steps: voters approved tax-ballot questions in the March 2026 referendum, and the Board of Education approved deep cuts in May on a budget of about $180 million, leaving only about $350,000 on the books at the time. Those cuts touched nearly every part of the district, which is why the new school year arrived with higher busing thresholds, budget-driven staffing changes, and a stricter cell phone policy, all summarized in my back-to-school story.

The district has also hired the accounting firm EisnerAmper to run a forensic audit, authorized in August at up to $250,000, to investigate how the deficit built up. That audit is still underway, and it is the piece that will tell families whether the problems were one-time mistakes or something structural.

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What changed in late September

• A projected surplus, not yet certified. By August the district was projecting a balance of about $1 million for the current year, but auditors have not certified the numbers yet, so treat it as an estimate.
• A careful public tone. Superintendent Turner told Montclair Local that the district is "absolutely not" out of the woods, citing outstanding debt and structural money problems that a single good year does not erase.
• State context shifted. New Jersey lawmakers advanced a package of school financial-oversight bills on September 25, sparked directly by Montclair's crisis and similar problems in East Orange and Hackensack. I covered those bills here.

Avoiding a state fiscal monitor remains a meaningful outcome. Montclair kept that outcome at bay when the referendum passed, and no monitor has been appointed. The new oversight bills, if they become law, would create earlier warning systems for future deficits rather than waiting for a crisis.

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What this means for families and buyers

• School taxes stay elevated. The average Montclair home saw school taxes rise by close to $2,000 once the one-time referendum amount is included. That is now part of the annual carrying cost, and it is worth modeling in any budget before you make an offer.
• Watch the audit, not the surplus. The forensic audit's findings will matter more than one projected year-end balance. If it reveals process failures, the district's next budget cycle gets harder, not easier.
• Questions to ask. On a school tour or at a board meeting, ask how the district plans to rebuild reserves, what the audit has found so far, and how the 2027-28 budget will handle the deferred items. Clear answers are a good sign; vague ones are not.

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The bottom line

Montclair's schools have stabilized enough to project a surplus, but the district itself is telling you the hard work is not done. For buyers, that honesty is worth something: a district that names its problems publicly is easier to evaluate than one that papers over them. The school tax line is real and it is high, and the audit results due in the coming months are the next big date to watch.

If you are comparing Montclair with other Essex County towns and want an honest walk-through of what each district's finances, taxes, and schools mean for your monthly costs, I am happy to sit down and go through it. No pressure, just the local picture.