The New Jersey School Boards Association has developed a sample resolution that local boards of education can adopt, calling upon state leaders to provide meaningful relief from skyrocketing healthcare premiums wreaking havoc on district budgets. The NJSBA encourages all of its members to voice their concerns over this pressing issue.

Over the past few years, school districts across New Jersey have been hit with significant rises in healthcare costs. These increases in premiums have placed devastating burdens on district budgets, and absent any reforms these increases will likely continue into the future. Pursuant to current state law, most of the increase in annual premiums falls on boards of education, which forces them to make difficult decisions and often necessitates painful cuts to staff and student programs.

Many districts across the state participate in the School Employees’ Health Benefits Program (SEHBP), one of the three major state health plans currently in financial distress. Premiums for active employees for districts participating in the SEHBP increased by 31.9% for the 2026 plan year – more than twice the increase for 2025 (14.0%) and five times the increase for 2024 (6.3%). The state’s actuary released a mid-year analysis in March 2026 that anticipated 2027 premiums would once again increase by double digits, and state officials have recently commented that the SEHBP is nearing the same “death spiral” that is causing the collapse of the state plan for local government employees (SHBP-LG). As more districts migrate out of SEHBP, the remaining risk pool worsens, causing premiums to rise further and continuing a trend towards the plan’s insolvency. And while many districts have been able to obtain lower rates outside of the SEHBP in the private market, they are still experiencing rising premiums that exceed their ability to pay.

Regardless of the plan, healthcare costs are rising exponentially, and budgets, students, and taxpayers suffer as a result. Furthermore, these exorbitant and unanticipated increases are announced and go into effect in the middle of districts’ fiscal years, causing severe disruption.

The NJSBA has drafted a sample resolution that boards may adopt, urging the Sherrill Administration and the state Legislature to provide immediate, short-term relief from the unsustainable increases in healthcare costs experienced by school districts in recent years. It also calls upon them to engage meaningfully with all affected stakeholders to develop and implement practical, long-term reforms to the state’s system for delivering healthcare to its public employees to generate meaningful, long-term savings.

Sample Resolution Urging Relief from Rising Public School Employee Health-Care Costs

The NJSBA encourages boards of education who adopt the resolution to forward it to Governor Mikie Sherrill, State Treasurer Aaron Binder, Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, and the state legislators who represent the board’s local legislative district. Contact information for those recipients can be found below: