Lacey Township’s school district is considering eliminating sports in all grades as it faces a major budget crisis. The Ocean County district says if it doesn’t cut sports and make other drastic cuts it may have to raise school taxes by more than 14%. Football, baseball, field hockey, soccer, marching band, the drama club and Special Olympics clubs — along with all field trips for all grades — are among the items on the chopping block as the district faces a more than $6.5 million funding gap. Lacey, which has six schools, will also need to cut teachers and increase class size in every grade, district officials said. High school juniors could be in classes of 38 students next year, according to acting superintendent William Zylinski, who spoke at a special board meeting last week. MORE: These 9 N.J. school districts are taking desperate measures to keep from going broke Zylinski blamed the state for the district’s budget crisis. “The state says that we are $17 million short overall in what we should be spending in the state of New Jersey,” said Zylinski quoting the local spending target presented to the district by the state at a board meeting in early April. “That would be really crazy. That’s about a 30-plus percent increase in one year of taxes,” said Zylinski. “I kinda just hate it.” In addition to eliminating extracurriculars, district officials said they could save money by not updating curriculum, cutting staff at every grade level and ending busing for elementary students who live two or less miles from school. At the packed school board meeting last week, Zylinski said he hopes dire warnings about possible cuts inspire community members to write to lawmakers. Visitors to the district’s website see an urgent message that links them to a letter. “Dear Lacey Township School District Community,” the letter says. “The School District faces a financial crisis that leaves us critically short of funds if we do not receive state assistance or raise property taxes over 14 percent for this year alone.” According to a the district, a 14.24% school tax increase would cost the average home owner an additional $907 a year, assuming a home value of just under $300,000. The board originally planned to sell land to address the more than $6 million funding gap. But, county officials said the school board’s budget could not be dependent on land sales and it was unclear how much revenue the sale of the property in the Lanoka Harbor section of Lacey would raise. “The Lanoka Harbor property appraised for $2.1 million if you find a buyer, which we don’t have,” said Zylinski. With generating revenue via land sales off the table, the superintendent said the district must choose between a tax hike or major cuts. It is unclear if Lacey can raise school taxes above the state’s 2% cap. The district said it needed to apply to the state to exceed the cap by April 14. However, Lacey missed the deadline because its school board failed to pass a budget at its April 9 meeting, district officials said. Zylinski said they are asking state officials if they are still eligible to raise school taxes above the 2% cap or if there are any other solutions. “We are in the hands of the state of New Jersey right now with this budget in front of them,” said Zylinksi. “I don’t know where it’s going to land.” Lacey enrolls about 3,900 students, according to the latest state data from the 2023-24 school year. However, that is about 1,000 students less than in 2010. MORE: See your school district’s funding numbers under Murphy’s budget plan The district is scheduled to receive about $7.7 million in state funding for the next school year under Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget proposal. That is a 6% increase compared to last year. The Lacey school board also discussed alternative ways to pay for sports, including starting a nonprofit that could run a GoFundMe fundraising campaign. District officials also said they could sell naming rights for stadiums and other buildings to raise the more than $1 million needed to fund sports programs. The district could also make sports pay-to-play, meaning parents would have to pay a fee for students to compete on a school team. Lacey school board member Jack Conaty said he’d rather see parents pay to have their students play sports instead of raising taxes for all homeowners. “I’d rather invest in my child $1,000 than have to pay $1,000 extra for the rest of my life,” Conaty said. Lacey Township School Board President Kim Klaus disagreed. “I would have a very hard time getting rid of anything for the kids,” she said. “A lot of these kids depend on us keeping them here after school. They depend on their marching bands.” Several students spoke at the meeting about how important sports and clubs are in their lives. “I hope tonight when you look into my eyes and the other students that you know that you’re going to be destroying our lives,” said an 11th grade student who said she is the captain of the color guard, and a member of the drama and thespian clubs. She said she’s concerned that eliminating extracurriculars will impact student’s health. The school board had no immediate plans to vote on a budget, district officials said. Board members are waiting to hear back from the state to see if they will be allowed to raise taxes and avoid many of the cuts. A speaker from the Forked River section of Lacey urged the school board to be aware of looming budget deadlines and avoid the far reaching “consequences of cutting sports and extras and even more teachers.” “I understand the people that are struggling with the taxes,” he said. “In the end, I can stand here right now and tell you I’d be willing to pay the tax increase instead of cutting all that — the full 14.24%.” Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Staff writer Katie Kausch contributed to this report. Liz Rosenberg may be reached at lrosenberg@njadvancemedia.com.