The Hudson County Board of Commissioners sounded the alarm about planned cuts to post-secondary career programs that have operated for over 35 years at the Hudson County Schools of Technology (HCST) at yesterday’s meeting.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
The revelation came after Commissioner Kenneth Kopacz (D-1) inquired if there were any HCST representatives at the meeting, which there were not since “they were at a conference,” according to Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5).
As such, Kopacz asked that the HCST board hold off on any actionable items at their board meeting since he has some questions about some of the cuts they made, adding that the answers to those questions would determine his vote on the 2026 county budget.
“You can’t change that,” Hudson County Administrator Abe Antun told Kopacz that since the HCST budget was already approved by the HCST School Board of Estimate, that number is binding in the budget.
As a result, Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) suggested voting down the budget in that case, before Hudson County Executive Craig Guy interjected over Zoom.
“You have my commitment that before any folks are laid off or programs discontinued, that we will come back to this board and we will definitely take a look at all these programs,” Guy said.
Kopacz thanked Guy for his education-related efforts, but highlighted the potential cuts by HCST to vocational programs that have existed for decades.
“As I’ve stated many times, I can’t thank the county executive enough for all the allocations for all he does on education programs,” Kopacz said.
“He has the same vision as I do and as our board. Not only is it about sending kids to college but sending people to careers, right? And that’s what a vocational district does.”
Last month, the HCST School Board of Estimate – which includes Hudson County Executive Craig Guy, Romano, and Commissioner Bob Baselice (D-8) – approved a $84,519,874 budget, with most of it coming from the Hudson County tax levy.
The 2026 county budget totals $769,667,257, and the tax levy has risen to $495,180,876.11, a $42 million or 9.27 percent increase from $453,180,876.11 in 2025.
HCST is the second biggest line item in this year’s county budget, increasing by $11,667,069.50 from $42,248,000 last year to $53,915,069.50 for the upcoming school year.
According to Kopacz, he has received information that HCST is going to cut their post-secondary career programs, including offerings such as carpentry, HVAC, welding, plumbing, electrical, automotive, medical, cosmetology, and real estate.
“Programs that we’ve been running for the last 35 years,” he emphasized.
Kopacz said these programs are tuition-based and therefore self-sufficient.
“If we don’t have enough students, the class doesn’t run. So if we’re a vocational district and we’re not cutting anything that’s essential, what is that?” he questioned.
“I need to know what the vision and the mission of the leadership if they are going to recommend that as non-essential, that you’re telling me that a post-secondary career program that has been running for 35 years for adults to receive certifications that’s tuition based that pays for itself. What are we doing?”
After decrying the cuts to the post-secondary career programs, Kopacz doubled down on his need to meet with HCST leadership.
He said they will meet with the board’s education committee on Tuesday and Thursdays before their upcoming meetings.
“The county executive has been nothing but a hero for us in education. We just opened up a vocational building. We’re not going backwards. These post-secondary programs are so important,” he asserted.
According to Kopacz, there are over 300 adults over the age of 18 receiving “real educations” through these programs- including at the new-ish facility in Bayonne, giving them “a career for life.”
“This is exactly the program we need to expand more, not take away what we’re doing, right?,” Kopacz said.
“We have many questions from all of my colleagues that have been asked about since the forensic audit has been put in place.”
Kopacz cited the preliminary findings of the forensic audit of HCST’s finances which stated the district should re-evaluate the offering of post-secondary programs and adult school programs.
“If I had to evaluate or re-evaluate, I would say we need more, not take away one of the true vocational programs that we have,” Kopacz said.
“I know the county executive is on board, I just need to know what our mission and vision is going forward, because this is the exact program that we should be expanding, not taking away. This is an excellent program, has been great for us for 35 years. We run multiple sites.”
In addition, Kopacz raised concerns over what happens to students who are already participating in programs being cut by HCST.
“What happens to a cosmetology student who is in year one, who has done all the hours, and now all of a sudden we don’t have the program?”
Romano repeated that the HCST leadership was currently at some convention when he went to address the same concerns alongside Commissioner Fanny Cedeno (D-6).
“We definitely want to set up meetings with the education committee about what is going on with that,” Romano said.
O’Dea (D-2) agreed wholeheartedly with Kopacz.
“I don’t think there’s any convention that allows an agency, autonomous or otherwise, to say they can’t have a person remotely available for an hour and a half,” O’Dea said.
“Agreed,” Guy chimed in over Zoom, like a disembodied voice in the sky.
“I think that’s just disrespectful.”
In addition to the absence of HCST leadership, Kopacz also took issue with the fact that the commissioners were not informed of what cuts HCST was making before they were enacted.
“This is the second time that I have, as the education chair of the committee, have asked. Once I was told there would be no tuition, then I find out they went behind my back and went to the superintendent, I had to apologize to my colleagues,” he expressed.
In addition to giving Kopacz the run around regarding proposed municipal tuition fees, which are not enacted in this HCST budget but could be in the next, he underscored the same thing happened with program cuts.
“Again, I told my colleagues there would be no essential cuts until they meet with us,” Kopacz said.
“What do they do? They just do it behind our back. So all we’re asking is for transparency and to be part of the solution. We’ve been 100 percent supportive of leadership over the last 12 years I’ve been here, some of my colleagues many more years, but especially with the new leadership, all we’re asking for is transparency and that we don’t get blindsided by things that are essential.”
Romano urged that Hudson County Community College also do the same in letting the education committee known about cuts to programs prior to when they occur.
The preliminary findings of the forensic audit into HCST’s financial situation found that school district officials budgeted incorrectly for years due to “systemic failure of the accounting and finance department’” resulting in a multi-million dollar operating deficit, as only HCV reported.
This resulted in the need to address the district’s deficit of $3.64 million in its – and therefore Hudson County’s– budget and prompting the tax levy increase to prevent cuts to essential programs and staff.
This has a varying impact on taxes across the county, and county finance officials gave a full breakdown of the mostly tax increases for each municipality, as HCV first reported.
