For months, parents, teachers and taxpayers in Montclair have clamored for answers: How could a town with some of the highest school taxes in New Jersey suddenly have a $20 million hole in its school budget?
In September, Montclair’s new Superintendent of Schools, Ruth Turner, blamed the deficit she inherited on “incompetence” and “bad accounting” by her predecessors. So naturally, some residents want to hear from the person who previously managed the school district’s checkbook, former School Board Secretary, Christina Hunt.
The I-Team tracked Hunt down – about 100 miles away – in her new role, keeping the books for the Penns Grove Carneys Point Regional School District.
But Hunt had nothing to say.
After declining an interview request, Hunt did not acknowledge a series of questions from the I-Team during the public comment portion of a November Penns Grove Carneys Point School Board meeting. Just before that meeting, one of the board members in attendance questioned the wisdom of hiring Hunt after news of the financial problems plaguing Montclair in North Jersey.
“With all that trouble and baggage coming with her? It’s bulls—,” said Joseph Tighe, Jr, one of two Penns Grove Carneys Point school board members who voted against the appointment of Hunt. “People better start waking up as far as who we’re putting in office here.”
Hunt has not been accused of criminal or intentional wrongdoing, but the I-Team reviewed audit reports from her two most recent school districts — Montclair and East Orange — that show financial red flags dating back to 2021.
According to internal audits of the Montclair Township School District, that system’s business office made transfers “without the required approval,” along with “numerous mispostings of revenues/receipts,” and several line items that were “over-expended” during Hunt’s tenure in 2023 and 2024.
Before Hunt took her post as the Business Administrator for Montclair schools, she managed the checkbook for the East Orange School District in 2021 and 2022. During Hunt’s tenure there, internal audits of the East Orange Board of Education flagged “numerous mispostings of revenues/receipts” along with budget lines that “exceeded available appropriations” and vendors paid “in excess of the bid threshold that were not approved.”
Two years after she left East Orange, that school district announced an $8 million dollar budget gap.
Hunt resigned from her position in Montclair effective July 1, 2025, just as the $20 million budget gap was discovered. Three months later, the school district filed a claim with its insurance company seeking reimbursement of more than a half million dollars, alleging “the failure of Ms. Hunt to faithfully perform and discharge her duties,” when she paid a food service vendor for losses, allegedly without seeking approval of the School Board. Hunt has not responded to questions about the alleged decision to pay that vendor without authorization.
When asked whether some of the financial transactions during Hunt’s tenure were unauthorized, Turner said she could not address personnel matters. But when pressed about whether the school board authorized all the payments on Hunt’s watch, Turner said no.
“Were they authorized by the Board?” the I-Team asked.
“Not all of it. Was not authorized by the Board,” Turner replied.
This week, a judge in Essex County effectively cancelled a referendum vote that was scheduled for Dec. 9, in which Montclair residents were asked to approve tax increases that might stave off more than 100 job cuts, including dozens of educator lay-offs. The alternative was for voters to accept a monetary bail-out from the state that would be accompanied by a financial monitor who could overrule local spending decisions.
The judge called the wording of the referendum questions “convoluted.” The district must now consider whether to re-write the questions and hold the referendum at a later date.
Amy Tighe, who leads the teachers union in Penns Grove Carneys Point, said she believes there were multiple candidates who applied for the Board Secretary position that Hunt ultimately accepted. She said she wants Hunt to succeed in South Jersey, but she expressed worry about the impending job cuts that were announced following Hunt’s resignation in Montclair.
“I think we could have looked further to find someone with a better job performance,” Tighe said. “I don’t need to be worried that someone is going to mismanage the funds and my members will be [in] the same [position] as in Montclair.”