PARSIPPANY — Tim Berrios and Jack Raia have entered the race for two seats on the Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education, building their campaign around board leadership experience, financial expertise and public service at a time when the district faces financial and enrollment pressures.
Berrios, a current board member who has served since 2014 and previously served as board president, and Raia, a certified public accountant who served on the board from 2023 to 2025 and brings 24 years of senior financial leadership experience, say their campaign will focus on four commitments: putting students first, protecting taxpayers, planning for the future and working together.
The candidates say rising costs, limitations in New Jersey’s school funding system, the 2 percent property tax levy cap, changing enrollment and continued residential redevelopment will require experienced leadership and long-term planning.
“These are challenging times for public education, but they are also an opportunity to lead,” Berrios said. “Our responsibility is to continue providing an outstanding education for every child while respecting the taxpayers who make it possible. That will take experience, sound judgment and people willing to work together.”
Berrios and Raia say fiscal responsibility must support the district’s core mission of giving every Parsippany student the opportunity to succeed. They said strong schools must adapt to the changing needs of students, including academics, effective teachers and programs, modern technology, career and college preparation, and additional support for students who need it. As enrollment changes, they said, the district must also make responsible decisions about class sizes, staffing, programs and school facilities.
“Great schools and fiscal responsibility aren’t competing goals,” Raia said. “We have to provide students with the resources they need while planning responsibly for the families and taxpayers who ultimately pay the bills. The decisions we make today will shape this district for years to come.”
Berrios and Raia say Parsippany’s continued residential redevelopment, particularly projects receiving Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreements, will be among the district’s most significant financial challenges in the years ahead. Residential developments can bring additional students into the school system while the district does not receive a direct share of Payment in Lieu of Taxes revenue, they said, though the district remains responsible for educating every student who enters regardless of how a development is financed.
“The children who move into these developments are our students, period,” Berrios said. “They deserve the same excellent education as every other child in Parsippany. The challenge is making sure the district has the resources to educate them without unfairly shifting additional costs onto existing taxpayers.”
Berrios and Raia have publicly advocated for the school district to have a voice in Payment in Lieu of Taxes negotiations and for the township to provide the district with funding based on the actual number of students generated by those developments, including through letters to the editor addressing the impact of the agreements on the school district and taxpayers. In 2025, Raia represented the board in presenting recommendations for reforms to New Jersey’s school funding formula.
Berrios has lived in Parsippany since 1990. His wife, Kathleen, is a retired teacher and graduate of Parsippany schools, and their three daughters attended Parsippany schools from kindergarten through graduation; two became educators, and the eldest serves as a director at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Berrios has served on the board since October 2014, including as board president, and since 2021 has also worked as a school bus driver. He is the longtime owner of On Call Computer Services and this year received the Cecilia “Cissy” Laureys Senior Volunteer Award for his community service.
Raia is a graduate of the Parsippany school system and a certified public accountant with a Master of Business Administration in finance. He has served as an adjunct professor of corporate finance at Seton Hall University and Caldwell University and attended Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program, Driving Corporate Performance. Raia and his wife, Darlene, have two sons: Kyle, a graduate of the University of Alabama, and JC, who attended Brooklawn Middle School and Parsippany Hills High School before graduating from New York University. Raia served on the board from 2023 to 2025, chairing both the finance and communications committees.
Both candidates said experience must be paired with a willingness to work with people who hold different views.
“Good ideas don’t belong to one political party or one group,” Raia said. “Tim and I are willing to sit down with anyone, listen to different perspectives and work toward practical solutions when they are good for our children and fair to our taxpayers. That’s how good governance should work.”
“We believe in these schools, we believe in this community, and we believe our best days are still ahead of us,” Berrios said. “If we keep our students and schools at the core of our decisions, plan responsibly and work together, we’ll get there together.”
