Galloway Township Public Schools Business Administrator Timothy Kelley comes to the district from the Bridgeton Public Schools.
GALLOWAY – The new business administrator for the township’s public school district is a certified public accountant whose CPA could also stand for certified pupil advocate.

“While auditing is important, I like to see the fruits of my labor,” Timothy Kelley told The Current Tuesday, Feb. 7. “I feel like I’m making a difference with school children every day.”

That feeling turned out to be the difference for Kelley who was on a fast track career-wise, starting with a big accounting firm right out of college.

“I went to KPMG, a big accounting firm out of Princeton,” he said. “I was up and down the state – from Secaucus to the bottom. It was a great experience builder.”

After nearly three years with KPMG, Kelley moved to Swartz & Co. in Mays Landing in 2003.

“My wife and I are both from Marmora, Upper Township,” he said. “We wanted to come  back home to family and people that we know.”

Kelley lives with his wife Taimi Young Kelley in their hometown of Marmora with daughters Aili, 5, and Maryn, 1.

“We were high school sweethearts,” Kelley said. “We graduated from Ocean City High – she in 1996 and me in 1997. My wife’s a special education teacher. She recently got her masters in library science. Right now she’s home with our youngest daughter, enjoying her.”

Swartz & Co. specializes in government – municipalities and school districts, fire districts and non-profits.

“That’s where I got experience with school audits,” Kelley said. “They’re different; they have different compliance requirements and budgetary practices. Working for a school district wasn’t something I’d seriously considered. But when a client asked, I got to thinking.”

He left Swartz to become assistant business administrator for Bridgeton Public Schools in 2008.

“While I was there we did a shared service agreement and I worked with Downe Township, giving them business services,” Kelley said. “Bridgeton is a K-12 district. It’s a little bigger than Galloway, but we’re only K-eight.”

He said his experience in Bridgeton and Downe Township has served him well.

“I got a lot of experience working with budgets and interacting with the state Department of Education,” Kelley said. “I also worked with other district staff: principals and curriculum people who I didn’t work with as an auditor.”

Bridgeton was a former Abbott District, he said.

“It had a student population with very severe needs, and lower test scores,” Kelley said. “It also had an $80 million budget. I was pretty much responsible for the majority of the budget, dealing with fiscal compliance within the district.”

Galloway, he said, is a great school district.

“I wasn’t looking to leave Bridgeton,” Kelley said. “I enjoyed working there, but I had my eye out for a business administrator position in a district of decent size. I was looking for a place to No. 1: make a career. I wasn’t looking for a stepping stone job – three years and then move on.”

He said during the interview process in Galloway he felt like the district was a good fit for him, and that he was a good fit for the district.

He started in mid-November, shortly after a $6 million referendum to replace roofs and rebuild a parking lot was defeated here by eight votes.

He said he enjoys working with positive people and with the district as a whole.

“I consider myself very lucky,” Kelley said. “When I come to work every day, I’m not teaching students – but what I do every day has an effect on students.”