The nine-member Jersey City school board has narrowly approved a $660 million budget for the 2018-19 school year, a spending plan that comes with a 6.5 percent tax levy hike and zero layoffs.

The board in March introduced a budget that had a $71 million budget deficit, raising fears that hundreds of positions would be eliminated to cut costs. The two major measures cited by school officials who closed that gap are $15 million in expected savings from a new health benefits plan for district employees and $18.5 million from a surplus-like account.

The budget adopted Monday night also includes $5.3 million more in local school taxes than planned previously, a change made after local activist group Jersey City Together pushed board members to increase local funding to the legal limit.

Voting for the budget were board members Mussab Ali, Amy DeGise, Luis Fernandez, Marilyn Roman and Matt Schapiro. Voting against were Board President Sudhan Thomas, Board Vice President Lorenzo Richardson, Vidya Gangadin and Angel Valentin.

The district has 29,000 students.

The $660,214,829 budget for 2018-19 includes a local tax levy of $124,367,357. School officials say they cannot estimate how much the levy will impact the average homeowner because city officials have not shared new assessment data related to the property revaluation. The total levy represents a 6.5 percent increase from the current school year.

The district's initial plan was to hike the levy by 2 percent to $119 million, but Jersey City Together urged it to use what's called a "banked cap." New Jersey generally does not allow school districts to hike tax levies by more than 2 percent without seeking voter approval. But there are items that are exempt from that cap, like costs associated with increased health care spending. A district can "bank" those amounts over three years and use them without asking voters.

Jersey City Together activists told board members they "cannot afford to leave local revenue on the table." Local education advocates are concerned that planned changes to state education funding could lead to a dramatic decrease in outside aid for Jersey City's school district, which relies on the state for 60 percent of its budget.

"We still have a long way to go to provide and fund the education our children deserve," said a statement from Jersey City Together. "This will take courageous and creative action by leaders at both the local and state level."

The district's overall budget is about $100 million less than what the state calls an "adequacy budget," the amount the state believes it would cost to provide a "thorough and efficient education" to every pupil. Some local officials have used that to call Jersey City's school district "underfunded," which irritates school officials elsewhere in the state who think the state gives too much aid. The district's "local fair share" -- the amount the state says local taxpayers can afford to kick in for the school budget -- is about $200 million higher than what Jersey City taxpayers pay now.

Thomas, in a message he posted Monday night on Facebook, said he intends to fight for an increase in state aid.

"We will not rest until every dollar due to Jersey City is paid to ensure excellent education for our 30,000 students and give them a real shot at the American Dream," Thomas said. "We have delivered on our promise on zero layoffs, and we invite every citizen of Jersey City to join us in the civil rights battle of our generation."