Proposed Program To Explore Combining NJ School Districts

TRENTON, NJ — New Jersey lawmakers have introduced legislation that would establish a state-funded pilot program to study the feasibility of establishing regional school districts across the Garden State.

Senate Bill 3266, introduced earlier in May, is sponsored by Republican Sen. Vincent Polistina and has since been referred to the Senate Education Committee for consideration.

If passed, the legislation would create a program to study the feasibility of establishing a K-12 regional school district by consolidating smaller, underfunded K-8 and 9-12 school districts.

The program's goal would be to determine the impact forming a regional school district would have primarily on education and district finances, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Senate Republican Office said.

"Merging resources across regional K-12 districts could help stabilize schools that are negatively impacted by (funding) cuts and enable regional districts to optimize state aid in a way that best suits their students' needs," Polistina said in a statement to Patch.

If passed, the pilot program would consist of a one-year planning stage and a five-year implementation stage, according to the bill.

Three pilot sites would be selected to participate in the program's planning stage — one in North Jersey, one in Central Jersey and one in South Jersey. Each would be eligible to receive up to $50,000 in state grant money.

The decision to move into the implementation stage would be decided by voters in a special election, according to the bill.

The legislation comes months after the state rolled out grants for similar regionalization studies. The $470,000 in funding went to Belvidere and Hunterdon County’s Union Township school district, as well as to two regional high schools in Sussex and Gloucester counties.

Regionalization — or the process of combining towns or school districts — is viewed by officials as a means of reducing public spending. By combining districts, states can reduce spending on administration, staffing, and transportation, officials told the New Jersey Monitor.