Consolidation Of Burlington County K-8 Schools Still Possible

Gov. Phil Murphy now seems to be on board with a plan that could lead to the elimination of nearly 300 New Jersey school districts, including 23 in Burlington County.

Murphy gave $10 million to New Jersey communities this past week to help promote shared services and study school consolidation. Of that, the governor agreed to set aside $2 million specifically for K-12 regionalization and countywide school district pilots. Read more here: Big Move On Plan To Eliminate Nearly 300 NJ School Districts

The money would back up an effort started by Senate President Steve Sweeney who has been pitching a 32-recommendation "Path to Progress" plan that he, 26 analysts and so-called experts helped draw up last year.

“The goal is to eliminate the administration, put a principal in the school, get rid of the school district, leave a principal, let the regional high school become a K-12 district,” Sweeney said. “You go from 600 districts to 320.”

Sweeney acknowledged that his school consolidation plan would be unpopular, but he also believes that it could provide the state an additional $1 billion.

The plan proposes merging all K-4, K-5, K-6, K-8, and K-9 school districts into K-12 regional districts to improve the quality of education and promote efficiency. It also calls for the establishment of two countywide school district pilot programs.

The Burlington County school districts on the list include:

• Bass River Twp, Burlington
• Beverly City, Burlington
• Chesterfield Twp, Burlington
• Delanco Twp, Burlington
• Eastampton Twp, Burlington
• Edgewater Park Twp, Burlington
• Evesham Twp, Burlington
• Hainesport Twp, Burlington
• Lumberton Twp, Burlington
• Mansfield Twp, Burlington
• Medford Lakes Boro, Burlington
• Medford Twp, Burlington
• Mount Holly Twp, Burlington
• Mount Laurel Twp, Burlington
• New Hanover Twp, Burlington
• North Hanover Twp, Burlington
• Riverton, Burlington
• Shamong Twp, Burlington
• Southampton Twp, Burlington
• Springfield Twp, Burlington
• Tabernacle Twp, Burlington
• Westampton, Burlington
• Woodland Twp, Burlington

See related:
Murphy Deals Blow To Plan That Could Nix Some BurlCo Schools

Proposed Laws Could Eliminate 23 Burlington County School Districts
Consolidation Still Possible For Burlington County School Districts
Burlington County School Districts May Disappear In State Plan