By Chris Rotolo
SEA BRIGHT – Though survey results showed 73 percent of respondents favored the formation of a regionalized school district composed of students from Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sea Bright, there is still plenty of discussion to come before the notion is considered for a public referendum.
“It’s going to be a long year ahead of meetings and public input, and we’ll need to get buy-in from all three towns for the potential of a new school district to be formed. But the initial survey results have us moving in a positive direction,” Sea Bright Mayor Brian P. Kelly told The Two River Times in an April 4 interview.
The survey data comes after complimentary resolutions were adopted in January 2019 by Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sea Bright. Each Two River-area town agreed to make a financial commitment of $20,000 toward a March 2020 study that investigated the feasibility of the following: Sea Bright students withdrawing from the Shore Regional High School District and the Oceanport School District, along with a phase-out of currently enrolled Sea Bright students in those schools; the termination of the Henry Hudson Regional High School District; and the formation of an all-purpose pre-K through 12th-grade regional district composed of students from Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Sea Bright.
The feasibility study was prompted by a New Jersey school funding formula first implemented in 1975, which mandates regional school district tax levies be allocated based upon property values, rather than population totals or enrollment figures.
For the 2018-19 academic year, Sea Bright was on the hook for $3.57 million in tax dollars to support the schooling of 26 borough students at Shore Regional High School.
According to the Shore Regional High School District budget, that number shrunk to $2.58 million for the 2021-22 school year and, of the four sending boroughs – Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Sea Bright and West Long Branch – Sea Bright was the only one in which tax payers realized a decrease in year-over-year tax spending, with an estimated savings of $62 per household.
“Shore Regional and Henry Hudson are both very highly rated school districts. We currently have a great partner (in Shore Regional), and could potentially have a great future partner (in Henry Hudson),” Kelly said. “But in my opinion, the results of the survey were very promising for all three towns involved.”
According to the survey results, 76 percent of respondent in Highlands and 72 percent of Sea Bright respondents would favor a new regionalized school district. That figure decreased to 59 percent of residents surveyed in Atlantic Highlands.
Other notable takeaways include:
• When asked to rank the benefits of regionalization, 45 percent of those surveyed selected “lower taxes” as their top priority, followed by “consistency of curriculum” (13.7 percent) and “broader interaction with other kids” (13.1 percent).
• Approximately 52 percent reported “not feeling there is any barrier to regionalization,” while more than 21 percent of those surveyed in Atlantic Highlands said they feared the “loss of a small school feeling.”
“We’re in a good place right now, but there’s a long way to go before any real action can be taken,” Kelly said. “If all three of our towns do ultimately vote to form a new district, I think there are perks to it. Educationally, economically, we could potentially be a great match.”
Kelly said he did not want to go any deeper into the specifics of Sea Bright’s perspective on the subject before the completion of a lateral feasibility study currently being conducted by the Henry Hudson Regional Tri-District, the district composed of Henry Hudson Regional High School, Atlantic Highlands Elementary School and Highlands Elementary School.
This began in May 2021, when the Tri-District was awarded a $65,000 Local Efficiency Achievement Grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
The purpose of this grant was to fully investigate the possibility of consolidating the three districts to form a new, all-purpose K-12 school district, in addition to analyzing the feasibility of any additional configuration with other districts and/or students in nearby communities, like Sea Bright.
A new bill adopted Jan. 18 by the state legislature established a grant program for full cost reimbursement of regionalization feasibility studies, and provides certain financial incentives for communities that decide to regionalize.
“This funding and the newly signed legislation (NJ S3488) allow the three districts to truly investigate the potential for further cost-savings and financial incentives, but, more importantly, greater alignment of curricula, programming and the expansion of educational opportunities for our students that may be limited by the current structure of the three, independent districts,” Tri-District superintendent Tara Beams said in a March 25 media release.
According to Beams, once the Tri-District study is complete, the boards of education for each school will make public recommendations regarding how and if the boroughs should move forward with a regionalization plan.
“We believe it is critically important to wait for the study to be completed to ensure that we fully understand the recommendations of the experts regarding whether and in what form regionalization might best meet the needs of our communities,” Mark Heter, Henry Hudson Regional Board of Education president, said in the media release.
The article originally appeared in the April 7 – 13, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
