By Stephen Appezzato
HIGHLANDS – After years of studies and discussions, residents went to the polls to vote on the future of their public school districts and regionalization passed by a wide margin.
Voters decided Tuesday that Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson Regional will regionalize, combining the three districts to establish a new pre-K through 12 district. The regionalized district will operate out of Henry Hudson Regional School.
As of press time, nearly 65% of voters favored regionalization – 976 of the 1,518 votes tallied. But voter turnout was low; only about 20% of the 7,531 eligible voters from both boroughs participated in the special election. Each of the eight voting districts – four within each borough – favored regionalization.
The result will not be certified for a few days; due to vote-by-mail law, mail-in ballots can be counted up to six days after polls close if the ballots are postmarked on or before Election Day. However, it is doubtful mail- in votes will overturn the current result.
Regionalization will mean savings for all three districts. According to the latest regionalization study, the savings are projected based on efficiencies gained from reducing “functions replicated over multiple school districts,” similar to shared services between municipalities. Additional savings will derive from cutting back on redundant costs and some noninstructional staff and simple economies of scale; the larger district can achieve lower prices and reduced costs by leveraging its buying power.
As for Sea Bright residents, who were excluded from the referendum, evidence suggests there will be a chance for them to join the new regionalized district in a future vote. Many believe regionalizing with Sea Bright is ultimately the most efficient and cost-effective outcome.
One argument against passing the referendum was that it would set the districts up for another vote in the near future to include Sea Bright. In a recent letter, state Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan suggested that if the referendum passed, “Sea Bright and the newly formed school district may refile a joint request to form an enlarged regional school district.”
While only Atlantic Highlands, Highlands and Henry Hudson Regional School students will merge for now, there is hope that Sea Bright students will be eligible to join in the future.
The article originally appeared in the September 28 – October 4, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
