By Stephen Appezzato
HIGHLANDS – Residents of Atlantic Highlands and Highlands will go to the polls Sept. 26 to decide the future of their public school system.
A special election will determine if the Atlantic Highlands and Highlands elementary school districts and the Henry Hudson Regional School District will regionalize to establish one pre-K-12 regional school district based at Henry Hudson. The three districts currently operate with three separate boards of education and one superintendent as the Henry Hudson Tri-District.
The question of school regionalization in the area is not new and many residents are well aware of arguments for and against combining school districts.
One sticking point against regionalization is the current status of students from Sea Bright and the historic push to have them included in the regionalization. Currently students from Sea Bright attend elementary and middle school in Oceanport and high school at Shore Regional in West Long Branch.
Sea Bright expressed the desire to join the referendum with Atlantic Highlands and Highlands this year – but it will not.
In the spring, the Oceanport School District and Shore Regional filed a legal complaint with the state education commissioner against Sea Bright in response to its interest in regionalization. These schools want Sea Bright students to remain in their districts.
State education commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan threw the complaint out but the two districts appealed.
At its Sept. 14 meeting, a majority of the Atlantic Highlands Borough Council members said they would vote in favor of the referendum as it is written now, but would like Sea Bright to regionalize with them in the future.
However, at their recent council meeting, members of the Highlands Borough Council unanimously said they will vote “no” on the matter.
“I feel it is not in the best interest of either town,” said Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon. “Any sort of regionalization without including Sea Bright does not make sense for Highlands,” she said.
Highlands Borough Council President Jo-Anne Olszewski vowed to vote against the referendum because “excluding Sea Bright is a dangerous move.” Olszewski said having Sea Bright in the equation was “imperative” for a long-term regionalization.
“Highlands does not need to be backed into a regionalization, which may fiscally bury us long term,” she said.
“I say this because the funding formula that the school boards used in their submission to the commissioner of education does not include enrollment as a factor, only equalized property values,” Olszewski explained.
Currently, Atlantic Highlands has 135 more pupils than Highlands. Atlantic Highlands receives over $1 million more in school funding than Highlands because of this.
“Should we pay the same when we have significantly less students?” Olszewski asked, noting that 91% of Highlands households do not have students in the public school system but would still pay for the larger school district if regionalized.
According to the New Jersey School Boards Association, regionalization as it stands is expected to create “tax savings” from the “consolidation of duplicative services and additional state aid.” An alternate state aid formula for public schools now applies to encourage regionalization, as per recent legislation.
In the upcoming Sept. 26 special election, a “yes” vote would merge the Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson Regional school systems without Sea Bright. A “no” vote would stop regionalization– for now.
The article originally appeared in the September 21 – 27, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
