3 NJ school districts may merge, something most should do ASAP (Opinion)

There are three school districts in Monmouth county poised to make a little local history. And probably save a bundle of money for taxpayers there. The K-6 Highlands and Atlantic Highlands districts are trying to merge with the 7-12 Henry Hudson Regional School District. A vote on the matter is going before residents Tuesday. By the time you read this it may be a done deal.

It’s not that it’s the first time this has happened. It’s that the times it’s happened are too few and too far between.

You see, the Garden State is big on a thing called home rule. Local control. We have about 600 separate districts in New Jersey, far more than what goes on in other states. This leads to a situation of far too many chiefs for the number of Indians. I’m sorry, far too many chiefs for the number of Native Americans.

Each district has its own superintendent, a job with a bloated salary and often but not always filled by people with abhorrent leadership skills. Trust me, I’ve known some personally.

Then, each district being its own little fiefdom, you have a huge number of administration jobs with more bloated salaries and too much time on their hands. Administration jobs that are making $150,000 a year can handle more than one high school, one middle school and two or three elementary schools.

Day in and day out it’s the teachers that are making things happen. The teachers are, to put it in military lingo, the boots on the ground. Within a single small school district there’s usually too much administration money that could be going to underpaid teachers and definitely going to help the kids.

But why should you care? Property taxes. School District consolidation shows hope for being a solid way to reduce your property tax burden. What the Highlands and Atlantic Highlands districts are trying to do is something that needs to happen statewide wherever it makes sense.

Or do you enjoy paying higher property taxes than you need to just so seven or eight underworked administrators can have cush jobs while pushing their teachers around? Hey, it’s up to you.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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