By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
A panel of education experts debated the efficacy of consolidating New Jersey school districts to slash costs while maintaining educational standards during a conference held at Princeton University on Friday.
Portions of the meeting explored the concepts of consolidation and shared services, which have become focal points of public debate in a state with high property taxes and hundreds of small school districts.
The panel noted New Jersey has more than 600 of the nation’s 15,000 school districts, a number that actually has grown as the nationwide number of districts fell from a high of 100,000 more than 100 years ago.
”Either we’re right or (the nation) knows something we don’t,” said Paul Tractenberg, a Rutgers University law professor and education expert.
Michael Ritacco, superintendent of the Toms River School District, told the audience “we’re talking about the same thing” that has been debated year after year in discussing consolidation.
Speaking from his position as superintendent of one of the largest districts in the state, Mr. Ritacco said surrounding districts in Ocean County were a good example of New Jersey’s situation. Tiny school districts, especially on barrier islands near Toms River, gave small student bodies varying levels of education at a maximum cost, he said.
”They have 450 kids that cost $12.7 million (to educate),” said Mr. Ritacco. “(Toms River schools) could do it for $5 million, and you can write the checks back to the taxpayers.”
Also costly is a lack of transportation efficiency, Mr. Ritacco said, noting some districts bused students through Toms River to faraway schools.
He said some students make a commute as long as 30 miles through Toms River.
”When we talk about efficiency in transportation, there’s a lot of work to be done,” Mr. Ritacco said.
Toms River and neighboring districts have authored some success stories in sharing services. Mr. Ritacco said his district worked with smaller districts, which realized reduced costs. In instances where towns like Seaside Heights utilized schools in Toms River, the result was higher test scores.
The key, he said, was communicating with local officials and the community and not treating every district the same.
”This is a not a cookie-cutter kind of thing,” said Mr. Ritacco.
Mr. Ritacco said public opposition and legal stipulations represented obstacles to consolidation and other measures, to which Mr. Vernotica, a state education commissioner for field services, agreed.
The state has no ability to mandate consolidation without local support, Mr. Vernotica said.
In the consolidation process, local voters asked to approve consolidation in affected districts could defeat such a measure, he said.
He cautioned the audience lower costs should not be pursued at the expense of good schooling.
”We can’t lose sight of equality and liberty,” which Americans value, Mr. Vernotica said.
Joseph Cryan, the chairman of the state Assembly Education Committee and chairman of the state Democratic Party, told the audience he would give them a “very legislative answer” to the question of whether consolidation was the best way to achieve efficiency — “Maybe.”
However, he noted rising property taxes and the economic downturn meant consolidation represented the best tool “we have at the moment.”
”We are getting to the point where efficiency and consolidation are getting to be one of the mandates of New Jersey,” Mr. Cryan said.
He assured the audience the Legislature would be “an active partner in consolidation.”
Rutgers University professor Ernest Reock told the audience studies he conducted on consolidations that have occurred over the past 60 years pointed to decreased costs, especially 10 years after initial consolidation.
At that time, school boards can better identify areas of cost savings, he said.
Princeton’s Policy Research Institute and the New Jersey School Boards Association sponsored Friday’s meeting, which continued into the afternoon with other education panels.

