Regionalization vote date still not definite
By John Tredrea, Special Writer
School budgets for 2013-14 have been adopted by the West Amwell Elementary and Lambertville Public school boards, said Michael Kozak, superintendent of schools for both districts.
Each of the districts has one elementary school, as does nearby Stockton, which also is a school district.
Students from all three of those elementary schools attend grades seven-12 at South Hunterdon Regional High School, which is a school district on its own and is located in West Amwell.
”The West Amwell budget passed March 26,” Dr. Kozak said.
The West Amwell district’s budget for 2013-14 totals $4,253,667. For a house assessed at $350,000, close to the average assessed value in West Amwell, school taxes will go up an estimated $50 over 2012-13.
Lambertville’s school budget for 2013-14 was adopted by the school board March 21, Dr. Kozak said. The budget is for $4,076,191.
For a residence assessed at $350,000, which is close to the average assessed value in the city, school taxes will go up an estimated $150 over last year, Dr. Kozak said.
”The budget reflects the addition of three new teachers to accommodate the growing student population,” Dr. Kozak added.
THE WEST AMWELL, Lambertville, Stockton and South Hunterdon Regional High School districts eventually could become one.
At the request of municipal and school officials of all the towns involved, the Hunterdon County superintendent of schools office and the state Department of Education have responded favorably to holding a public referendum on merging (regionalizing) the four districts.
That referendum may be held this fall (2013), an official said recently. Dan Seiter, chairman of the South County School Regionalization Committee, said Monday (April 1) that the group is “still awaiting word from the executive county superintendent” about a date for the referendum.
In September 2012, the State Department Of Education’s Board Of Review approved the ballot question for the dissolution of SHRHS, according to Steve Wolock, vice chairman of the local Regionalization Committee,
”The board granted the joint petition to allow the constituent districts to submit a referendum to dissolve the South Hunterdon Regional School District. This petition was uncontested and the plan is to re-regionalize as a PK-12 district,” a DOE spokesman said then.
”As far as I know, the next step will be to schedule the ballot question(s) that forms a new PreK – 12 district and dissolves SHRHS. That will be done via our attorney and the executive county superintendent,” Mr. Wolock said in September.
The Board of Review met to consider the joint petition from the Lambertville Public School Board of Education, the West Amwell Elementary School Board of Education, the Stockton Borough School Board of Education, the Township of West Amwell and the City of Lambertville to dissolve the South Hunterdon Regional High School District.
Since the state has OK’d a public vote on regionalization, voters probably would be asked two questions similar to those that follow (when the referendum is held):
— The first would authorize the dissolution of the existing South Hunterdon Regional High School.
—The second question would authorize the creation of a new regional preK-12 district. The new district would not be created unless majorities of the voters in all three communities vote “yes” to both questions.
The two ballot questions would be linked, so that if the first question passed but the second question did not, the first question would be invalidated and the four school districts would continue to operate as before (now).
A spring 2012 news release from Mr. Seiter, who also is president of the South Hunterdon Regional Board of Education, provided the history of the quest for regionalization.
Details about that quest can be found on a website, created by the South Hunterdon County School District Regionalization Committee. The website address is http://www.southcountyregionalization.com.