Does New Jersey really have too many school districts?

[Bklyngal]

Originally Posted by UrbanQuest

There are some school districts that are obvious to merge, such as;

Clinton borough and township + Union and Franklin townships
Menham borough and township
Boonton borough and township + Mountain Lakes
Rockaway borough and township
Hanover and East Hanover
Netcong and Mount Olive
Butler and Kinnelon
Montvale and Park Ridge
Hillsdale and Woodcliff Lake
Riverton and Cinnaminson
Medford Lakes borough and Medford township
Burlington city and Burlington township
Berlin borough and township
Gloucester city and Gloucester township
Caldwell + West Caldwell + North Caldwell + Essex Fells
Frenchtown borough + Kingwood township + Alexandria township
Milford borough and Holland township
Stockton borough and Delaware township
Lambertville borough and West Amwell township
Flemington and Raritan township
Hampton borough and Bethlehem township
Jamesburg and Monroe township
Long Branch + West Long Branch + Oceanport
Keyport + Hazlet + Union Beach
Shrewsbury borough and Little Silver borough
Farmingdale borough and Howell township
Asbury Park borough + Neptune townshp and borough
Freehold borough and township
Atlantic Highlands + Highlands
Farmingdale borough and Howell township
Wharton + Mine Hill
Lakehurst borough and Manchester township
Point Pleasant Borough and Point Pleasant Beach borough
Ringwood and Wanaque
Andover Regionald and Green township
Newton town + Fredon township + Hampton township
Stanhope borough and Byram township
Clark township and Winfield township
Alpha boro and Pohatcong township
Phillipsburg borough and Lopatcong township
Belvidere borough and White township
Hackettstown and Mansfield township
Washington borough and township
Lincoln Park borough and Montville township

These are so obvious and imagine the amount of money saved my merging the above. The other good thing is that you really aren't doing anything dramatic in changing income and demographics either.

While I like the idea of having the town of Phillipsburg merging with Lopatcong, I don't think the people of Lopat would be thrilled with that idea. They're mostly "upper class" compared to the people of P'Burg and will probably balk at having their kids mingle with ours, despite the fact we share the same high school. Hell, we share it with Pohatcong, Alpha, Greenwich, Stewartsville and Bloomsbury! Yes, Bloomsbury, which is't even in the same county, for cripe's sake. We need a new, BIGGER high school more than anything, but the state took those funds away from us. Ah, New Jersey.

Pohat and Alpha merging would be ideal, since they're practically the same place, at least to me.