Ignoring the staggering tax implications, One thing that did not make it into the article is that the this fractionalization de facto aids the NJEA. It is institutionalized "divide and conquer", with parents or other community stakeholders unable to form a unified front against a statewide monolith with the funding to push one set of goals. Each school district is a node for them; a forward base. For us, each district is a unique challenge with local politics taking precedent.
Keep in mind, before the State involved itself, school districts were entirely independent. This would have been even more "home rule" than we have now (as in the article, one Township had 11 districts serving 774 students). The problems started when desire for school home rule became conflated with local issues like road paving, train property access, etc. which led to the merging of the boro planning with school district planning. Before that law in 1894, boros were still rolled into the Townships plethora of districts, based on geography. After that law, made to incentivize borough creation, each borough that was formed got it's own school district along with its own municipality.
Very interesting and informative. I have often wondered why all these school districts exist. Also explains why there are so many regional school districts.
Smaller communities can become very cliquish with a pack mentality where a bully emerges and controls the narrative and those afraid of the bully acquiesce for the sake of harmony. 
Great information contained in this article. Prior to Covid lockdowns and the NJEA, Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats really pushing their leftist agenda throughout N.J. schools, I felt we parents had more control over our children's education in each school district. That all changed. Even with Home Rule and over 500 municipalities, others seems to dictate everything for us, with impunity.
I feel there are two issues here. Local control of education and lowering property taxes. I believe the education part can be fixed by removing the state and NJEA from what is taught in each district. We need to vote candidates in office that will amend/re-write laws that will never again allow one person to rule over everyone else, reinforce parental rights via a "Parents Bill of Rights," and home rule. The union's job is to protect its workers and negotiate contracts on their behalf, not determine what everyone's child is taught. There is no reason to have a state Board of Education that tells us what we must teach. Parents have fundamental rights as to what they want their child to learn and each child and school district has different needs.
The high property tax issue can be mitigated, but I believe it would have to be done in phases, unless you have enough workers that agree to retire early. We can have one school district, police department, DPW, etc., for each county.
We also have to incentivize small and large businesses via tax breaks.
Voters can also look to get power back by getting a constitutional amendment passed to allow initiatives and referendums on the ballot. We can then do what states like California and Massachusetts did in 1978 and 1980, which dramatically halted property tax increases.
I also feel government should be required to provide every tax payer with a breakdown at the local, county and state level, as to where their money went for the sake of transparency, which will inform citizens as to the areas that need to be addressed when redressing their elected officials.
He "can" be inspiring, we need to unite and can defeat them.. Also, we need to forward to our legislators to institute a voucher system, if we can reduce the amount of students entering public schools we can legitimately unite some districts.. Catholic school let us down by closing many of their schools, and taking a voice away; however if we can unite with the Jewish, Muslin and Catholic schools still operating we can create a voice to defeat this evil.. NEVER GIVE UP!!!
Yes and Moms For Liberty only managed to take over once conservatives migrated to Florida during the pandemic and turned the state deep red. New Jersey is deep deep blue. Is that who you want in charge of every school in the state?
The smaller the district the better, it gives more control to parents. The very last thing I want is more centralized control over my kids education. Look at the suburbs of Maryland- the districts are so big the parents have absolutely no say in their kid’s curriculum and redistricting is constantly shuffling kids to different schools and destroying any parent community that gets built up to counteract the school administrators. I want my Superintendent to know my name and have to deal with my family for YEARS.
Ignoring the staggering tax implications, One thing that did not make it into the article is that the this fractionalization de facto aids the NJEA. It is institutionalized "divide and conquer", with parents or other community stakeholders unable to form a unified front against a statewide monolith with the funding to push one set of goals. Each school district is a node for them; a forward base. For us, each district is a unique challenge with local politics taking precedent.
Keep in mind, before the State involved itself, school districts were entirely independent. This would have been even more "home rule" than we have now (as in the article, one Township had 11 districts serving 774 students). The problems started when desire for school home rule became conflated with local issues like road paving, train property access, etc. which led to the merging of the boro planning with school district planning. Before that law in 1894, boros were still rolled into the Townships plethora of districts, based on geography. After that law, made to incentivize borough creation, each borough that was formed got it's own school district along with its own municipality.
Very interesting and informative. I have often wondered why all these school districts exist. Also explains why there are so many regional school districts.
Smaller communities can become very cliquish with a pack mentality where a bully emerges and controls the narrative and those afraid of the bully acquiesce for the sake of harmony. 
Great post.
Great information contained in this article. Prior to Covid lockdowns and the NJEA, Governor Murphy and Trenton Democrats really pushing their leftist agenda throughout N.J. schools, I felt we parents had more control over our children's education in each school district. That all changed. Even with Home Rule and over 500 municipalities, others seems to dictate everything for us, with impunity.
I feel there are two issues here. Local control of education and lowering property taxes. I believe the education part can be fixed by removing the state and NJEA from what is taught in each district. We need to vote candidates in office that will amend/re-write laws that will never again allow one person to rule over everyone else, reinforce parental rights via a "Parents Bill of Rights," and home rule. The union's job is to protect its workers and negotiate contracts on their behalf, not determine what everyone's child is taught. There is no reason to have a state Board of Education that tells us what we must teach. Parents have fundamental rights as to what they want their child to learn and each child and school district has different needs.
The high property tax issue can be mitigated, but I believe it would have to be done in phases, unless you have enough workers that agree to retire early. We can have one school district, police department, DPW, etc., for each county.
We also have to incentivize small and large businesses via tax breaks.
Voters can also look to get power back by getting a constitutional amendment passed to allow initiatives and referendums on the ballot. We can then do what states like California and Massachusetts did in 1978 and 1980, which dramatically halted property tax increases.
I also feel government should be required to provide every tax payer with a breakdown at the local, county and state level, as to where their money went for the sake of transparency, which will inform citizens as to the areas that need to be addressed when redressing their elected officials.
https://youtube.com/shorts/8eu2R3cN1ls?feature=share
He "can" be inspiring, we need to unite and can defeat them.. Also, we need to forward to our legislators to institute a voucher system, if we can reduce the amount of students entering public schools we can legitimately unite some districts.. Catholic school let us down by closing many of their schools, and taking a voice away; however if we can unite with the Jewish, Muslin and Catholic schools still operating we can create a voice to defeat this evil.. NEVER GIVE UP!!!
You really want your kids attending bigger bureaucratic gummint schools?
Yes and Moms For Liberty only managed to take over once conservatives migrated to Florida during the pandemic and turned the state deep red. New Jersey is deep deep blue. Is that who you want in charge of every school in the state?
The smaller the district the better, it gives more control to parents. The very last thing I want is more centralized control over my kids education. Look at the suburbs of Maryland- the districts are so big the parents have absolutely no say in their kid’s curriculum and redistricting is constantly shuffling kids to different schools and destroying any parent community that gets built up to counteract the school administrators. I want my Superintendent to know my name and have to deal with my family for YEARS.