The state’s current regionalization program, the CORE plan, primarily resulted from an overriding concern about local property taxes.

In fact, the authorizing legislation, the 2007 CORE Act, emanated from the Legislature’s Special Session on Property Tax Reform. The statute created the position of Executive County Superintendent and gave that official the responsibility to conduct studies and develop plans to regionalize districts within his or her jurisdiction.

State-level interest in regionalization is nothing new. For years, legislators and governors have bemoaned the fact that New Jersey has over 600 school districts (and 566 municipalities). Since 1969, several studies sponsored by state government and organizations have recommended reducing the number of school districts, mostly through administrative fiat from Trenton. By and large, the studies recommended configuring districts into K-12 units.

The studies cited cost-efficiency, educational continuity and ease of administration as reasons to force regionalization. They went nowhere. The current plan, established by the CORE Act, is the first legislated effort to regionalize school districts on a statewide basis.

High school regional districts, their constituent elementary districts and districts involved in sending-receiving relationships are potential subjects of the Executive County Superintendents’ proposals, according to the December 2008 Accountability Regulations. Designed to carry out the CORE Act, the regulations also make it clear that existing K-12 districts will not be exempt from the proposals.