Notice was sent to the boroughs of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright that the state Commissioner of Education has denied the complaint against Sea Bright filed by Oceanport and Shore Regional High School.
Highlands Mayor Carolyn Broullon was the first to make the news known to her residents, telling the residents of that borough she had ‘great news’ and read from the letter from the Acting Commissioner of Education at last night’s council meeting.
The Commissioner’s decision means Sea Bright is no longer “encumbered” in its quest to join a new tri-town K-12 regional school with the Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson Regional. The complaint which was denied by the Commissioner was also filed against the boards of education of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson.
This means when mediation takes place later this month to determine cost sharing between Highlands and Atlantic Highlands with the inclusion of the millions of dollars Sea Bright anticipates bringing into the new regional district, Atlantic Highlands and Highlands will now be able to mediate a single route with the inclusion of Sea Bright, rather than parallel paths, the second one excluding Sea Bright.
Atlantic Highlands Borough Council has indicated in the past it would move forward to include Sea Bright once that borough was unencumbered. The Commissioner’s decision now makes that possible. In dismissing the action from the two districts in which Sea Bright now sends its children for education, the Commissioner has indicated the borough has the right to exit from the Oceanport and Shore Regional districts and seek entry into a newly formed school district. The focus of the mediation now will be to finalize the funding formulas for the future with Sea Bright students in the district.
The Mayors and Councils, their financial consultants and administrators will meet to resolve that issue and the question of a tri-town regionalization can then be placed on the ballot to let the residents of all three towns express their opinions and make the final decision.
In her final decision on the matter, the Commissioner gave a brief history explaining that currently Sea Bright students go to Oceanport and Shore Regional in the absence of schools in their own borough, and the governing body wishes to leave those districts and join the boards of education of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands, and Henry Hudson Regional in a new all-purpose K-12 regional school district comprised of those three towns.
The borough passed a resolution authorizing special counsel to file a petition with the Commissioner seeking that approval and putting the question before the voters as a referendum. Highlands and Atlantic Highlands did likewise
In their petitions, the boards of education of Oceanport and Shore Regional asked the Commissioner to find the resolutions invalid, saying the borough does not have the authority to withdraw by resolution from their districts or to pursue a referendum on the creation or enlargement of a regional school district. Those districts also indicated the November election date referenced in the resolutions is not authorized by statute.
Read the entire Decision Here Sea Bright
