SPECIAL ELECTION ON REGIONALIZATION
Deadline for registering for the Sept. 26 school election in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands is Tuesday, Sept. 5, 21 days before the special election.
Voting places for the special election, which will be held from noon until 8 p.m., are the Charles Hesse Building for all voters in Atlantic Highlands, and the Highlands Fire House and VFW Post Home for the four districts in Highlands.
Persons wishing to receive absentee ballots for the special election can contact the Monmouth County Board of Elections at 732-431-7790.
The special election was called by the boards of Education for Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Henry Hudson Regional schools.
A yes vote would approve the three boards to combine into one single board and a K-12 school district to replace the current K-6 districts in each town and the 7-12 district of Henry Hudson.
A no vote would keep the three districts the same way they have been for the past approximate 50 years, since Henry Hudson was first opened as a regional school district.
Both boroughs have to approve the question on the ballot in order for it to be approved and enacted in time to be in effect for the 2024 school year.
All three districts share a superintendent of schools, which would not change regardless of the regionalization question.
The Sept. 26 Special election does not include Sea Bright in the formation of a new regional school district, although it was recommended by the two studies conducted both by the school boards and the three boroughs.
The governing bodies of all three towns, and the boards of education of Highlands, Atlantic highlands and Henry Hudson all had unanimously voted to submit that question to the state Commissioner of Education. She has yet to act on that petition.
Should Highlands and Atlantic highlands approve the regionalization question on Sept. 26, and want to include Sea Bright in the new K-12 regional district, that would require another election in all three towns and approval by all three towns in order to enact that some time in the future.
Regionalization of the three schools in the two towns of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands under the question on the Sept. 26 ballot would have both towns sharing equally in the cost of students in the program based on equalized valuation and not student enrollment, regardless of which borough has more students attending.
Currently, Atlantic Highlands has more students in the district than Highlands.
Deadlines for the Sept. 26 election include: September 19 for publication of challenge and complaint procedures for the election, as well as the deadline to apply for a Mail-In Ballot by mail;
September 20 deadline for mailing Sample Ballots for the election;
September 22 deadline for application to receive Mail-In Ballots by electronic means;
September 25 by 3:00 p.m. the deadline for In-Person Mail-In Ballot Applications as well as publication of challenge and complaint procedures for the election;
and 8 p.m. on Sept. 26, the final time and date for voting in person in the special election.
For further information on the election, call the Monmouth County Board of Elections at 732-431-7790 or contact ClerkofElections@co.monmouth.nj.us.
While state taxes fund the special election, municipalities bear the cost of any additional work hours for the borough clerks or staff, including additional hours for voter registration,
Cannot vote for this without sea bright and it will cost highlands more. In addition there will be no change in configuration of schools Both elementary will remain Pre k to 6. Vote no.
Regionalizing without Sea Brights money will eventually cost the taxpayers in Atlantic Highlands and Highlands.
Also there will be very little or no benefit academically for the children.
VOTE NO
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