A heads up for New Jersey's roughly 600 school districts.
You may soon be forced to merge or share services, as lawmakers try to rein in the rising costs of funding schools.
State Senator Vin Gopal is working on legislation that will require school consolidation.
And, he says save money by cutting back on administrative and even professional costs.
For example, in the 2022 tax year, more than half of the $32 billion towns and counties collected in property taxes went solely to schools.
Senator Paul is planning to introduce the bill as early as next month, but it's going to be a tough sell.
He joins me now for more on how he plans to do it.
Senator Gopal, it's good to see you.
I mean, I don't have to tell you that school mergers is a goal of that's been talked about for years, and it has yet to be achieved in a meaningful way.
That saves the state a lot more money.
What's your proposal look like so far?
Sure.
Good to be with you, Brianna.
I new Jersey has over 600 school districts, and we've talked about this as a state for a long time.
We've talked a lot as it relates to incentives, and it's just not working.
I think we're at a unique point right now where with over 600 school districts, hundreds, of government agencies in between, a lot of bureaucracy.
New Jersey having the most segregated school districts in the country, the time now is to mandate it.
And I think as chairman of the Senate Education Committee, I'm going to do everything I can to mandate consolidation over the next two years.
That's pretty bold.
If I do say so.
So you're not looking at necessarily a ballot initiative or other incentives, but mandating it, you're saying is on the table, for to in order to achieve this.
Yes.
Everybody talks about New Jersey's high cost, our affordability crisis.
And when we look again, 600 plus school districts have care broker, waste management, snow removal lawyers.
It administrative costs.
We have school districts that are as small as 2 to 300 students, and they still have the same academic buildings they have where 20% of those buildings are, are filled.
So I understand New Jersey's addiction to home rule.
But when we are facing the highest property taxes in the country, it's time now to mandate consolidation and start moving districts towards mandating, especially when they're districts that are less than 500 students, as well as regional izing and sharing these costs at a countywide level, when it comes to sharing administrative costs.
How do you plan on getting your colleagues on board with this and just local governments on board?
It's the old saying, unfortunately, everybody loves consolidation.
They just don't love it in their own backyard.
We're going to show them the taxpayers savings.
We're going to show them the efficiencies.
When you have two school districts, and you have, for example, a K to eight and then a regional high school and the child graduating eighth grade isn't even they're not even coordinating the curricula with the regional high school and on a totally different board of education.
There is so much new Jersey has great public schools, and we can keep that incredible quality of our great public education, but we can make new Jersey more affordable.
And when we talk around the state and we talk around the country to our friends and other other states.
New Jersey has way too much government at school districts.
Its parking authority sewer authority's 565 municipalities.
To say that this is the most effective way to have school districts with 2 to 300 kids.
Are they getting a thorough and efficient education?
Absolutely not.
But you feel strongly or at least confident, Senator, that just by showing them that information, you're going to be able to persuade folks who have largely pushed back against this for many years.
I think that this is going to be a very tough lift.
I'm not at all thinking this is going to be easy, but I'm going to lobby.
I'm going to campaign, and I'm going to do it.
Incentives do not work.
Saying that, you know, we're going to we're going to, give you give you funds and we're going to give you help from the state has not worked.
We need to mandate this.
Just one example.
When I've got a school district that has gone from 600 students down to 200 students in the last decade.
How how can that be a proper, how can the losing state funding.
They're not providing proper mental health services.
They're not providing proper special education services.
They can't exist as a school district anymore.
And I think we're going to have to look at that across the state.
We'll be checking back in with you on that.
Senator Vin Gopal for us.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.