NJ Education Report

Today’s Trentonian posits a thought experiment on the consolidation of municipalities in Mercer County. The new map is formed with input from State Sen. Kip Bateman (R-Somerville) and Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. The proposition is buoyed by a Princeton U.Woodrow Wilson School survey of Mercer County residents, 42% of whom favor some form of consolidation.

The Trentonian doesn’t specifically call for statewide county districts, but it suggests that model for Mercer County. So, according to the map, West Windsor and East Windsor merge, along with Highstown. Pennington and Hopewell are a natural municipal marriage, especially as the schools are already merged. Hamilton unifies with Allentown and Robbinsville. Ewing and Trenton are one city. Lawrence (full disclosure: my hometown) stands alone, for reasons I can speculate about but won’t, except to say that they’re municipal issues and not school ones.

Hmmff. Bloody unlikely, at least with schools. Go ahead, tell Robbinsville, a wealthy district with test scores to die for, that it’s now one with Hamilton, well-known for its nepotistic and dysfunctional school board. Ewing and Trenton? R-i-g-h-t. West Windsor is a stellar school, with an “I” District Factor Grouping (the second highest possible socio-economic profile), while East Windsor’s NCLB scores label its high school as in its 6th year as a School in Need of Improvement.

On the other hand (this is a thought experiment, right), imagine the efficiencies, the cost savings, and, most importantly, the tearing down of walls that segregate one set of children from another. Pipe dream? Maybe. But still worth a few minutes of pondering.