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New Jersey鈥檚 gubernatorial candidates both want school districts to consolidate as a cost-saving maneuver, but they differ on whether the state should force districts to merge with their neighbors.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, said during that she would first incentivize mergers but added that compulsory consolidation was an option.

鈥淚鈥檇 start by offering the carrot to help the areas that want to consolidate, but when there are areas that are not putting enough money into students, into educators, into the buildings, and then they are taking a lot of money in property taxes and from the state level, then we鈥檒l have to start to look at compulsory movements,鈥� Sherrill said.

Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman, likewise said he would seek to boost incentives and assistance to municipalities and school districts seeking mergers, but he pledged not to force them.

鈥淚 do not believe that our state government should force consolidation. That鈥檚 up to the locals,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l tell you what, if you do consolidate or you do regionalize, Governor Ciattarelli will help incentivize that to make it easier.鈥�

Sherrill and Ciattarelli are vying to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who cannot seek a third term in November.

Officials have long hailed school consolidation as a means of easing local property taxes by reducing duplicative administrative and facilities costs, but uptake has been slow.

New Jersey had 590 operating school districts during the 2024-2025 school year, according to state data, down from 599 in the 2020-2021 school year.

The number of non-operating districts 鈥� districts that have a board of education but send all their students to schools in outlying districts 鈥� fell from 17 to 16 over that same time period. Sherrill signaled those districts could be the first merged if she wins the governor鈥檚 race.

鈥淲e have some school districts who have the whole administrative cost, all of the buildings, and yet they鈥檙e not even running a K-12 school system, so we do need to merge some of these school districts,鈥� she said.

Schools consume a majority of local property taxes 鈥� 52% of all those collected in 2024, according to property tax tables published by the Department of Community Affairs 鈥� and the more than $15.1 billion in school aid approved in the current state budget accounted for more than a quarter of all spending approved in the annual appropriations bill for the current July-to-June fiscal year. That total includes more than $4 billion in combined special education, transportation, and other categories of aid separate from the state鈥檚 school funding formula.

Ciattarelli suggested school vouchers 鈥� which allow property tax dollars to follow a student to a private school, a public school outside their district, or a charter school 鈥� could be a fix for ailing districts.

鈥淲hen a school system is failing 鈥� and there鈥檚 some reasonable metrics that tell us whether or not a school system is failing 鈥� there鈥檚 got to be choice,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat choice comes in the form of vouchers. That choice comes in the form of charter schools.鈥�

Because vouchers typically draw from school district funding, they could cause funding to decline at in-district public schools as students seek education elsewhere.

New Jersey lawmakers have considered聽聽or shared service agreements, but to date, such mergers have been entirely voluntary.

Murphy, who has generally favored school mergers, last year said he was 鈥渘ot wild about compulsory鈥� consolidation, cautioning that home rule, a constitutional framework that gives local governments broad authority over the administration of school and other municipal services, could limit forced mergers.

A law he signed in 2022 created grants for districts to study whether consolidation was feasible, though only a handful of districts have explored such mergers since.

Cape May City Elementary School and West Cape May Elementary School are the latest to receive grants to explore a merger. Together, the two Cape May County schools have just 241 students.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: [email protected].

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