PITTSGROVE TWP. -- There's now one less school district in the State of New Jersey.

Effective at midnight July 31, the Elmer School District and its board of education ceased to exist after it was absorbed by neighboring Pittsgrove Township.

"This means that we will be able to serve the two populations in a much more cost-effective way," Pittsgrove Township Superintendent of Schools Henry Bermann said Wednesday.

The Pittsgrove and Elmer districts in Salem County were already sharing much before the final approval from the state Department of Education came in mid-July for the consolidation to be completed, officials said.

"This provides a better platform for providing an education to the two communities that share a lot of common interests," Bermann said.

Both board of educations have worked together with the New Jersey Department of Education to ensure that any consolidation would be in the best interest of the communities and the students that the boards serve, Pittsgrove school officials said in announcing the move.

As part of the consolidation, Pittsgrove purchased the Elmer School building for $620,000, officials said. That purchase was one of the last acts of the Elmer board before it was dissolved.

The money will go to the state, officials said, to help settle the debt that the Elmer School District had incurred with the Department of Education over the past few years. Financial problems had required Elmer to borrow money from the state.

As part of the consolidation approval, it was agreed that the $2.8 million that Elmer schools owed to the state would be forgiven.

Pittsgrove will now operate five schools: Norma School for Pre-K and Kindergarten students; Elmer School for grades 1 and 2; Olivet School for grades 3, 4 and 5; Pittsgrove Middle School for grades 6, 7 and 8 and Arthur P. Schalick High School for grades 9 to 12.

There are approximately 240 students from Elmer and 1,600 from Pittsgrove from Pre-K through grade 12.

Because the Elmer school board was dissolved, a representative from Elmer has now been appointed to the Pittsgrove board, making it a 10-member body, Bermann said. Eventually members will be elected at-large from Elmer and Pittsgrove.

As for the district's budget, taxes will be apportioned between the two municipalities based on the percentage of students from each town, officials say.

Bermann said state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assemblyman John Burzicehlli, both D-3rd Dist., had played key roles in getting the needed approvals in Trenton for the consolidation to move forward.

Sweeney has been one of the most vocal lawmakers in pushing consolidation as a way to save taxpayers money.

School officials said the boards from Pittsgrove and Elmer and the Department of Education worked together to ensure this was "a seamless transition."

Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.