The Salem County freeholder board is hiring a consultant to study whether switching to a single, county-wide public school district has merit.

Officials have approved spending up to $17,500 on studying the educational and financial implications of reducing the district’s 14 school districts to one, though county freeholder boards do not have the authority to order a school district to dissolve.

Freeholder Director Benjamin Laury said that while he supports the study he is not taking a position on consolidation.

“Is it a possibility? Let’s study it, and let’s find out. I really don’t know,” Laury told NJ Advance Media.

Laury added that a state grant will fully cover the cost of the study. The plan is to hire the consultant by April 7.

Zenaida Cobian, superintendent of the Penns Grove-Carney Point regional school district, said she is keeping an open mind.

“I’m all for the study,” Cobian said, adding that student transportation, possible job losses and the tax impact are among the factors worth reviewing.

“In order to make an informed decision, you need to know all the parameters,” Cobian said.

The freeholder board authorized the study via a resolution Dec. 30, fourteen months after a panel convened by State Senate President Stephen Sweeney - whose district includes all of Salem County - called for regionalizing the state’s elementary and middle school districts into larger, K-12 districts.

Under that plan, 278 of the state’s nearly 600 school districts would be eliminated, including seven in Salem County, according to an NJ Advance Media analysis.

Salem County’s 14 districts include two, county-wide districts - the Salem County Special Services School District and the Salem County Vocational Technical School District.

Asked about reaction from parents, Cobian said it is likely that many are not yet aware of the review.

“We are in the beginning stages,” she said.

There are numerous hurdles to regionalization under state law. A county-wide district in Salem, for example, would pick up the tab for outstanding school construction bond payments from the individual districts. The salary guide from the district with the largest number of teachers, typically a more generous package, would apply to all teachers.

For those and other reasons, school district consolidations in New Jersey are rare, and no counties offer a single, unified district. In Salem County, the former school district in Elmer joined the Pittsgrove school district about a decade ago, after both school boards approved the agreement.

Laury said the study might result in recommendations short of a county-wide consolidation. He speculated that it might explore shared-services arrangements for school meals or transportation.

“We really don’t have a dog in this fight. We’re there to facilitate it,” he said of the study.

A joint statement from the Salem County freeholder board asserted that the goals of a “unified” district “would be to improve the quality of instruction, assure educational equity and maximize savings of taxpayer dollars.”

The consultant will be asked to analyze demographic and population trends, labor agreements with teachers and administrators, programming and transportation, among other factors.

The N.J. Department of Education is available to help Salem County in its review, department spokesperson Michael Yaple said.

“Whenever a local community wants to explore approaches to improve academics, increase diversity and provide opportunities for students, the department stands ready to provide data and resources," Yaple said.

Cobian said other districts might embrace joining with Penns Grove-Carney Point, which enrolls 2,400 and has the largest and most diverse student population in Salem County.

“Schools need to look into exposing students to diversity, which is what prepares them for the world,” Cobian said.

Salem County is the least-populated of New Jersey’s 21 counties, with 62,000 residents, and Cobian said staffing in individual districts can pose a challenge.

“At times, it is difficult to find teachers that are certified in the subject area, and those teachers can be found in another district,” Cobian said.

Laury said the study is being funded via the new, $10 million Local Efficiency Achievement Program (LEAP) program, announced in September by Gov. Phil Murphy with the aim of promoting local shared services and school consolidation studies.

Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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