Liberty Township ends fight to withdraw from Great Meadows school district

LIBERTY TWP. | A new state school funding formula validated by the New Jersey Supreme Court in May made headlines for ending the system of special help for Phillipsburg and 30 other urban school districts.

But it also ended a contentious disparity between two townships in the rural Great Meadows Regional School District.

Liberty Township officials Thursday announced they will cease their years-long effort to withdraw from the district they share with neighboring Independence Township.

They credited that effort for providing some incentive for the formula's restructuring.

"Great Meadows Regional has been front and center (on the issue) for three years," said Deputy Mayor John Fisher. "I believe that the challenge we presented had a bit to do with the change."

Formed in 1993, Great Meadows has three schools: Liberty Elementary School, Independence Township Central School and Great Meadows Regional Middle School. Both townships send students to Hackettstown High School for grades nine through 12. It was one of just three regional districts to form in New Jersey in 25 years, officials said.

If Liberty had remained a stand-alone district, the township would have received about $1.6 million more in state aid than it did as a regional district three years ago.

With the funding formula change, that difference in the 2009-10 school year has been reduced to about $340,000, which prompted the township's legal counsel to recommend ceasing the battle.

The Liberty committee unanimously agreed. The township is reserving the right to resurrect its applications to withdraw from the regional district if the state funding changes.

Previous attempts by the township to withdraw from the district were thwarted by the state Department of Education and, most recently, the state Appellate Division court, both of which said the redistricting would prove too costly to both municipalities.

Liberty filed a petition to withdraw from the district in February 2007. Later that year, a referendum to restructure the district's taxes also failed.

Liberty Mayor John Inscho said it was sad there was "bad blood" between Independence and Liberty during the fight, but officials on both sides said they were glad it is over.

"We're glad to see it's settled in a way that's equitable," said Great Meadows Regional School Board President Jennifer Cassini.