In I/M/O the Verified Petition for the Proposed Creation of a PK-12 All-Purpose Regional School District by the Borough of Sea Bright (A-68-24) (090182) (Decided December 8, 2025), the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the Borough of Sea Bright can withdraw from the two school districts currently serving its public school students and join an all-purpose regional school district pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11(a).
Facts of the Case
When the Legislature enacted N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11(a), Sea Bright was exploring the possibility of withdrawing from the Oceanport School District, with which it had merged for the education of its kindergarten to eighth grade students, and the Shore Regional High School District, where it sent its ninth to twelfth grade students, to join the school districts of the Borough of Highlands and the Borough of Atlantic Highlands as well as Henry Hudson Regional High School in a proposed all-purpose regional school district. Sea Bright adopted a resolution incorporating that proposal in June 2022.
The districts from which Sea Bright seeks to withdraw challenge its eligibility to take that action. The Commissioner of Education found that N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11(a) empowers Sea Bright to seek to withdraw from the two school districts. The Appellate Division affirmed that determination. The Appellate Division concluded that “Sea Bright is a governing body of a local school district constituting a constituent district of a limited purpose regional district (Shore Regional) . . . or part of a consolidated school district (Oceanport)” that may withdraw from those districts “in order to form or enlarge a limited purpose or all purpose regional district (Henry Hudson).”
NJ Supreme Court’s Decision
The New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously affirmed. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote on behalf of the Court.
“Based on the plain language of the relevant statutes, we hold that a municipality in Sea Bright’s position is a governing body authorized to pursue withdrawal from a school district to form or enlarge a regional school district pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11,” Chief Justice Rabner wrote. “Accordingly, Sea Bright may file a petition seeking the Commissioner’s approval of its proposed withdrawal.”
The New Jersey Supreme Court first addressed Oceanport and Shore Regional’s argument that when Sea Bright merged with Oceanport on July 1, 2009, as N.J.S.A. 18A:8-44 required, Sea Bright ceased to constitute a governing body authorized to act in the absence of a board of education for purposes of the regionalization statutes, and thus, has no authority to independently seek to withdraw from Oceanport or Shore Regional. Like the Appellate Division, it rejected the argument.
In doing so, the Court construed N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11 in accordance with the New Jersey Legislature’s goal to promote the regionalization of school districts. It went on to find that by virtue of the 2009 merger of Sea Bright and Oceanport pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:8-44, the merged district was “governed by the provisions of chapter 13 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.” Chief Justice Rabner wrote:
Nothing in that chapter suggests — let alone provides — that a municipality in Sea Bright’s position, having merged with another district in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:8-44, lacks the authority to seek to withdraw from that district to form or enlarge a regional district. When the Legislature directed that merged districts be governed by chapter 13, Title 18A, it clearly intended to empower a municipality such as Sea Bright to invoke N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11(a)’s withdrawal provision.
The New Jersey Supreme Court went on to reject the argument that the Legislature addressed “consolidated” districts but not “merged” districts in N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11. In support, it cited that the terms have similar meanings, and the Department of Education has used the terms “consolidate” and “consolidation” instead of “merger” to describe the process by which Sea Bright and Oceanport combined. As Chief Justice Rabner further explained:
There is no indication in N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11 or any other provision of chapter 13 that a school district, once merged into another district under N.J.S.A. 18A:8-44, is prohibited from filing a petition to withdraw from the merged district to form or enlarge a regional district. Had the Legislature intended to constrain its regionalization scheme as Oceanport and Shore Regional claim that it did, it would have done so in plain terms.
The Court did not address whether Sea Bright can satisfy the criteria prescribed in N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11(a)(2) to (8). Instead, it advised that in the event that Sea Bright files a petition in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:13-47.11(a), that decision will be made by the Commissioner of Education in consultation with the Director of the Division of Local Government Services, as the statute requires.
