After more than a century of operating, one of New Jersey’s smallest school districts will close its only school at the end of the academic year.
Ocean Gate Elementary School students will instead attend schools in a neighboring district in Ocean County under a newly approved agreement.
During a brief public meeting Tuesday, the Ocean Gate Board of Education unanimously approved a five-year, renewable agreement with the Berkeley Township School District that will allow Ocean Gate students to attend Berkeley schools beginning next fall.
The decision means Ocean Gate Elementary School will close after years of financial difficulties and a recently failed tax hike to help keep it afloat.
“For more than a century, Ocean Gate Elementary has been the heart of our town, a place for generations of children have learned, grew and built their foundations for who they become,” Ocean Gate School Board President Richard Casey said at the meeting. “We did everything we could to protect Ocean Gates independence while honoring the voices and concerns of our residents.”
Ocean Gate Elementary began as a one-room schoolhouse with an outhouse in 1914 and later expanded to the current building, the school district said.
Under the new agreement, Ocean Gate will pay tuition to the Berkeley Township schools for its students under a state-set formula.
Students will remain in their current elementary school for the rest of the academic year before transitioning to Berkeley schools in September.
Ocean Gate students already attend Central Regional School District schools for middle school and high school.
According to Casey, rising costs and a more than 60% drop in state aid under New Jersey’s revised school funding formula made it unsustainable for the district to keep its lone elementary school open.
The state funding law, passed in 2018 and phased in over several years, was intended to redirect funding from districts considered overfunded to those deemed underfunded. But some districts say the formula has unfairly reduced their aid.
Ocean Gate’s state aid fell from about $951,000 in the 2019–20 school year to roughly $367,000 this year. During that same period, enrollment increased by about 13%, the district said.
After facing a nearly $700,000 budget gap this year, school board members proposed raising taxes by nearly 27% to help close the shortfall and keep the school open.
The measure would have increased property taxes by about $53 per month, or $636 per year, for the average home assessed at $413,297 in the Ocean County borough.
Voters rejected the proposal in January, leaving the district with few options.
The small district serves about 149 students in grades pre-K through 6 and employs 14 full-time teachers and three part-time teachers, according to district figures. More than a dozen instructional aides also work in the district.
Ocean Gate’s tenured teachers will be employed in the Berkeley Township School District. Non-tenured staff are not guaranteed employment, though they may be hired if positions are available, school board officials said.
The Berkeley Township School District operates four elementary schools serving nearly 2,400 students from preschool through sixth grade, according to district figures.
While Ocean Gate will no longer operate its own school, the borough will still have a board of education. Instead of overseeing a school, the board will manage the district’s finances, including tuition payments and district assets.
The future of the Ocean Gate Elementary School building has not been decided. Local officials said the property will be evaluated in the coming months to determine whether it should be sold.
In the months leading up to the decision, parents and teachers packed board meetings to speak in support of the district’s only school. Many highlighted the school’s small class sizes, early support for students with special needs and the tight-knit environment they worry could disappear in a larger district.
“While this moment is emotional, it’s not an ending. It’s a transition,” Casey said. “One shaped by resilience, honesty and love for our town.”
