Seaside Heights Voters Reject School Merger With Toms River: Unofficial Results

Updated, 6 a.m. April 17

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — Voters in Seaside Heights have rejected a proposal to withdraw from the Central Regional School District and merge the borough's school district with the Toms River Regional Schools, according to unofficial election results.

The proposal to regionalize with Toms River Regional had to be approved by both Seaside Heights and Toms River Regional to move forward.

Unofficial vote tallies in Seaside Heights as of Tuesday night showed 231 votes against the merger and 167 votes in favor, with the district completely reported as of 9 p.m.

The regionalization proposal was strongly favored throughout the Toms River Regional District's four towns — Beachwood, Pine Beach, South Toms River and Toms River — with yes votes on 85 to 90 percent of the ballots cast in those towns, according to the unofficial results posted by the Ocean County Clerk's Office Tuesday night.

There were 8,653 votes cast as of Tuesday night, according to the unofficial tallies, out of 86,530 registered voters among the five towns.

Of mail-in ballots received before the polls closed, in Seaside Heights there were 31 votes in favor, 59 against. For the Toms River Regional District, there were 2,364 votes in favor, 427 against.

"I'm really proud of our community for understanding what's at stake," Toms River Regional Superintendent Michael Citta said Tuesday night. "We have basically 90 percent of our voters saying yes. Sixty-one votes in Seaside Heights kept it from coming to fruition."

Citta made it clear he understood Seaside Heights voters had the right to make that decision for their town.

"Those children are missing out on a great education with our district," he said.

Toms River Regional officials and Seaside Heights borough officials have been pushing for the merger since December, after a 147-page report was released on the potential positives and negatives of a merger.

The regionalization feasibility report said that under certain conditions, a merger of the districts would provide tax relief to Toms River Regional taxpayers, though the full relief would not be immediate because Toms River Regional initially would pay a rebate to Seaside Heights, to ease the impact of the property tax transition.

Initially the proposal was to close Hugh J. Boyd Jr. Elementary School in Seaside Heights, but opponents in Seaside Heights protested vigorously, saying it would harm the students who have smaller class sizes there.

In a compromise announced earlier this year, Toms River Superintendent Michael Citta said the Boyd school would remain open for 2024-25 and up to four years after that, contingent upon enrollment.

Read more: Seaside Heights-Toms River School Regionalization: What It Would Mean

Toms River Regional officials have said they believe the regionalization will make Toms River eligible for additional state aid, based on a law passed in 2023 that benefited the Freehold Regional High School District.

Toms River Regional is facing a $26.5 million budget hole for 2024-25 and district officials are hoping to convince state officials that the district's financial state is dire enough to provide more funding.

Without additional funding or a loan from the state Department of Education, similar to what the Lakewood public schools have received, and what was granted to Jackson Township Schools in 2023-24, Citta has said the district would be faced with cuts that would cripple the district — cuts he has said he won't make.

Read more: 368 Jobs, 'Ridiculous' Class Sizes: Toms River Schools' $26.5M Problem