To permanently lower property taxes in New Jersey, communities need to break away from the sense of home rule entitlement that has gripped the state since its founding. A great deal of study has shown we can save money by consolidating certain things, sharing services and merging where a common-sense case can be made — starting with nonoperating schools seems to be a very obvious place to begin.

Assemblyman Joe Cryan, chairman of the Assembly Education Committee, in an editorial in the Star-Ledger on why it made sense to eliminate non-operating school districts.

A school district without schools is the absurd culmination of New Jersey’s brand of microscopic government.

Confronted with the concept of school districts — complete with school boards and administrators — that do not actually educate anyone, many are unable to suppress a snicker.

So the elimination of New Jersey’s 26 “non-operating” school districts is worth celebrating. It’s a small but meaningful victory against nonsense. And New Jersey’s nonsense lobby shouldn’t be underestimated.

Philadelphia Inquirer editorial, which notes that the “nonsense lobby” includes the New Jersey School Boards Association (it lobbied for putting elimination of non-ops to a community vote), and 27 State Legislaters, who voted “nay.”