Home rule aside, if taxpayers want to see savings, good schools and maintain manageable class sizes, creating 21 school districts to match 21 counties is the only way to go. There are already 21 county superintendents. Think about 21 teachers contracts. Think about fewer high-paid administrators in all those 600 school districts. In 2006, a few Democrats in the Legislature thought about it as well. Back then, the proposal went as far as light rail has in Bergen County. Nowhere.

It is a radical idea. This isn’t merging of services, the catch-all phrase for buying paper supplies in bulk. This is rethinking what an efficient system of providing quality public education really is. County districts would be able to reflect communities’ needs. There are ways of creating mechanisms for additional teacher pay for teaching in urban classrooms, of allowing communities to opt in for extra programs and services for additional fees. The much-pushed charter school movement would allow for the creation of public schools for specialized disciplines in communities that wanted them.

Alfred Doblin in today’s Record.