LUARC, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission, is ready to get serious about consolidating “doughnut hole” communities with their surrounding municipalities. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that LUARC Commissioner Robert F. Casey announced 26 possible mergers in North Jersey, though he doesn’t have the authority to mandate any mergers, but can only make “strong recommendations.”

New Jersey has more towns and cities per square mile than any state in America.

Think of it this way. With all the hoopla about Swine Flu (or H1N1, if you want to get technical), school districts across New Jersey started preparing for possible epidemics. Because each district is responsible for its own operations and calendars, over 500 superintendents and other school officials spent a couple of days last week on conference calls with the D.O.E., meeting with local health departments, gathering data, writing memos to thousands of school board members, writing separate letters to parents, meeting with local union officials, fielding tons of phone calls. We could try to put a dollar figure on the time spent based on annual salaries of superintendents, but that would be scary.

Might it have been a better use of resources to have our esteemed Executive County Superintendents perform these tasks and make decisions on a county-wide basis?