Bd. of Educ. of the Rancocas Valley Regional High School District v. New Jersey State Bd. of Educ.
The Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court has ruled that the “equal proportions” method utilized by a county superintendent of schools to reapportion the number of seats among municipalities on a regional board of education did not violate the state’s statutory directive that apportionment be made “as nearly as may be according to the number of their inhabitants.” Based on the 2000 federal census, the Burlington County Superintendent of Schools sought to reapportion the number of seats assigned to each of the five municipalities that make up the Rancocas Valley Regional High School District. The superintendent used the “equal proportions” method that resulted in one municipality losing a seat and another gained a seat. The school district challenged the reapportionment on behalf of the municipality that lost a seat. The district argued that the superintendent was not authorized to use the “equal proportions” method under state law, but rather required to use the “strict population” method that would have resulted in no change. The Appellate Division found nothing in the language of the statute or previous case law to support the school district’s position. It concluded that the statute merely expressed a goal not a method for achieving the goal. It said, “The specific method used to achieve that goal is left to the discretion of the responsible education officials. As long as the method used is rational and nondiscriminatory, and is based on population, its use does not constitute an abuse of discretion.”
Board of Education of the Rancocas Valley Regional High School District v. New Jersey State Board of Education, No. A0368-02T2 (N.J.Super. December 11, 2003)
Full opinion: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a0368-02.pdf