The Cape May and West Cape May school districts are considering consolidation.
The two districts have posted a notice seeking a consultant to study a potential consolidation, with a report due by June 1, 2026.
According to the document, the feasibility study “should address our current situation as two separate school districts, potential impacts that would occur if a merger were to take place and make recommendations for the future of both school districts.”
Each of the two districts has one pre-K to 6 school, and their combined enrollment is 237 students, with about 100 of them coming from the Coast Guard base.
The feasibility study will be supported by a $50,000 Department of Community Services grant from the School Regionalization Efficiency Program, which encourages public school districts across the state who wish “to study the feasibility of school district regionalization and consolidation.”
Given state aid issues over the last several years, the proximity of the two communities and the small enrollment levels at the two schools, they seem like natural candidates for consolidation.
State aid for Cape May Elementary in fiscal 2026 was more than $400,000 less than in 2025, while aid for West Cape May rose by $100,000. The combined state aid for the two districts currently is roughly $2 million, but many factors make state aid a difficult revenue source to predict.
State aid for K-12 education in the county as a whole is down $25 million since 2018.
The two districts’ shared schools superintendent, Zachary Palombo, is one example of the close working relationship between the two schools even as they exist within separate districts. Budget records show that the schools have a shared pre-K program that state records report as having an enrollment of 46 of the combined enrollment of 237 students, about 30% of the total. The schools also share specialty teachers, food and other student services, and select programs.
The call for a consultant to do the feasibility study describes a process that invites comments from stakeholders including parents and local officials.
The county has seen a number of such studies, but none has resulted in consolidation. Studies have been done among Five Mile Island schools and among the Dennis, Woodbine and Middle Township school districts.
The county does have Lower Cape May Regional School District, which accommodates students from Cape May, Cape May Point, West Cape May and Lower Township in grades 7 through 12.
Consolidation discussions in the past have included the option to merge the two Cape Island districts with Lower Township Elementary, which would provide the same combination of students for pre-K to 6 grades as exists in the current regional system.
The feasibility study called for now, however, has the intent of keeping the Cape Island students south of the Cape May Canal until seventh grade.
School budget documents show that the Lower Township Elementary School District, with an enrollment of nearly 1,500, reports a per-pupil cost of $19,139, compared to that statistic for Cape May, $32,053 per pupil, and West Cape May, $28,780.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
