ROCKY HILL — The Rocky Hill School District has been shut down and will be merged into the Montgomery Township School District, as the result of legislation enacted this week that defines the procedure for the elimination of nonoperating school districts.

   The Board of Education received official notification from the state Department of Education on Wednesday that the district had been shut down, effective the same day.

   Department spokeswoman Kathryn Forsyth said 13 nonoperating districts statewide were eliminated Wednesday, July 1, to coincide with the start of the new fiscal year.

   With no school of its own, the Rocky Hill School District pays about $1.2 million in tuition annually to send nearly 100 of its residents’ children to Montgomery Township schools.

   Though it has increased significantly in the past two years, borough residents pay a significantly lower school tax rate than their neighbors in Montgomery Township.

   In the future, it is recommended that the borough’s tax levy be determined through a formula based on 38.5 percent equalized value of residents’ homes, with the remainder based on pupil enrollment, according to the state Department of Education.

   The legislation, signed into law by Gov. Jon Corzine on Tuesday, clarified the procedures for executive county superintendents to eliminate nonoperating school districts and merge them into existing ones.

   Though it seems sudden, the shutdown has been long coming, Ms. Forsyth said. In 2007, the state Legislature passed a law requiring the elimination of nonoperating districts, which was supposed to be completed nearly a year ago.

   Rocky Hill was one of 26 nonoperating districts in the state, and one of two in Somerset County. The other, Millstone, was also shut down Wednesday and merged into the Hillsborough Township School District.

   The timing of the elimination of the 13 remaining nonoperating districts has not been determined, Ms. Forsyth said.

   The borough maintained its own Board of Education, whose responsibilities included overseeing finances, arranging transportation, arranging some special education and advocating for the borough’s children in Montgomery schools. There is currently no seat on the Montgomery Board of Education to represent Rocky Hill students.

   Under the new legislation, a representative from Rocky Hill will be appointed to Montgomery’s school board until the next election in April, when the seat is voted on at large.

   Officials are concerned that this means Rocky Hill will then no longer have a voice on the school board.

   ”It seems it would be very difficult for a Millstone or Rocky Hill resident to be elected to the receiving districts’ schools based on population,” said Frank Chilson, secretary for both school boards.

   An injunction was expected to be filed Wednesday on behalf of the Rocky Hill and Millstone school boards in an attempt to stop the shut down, he said. Among its objections, the injunction states that the community was not given the opportunity to vote on the issue, he said.

   ”It’s really taxation without representation,” Mr. Chilson.

   Borough Mayor Ed Zimmerman said he also is concerned about the disenfranchisement of Rocky Hill voters.

   ”The biggest issue here is we’ve got nine months of an appointed person over there and then we’ll never have a say in education again, or taxes,” he said.

   He added that the figures behind the decision to merge the districts were not provided to the borough, so the impact on taxpayers remains unclear.

   ”Nobody is saying it’s a bad idea. We just don’t have the information to know,” he said Wednesday.

   The Borough Council recently passed a resolution to enter into a professional services agreement with the law firm Lindabury, McCormick Estabrook & Cooper to conduct a study into the tax implications of a merger or regionalization of its school district at a cost of $3,000. The study has not been completed.

   The office of the county Superintendent of Schools declined to comment, directing calls to the state Department of Education. Somerset County Executive Superintendent of Schools Trudy Doyle was out of the office Wednesday.

   Gov. Corzine called the legislation a positive step toward school district consolidation.

   ”This legislation that I am signing is another important component in our effort to share services and reduce the size of government,” he said. “By merging with neighboring districts, students will receive the same quality education as before, and we will also begin to bring more rhyme and reason to our system of school districts across the state.”

   Montgomery Township School District Business Administrator Tom Venanzi said the only information the district had received was that the amount of local tax revenue that Rocky Hill had approved for its budget would be turned over to Montgomery for its operations next year.

   ksnodgrass

@centraljersey.com