Branchburg Township School District
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| Branchburg Township School District | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Address | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
240 Baird Road
, Somerset County, New Jersey, 08876United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°34′25″N 74°42′53″W / 40.573516°N 74.714605°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Grades | PreK to 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Superintendent | Christine Burton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Business administrator | Stephanie Voorhees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Schools | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Students and staff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Enrollment | 1,396 (as of 2024–25)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Faculty | 163.0 FTEs[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Student–teacher ratio | 8.6:1[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| District Factor Group | I | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Branchburg Township School District is a community public school district serving students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade from Branchburg, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[3]
As of the 2024–25 school year, the district, comprised of three schools, had an enrollment of 1,396 students and 163.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.6:1.[1]
The public secondary school serving Branchburg for ninth through twelfth grades is Somerville High School, which students attend as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Somerville Public Schools.[4][5] As of the 2024–25 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 1,072 students and 94.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.4:1.[6]
The sending / receiving relationship between Branchburg and Somerville was formalized in a 1956 agreement between the two districts, though Branchburg students had attended Somerville High School before that time. In 1970, the Somerville district determined that rising enrollments meant that it would no longer be able to include students from Branchburg and set 1975 as the end date for the sending relationship. Branchburg started the process of acquiring a 76-acre (31 ha) site for its own high school that could accommodate up to 950 students.[7]
In May 1971, Somerville reconsidered its planned termination of the sending arrangement and informed Branchburg that its students would still be welcome in Somerville even after the planned 1975 date. Despite the failure of a referendum to pay for a new Branchburg high school, the Branchburg district decided that it wanted to terminate the relationship, even after Somerville had reconsidered its decision. Branchburg filed a petition in 1975 with the New Jersey Department of Education seeking to terminate the send/receive agreement.[7]
Based on a report by the hearing examiner released in 1977, Commissioner of Education Fred G. Burke issued a 1978 decision that the petition be rejected based on the ability of Somerville to serve students from Branchburg with a quality high school education, the financial impact of higher per-pupil costs to both municipalities and the creation of greater racial imbalance in the Somerville district. The State Board of Education agreed with the commissioner's decision and Branchburg's appeal to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division was rejected in a 1980 decision.[7][8]
The district had been classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "I", the second-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[9]
Schools
Schools in the district (with 2024–25 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[10]) are:[11][12][13][14]
- Elementary schools
- Whiton Elementary School[15] with 617 students in grades PreK–3
- Dee Shober, principal[16]
- Stony Brook School[17] with 310 students in grades 4–5
- Kristen Kries, principal[18]
- Middle school
