Hillsborough district will keep six elementary schools, redraw boundaries for 2026–27

Hillsborough Township Public School District officials announced they will keep the district’s six neighborhood elementary schools and instead pursue minimal boundary adjustments to balance enrollment for the 2026–27 school year, district staff said.

"We will be moving forward with maintaining the six existing local community elementary schools," Mr. Handler said, announcing the decision after a review of committee recommendations and data analysis.

District leaders said two structural alternatives were examined but discarded. One proposal to convert Hillsborough Elementary School into a fourth-grade-only campus "did not garner strong community support and critically was not projected to deliver the anticipated financial savings," Mr. Handler said. Another option to convert Triangle School into an early childhood center was dismissed after enrollment projections showed the school "would be immediately at capacity on year one," leaving no room for projected growth.

The district said it will focus on making minimal boundary adjustments to better balance capacity and space across all six elementary schools while accommodating anticipated town growth. "Our primary goal is to adjust the boundaries as minimally as possible to effectively balance capacity and space utilized across all six elementary schools," Mr. Handler said.

Officials set a timeline for outreach: parents will be informed of proposed new boundaries by spring break for the 2026–27 school year, and kindergarten enrollment will open in January. The district said it hopes early registration will improve the accuracy of enrollment projections used to draw boundaries.

To ease transitions for students who must change schools, the district plans to explore visits to new schools and other supports. Staff also described a possible accommodation for current third-graders who would be rising fourth-graders: if space allows, families could opt to keep those students at their existing school for one final year, though "such a plan would likely require parents to provide transportation," Mr. Handler said, because district transportation would not be guaranteed in that area.

District officials emphasized multi-year planning to avoid repeated redistricting, saying they are assessing capacity not only for year one but for years two through four so the district does not need to redraw boundaries again in the immediate future.

The district did not provide a detailed timeline for final adoption of new boundaries or list specific streets or neighborhoods affected. Officials said more specific boundary maps and updates will be provided as their work progresses.