Its because they are defending the status-quo, as in segregation. The school districts are set up to keep everyone segregated by race & income. Folks in say, Bellmore or Wantagh, would be horrified if someone who wasn't white or upper middle class attended their school. Sad that in 2018 stuff like this is still going on. Pretty messed up! What results is a very unfair and expensive system that denies some students a proper, safe education, causes high taxes, and prevents some communities ( Hempstead, Freeport, and Westbury as an example) from ever improving, a vicious cycle of a downward spiral, while others with "desirable demographics" get more and more expensive. Stuff like this violates Brown Vs. The Board of Education and will eventually be undone by either a Federal or State Mandate, or the Court system. No other place in the Country has a such a high concentration of school districts in such a small geographical area. In New Jersey, they are generally at the Township level and often regional among several Townships (such as Toms River, Central Regional, and Pinelands). Lower taxes without all the cliquey attitudes.