As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprising nine schools, had an enrollment of 7,288 students and 596.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.2:1.[3]
The district is 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.[7]
History
Previously the district had free half-day kindergarten programs but not free full day kindergarten programs; New Jersey law allows school districts to have half-day kindergarten, and New Jersey law does not have kindergarten as a required educational stage.[8] The district had an option where parents could pay to have their kindergarten-aged children in school the full day with an extension focused on playtime.[9]
In December 2025 the school district enacted plans to create a full day kindergarten program, and it at the time was one of the few remaining school districts in the state to not have full day kindergarten. The district planned to change school attendance boundaries to accommodate larger numbers of students.[10]
By 2026, the school's enrollment exceeded capacity to the point where multiple additional rooms initially not intended to be classrooms, such as the designated principal's office, were used as classrooms. Victoria Gladstone of NJ.com characterized the area around the school as "a more rural section" of the township.[20]
Hillsborough Elementary School was previously the high school prior to 1969 (when the current high school opened), and after that became the middle school. After the current middle school opened in 1975, HES became a K-5 elementary school. However, it would quickly also then house all the 6th graders in town as overcapacity at (the new) HHS resulted in the 9th graders being moved to the new middle school in place of the 6th graders, who were moved down to HES. In 1987, the 9th graders returned to the high school and the 6th graders returned to the middle school from HES after an expansion to the high school was built to house the additional capacity.
Amsterdam School was opened in 1990 after overcapacity at Woods Road School plus new housing developments being built in that section of the township. The school celebrated its 25th anniversary in the 2015-16 school year.[29]
Auten Road Intermediate School was opened in 1999 as a K-5 elementary school. However, when there was overcapacity at Hillsborough Middle School, then a 6-8 school, and the elementary schools (each of which housed 5th grade in addition to K-4 at the time), an expansion was built to Auten Road School to make it a 5-6 school in time for the 2002-03 school year.[30] The other 6 elementary schools would now only house K-4 students and the middle school only had 7-8, and that configuration continues today.
Liberty School was a two-room school built circa 1912 to replace an earlier one-room school of the same name. It was demolished in the early 1990s.[31]
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:[32][33]
Gerald Eckert, business administrator and board secretary[2]
Aiman Mahmoud, the district's business administrator and board secretary, resigned in December 2021. In the following days, Superintendent Lisa Antunes announced that she would be taking a leave of absence. The county prosecutor stated that an investigation into the district's finances would be undertaken in conjunction with the Hillsborough Township police.[34] Mahmoud would be replaced by Gerald Eckert, the district's Assistant Business Administrator / Board Secretary from January 2008 to August 2014. After that, he was the Business Administrator / Board Secretary in Randolph Township Schools until he returned to Hillsborough.[2] Antunes would eventually resign as superintendent in April 2022 during her leave of absence.[35] She had been the superintendent since May 2020 after previously serving as acting superintendent from October 2019 to May 2020 after the abrupt retirement of previous superintendent Jorden Schiff.[36][37] After Antunes began her leave of absence and after she resigned, Assistant Superintendent Kim Feltre would serve as acting superintendent. In August 2022, Daniel Fishbein was hired to serve as interim superintendent. Michael Volpe would become the permanent superintendent in January 2023.[38][1][39]
Board of education
The district's board of education, composed of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2013) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.[40][41][42]
↑Hillsborough Township Board of Education District Policy 0110 - Identification, Hillsborough Township Public Schools. Accessed May 15, 2020. "Purpose: The Board of Education exists for the purpose of providing a thorough and efficient system of free public education in grades pre-kindergarten through 12 in the Hillsborough Township School District. Composition: The Hillsborough Township School District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of Hillsborough Township. Millstone Borough is included in the district under the terms of a sending-receiving relationship."
↑Hirsch, Rod. "Hillsborough School Board Acknowledges Criminal Probe into Finances", TAP into Hillsborough, December 24, 2021. Accessed January 3, 2022. "Five days after the abrupt resignation of Business Administrator/Board Secretary Aiman Mahmoud, the Hillsborough School Board sent a message to parents and the school community early Friday morning acknowledging an ongoing audit of the office and an investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office and Hillsborough Police.... The letter does not reference the temporary leave of absence of Schools Supt. Dr. Lisa Antunes, announced Wednesday, or the status of a second employee who works in the Central School District office, who was put on a leave of absence by the school board Monday night. The Somerset County Prosecutor Wednesday confirmed a joint investigation with township police into the finances of the Hillsborough Public Schools following Mahmoud's resignation, which was recommended by Antunes."
↑Annual Comprehensive Financial Report of the Hillsborough Township School District, New Jersey Department of Education, for year ending June 30, 2023. Accessed April 13, 2024. "The Board is an instrumentality of the State of New Jersey, established to function as an educational institution. The Board consists of elected officials and is responsible for the fiscal control of the District. A superintendent is appointed by the Board and is responsible for the administrative control of the District." See "Roster of Officials" on page 11.
↑About the Board of Education, Hillsborough Township School District. Accessed January 23, 2020. "The Hillsborough Township Board of Education, both as a state agency and as the elected representative body of the citizens of the Township on school matters, is legally responsible for education in our school district.... The Board is comprised of nine members each serving three year terms. Members of the Board of Education volunteer their time and are not offered compensation."
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