For the second time in about seven months, Jackson Township has recommended the closure and redistricting of a school.

The board’s recommendation, unveiled Wednesday, involves closing Goetz Middle School. Jackson Memorial High School would become a middle school for seventh and eighth graders, leaving the newer Jackson Liberty High School as the district’s only high school. McAuliffe Middle School would become an “upper elementary” school serving grades five and six.

The final decision will come at the next meeting on Feb. 5.

“Our students are getting less than what we think they deserve,” said Superintendent Nicole Pormilli. “This isn't anything anybody ever really wants to do in a school district, but it's necessary.”

Pormilli says seven years of budget cuts have taken their toll. The district only made the budget this year by closing and selling Rosenauer Elementary for $13 million. It will take a similar plan to cut year-over-year costs.

“All the schools that my children have gone through through Jackson, I felt they've always been like a little family,” said one parent. “The principals always knew both my kids and I don't know if it's going to be the same.”

Jackson Township is one of the largest in New Jersey. The redistricting will mean some students will have longer bus rides. But the administration said the changes will allow for a brighter future via a balanced budget.

“It's important that we can try and be fiscally sustainable and keep our strong enriching programs that we have had in this school district for a very long time - and our students deserve that," Pormilli said. "We are working hard to continue to keep them, and hopefully have some expansion of things. We have not been able to expand things for seven years.”

Jackson’s state aid has been cut for seven years under Governor Murphy’s funding formula, based on enrollment declines and an increased “local fair share.”

“I have nothing but sympathy, but those are the realities,” Murphy said on News 12’s “Ask Governor Murphy” show. “We fund public education at the highest per-student level in the country. We try to get it right. Not every community comes out on top.”

“We've lost about 15% of enrollment,” Pormilli said. “It certainly does not equate to the amount of state aid (52%) that we've lost.”