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Battle of the Counties

Every Meeting Matters. Every District Counts.

logo featuring the state of new jersey with crossing pencils behind the NJSBA logo

Battle of the Counties is a new statewide competition that encourages increased engagement and participation in NJSBA and County School Boards Association activities. Can the school districts in your county work together to be crowned the winner in your division?

Participation Criteria

This annual challenge will run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Board members are asked to work collaboratively to increase their district’s attendance and participation at the following events and programs throughout the year, which award Board Member Academy credits:

County Divisions

To keep the competition equitable, all 21 counties in New Jersey are categorized by size into three divisions:

Division I

  • Bergen
  • Burlington
  • Camden
  • Gloucester
  • Monmouth
  • Morris
  • Ocean

Division II

  • Atlantic
  • Essex
  • Hunterdon
  • Middlesex
  • Sussex
  • Union
  • Warren

Division III

  • Cape May
  • Cumberland
  • Hudson
  • Mercer
  • Passaic
  • Salem
  • Somerset

How Are Districts Scored?

School districts will be scored based on their participation in designated NJSBA activities throughout the year. Participation will be measured using the following three criteria: 

1. County SBA Meeting Attendance
District participation will be tracked across the four county meetings that are eligible for Board Member Academy (BMA) credit. A district will receive attendance credit when at least one district representative attends the meeting. If no representative from the district attends, the entire district will not receive credit for that meeting.

The percentage of districts represented at each of the four eligible County SBA meetings will be tracked, with the average attendance percentage across all four meetings used as the year-end County SBA meeting participation measure.

Meetings that are not eligible for BMA credit, including 8th Grade Dialogue and Unsung Heroes programs, are not included in this calculation.

End of year average of districts that attend each County SBA meeting (4 meetings) within their county:

Example: If NJSBA DISTRICT has a representative attend the first Mercer County meeting, NJSBA DISTRICT is counted as a represented district for that meeting. Each district is counted once, regardless of how many representatives from that district attend. 

If 70% of Mercer County school districts are represented at the first meeting, the county receives a 70% attendance rate for that meeting. 

At the end of the year, the attendance rates from all four eligible county meetings are averaged to determine the county’s final County Meeting Attendance Score.

Meeting 1: 70% district representation 
Meeting 2: 80% district representation 
Meeting 3: 75% district representation 
Meeting 4: 85% district representation 

Final County SBA Meeting Attendance Score: 
(70% + 80% + 75% + 85%) ÷ 4 = 77.5%  

In this example, Mercer County’s final County SBA Meeting Attendance Score would be 77.5%, therefore receiving 5 points in the category. 


2. Workshop Attendance
The percentage of districts within the county represented at NJSBA’s annual Workshop will be calculated. For district % attendance at Workshop: 

3. Board Goals
The percentage of districts within the county that complete their Board Self Evaluation will be calculated. For district % that complete board self evaluation/board goals: 

Together, these three measures provide the scoring system to crown the Battle of the Counties Division Winner!  

What Do You Win?

The County SBA with the highest number of participating districts during the 2026-2027 school year will win:

Download a copy of our informational flyer here to distribute to the members of your district.

For more information on NJSBA’s Battle of the Counties program, please contact Ray Pinney, Chief Membership Engagement Officer.