Sea Bright officials are finally doing something that makes sense in regards to the money the borough provides for the operation of Shore Regional High School.

Mayor Gregory Harquail said the town’s governing body is seeking an explanation of the formula the state uses to determine the borough’s share of expenses for running the high school, which serves his borough, West Long Branch, Monmouth Beach and Oceanport.

Unfortunately, the answer from the state is slow in coming, but Harquail needs to push for one. Hopefully, by understanding the formula that creates the "$44,500 bill" for each borough student attending the school, both the town’s leaders and its residents will be able to talk sensibly about the school funding situation.

Once the members of the council gain a better understanding of the formula, they may stop talking about the per-student cost nonsense that has kept them from seriously addressing the issue. Yes, the borough is assessed as a single entity in terms of figuring its share of the tax burden to support Shore Regional, but the council members and residents should keep in mind that it is each individual property owner who pays a share of that burden.

As every owner of business property can tell you, they pay taxes to support schools to which they send no students. By borough officials’ logic, they are being treated even more unfairly than Sea Bright residents.

In reality, both claims of unfair treatment are, of course, unfounded in so far as they go.

Rather than battle for a narrow change to a taxing formula that is in all likelihood fair within its framework, borough officials and residents should lend their voices to end the entire system of funding schools with property taxes. Such a movement is already under way, and support from the borough can only help what most should recognize as a just cause.

At the bottom of Sea Bright’s argument against its burden of support for Shore Regional is the recognition that property values are not a fair way to assess the cost of running schools.

Borough officials would be doing right, not just by borough property owners, but by plenty of others in taking up that cause.