Livingston's Township Council voted Monday to sell 26 Monmouth Court to the Board of Education for a single dollar, a symbolic price tag attached to a deal officials hope will genuinely help ease school overcrowding.

"In today's world, getting anything for $1 is a really good value so I'm proud to be a part of this," Councilman Ed Meinhardt said after the public hearing. "This is a big win for the town of Livingston." Meinhardt said the deal had been years in the making. Deputy Mayor Ketan Bhuptani said he hopes returning ownership to the school board will help relieve some of the capacity pressure the district is facing.

The facility currently houses Livingston High School's Alternative High School program, serving about 40 students in grades 9-12, along with a gymnasium and craft room. The Board of Education hasn't announced specific plans for the space now that it owns it outright.

The property has bounced between the township and school district for over a decade. Back in 2012, the two bodies struck a 20-year agreement under which the school board sank about $2 million into improvements — classroom renovations, electrical work, HVAC upgrades — while the township held the deed. Monday's $1 transfer scraps that arrangement entirely and hands full ownership back to the school board, which has run the Alternative High School out of the building for more than 10 years anyway. The township keeps the adjacent playground and fields.

The timing isn't a coincidence. Livingston Public Schools is grappling with real capacity challenges — the district posted demographic studies and referendum options online in June for community review, signaling it's considering bigger structural solutions, and it already cut 40 positions in its 2026-27 budget amid financial pressure.

The Board of Education holds a voting meeting Tuesday, July 14, at 7 p.m. at the Livingston Public Schools Central Office. The Township Council meets again July 28.