For the 1993-94 school year, Hillcrest Elementary School was named as a "Star School" by the New JerseyDepartment of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve. The school was honored again in the 1995-96 school year. NAMM named the district in its 2009 survey of the "Best Communities for Music Education", which included 124 school districts nationwide.
;The "One Less Move" referendum On December 9, 2014, a referendum was held in Franklin and was passed by voters to fix the overcrowding issues in all the district's schools and for facility upgrades and additions so that they could eliminate the use of modular classrooms. It was projected that over 700 new students would come to the district as a result of new housing developments being built around town. On top of that, the grade level structure would be reconfigured so that students in the district would only have to move between schools twice instead of three times, hence the name "One Less Move". All of Franklin's elementary schools had previously housed students in grades PreK-4, but since the reconfiguration they each now have 5th grade. To fix the overcrowding issues at the district's six elementary schools, Claremont Elementary School, a seventh elementary school, was built and opened in time for the 2018-19 school year, and Elizabeth Ave, and Hillcrest Elementary Schools were expanded with new classroom wings. Also in terms of facility additions, an additional gym and a new main office were built at Franklin Middle School at Sampson G. Smith as part of the referendum. In those schools and all the others, upgrades were made to replace aging and old bathrooms, windows, doors, parking lot repavement, new playgrounds and outside playing fields, exterior lighting, and electrical systems, just to name a few. Before the 2018-19 school year, the configuration of the schools was as follows:
Franklin Middle School at Sampson G. Smith was originally Sampson G. Smith Intermediate School, for students in grades 5-6.
Franklin Middle School at Hamilton Street was originally just Franklin Middle School, for students in grades 7-8.
Administration
Core members of the district's administration are:
The district's board of education, with 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 as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the day-to-day operation of the district.
