Bill would eliminate April school elections

[Cranbury Press]

CENTRAL JERSEY: Bill would eliminate April school elections
Thursday, December 25, 2008 11:22 PM EST
By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer

Local school board representatives sounded off with opposing opinions about legislation that could move school board elections as well as referendum questions from April to November and eliminate the public vote on any school board budgets that stay under the 4 percent property tax levy cap.

Bill-S1861 was presented to the Senate during its second reading at a Dec. 8 session, and although the 2009 schedule has not been posted, the Senate is expected to vote on an amended version of the bill in the coming months, according to the New Jersey State Legislature Web site.

State lawmakers said the change would eliminate the need for separate school elections in about 550 school districts, saving taxpayers more than $5 million a year in election costs, according to a New York Times article published Dec. 19.

Monroe Board of Education President Amy Antelis said she would support the legislation for two reasons.

The first, she said, is combining school board and municipal elections likely would increase the voter turnout. Secondly, having a joint election would save taxpayers anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000, the cost of running a separate election.
”I suppose it bothers me that it costs so much,” she said.

In early December, the New Jersey School Boards Association released a statement saying it supported the proposal to eliminate annual school budget elections under the terms of legislation, but it objected to the provision that would move the school board elections to November.

”New Jersey statute and court decisions uphold the principle that board member elections should be based on educational issues — not party considerations,” said Eva M. Nagy, vice president for Legislation Resolutions for NJSBA, according to the organization’s Web site.

Jamesburg Board of Education President Don Peterson said he opposes the legislation and agreed with the NJSBA.

”You’re only asking to politicize something that doesn’t need to be politicized,” he said. “School board elections are not supposed to be a part of (November’s) elections.”

Cranbury Chief School Administrator John Haney said he would need to examine the legislation further before he could draw any concrete conclusions.

”It would be nice not to have to go to the public for the budget, but I certainly would like to study it more,” he said.

http://centraljersey.com/articles/2008/12/25/cranbury_press/news/doc49526c17e03da641041820.txt

[Frugality in Cranbury]