UPDATE: BOE Discusses Moving School Board Elections

Updated Feb. 10

Millburn Board of Education will soon decide whether to use a new state law that allows school districts to move board elections to the November ballot and pass budgets without voter approval.

The school board is encouraging the public to attend its Feb. 13 meeting which will begin with a public comment session dedicated to discussion of this new law. The board is seeking input before making the decision.

Board members discussed the legislation at its Jan. 23 meeting, seeing both the pros and cons of such a move. They tabled the discussion until Feb. 13. (If you want to weigh in on the Patch Poll, you can vote at the bottom of this story.)

The following information was published after the Jan. 23 meeting:

School board members agreed that the upside would be that more voters would decide school board elections but that could be outweighed by the fact that the public would no longer get to approve the budget.

Another downside, some board members said, is that the school board election, while non-partisan, could become politicized in a highly charged national election year.

"It will turn into a political race, even if it's in code," said Board Member Sam Levy.

Other school districts have already begun to make the change – West Orange and Cedar Grove, for example, voted this week to hold school board elections this fall.

Statewide, supporters of legislation signed by Gov. Chris Christie last week say this move is primarily related to low voter turnout in the April elections.

Under the legislation, the election date can move through one of three methods:

• a resolution by the board of education,
• a resolution by the municipal governing body, or
• public question presented to voters in November

Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, a group in favor of the new law, said the association has received several phone calls from superintendents, business administrators and school board members across the state interested in making the change to a November election.

"Voters do not get to vote on municipal or county budgets," Belluscio said. "School budgets often bear the brunt of voter dissatisfaction."

In Millburn, some school board members said they like having the public’s stamp of approval on the budget.

Board member Jeff Waters said that a close vote sends a much different message than when a large majority of voters approve the budget.

But Waters also said that because of the 2 percent cap for tax increase he could see moving the election to November, especially since Millburn works to stay below the cap, using last year’s increase being 1.35 percent as an example. He could not see moving the election if the cap were higher.

Board member Lise Chapman said that while the 2 percent tax cap is good, she thinks that school boards that move to November elections may start passing a lot budgets with 2 percent tax increases without trying to figure out how much lower they can go.

“That troubles me,” she said, adding that Millburn goes through a long and arduous process to get below the 2 percent cap, particularly because of past years where the tax increases were much higher.

Board member Jean Pasternak said while she sees the benefits of a November election, she thinks the board needs to continue to work hard to stay below the 2 percent cap. “If we look at ourselves hard, there’s a lot more we could do,” she said.

Mark Zucker pointed out that  “it’s not going to be 2 percent just because it can be 2 percent” even without voter approval.

Still, the issue of low voter turnout in April is also troubling, board members say – in Millburn, roughly about 1,000 of the 14,000 register voters turn out for school board elections.

“With a November election, we’d get a better cross-section of the community,” said Board Member Eric Seigel.

The deadline to pass a resolution has not been confirmed yet by the state. But the law is supported by the New Jersey Education Association and the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA).

According to an NJSBA spokesman, the group did seek an amendment, however, that would have removed the municipal governing body's authority to change the date unilaterally.

In addition to thinking that school board issues would get lost in November, Board member Regina Truitt questioned the constitutionality of the legislation because it takes away the property owners’ right to vote on the budget.

And some residents agreed with that sentiment.

“I would urge you to allow the voters to decide,” said Jeff Jeff Diecidue, who regularly attends meetings and questions budget decisions. “It’s a violation of our rights as property owners. The public has the right to vote on the budget."

Either way, board members said, they will still discuss the budget in public and vote on it themselves.

“At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to uphold,” said Board President Michael Birnberg. “I am held accountable every three years.”