BOE Moves School Elections to November, Eliminates Budget Vote

When Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation Tuesday allowing communities to move school board elections from April to November and forgo a public budget vote, the Barnegat Board of Education lost no time in passing a resolution adopting the changes locally.

The new law gives says school boards that move their elections to the fall no longer need to have their budgets passed by public referendum if they do not exceed the state’s 2 percent tax levy cap. If they do exceed the cap, a public vote would still be held in November when board members are elected.

The board added the resolution to its agenda mid-meeting Tuesday, said board president Lisa Becker, rather than wait until it convened again in February. 

“Moving (the election) to November will help with voter turnout,” said Becker, “and it saves money for the district,” since the cost of running a separate election can run from $14,000 to $20,000 she said.

There is a concern that the school elections could become more politically charged, Becker said, "but that’s a risk even if they stay where they are."

She also acknowledged that some residents may balk at the elimination of the budget referendum. But, she said, the new law had widespread support among lawmakers and districts all over the state, in part because Christie’s hard cap on tax levy increases is a recipe for reasonable budgets.

“We supported the governor imposing a cap,” she said, and a lot of districts will have a tough time staying under it. “When you consider that we have no control over health insurance premium costs, energy costs or the fixed costs for special education, it’s extremely hard for boards to meet it anyway,” she said. “(Christie) imposed the hard cap knowing that’s about the reality of what you do in controlling costs.”

Barnegat Mayor Al Cirulli agreed. He said that as an educator, he sees the value in the new measures. 

“Budgets go up because of things that are out of their control,” he said. And as an elected official, he said, he’s happy that the township will have less occasion to get involved in the school budget – which it must in years that voters overturn a school budget referendum.

“Nobody wants to mess around with school budgets,” he said. “You try to leave it in the hands of people that are professionals in that area.”

He, too, anticipated some frustration from voters. “But I think it’s going to make things a lot easier for everyone.”