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NJSBA: Eliminate School Budget Vote, Don’t Move School Board Member Vote

TRENTON, December 8, 2008 — The New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA) today gave support for a proposal to eliminate the annual school budget elections, but the organization objected to a provision in the legislation that would move April’s non-partisan school board member elections to the partisan November general election.

Eva M. Nagy, Vice President for Legislation/Resolutions for NJSBA, testified before the Senate Education Committee today in support of positive aspects about the legislation (the Senate Committee Substitute for S-1861 and A-15), but she called for changes to prevent party politics from seeping into school boards.

• Eliminate the public elections on school budgets that are under state caps;
• Move the April school board member elections to the November general election; and
• Also move the public vote on “second ballot questions” for local spending above state caps to the November general election.

The Senate Education Committee released the bill, and it is now poised for a vote by the full Senate.

Abolishing budget elections NJSBA has long supported the elimination of the school budget elections. More than 90 percent of local school budgets in New Jersey are put on the ballot for voter approval. Few states place school budgets on the ballot, and most of those that do are only when the budget exceeds a predetermined cap.

“The annual school budget election has become an unnecessary exercise for school boards, municipalities and citizens,” Nagy said in testimony before the Senate panel. She noted that the elections have been rendered largely meaningless because the state caps school spending and local tax levies. Also, state Department of Education officials now have the authority to make line-item cuts to local school budgets.

“In addition, the annual school budget election often results in voter frustration,” said Nagy, adding that state law calls for specific school spending, or “adequacy” levels. “In several communities this past year, voters rejected budgets, but municipal governments were prevented from adjusting school tax levies because current spending was below adequacy amounts.”

November Elections NJSBA opposes the bill’s provision to place non-partisan school board member elections at the partisan November General Election.

“New Jersey statute and court decisions uphold the principle that board member elections should be based on educational issues – not party considerations,” said Nagy, adding that November elections would enmesh school boards with partisan politics, in spite of best efforts to prevent it. Currently, the influence of political parties in school board elections is minimal, as political parties contribute a tiny fraction toward school board campaigns.

“Statewide, the cost of the April Annual School Election is $5 million to $6 million; that averages roughly $10,000 per community,” said Nagy. “Holding additional elections does not constitute poor financial policy. In fact, the Legislature last year determined that it would be in the public’s interest to conduct a separate presidential primary election – at an estimated cost of $10 million.

“Nonetheless, NJSBA agrees that New Jersey might very well have too many election dates,” she said, proposing an alternative calling for a single statewide non-partisan election in the spring. The election would encompass school board members, non-partisan municipal offices and fire districts. “It would combine three separate election dates into one, while safeguarding the non-partisan nature of these offices and saving money,” said Nagy.

Second questions The bill would move the public vote on second questions to the November election – which would be well into the school year and long after the school tax rate has been struck, NJSBA said.

By moving second question proposals from April to November, school districts may not be able to implement needed educational programs at the start of the school year; municipalities might face the time and cost of revised tax bills if they have to make mid-year property tax adjustments; and taxpayers could be bound to expenditures for the next fiscal year, long before they know the impact of state aid on their property taxes.

“The situation would be disruptive and unfair to education programs and taxpayers,” said Nagy.

S-1861 is sponsored by Sen. Shirley Turner, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.

The New Jersey School Boards Association, a federation of district boards of education, advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education.