Alert: New Senate Bill Keeps School Elections in April

The Senate has just added a new bill, S10, which would mirror Assembly bill A4—with the exception of leaving annual school board candidate and budget elections in April, to its Dec. 14 voting schedule.

The situation, however, remains volatile. NJSBA urges its members to contact Senate President Richard J. Codey to insist that he not post A4, S3, or S10 on the Senate floor for action. Call Senator Codey at (609) 292-5215.

The Senate could amend the Assembly-approved bill, A4, to make it identical to its new proposal, S10, and send the new version back to the Assembly for concurrence.

NJSBA staff is closely monitoring this fluid process and will keep members updated. Please check regularly for updates under "In the News” at www.njsba.org.

Assembly OKs November Elections and Super Superintendents

Battle Moves to the Senate
The state Assembly passed a bill Monday night that would move school board elections to November, beginning in 2008, and create “super” county superintendents with sweeping powers over local school district operations.

The Senate is set to vote on the legislation A-4/S-3 on Dec. 14. NJSBA has mounted an effort to stop the bill. (See box below.)

April Election in 2007 A4/S3 would not change school board member elections until 2008. Therefore, in 2007, board members still would run for office on April 17.

The legislation also would extend the term of office, by about eight months, for board members who were elected in 2005 and 2006 and for those who will be elected in April 2007. The extension would accommodate the new November 2008, 2009 and 2010 board member election dates. School boards would reorganize in January.

No Tax Impact “Moving school board elections to the partisan November general election would have no bearing on property tax rates,” Eva M. Nagy, vice president of legislation and resolutions for NJSBA, testified last week before the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Consolidation and Shared Services. “It would only serve to place local education policy in a partisan political environment.“

Budgets off Ballot A-4/S-3 would eliminate immediately the required public vote on a district’s proposed annual base budget. Therefore, the only finance questions in the April 17, 2007 annual school election would be proposals to spend above the budget cap and bond issues.

‘Super’ Superintendents A-4/S-3 would also give the governor authority to appoint executive, or “super” county superintendents, in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties, at the recommendation of the state education commissioner and with consent of the Senate.

“This proposal would create a bloated county-level bureaucracy, increase costs by wiping out savings already achieved by local school districts, and distance education policy from parents and voters,” Nagy testified.

“Think about it: Executive county superintendents—appointed by the governor, beholden to no voter—with near-dictatorial power over local school budgets, and with control over purchasing and human resources.”