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April 25, 2007 • Vol. XXX • No. 35
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| Update: Budget Approvals | |||
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Voters approved 78.3 percent of the proposed school budgets during the April 17 school elections – marking a sharp increase over last year’s 52 percent approval rate. “It’s quite simple: Additional state aid helps to alleviate the burden on property taxes and promotes community support for the schools,” said Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director. Meaningful Aid “This year, school districts received their first meaningful influx of state aide since 2001,” Lee explained. In recent years, the highest budget approval rates occurred in 2000 and 2001, when voters approved 88 percent and 81 percent of school budgets, respectively. Those were also the last two years that the state fully funded public schools, as called for by our state’s own funding formula. New Jersey has all but abandoned its school funding formula. The Corzine administration plans to propose a new school finance system to the Legislature in November. Voters approved 426 school budgets in the 544 districts where elections took place April 17, according to the state Department of Education. Voter participation, at 13.9 percent, was down from last year’s voter turnout of 15.7 percent. Flood Factor Three school districts—Fairfield Township Elementary in Essex County, and Bound Brook and Manville in Somerset County—were forced to postpone their school elections due to flooding. Election results also could not be issued for the West Essex Regional High School District because Fairfield Township is part of the regional district. Elections have been rescheduled for May 1 in the three communities. Above-Cap Questions Voters in 65 school districts also acted on 87 second ballot questions, calling for spending beyond a school district’s budget cap. Forty of the 87 additional questions, or 45.9 percent, were approved. Last year, voters approved 33 percent of the additional budget proposals. In 2005, they approved 41.8 percent. Construction Bonds Eighteen other school boards proposed school bond referendums for construction projects. Voters approved 16 of the 18 construction plans, representing $82.14 million of the $161.9 million that was proposed. |
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