School Elections Likely to Continue in April

This year's Board of Education election will likely continue in April.

BOE Secretary Robert Berman, the board's chief elections officer, said last week that his office was preparing for the possibility that Gov. Chris Christie could propose moving the election date from April 20 to November, in order to coincide with the general election date. There has been speculation for several months that the governor would like to consolidate the elections to save money for local school districts.

BOE candidate Mitch Slater announced during last week's BOE ballot selection event that he discussed the issue with gubernatorial chief of staff Rich Bagger at the Rotary Club pancake breakfast earlier this month and Bagger said such a move would not occur this year. In the event that a move did occur, it was likely that Christie would have also suspended the public referendums on school budgets this year, due to the need for the budget to adopted by the start of the next school fiscal year on July 1. Slater said that Bagger, a former mayor, indicated that it is possible the elections could be changed next year.

Advocates for the change have said that moving the date would save public dollars, along with allowing more people to vote in school elections. Board of Education election are typically the lowest turnout of any of the three regularly scheduled elections each year.

Opponents said the move would politicize the board elections, by putting them on a ballot with partisan offices during elections that generate contention, like presidential and gubernatorial elections. School board members are elected in a nonpartisan fashion and it has been indicated that a November election would continue this.

Slater is one of four candidates seeking three seats on the board. Board President Ginny Leiz, vice president Julia Walker and member Richard Solomon are all seeking reelection. In the event that Christie decides to postpone the election, Leiz, Walker and Solomon would see automatic extensions of their current terms until after the November election.