By Charley Falkenburg, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY Montgomery has joined the ranks of the Princeton, West Windsor-Plainsboro, Hillsborough and Lawrence in its decision to keep the April school election.The Board of Education voted, 4-3, in favor of keeping the school election in April at the Feb. 14 meeting, with two members absent due to work-related travel.
Board president Christine Ross said the board ultimately valued the importance of preserving the community’s right to vote on the school budget, which would be taken away in a November election if it was within the 2 percent cap. They also thought school board candidate messages would get drowned out in a presidential election.
Ms. Ross added that there is a desire to see how the change works in other districts before locking Montgomery into the new election date for four consecutive years.
Board members who were in favor of a November election cited budgets below cap are constructed in accordance with the state law with scrutiny from the state Department of Education so the vote on the budget would not necessarily be useful at that point.
They also argued that voter turnout would be higher in November, allowing more residents to vote on school board members.
Board members have spent the last three weeks weighing both sides of the issue.
”The close vote reflects the serious and complex issues at stake which outcome would be best in the long term interest of children in the schools,” said Ms. Ross. “Democracy and the children’s future could benefit from both arguments.”
She added that the school board would revisit the issue next year after finding out how it worked in other districts in 2012.
As of Feb. 14, the New Jersey School Board Association reported that slightly half of the state’s districts have moved elections to November.
To date, Montgomery and Hillsborough are the only school districts in Somerset County that decided to remain in April.
By keeping the April 17 election, citizens will be allowed to vote on the school budget and the annual reorganization meeting will remain on April 24. The board must now wait until after the reorganization meeting to hire a new superintendent to replace Earl Kim, who departs June 30 for another position in Hawaii.
The bill that was passed on Jan. 10 gave towns the option to combine the school and municipal elections to save on spending and increase voter turnout. It gives voters, boards of education or local governing bodies the power to move the election to November.
Local governments and boards of education have been debating potential pros and cons of making the move these past weeks to make a decision by the Feb. 17 deadline.

