By Gene Robbins, Packet Media Group
In East Windsor residents have until June 5 to file a petition to run for the Board of Education.
”The district will have three open seats on the board from East Windsor,” said Carolina Jablonski, secretarial assistant to the board secretary for East Windsor Regional School District, in May.
They are for three year terms.
”No Hightstown seats are up for re-election this year,” Ms. Jablonski said.
The election will be held in November following the districts’ decision to move school elections from April to the general election for the next four years.
Candidates will be required to submit a nominating petition — the document that places their name on the ballot — to the county clerk, not the local school board office.
In January, state law was changed to give communities the option of moving the school elections. The move eliminated the annual vote on proposed school budgets that are at or below the state’s 2 percent tax levy cap.
Proposed school budgets underwent a review by the state Department of Education to ensure efficiency. Budgets are controlled by the same 2 percent tax levy cap as are municipal and county budgets, which are not presented to voters. Any spending above the 2 percent cap would have had to be presented to voters.
Members of the board of East Windsor Regional School District whose terms would have expired after the April election will continue to serve until the board’s organization meeting, which will be held the first week in January.
Board members holding the three seats are Bruce Ettman, Paul Connolly and Kennedy Paul, Ms. Jablonski said.
The form for filing a petition can be found through the NJ School Boards Association website or via the Mercer County clerk’s office.
School board races will remain nonpartisan, and candidates’ names will appear on a separate section of the November ballot. The change in the school election date will remain in effect at least through November 2015 after which the community has the option of changing it back to April.
— Jen Samuel, managing editor, contributed to this report.

