LAWRENCE: School board election moving to November

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   The Lawrence Township Board of Education is joining the 400-plus school districts that have moved their annual school board election from April to November — which means there will not be a school board election in April 2013.
   The school board voted to move the election from April to November by a 7-1 vote last week. Board members Murali Aiyar, Joann Groeger, Michael Horan, Bill Michaelson, Thomas Patrick, board vice-president Kevin Van Hise and board president Laura Waters voted for it. Board member Leon Kaplan voted “no.” Board member Deborah Cherry was absent.
   The board’s action at its Nov. 14 meeting also eliminates the vote on the tax levy to support the proposed school district budget. The tax levy vote occurred in conjunction with the April school board election. Now, there will not be a vote on the tax levy in November — unless it exceeds the state-mandated 2-percent cap.
   The resolution adopted by the school board last week also makes it clear that the board “remains committed” to public participation in the bugeting process and that it “will continue to seek community input at events such as the Community Conversation, budget meeting presentations, board meetings and other interactions with residents.”
   A new law that took effect in January allowed school districts to move the election from April to November and to eliminate a vote on the tax levy if it did not exceed a 2-percent increase. School boards had to decide within six weeks whether to make the move. Given the short deadline, the Lawrence school board decided to keep the April election for 2012.
   ”We decided there were a lot of unknowns and we felt pressured to make a decision quickly. We thought it would be more prudent to wait a year,” Ms. Waters, the school board president, said at the Nov. 14 meeting.
   Among those concerns were whether moving the school board election to the November general election ballot would result in political partisanship, and whether the election ballot would be too confusing for voters, Ms. Waters said. But none of those fears appear to have occurred.
   Mr. Horan also was concerned about political partisanship and pointed to Hamilton Township, whose school board elections have always been politically influenced. He said he was certain that the Lawrence school board candidates could run an issues-oriented campaign.
   ”I am confident that if we were to vote to move the election to November, the Lawrence Democrat and Lawrence Republican clubs would have the good sense to stay out of the election. Let them focus on their own partisan races,” Mr. Horan said.
   But Mr. Kaplan said he was concerned about politicizing the election and also pointed to Hamilton Township, as well as Perth Amboy and Jersey City, whose school board elections he said had become politicized. He also expressed concern about the possible influence of money and fundraising on school board elections.
   ”I don’t really understand why there is the urgency (to decide). We have until Feb. 17 to decide,” he said, adding that the November general election occurred one week ago. He said he would like to have more information before making a decision.
   Mr. Van Hise and Crystal Edwards, the superintendent of schools, said Hamilton Township school board elections have always been political. The superintendent acknowledged that it is possible that November school board elections could become politicized, but “that is an unknown.”
   Mr. Van Hise said that last spring’s budget defeat caused an “immense” amount of work for the administrators and the school board. But he said he underestimated the amount of uncertainty that it raised among the residents, noting that parents have contacted him. They fear that the school district is already scheduling prospective budget cuts as a result of the budget defeat last spring, he said.
   ”Why would you delay (moving the election)? It is absolutely insane not to move it now,” Mr. Van Hise said, adding that school district officials could redirect the energy they used to prepare backup budget plans and do other things.
   Creating multiple budget strategies creates stress for some of the school district personnel, Ms. Edwards said. They are kept wondering whether they will be affected by budget cuts that result from a defeated budget. It distracts the teachers from carrying out their responsibilities, she said.
   ”The reality is, people are losing their jobs. We have some very good teachers who are very dedicated. The 2-percent cap keeps us where we need to be. I’d like to be able to tell my staff, ‘Keep your mind on the kids and forget everything else,’” Ms. Edwards said.
   She said she understands the issue of politicizing the election, “but the possibility of cutting another million dollars from my children is a bigger financial issue. I don’t want to put my kids at risk. We need to make a decision now and move forward.”
   Ms. Edwards said she does not know about the political affiliations of the current school board members, and she is not worried about it. What the board members have in common, she said, is concern for the children.
   Mr. Van Hise said that if nothing changes and the school district tax levy is put up for a vote in April, a “motivated electorate” could vote it down and supercede what the parents and staff are telling the school board that they need.
   ”We have no control over what is going on across Route 206 (referring to Lawrence Township municipal government). That’s the elephant in the room. We all know that our (budget) defeat was not just a referendum on our budget, but a referendum against the state and taxes in general. It jeopardizes our ability to deliver programs,” he said.
   And when Mr. Kaplan raised another issue — the possibility that “people with a different agenda” could transform the makeup of the school board — Mr. Van Hise replied that the issue of “special interests” running their candidates for the school board had already happened in the recent past.
   Some residents identified issues that needed to be addressed and formed a slate of candidates who were successfully elected to the school board, Mr. Van Hise said, “but the political science grad in me” said it wasn’t really a special interest group.
   In 2004, Mr. Kaplan, Mr. Michaelson and Ms. Waters ran as a slate for the school board as “A Team for Change” and were elected to the school board in the annual April election. Among the issues were the special education program and discipline in the schools.