By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Board of Education members will debate Jan. 28 whether to end the tradition of public voting on school budgets.
Superintendent Jorden Schiff recommended the board accept the opportunity of a state law, which went into effect last year, to drop the election and subject the budget to near-automatic approval as long as the budget’s property tax levy rises no more than 2 percent.
Schools account for a majority of property taxes paid by property owners. Last year’s school budget was more than $101 million.
If it continued the yes or no April vote, Hillsborough would be the last municipality in Somerset County to do so. Dr. Schiff said 90 percent of school boards took the option last year, and Montgomery, the only other county holdout, switched in December. Nearby Readington and Princeton also recently dropped the budget vote for 2013.
If it changed, Hillsborough would need to keep the system for four years. School board members would be elected in the fall general election.
Dr. Schiff said he had switched from being neutral on the issue. He cited the costs and the low turnout of an April election.
He said only 7 percent of registered voters cast ballots in last year’s school budget election, compared to the 68 percent who participated in last fall’s presidential election.
He said after the meeting that it would tough to be the only municipality with an April election. Hillsborough would have to bear all of the cost of hiring poll workers and renting voting machines. That cost totaled $20,648 in 2012, he said, and could be at least $5,000 more this year, he said the county clerk had told him.
He said there are administrative efficiencies that would be achieved by having a budget in place by the end of March and avoiding the uncertainty of a budget defeat and reduction by the local township government.
The school could be in the market earlier for contracts for summer projects and in hiring the best staff members for the fall start of the school year, Dr. Schiff said.
If Hillsborough made the move, candidates for school board representatives would appear on the fall ballot, but separated from partisan offices. The three incumbents would serve through the year.
If Hillsborough kept the April election, candidates would have about a month to file nominating petitions.
The school board is held accountable for being fiscally responsible on the budget in ways beyond an election, he said. The county executive superintendent of schools can redline items out of a budget, and the 2 percent cap would be in effect, he said.
He said the state school board code of ethics negates the possibility of politicizing the November vote for school board representatives. It says it’s a violation to surrender judgment to a political party or special interest, he said.
The school budget (and the February fire district election) are the only ones on which the public votes directly, he said. Dropping the direct vote would place responsibility for budgets on elected representatives, like other levels of government, he said.

