By Charley Falkenburg, Special to the Packet
WEST WINDSOR All signs are pointing to a November election for the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District this year.
Once again, the Board of Education is faced with the opportunity to move its school election to November a new option the state gave towns last year to save money and produce a higher voter turnout.
Forced to act under a rigid deadline and uncertain of the negative impacts, the board nixed the idea on the first go-around.
However, when the board formally votes on the matter on Jan. 29, Board President Hemant Marathe said the school district would most likely be joining the ranks of the rest of Mercer County school districts that have already decided to combine elections.
”The board is leaning toward November,” said Mr. Marathe on Wednesday. “People have different reasons and concerns, but they fully understand the trade-offs and are willing to make those trade-offs.”
One of those trade-offs would be taking away the citizens’ right to vote on the school budget with the exception of the proposed budget exceeding the 2-percent state cap. While some school officials remain wary of this particular change, Mr. Marathe thought it would prove to be a benefit.
To the board president, the “hundreds and hundreds” of hours spent on creating and conducting budget presentations and forums could be better utilized to focus on the district’s main priority: education.
Although the board would spend no less time on the budget process, not having to sway the public to vote in favor of the budget would free up a lot time for school officials.
”The administration has to spend an exorbitant time getting the budget passed, which could be better used in attending to our children,” said Mr. Marathe. “Whole meetings can be spent talking about education rather than simply trying to explain the budget.”
In addition, Mr. Marathe thought it would also even the playing field for schools.
”People don’t get to vote on the federal or town budget only the school district,” he added. “That’s unfair and everyone should be treated equally.”
Regardless of the board’s decision, the budget will still be presented to the county in February and the residents in March. Mr. Marathe said the board set a goal not to increase taxes and does not expect the budget to go over the cap this year nor for the next several years.
He also hopes if the district takes the plunge, the move would prove to be financially beneficial as was promised by the Legislature. He estimated they pay between $30,000 and $40,000 alone on polls in April, which would be the district’s savings should the county decide not to charge any fees when setting the polling rates.
”We’re hoping the county won’t charge us anything,” added Mr. Marathe.
If, and once, the board officially makes the switch, it will be locked into the agreement for a minimum of four years and the same board members will serve an additional six months. Although the commitment is long-term, Mr. Marathe appeared confident in the move after monitoring the impacts on the pioneer districts that took the plunge last year.
”We decided to learn from others first to see if there were any bad consequences,” he said. “Since we found out their experience was not negative, we decided to move ahead this year.”
The Board of Education will make the final decision on Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Community Middle School.
