Will you be voting in the School board election Tuesday?

by: Jason Springer

Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 05:43:15 PM EDT

Every year since 1977, voters have approved most of the budgets requests. Voter turnout rarely goes much above 15 percent.

Most school budget requests pass; 73.6% across the state last year. This is where our money's going. Why is there a disconnect with so little attention towards the schools?  Here's a table of school budget pass rates for the last few years:

Annual School Budget Election Results by County
 Percentage of Budgets Approved, 1998-2008

	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998
Atlantic	66.7	88.9	44.4	76.5	52.9	72.2	44.4	55.6	88.9	77.8	72.2
Bergen	78.4	86.5	75.7	86.4	82.7	71.6	83.8	93.2	97.3	90.5	71.6
Burlington	69.2	78.9	43.6	71.8	53.8	48.7	69.2	84.6	89.7	82.1	66.7
Camden	63.2	55.3	42.1	47.3	65.8	44.7	46.2	69.2	95.0	85.0	62.5
Cape     May	76.5	88.2	64.7	76.5	70.6	70.6	68.8	100.0	94.1	70.6	81.3
Cumberland	73.3	80.0	53.3	80.0	73.3	60	73.3	86.7	73.3	73.3	80.0
Essex	81.3	85.7	81.3	75.0	81.3	87.5	93.8	93.8	93.8	100.0	81.3
Gloucester	63.0	74.1	37	63.0	59.3	55.6	44.4	74.1	85.2	81.5	63.0
Hudson	66.7	83.3	16.7	66.7	50	50	66.7	42.9	71.4	71.4	85.7
Hunterdon	55.2	72.4	51.7	55.2	75.9	34.5	53.2	72.4	79.3	79.3	82.8
Mercer	75.0	75.0	75.0	62.5	62.5	87.5	62.5	100.0	100.0	87.5	87.5
Middlesex	56.5	69.6	34.8	65.2	65.2	82.6	56.5	60.9	87.0	78.3	43.5
Monmouth	74.1	68.5	38.9	69.1	68.5	66.7	66.7	77.8	74.1	70.4	81.5
Morris	87.2	84.6	53.8	85.0	74.4	84.6	76.9	84.6	84.6	92.3	87.2
Ocean	75.9	79.3	58.6	75.9	75.9	65.5	69.0	96.6	96.6	89.7	65.5
Passaic	61.1	55.6	27.8	66.7	55.6	22.2	33.3	77.8	83.3	61.1	72.2
Salem	76.9	84.6	46.2	69.2	61.5	23.1	38.5	53.8	61.5	84.6	76.9
Somerset	73.7	76.5	57.9	52.6	68.4	63.2	52.6	84.2	84.2	89.5	73.7
Sussex	92.0	96.0	76.0	88.0	72	72	80.0	100.0	92.0	92.0	96.0
Union	89.5	78.9	57.9	73.7	84.2	52.6	73.7	78.9	100.0	73.7	63.2
Warren	82.6	95.7	56.5	69.6	69.6	69.6	69.6	73.9	95.7	87.0	91.3
RESULTS	73.6	78.3	53.4	70.7	69.8	62.2	65.4	81.1	88.0	82.8	74.4

Source: New Jersey Department of Education, with updated information from county clerks.

Many districts are seeking smaller budget increases than in past years. Here's a webcast on how NJSBA views the 2009 budget landscape.

So, some questions for you: Are voters in your town paying more attention this year to the school election, given the current economic climate. Because in Evesham, I'm not hearing much.  And most importantly: Will you be voting on Tuesday? And if not, why not?

"Death by a million paper cuts."

by: Sharon GR

Tue May 16, 2006 at 02:36:16 PM EDT

It's an Income Tax Problem, Dummy - School Budget Defeat

by: pt

Sat Apr 29, 2006 at 02:35:44 PM EDT

At the Federal level this leads to dangerous borrowing and spending - spending mostly on poorly executed foreign policy blunders - leaving our childred sadly left behind as funding is gone.....at the State level "wack-a-mole" shifting from Income tax to regressive property taxes.... How about a return to the fiscal responsibility of taxing and spending. Investing in the our future of our nation by valuing our childrens education.

Patrick Thompson
Hightstown, NJ

Windsor Hights Herald, Friday 4/31, 2006
Thompson pledge: I won't cut anything.

  A joint committee of East Windsor and Hightstown council members along with local school board members will hold the first of two public meetings May 9 to discuss the recently defeated regional schools budget.
  East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov, chairing the committee along with Hightstown Mayor Bob Patten and Board of Education President Alice Weisman, said the meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Hightstown High School.
  Ms. Mironov said a second public session is likely to be held May 18.
  That would be a day before the municipalities must submit a final budget to the Mercer County Board of Taxation and superintendent of education. The school board can appeal the municipalities' decision within 10 business days of its submission to the county superintendent.
  Last year, the municipalities cut $1 million after voters gave the budget a thumbs down. The local governments have the authority to cut, add to or leave the budget unchanged.
  One Hightstown official says he already has made his choice – and won't consider any cuts.
  "I'm putting a level of trust in the superintendent. That's his job," Borough Councilman Patrick Thompson wrote in a letter to the Herald. "My job is not to micromanage what Mr. (Ron) Bolandi does. But I will be holding him accountable for his results."
  But both mayors promised to take a thorough look at the defeated proposal.
  "I consider the vote, I consider all the input I receive verbally at any public meetings that are held, and the comments of other officials," Mayor Mironov said.
  Ms. Mironov added that it's very challenging to become generally conversant with the budget in such a short period of time.
  "We also get a 2-foot-high stack of documents relating to the budget, and there's not a lot of time for review," she said.
  Mayor Patten, a retired teacher, agreed on the difficulty created by the time constraints but said it's important to examine many line items and establish a position on the budget.
  "We try to do our homework and look into all the information that went into planning the budget," he said.
  Mayor Patten said two public meetings worked well a year ago, and he hopes residents feel well-represented at open forums on this year's $52.8 million local tax levy — the portion of the $79.2 million budget that can be changed.
  "We want to hear from the public, the administration, the board, as many sources as possible," Mayor Patten said.
  Mr. Bolandi, the man most responsible for the document, figures to be prominent in the sessions even though he has no power to change the numbers.
  "My role in all this is just advisory in nature," he explained. "They'll take a good look at everything and I'll be able to explain some of the items.
  "My job basically is to tell them that if you cut here, this will be the impact; if you cut there, that will be what happens. There really isn't much else for me to do."
  But he is doing something about his discontent over the state formula for funding school budgets. He's hosting an open forum at the high school on May 15 with state Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth and Mercer), Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck (R-12th) and Assemblyman Michael Panter (D-12th).
  "This is a state aid problem," Mr. Bolandi said in explaining the reason for the budget failure.
  The superintendent has constantly criticized Trenton because it has forced the district to spend $10 million on new programs over the last five years without increasing state aid.
  "Nobody would be screaming about anything if we had the $10 million," he said. "If you split it in half, there would be no tax increase.
  "Five million dollars would go back to the voters, and the other $5 million would give us everything we want, including class sizes and the programs we want in the high school and middle school and many other things."
  Mr. Thompson, in a letter to the editor received after the Herald's editorial page deadline this week, placed the blame on both the state and local levels.
  "In addition to the regressive system of taxation that has created this problem, we have failed to adequately leverage our economics of scale as municipal governments, resulting in cumbersome duplications of bureaucracies across the state," he wrote.
  "Will another $20 or $30 or $50 per residential taxpayer ... make a true difference to any one of us? I believe not, and I believe those dollars directed toward educating our children is the overwhelming priority."
  Passage of the budget would have meant a 24-cent increase in the tax rate in East Windsor and a 15-cent increase in Hightstown.
  That would have translated in East Windsor to an increase of $307 in the school tax bill of homeowners assessed at the township average of $130,000.
  A homeowner in the borough would have absorbed an increase of $179 on an average assessment of $120,000.

School Budget Defeat - One Loud Councilperson's Opinion

by: pt

Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 09:39:56 PM EDT

Here we are.

Why will I not be supporting any cuts and why will I be aggressively encouraging all of my counterparts to do the same? With all due respect to the comitted voters who came out last Tuesday to make their voices heard, the extent of challenges in our community, state, and nation transcend that of yet another increase in our school taxes. We have allowed ourselves to get into a situation where we live with a punitive and regressive tax system, where local property owners make up for misguided income tax cuts, and generally fiscal irresponsibility, at the State and Federal level.

Residents of Cherry Hill say YES to higher taxes and (hopefully) better schools

by: Jay Lassiter

Wed Apr 19, 2006 at 09:17:29 AM EDT

There's almost nothing you can say except thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The Cherry Hill district was at a crossroads. We had gotten to the point where we had taken all the cuts we could without cutting into the heart of the district -- teachers, textbooks, programs. The people stepped up and showed us how much they care about the kids.

Yo, here's a novel suggestion: How about some assurances that you are committed to making good use of this money?

School funding is an emotional issue and for good reason. I suspect that most folks are sensitive to the need for good schools and I am especially grateful that Cherry Hill public schools are among the state's finest.  After paying off my 5-figure property tax bill might I suggest that they should be good.