Clark to Move School Board Elections to November

Clark Council passed a resolution Monday night to move school board elections from April to November to coincide with the regular election. It's a move Clark Business Adminstrator John Laezza estimates will save the town about $10,000.

School districts that move their elections will have to submit their budgets to the county superintendent, but voters will not vote on the budget unless it exceeds the state-mandated 2 percent tax cap. If the budget exceeds the 2 percent cap, voters would then be able to vote on whether to pass it in the form of a second question on the ballot. Voters will still vote on school board candidates.

"The Board of Ed. has been in cap for the last eight years in row," said Mayor Bonaccorso, pointing out that this move does not create a hardship for the district. "They also haven’t had a contested election in the last four years."

The mayor also noted the low turnout as the key reason for the move, stating that only 12 percent of voters came out for the school board election this past April.

"It’s ridiculous," Bonaccorso said. "It’s a waste of people’s time, it’s a waste of everyone's money and effort. This saves money and moves the vote to a bigger election where more people will come out...I don’t want to get emotional and say it’s the biggest part of your tax dollar, but it is. Still, people don’t seem to care."

The mayor also noted that the voting hours for the school board election, from 2 to 9 p.m. can be inconvenient for residents and especially seniors, and also that the election has sometimes fallen over Easter break, when many voters are out of town.

Bonaccorso added that the move will also encourage school boards to be more fiscally prudent.

"If they go over cap, then it gives the Board of Ed. a reason to expose their budget to more voters in the November election," the mayor said. "This move makes boards and superintendents think twice about how they’re spending taxpayer money. They have the option to put a budget up and not have it voted on, where it has a chance to be defeated, [by staying within the cap]."

Clark had to act quickly to meet the deadline for opting into the move after Governor Chris Christie signed legislation in January allowing the date change. Because the Clark Board of Education did not have a meeting scheduled before the decision needed to be made, council passed the resolution after discussions with the board members and Superintendent Ken Knops in which all parties agreed the move was a good idea for Clark.

"Any time in this economy where you can save money, it's our moral and ethical obligation to do so," Clark Superintendent Ken Knops told Patch. "This past election we had 70 percent of voters support the budget. Clark's been keeping the budget under cap for years, long before it was the thing to do."

Many other districts across the state are also moving their school board elections to November, including neighboring communities like Cranford.

Councilman Brian Toal was the lone dissenter on the resolution. "My own opinion is the town's run it like this since 1864 – 148 years," Toal said. "I think if you’re going to do a change like this it should be a public referendum."