NJ Spotlight published the following article on April 22, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
TWO DOZEN DISTRICTS STILL HOLD SCHOOL ELECTIONS, BUDGET VOTES IN APRIL
JOHN MOONEY | APRIL 22, 2014Two-year-old law has transformed election schedules for virtually all districts in stat
Two years after the law that allowed New Jersey districts to shift April school board elections into November, just 26 of more than 500 districts statewide will hold their annual votes this Wednesday.
Another 16 districts in the past yearmade the change to November, as allowed by the 2012 law, which permits districts to move elections from the traditional April date and end school budget votes entirely if they stay within state tax caps.
Only a handful of districts initially made the move, but the trickle became a torrent in the past two years as districts cited the advantages of ending budget votes and the uncertainty they bring, officials said.
Just nine of 21 counties are seeing any votes this week, mostly in one district or two. Nine districts in Bergen County are sticking with April votes, but that is still a small fraction of the more than 70 overall.