Just a Reminder - Deadline for Moving Edison School Board Election Back to April - January 21, 2019!

Well, appreciate all the discussion going on between the Council and School Board Committees' about moving the school board elections back to April but time is running out if they want to make the change.

Looks like a resolution must be passed after the November 2018 election and before the 2019 deadline discussed in the paragraph below.

Although N.J.S.A. 19:60-1.1 (c) provides no statutory deadline for the date of the resolution, if the 2019 school election will be moved from November (2019) to April (2019), written notice of the change in the school election date must be given to the county clerk no less than 85 days prior to the third Tuesday in April to take effect for the 2019 election. For 2019, the 85th day prior to the third Tuesday in April is January 21, 2019.

Seems with school budgets now exceeding $250 million for which we, the taxpayers, pay some 90% of the total bill - that we should have the right to vote on these budgets. This doesn’t even include the Lease purchase agreements they enter into that go around voter approval for capital additions, the ability to automatically raise the tax up to the 2% cap (when they’re not eating into the cap bank) which just allows them to carry forward exponentially the spending inefficiencies in their budgets, the unwillingness to provide info against the budget for staffing which results in this staffing shell-game where they hire non- budgeted staff and hide it from public view in their public budgets, their constantly hoarding state aid meant for tax relief and then there’s their inability to be open and transparent with the public about what they’re doing with all that money.

And yes, the current board members would see their terms shortened if we move the elections back to April - however, seems only fair since the board members who were on when we moved the elections to November saw their terms extended to accommodate the change. Didn't seem to concern anyone at the time.

And really, do we want to believe that the inconvenience to a few board members outweighs the benefits to all the People of Edison of having a say in $250+ million annual School Budgets?

So, with all due respect to the Council and Board of Education Committees', time to make a decision one way or the other and not let politics get in the way of the January 21, 2019 deadline and therefore, deny the people of Edison a chance to have a say in these huge amounts of money being spent by the school district. 

From the NJDoE - Moving November Elections to April:

Anyhoo, here's a chance for the powers that be to do something right for the People of Edison - take it.