NJ Education Report

The Atlantic City Press makes the case for moving school board elections to November, in the context of the Senate State Government Committee’s passage of a bill Monday that permits towns to schedule non-partisan elections to coincide with Election Day:

If only the educational bureaucracy felt the same enthusiasm these municipal officials do about moving school elections to November. But school boards and the teachers’ union have been stubbornly opposed for years to a bill that would, similarly, move school elections from April to November. Save money? Increase voter participation? Not, apparently, if it shakes up a status quo that favors educational special interests. School elections generally draw – at best – about 15 percent of the electorate, which gives school employees and officials more power to influence the vote. The April vote costs about $5 million to $6 million in taxpayer money statewide.