NJ Education Report

School district budget election results are in and, on balance, most districts did better than they feared. (Here’s a run-down from the Star-Ledger.) Since school budgets are the only ones in the state subject to voter approval, local school boards feared the wrath of angry taxpayers, so they mostly dreamed small, left off second questions, and brought in pared-down proposals. All the results aren’t in yet, but it seems like New Jersey stayed the course of voting in favor of many budgets. Since we pay the highest property taxes in the nation and have the most expensive schools, that’s not too shabby.

Snaps to us.

On the other hand, this is largely a pointless exercise in local governance. If a budget fails, it goes before the municipal government, almost always composed of people who don’t have a clue about education. Typically the counsel makes some small symbolic cut, which the district can appeal anyway. And with the new regulations and formulas for “adequacy,” some budgets can’t be cut even if the voters vote them down.

Is marketing a budget, already highly regulated by the D.O.E., really how we want our school administrators and boards to spend their time? Here’s an idea: get rid of school board budget votes and move school board elections to November, when people actually come out to their local polling places. Actually, it’s an old idea that seems to have no GPS and gets lost in State Assembly committees. Will the Legislature ever get the cohones to displease NJEA?