HOBOKEN – The Governance and Personnel Committee of the Hoboken Board of Education recommended that the board consider a resolution at the upcoming Feb. 14 meeting to move the annual school board elections from April to November.
Recent state legislation allows the change, and according to the New Jersey School Boards Association, 248 school districts have made the move to November.
Proponents of the change say the move would increase voter turnout. According to an email from the Governance and Personnel Committee, average turnout in the last four April school board elections is about 4,400 voters, while the average voter turnout in Hoboken in November elections draw 13,454 voters. The change would also cut costs of another election, which the committee says costs the taxpayers around $90,000.
But the move would also eliminate a public vote on the school budget, unless the budget increases by more than 2 percent. Opponents of the change say they do not want their vote on the budget taken away from them. The school board would still hold hearings during the budget process, but unless it increases by more than 2 percent, the public will not be able to vote on the annual school budget.
The Hoboken City Council minority members — those who oppose Mayor Dawn Zimmer — recently proposed a resolution advocating putting the change to a public referendum, but council members opposed to the resolution left the meeting, so there was no quorum at the meeting.
For our story on the last council meeting and the Board of Education’s potential election change from last week’s Hoboken Reporter , click here. For future coverage, see the Hoboken Reporter. — Ray Smith
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