Schools

Chatham School Elections to Remain in April

Resident opposed to move: 'We don't follow the crowd in this town.'

After more than an hour of public comments mostly against moving the school board elections to November, the of the School District of the Chathams took no action on the issue, keeping the elections in April for at least another year.

Board Member Steve Barna made a motion that the board vote on the resolution, but no other board member seconded the motion.

The resolution has been tabled for future consideration, likely not to come before next year, in accordance with the wishes of many Chatham residents who spoke at the meeting. The deadline for deciding to move this year's election is Feb. 17.

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Many residents expressed concerns over the wording of the bill passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Christie. The bill reads school budgets must be within the cap, but does not specify the cap amount.

Michelle Clark, of Education Counts, said she is wary of what the law could mean if the tax levy cap is further reduced or if state aid goes down.

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"We're not always sure what state aid we're getting," she said. "We do not typically get a lot of state support in funding. ... I feel like we're putting ourselves in a really difficult situation."

She, along with several other residents, asked the board to wait a few years to see how other districts responded to moving their elections. Clark also said politicians "may use public schools as a platform for something else. They change [what they say] every three months, they say one thing and it could become something completely different."

Cathy Kellstrom said the state legislature does not always think about what is best for districts such as Chatham.

"I have so little trust in what goes on in Trenton and how it affects us in the suburban districts," she said. "I have this niggling feeling that they're trying to shove something under the carpet, that they're trying to hoodwink us in some way," she said.

Kellstrom said with other J districts choosing to move their school votes to November, the School District of the Chathams would lose nothing by waiting a year to see what happens.

"We don't follow the crowd in this town," she said. "We really pay attention. We think before we do, and that's what I'm hoping you to do," she said. 

Former Board Member Alan Routh spoke at the meeting and said if school elections moved to November, the board "will forfeit its right to take a cap override to voters before the school year starts. ... We have invested much in an excellent school system, and we should not take the risk that voters have no practical way to address a budget crunch."

Residents also expressed concerns the electorate would become complacent without a school vote, and board member elections would become politicized if they have to run in the midst of a general November election. They also said the public's right to vote on the school budget should not be taken away.

More than 10 residents of both and spoke, and several of them spoke twice. Two residents expressed their support in moving the school vote to November.

Board Member Al Burgunder referenced Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" when he said public debate and vote on the budget should not be impeded. "I really think the ability to ... discuss [and] debate the budget in the spring in a focused manner ... is very democratic. It really is the essense of democratic behavior in our community," he said.

Board Member Richard Connors was applauded by the public after he "urge[d] my fellow board members to take this decision very seriously." Connors said he saw "no urgency" in moving the elections to November this year, and that "if you vote for the November election, it will be very difficult to pull it back. ...

"I believe the right to vote is one of the most sacred aspects of our society, and it should not be easily discarded, or thrown away out of convenience, or sense of urgency, or to keep up the momentum. That is a very important right that we all have. ... The Board of Education and district taxes are the largest portion of the property taxes that we pay, and people should have a say. Whether it's 2 percent or not, they should have a say in whether they like what we're doing or not," Connors said.

Barna cautioned the public and the board about potential fallout from not moving the elections.

"If we opt not to move our elections to November and take advantage of this opportunity, there will be a certain amount of [the] constituency that will come back in letters to the press [criticizing the decision]. ... The governor will stand up again and say, 'Here you go, those school boards, we give them the opportunity [to lower costs and get more voters involved], but those guys in Chatham, they never want to listen.' ... That will happen.

"All of these positive attributes ... all of that will get lost, and the byline will be that we are afraid to act in the case of lowering the overall cost of education," Barna said.

When Barna moved that the board vote on the resolution, no other board member seconded the motion.

The resolution is tabled and available for future discussion and vote.

Clark said she was pleased with the result. "I just think it's the right thing to do," she said. "It's better not to rush and see what other districts do."

Interim Superintendent Dennis Fyffe said he was "disappointed" in the vote's result, but "the board made their decision and I respect that," he said.


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