The change comes as a result of the Board of Education's 5-2 vote to move school elections back to April from November. The switch will also see current board members' three-year terms shortened by eight months.

The change impacts board members Glen Plotsky and Jennifer VanNess, whose terms were set to expire at the end of December but will instead end following the April 20 school election. Both voted against the election date change and must decide by the March 1 filing deadline whether to stand for re-election in April.

The others on the seven-member board also will see their terms shortened. Terms for Dale Bouma, Paul Brislin and Danielle Christmann will expire in April 2022 rather than December 2022, and for Denise Bogle and Barbara Holstein in April 2023 rather than December 2023.

As it did when the election was moved to November from April in 2012, the board resolution states the change must remain in effect for at least four years before a future board can reverse.

Holstein, the board president, said she advocated for the change to restore voters' say on the annual school budget, which gets finalized each May for the upcoming academic year. If voters reject the budget, the municipal governing body would get first crack at proposing cuts for the board to consider. In the event of an impasse, the executive county superintendent would have the final say.

Holstein, who returned to the board this year after serving from 2010 to 2013, was part of the 2012 vote to move Montague's school election to November under a law signed that year by Gov. Chris Christie. Proponents at the time argued consolidating the school and general elections to a single date would save money and produce greater voter turnout while preserving the public's right to vote on any school tax increase exceeding 2%.

However, multiple school districts since then, including Montague, have been able to circumvent the 2% cap through the law's "banked cap" exception.

The provision allows districts that stay below the cap in a given year to "bank" the difference for up to three years and add this to a future year's tax increase without requiring voter approval, even if it pushes that year's total increase above 2%. Cost increases for health benefits, pensions, debt service, emergency expenditures, and enrollment growth are also exempt from being applied against the cap and can be "banked" for three years as well, further raising the ceiling on the amount taxes can rise without voter approval.

As a result, the Montague School District last year was able to raise taxes by 4.2%. High Point Regional, where Montague sends students for grades 9-12, went up 14%.

"This is about giving the voice back to the voters as a result of not only our school district but others that are taking advantage of a banked cap far exceeding 2% in any given year and then pushing that banked cap onto the public," Holstein said.

Montague Superintendent Timothy Capone countered by citing the combined impact of COVID-19 and another anticipated cut to state aid by up to $300,000 on the upcoming year's budget, and urged a one-year delay in returning the budget to voters.

He was overruled after Holstein noted that the district had put $1.6 million into its capital reserve over the past three years from money set aside in its annual budget, which was just shy of $9.7 million for 2020-21. She said this showed the risk of voters not approving the budget and forcing cuts to be made wasn't as dire as suggested.

Impact on board member terms

Plotsky and VanNess focused mostly on the fiscal concerns cited by Capone in their opposition to the change. Neither brought up their terms being reduced except for a brief clarifying question Plotsky raised to board attorney John Comegno.

However, the prospect of board members' terms being shortened was a point of contention in at least two other districts, Perth Amboy and Ridgewood, where plans to move the school election from November to April were previously challenged on this basis.

In Perth Amboy, a Superior Court judge ruled in 2016 that reducing board member terms to less than three years violated New Jersey school election law.

The judge found that the 2012 law that authorized moving school elections from April to November, which provided for a corresponding extension of board members' terms, didn't address what would happen if the election got moved from November back to April. The judge urged the state to enact additional clarifying legislation. However, as an unpublished lower-court decision, the ruling applied to the Perth Amboy case only and wasn't precedential.

Officials since then have interpreted the law differently, with the state Department of Education and Bergen County Clerk's Office telling the Ridgewood school board in 2019 that pushing its election back eight months to April meant board members' terms would end eight months earlier as well. The issue prompted the Ridgewood board to reverse course and put the election date to a referendum that recently saw voters approve a change back to November.

The state Department of Education has since affirmed this interpretation, stating on its website that "if a district moves from a November election back to an April election, then pursuant to (the law) the election of board members goes back to April, therefore the current school board members would have a shorter term in the year of change." 

The Montague board attorney also affirmed this interpretation, said Holstein.

A state Department of Education spokesman declined to elaborate, saying election matters aren't the department's purview. He advised that media inquiries be sent to the state Division of Elections, which didn't respond to a query.

In Perth Amboy, a Superior Court judge ruled in 2016 that reducing board member terms to less than three years violated New Jersey school election law.

The judge found that the 2012 law that authorized moving school elections from April to November, which provided for a corresponding extension of board members' terms, didn't address what would happen if the election got moved from November back to April. The judge urged the state to enact additional clarifying legislation. However, as an unpublished lower-court decision, the ruling applied to the Perth Amboy case only and wasn't precedential.

Officials since then have interpreted the law differently, with the state Department of Education and Bergen County Clerk's Office telling the Ridgewood school board in 2019 that pushing its election back eight months to April meant board members' terms would end eight months earlier as well. The issue prompted the Ridgewood board to reverse course and put the election date to a referendum that recently saw voters approve a change back to November.

The state Department of Education has since affirmed this interpretation, stating on its website that "if a district moves from a November election back to an April election, then pursuant to (the law) the election of board members goes back to April, therefore the current school board members would have a shorter term in the year of change." 

The Montague board attorney also affirmed this interpretation, said Holstein.

A state Department of Education spokesman declined to elaborate, saying election matters aren't the department's purview. He advised that media inquiries be sent to the state Division of Elections, which didn't respond to a query.

Source: https://www.njherald.com/story/news/2021/02/08/montague-school-election-returns-april-budget-now-goes-voters/4419007001/?fbclid=IwAR2wwUbtrYjFc0YeSJnOyCeNr6DYTLyfQBrGIRjKR_z3Y7uXMGchLAmJ9FA