South Brunswick School Board Candidates Have Until June 5 to File

The move of the annual school board elections from April to November also means new filing deadlines for candidates to run for the South Brunswick Board of Education.

Candidates now have until June 5 to file a petition to run in November, according to the Middlesex County clerk's office. Yesterday would've been the deadline under the April system. The seats of Board President Stephen Parker, Elizabeth Chang and Barry Nathanson up for election this year.

The move to a November election was allowed under giving districts the choice to keep an April election or move it to coincide with the general election in November.

. Officials estimated the move could save the district $36,000 and the township $14,000 on the cost of running the April election.

The move eliminates a budget vote entirely for spending that falls within the 2 percent tax cap. Only if the school district presents a budget that goes above the 2 percent cap would it be required to put the budget before voters. Districts would then have to propose any excess spending that goes above the cap as a separate ballot question, with no ability to appeal if it were defeated. 

All districts are required to file a budget that falls within the 2 percent cap by the end of March. If a ballot question requesting excess spending were to be rejected in the November election, the district would then continue operating under the base budget filed with the county in March. 

By moving the school election to November, the district has committed to having November elections for the next four years. Just over 400 of New Jersey's nearly 600 school districts voted to move the school elections to coincide with the November general election. 

Ballots would include school board candidates in a separate section of the general ballot, and candidates "will not be aligned with any political party or partisan candidates," according to the DOE.

With state and federal offices also on the November general election ballot, the move would address the low turnout for April school elections. About 15 percent of 24,780 registered voters in South Brunswick cast their ballots in the April 2011 school election.

Do you think moving the school elections to November will encourage partisan politics with the Board of Education election? Tell us in the comments.