Special Note to Lacey Taxpayers About the $28 million dollar school referendum

New Jersey regulations for a referendum require that when a school district distributes publications to the community at large by mass mailing or other broad distribution within the 60 days before an election relating to school district operations, those materials must be submitted to the Executive County Superintendent for review before they are sent out.

That requirement is at N.J.A.C. 6A:23A-5.2(d). The purpose is basic fiscal oversight—an outside checkpoint to ensure public funds are being expended reasonably and cost-effectively during an election period. Here’s why I’m raising the issue. An OPRA request was submitted to the New Jersey Department of Education seeking the Executive County Superintendent submission and review records for Lacey’s referendum publications. The NJDOE responded that it has no records of any such submission.

If the District mailed or otherwise distributed referendum publications within the 60-day window and did not submit them for pre-distribution review, that is noncompliance with 6A:23A-5.2(d). And if the District believes it did submit them, then the District should be able to produce the submission record itself.

So here's 3 straightforward requests to the Lacey School District.

First, will the Board confirm on the record whether the District submitted referendum publications for Executive County Superintendent review prior to distribution, as required by 6A:23A-5.2(d)?

Second, if the answer is yes, will you publicly release the complete submission packet and any written response from the County Superintendent, including dates, so the public can verify compliance?

Third, if the answer is no—and the District cannot confirm --will the Board direct the Business Administrator to place this on the next agenda and provide a written explanation of why the required submission did not occur, and what controls you are putting in place to ensure it never happens again?

This isn’t about politics or whether someone supported the referendum. It’s about following a clear fiscal accountability rule that exists specifically to prevent taxpayer-funded election-window communications from going out without the required oversight.

Regina Discenza, Forked River NJ

A voice for the Lacey Taxpayers