Mendham Twp. School District Eyes Moving Election to November

The Mendham Township School District is considering making a major move – one that impacts all of its constituents.

As one of just six school districts in Morris County to keep its election in April, rather than move it to coincide with the General Election in November, the board of education for the K-8 district is beginning to reconsider its non-move.

Since Governor Chris Christie enacted a law in January 2012 that would allow school boards to move their election from April to November, there have been two election cycles. In Mendham Township, both those April elections have seen low voter turnout, according to Superintendent Sal Constantino.

“After two election cycles in this new environment, the Mendham Township School Board is reviewing voter turnout, general interest in the election and cost as it considers whether to maintain the April election or move to November,” Constantino said in a statement.

Under the legislation, a change in moving the vote is binding for four years. Also under the law, if moved to November, the public would no longer vote on the annual school budget if the district kept expenditures under a 2-percent tax levy increase from the previous year.

In the two election cycles since the law was enacted, both Mendham Township School District’s budgets have been approved by voters.

The board is looking at three different factors when making its decision in the coming weeks.

As expressed by Constantino in a statement:

• The cost of running the school election in April:  Currently, only six districts in Morris County are running school elections in April.  In the past, Mendham Township shared the county cost across all districts in the county. The popularity of the new law means we will continue to spend significant budget dollars ($5,272 was spent in April 2013) to support an April election.
• Voter turnout and interest in the school election:  During the most recent school election in April of 2013, only 414 votes were cast out of 4,624 registered voters.  In addition, only one candidate filed to be on the ballot, even though three school board seats were available. In comparison, 2,122 votes were cast in the November 2013 election.
• Previously expressed sentiment by voters to stay on the April schedule, which allows for direct vote on the school budget; Should the Board vote to move its election to November, the annual budget would not be voted on by the public unless the increase is more than 2% of the local tax levy.

The board meets for its monthly work session on Tuesday, Nov. 19 and will discuss the topic. It’s expected that a vote will take place at the regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Both meetings are held at the Mendham Township Elementary School Library at 7:30 p.m. The public is asked to attend the meetings and give their opinion on the matter.